Inception

Sorry for being late :P

As the name told, today we have something more interesting. Inception is the choice of movie-goers in this summer, though the principle behind this film is not to understand easily. Some of my friends have to watch at least 2 times to gain a better understanding.

The main theme of the movie is around the "Dream Sharing" theory. This theory is originated in the Project Somnacin, which doing research regarding to (lucid) dreaming and dream sharing. Somnacin, which is the drug used in this project, have the effect of initiate dream sharing (of people who have this injected).

In the movie, The Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous Device (PASIV) is designed to have a automatic and safe way to deliver Somnacin. (The user manual of PASIV is in here)

Now let's look at the team, Leonardo DiCaprio (as Dom Cobb) is leading a team in the dream world, which consists of:

The Extractor

The Point-man

The Forger

The Architect

The Tourist

The Mark

The Chemist

Like special forces in the real world, everyone has his/her specialism and duty, contribute and achieve the same goal.

According to the conversations between extractor and chemist, sedative Somnacin (to enhance dream stability) make the normal way (of waking up) doesn't work anymore, which is died in dreams. Instead, a kick must be implemented in order to wake sleepers up in each level of dreams. Hence, one of the team members have to stay at certain level while others keep going down, and this is a risky plan actually.

Finally, if you have watched Inception and still not know what's going on, you can refer to here.

Mind map (2)

Today I am going to talk about some usage of mind map, with some of my previous works as an example also.

Mind map is great for learning, which can use in different situation as well as subjects.

Note taking – normally they are pretty rough as you just make it during lessons, A4 size paper, pencil and fluorescent pens are used. Use pencil to draw the core, fluorescent pens added colors or dividing topic levels. Don’t worry even you got an ugly picture, you can improve it soon.

Sample: Bullying (criminal psychology)

Sample: Substance abuse (criminal psychology)

Revisions – Relatively more detailed, organized and readable, in case you will use it to prepare for exams or share it with others. When using computer software to make, you can also add some pictures or flowcharts from either notes from school or Internet.

Sample: English writing techniques

Sample: Information security concept

Projects – Most demanding on readability since all of your teammates need to look at it. Better use common terms in topics and draw the map using software to facilitate sharing. In addition, there are add or remove of ideas or works in different stages of the project, so always use “save as” to make different versions of map is a good practice, don’t forget to make a change log to allow trace of actions.

Sample: Graduation dinner

Finally here are some good software for mind-mapping:

Freemind

Mind Manager

X Mind

Sorry again

I'm so sorry to tell that I have to skip writing for a week again, as I have something to attend to again. And for all HKCEE candidates, no matter what the outcome is, you are the ruler of your life, and support all of you always. =]

Bob

Mind map (1)

Though I have used mind map as a learning tool for years, though I still reading related books for a more systematic and organized way to draw them. Today I will introduce this tool a bit as well.

Mind map is a visualized note taking technique, which can make information more organized and facilitate creative problem solving. Unlike the list form or big paragraphs notes, mind map is fitter to humans’ thinking process (input and output in particular), and also more compact and organized.

Because of process writing (please refer to the last entry), I also came across with mind-map. After doing some rough reading, I started my first map of my life (during English lesson). Well, my first reception was that it is the right tool to facilitate my brainstorming rather than note taking. On that time, my drawing is pretty rough, yet not obeying the rules.

As I was started my study in HKU SPACE, I start to expand the usage of mind map from just writing compositions. Presentations, projects, meetings, etc, it really made my life easier. In this stage, my drawings are more refined, I start using numbers, linkage and colors, made them more readable and interesting.

This year, my last year of higher diploma course, the world seems getting even larger. I met two great teachers, as well as starting my career (and writing these stuff once a week :P), I further explore the usage of mind map besides of my studies. Yet I started to use computer software to draw my new maps (and remake my old maps too).

Thanks to Tony Buzan, the one who make this technique more systematic as well as more populated. He suggested a guideline for mind-mappers (see below), and frankly speaking I still have much to learn on obