Business is business

When you study the language Chinese, you may be told that never saying no directly to a Chinese, instead, using perhaps/ maybe/ thinking about it later to be polite and respectful for the culture.

Yes, it’s hard to be “business is business”, for in China, business is also with relationships.
In Mandarin, it says, 对事不对人. (dui4 shi4 bu2 dui4 ren2)

Unfortunately, in China, (traditionally) all the business is hard to be only business without personal relationships.
And it makes a perfect sense that for (traditional) Chinese, it's hard to say no, as the rejection of the issue might be taken personal.
So, saying no in a soft way, with "maybe" / "perhaps" / "thinking about it later" is an ambiguous disagreement on the business table in China.

Don't be frustrated by that culture if you are from Europe (traditional), for that's the way of the unique communication in Ancient Asian culture.
It just represents a moderate attitude of saving your face in the public for the sake of achieving harmony while resisting conflict.
So, if there is a direct “no” hitting your face, it may interpret as a death penalty, if the person doesn't know or consider the western way of communication at all.

Adding into that, Chinese turns more into confronting business and person together, especially when it comes into conflict.
If there is neither Love nor Faith nor Respect in the communication, a “death penalty” is very easily to be made.

Thus, can we (Chinese) really confront the issue rather than the person, when there is a disagreement, discouragement, or even an attack?
Can we still remain Loving for those who are trying to destroy, steal or kill?
( -- Absolutely, we can, and we should, for Love Redeems. )

It is funny, before, when people jumped in front of me (I'm Chinese) and showed something disagreeable, I would turn to be "aggressive", which means either I would convince them mine was better for this and that (very preachy), or give an absolutely cold look (typical blessed child). Ironically, I called myself a soul lover, which proved I was just one of those hypocrites.

Reading the Bible, we were commanded to Love.
Reading the Words from Confucius, we were told we would be absolutely "agreeable at the age of 60th".
(-- Bible is a hard core to make a person look old.)

So, all communication based on Love will be a success Communication.
Love, is the Power, shaped well, spiritually and scientifically makes sense, crossing cultures;
Love, is for all the Souls; no matter the soul is with what color or nationality or faith;
Love, is a progress of learning to be gentle and forgiving;
Love, is from an absolute pure heart, with single mind, loving words and gentle open-armed gesture.

Biz is biz, and we'd better not take it personal, if it is with a traditional European.
Biz is biz, and we'd never say no directly to a traditional Chinese, for “perhaps yes” can be a better way to save there face.
When culture is mixed, we'd better be an agreeable Soul Lover.

Biz is hard to be biz in this post modern new age, we'd communicate with Respect and Loving all Souls.

Vog and Chinese Food and Medicine: 清肺

Oh, dear vog, let's read some stuffs from Chinese doctors!
Good luck with fighting vog!

Plus:
http://hawaii.gov/gov/vog

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This is some ingredients play some interesting roles in clean the lungs in Chinese Medicine:
(Yay, Chinese eat anything and Chinese vegetarian will eat any plants and mushrooms for fun...)
LoL

• white turnip： cough, phlegm, smoker
• lily (put lily into porridge or soup):
• mung:
• water chestnut: clearing away heat (Chinese medicine)
• silver mushroom
• lotus seed
• honey
• refined white sugar
• white gourd
  

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DON'T eat too spicy, salty or greasy.

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These are some recipes to make those ingredients tasty (sorry, don't have time to translate, hopefully, Google translate can help ):

a. 雪耳、莲子、百合、排骨汤：
　　原料：雪耳75克，百合100克，排骨500克。
　　做法：将上述选料清洗之后加水一起放入煲内煮沸，煲3小时。
b. 桑百皮、百合、排骨汤：
　　原料：桑百皮50克，百合75克，排骨500克。
　　做法：将上述选料清洗干净后加水，然后一并放进煲内煮沸，煲一个半小时。
c. 润肺银耳羹：
　　原料：银耳5克，冰糖50克。
　　做法：将银耳放入盆内，以温水浸泡30分钟，待其发透后摘去蒂头、拣去杂质；将银耳撕成片状，放入洁净的锅内，加水适量，以武火煮沸后，再用文火煎熬1小时，然后加入冰糖，直至银耳炖烂为止。
d. 润肺豆浆粥：
　　原料：豆浆1000克，糯米100克，白糖适量。
　　做法：将糯米洗净放入锅中，加水适量，武火烧沸后改用文火慢慢熬煮，煮至米粒开花时倒入豆浆，继续熬10分钟，加白糖适量即可。
e. 鸭肉粥：
　　原料：鸭肉150克，糯米250克，料酒、盐少许。
　　做法：先将鸭肉切丁；糯米加水煮粥，然后加入鸭肉、少许料酒和盐，煮至粥熟。
f. 毛肚血汤：
　　原料：鸭血300克，毛肚150克（注意不要加入羊肉，因为羊肉属热，不适宜在气温渐高、天气干燥的春夏之交食用）。
　　配料：黄喉、鳝鱼、午餐肉、黄豆芽、粉丝各100克，重庆火锅底料、泡姜、大蒜、味精、白糖各少许。
　　做法：先将鸭血切成片，放在炒锅中用清水汆一下待用；再放少许清油把姜片、蒜片炒一下，放入重庆火锅底料烧开；汤味熬好后，加入鸭血、毛肚、黄喉、鳝鱼、午餐肉、黄豆芽、粉丝等直至煮熟（注意毛肚不要煮得太老）。
　　提示：俗话说“血能洗肺”。因此，对于这种绵软滑爽又非常便宜的血豆腐，此时不吃更待何时？
g. 火腿冬瓜汤：
　　原料：火腿片，冬瓜片。
　　配料：葱丝，姜丝，虾皮，盐，糖，麻油。
　　做法：锅内放清水煮沸，将冬瓜片及配料下锅煮10分钟后加入火腿片，2分钟后即可出锅；出锅前加入葱花、麻油、盐、糖。
　　提示：此汤清新可口，去燥润肺，适合春夏季节食用。

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Reference:
http://www.xicn.net/life/health/item/2003-05-16/117642.html

Technology Lesson Topic and Standards - Liu Liu

Mandarin Class

Performance Objectives

Given access to a computer with Skype, the 2nd year high school language student will interview a mandarin speaker in China and make an oral presentation that follows the checklist

A. Audience: 2nd year high school language student


B. Behavior: interview a mandarin speaker in China and make an oral presentation


C. Condition: given access to a computer with Skype


D. Degree: follows at least 5 items in checklist


(Checklist of the interviewing content: Name, gender, age/grade, educational background, hobbies, family members, future goal, other)

Domain of Learning: Cognitive

HCPS III Standard(s) - Content Area Standard:

1. Standard 1: INTERPERSONAL: Use target language to engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions. - In the class, the students will engage in conversation individually through Skype to a mandarin speaker oversea. They will get to know each other through this online Skype call.

2. Standard 3: PRESENTATIONAL: Present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics. - After the call, the student will give an oral presentation in Mandarin, telling the classmates what she/he knows about this new friend just make though the Skype.

3. Standard 6: Oral Communication: CONVENTIONS AND SKILLS: Apply knowledge of verbal and nonverbal language to communicate effectively in various situations: interpersonal, group, and public for a variety of purposes.


Benchmark LA.K.6.2 Use basic social conventions in greetings, in introductions, and in conversations


Benchmark LA.K.6.3 Ask and respond appropriately to basic questions - This lesson apply the Mandarin communication in interpersonal and public levels.

NETS Standard(s) - Technology Standards:

1. Basic operations and concepts


2. 
   
   
   
   • Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.
   
   
   • Students are proficient in the use of technology.
   
   
   
   


3. Social, ethical, and human issues


4. 
   
   
   
   • For the class requires students to communicate with another ethnic group, the students need to understand the ethical, cultural, and societal issues related to technology.
   
   
   • Students practice responsible use of technology systems, information, and software, including the computer, the headsets and the system.
   
   
   • Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity.
   
   
   
   


5. Technology productivity tools


6. 
   
   
   
   • Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
   
   
   • Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.
   
   
   
   


7. Technology communications tools


8. 
   
   
   
   • Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.
   
   
   • Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.
   
   
   
   

References

ISTE NETS, Technology Foundation Standardsfor All Students, Feb 2008, http://cnets.iste.org/students/s_stands.html


Hawaii Content & Performance Standards III, Content Area: Language Arts for Grade/Course: K, Feb 2008, http://standardstoolkit.k12.hi.us/

Technorati : , HCPS III Standard, NETS Standard, less plan, mandarin, performance objectives, skype

Blog Post # 4

Website/blog: Music Mandarin
Link: http://mus-mandarin.blogspot.com/
About:
This blog is created by Robin, a experienced mandarin teacher for elementary school, sharing the teaching materials in Madarin. Information on Chinese culture, and resources, including picture books on China are shared.
The potential readers might include mandarin teachers at elementary schools in English speaking countries. As we know, children are good at aquiring a foreign language, and music is an effective way to maintian attention from the children.
In addition, plenty of interesting resources from the "site link" can be found. Acutally, I explored the "site link" for almost half an hour and added most of them into my "favourate folder". It's the great experience of reading someone's blog!

Chinese Pod - Post #2

Hei folks, have a great blog to share!
http://chinesepod.com/

Chinese Pod is a language training service unlike anything I have ever seen before. It works by taking the best of the traditional classroom, and recreating it around the needs and lifestyle of the student, with all the improvements that technology allows.







It provides a community of practice: great teachers, lively discussion with fellow students, and a shared learning experience.

However, Chinese Pod supports learning in ways that a traditional school is unable to do. For example:
Bookmark the lessons you want to study, and have them delivered daily through the personal RSS feed.
Study on the go: can put the lessons on the iPod or mobile phone.
Tag: The user can tag my vocabulary lists, then the related words tagged by others can be found.
Comment: Can feel the real classroom in this integrated Blog.

It also allows users to sign up and create their own blog.
I found Professor Yao’s book with the lessons in MP3 by some Chinese language fans!
Integrated Chinese: http://blogs.chinesepod.com/integrated-chinese/

Right now, I am working on a website for Chinese Language Education Association in Hawaii. Chinese Pod is an on line integrated learning blog, which inspire me about the site I am working on. Blog can be considered as a part of that website, for teachers to share the ideas about teaching. But I might use more videos than audio, since I believe that visual learning is more efficient and attractive in language teaching and learning.

Fun in Chinese series finally finished

Hope the publisher will approve the book soon.
We were told it would take forever to review and marketing.
Should have suggetsted Hazel to publish at lulu.com.
Didn't do that for the name of the company sounds like my own company, or my relatives'.

It's always fun to work, learn, have fun and get paid. Too bad I finish the work fast than we thought. =(
share one of the cover pages here: (it is not the final cover. Changed lots for the resource picture copyright. Try to make everything original.)


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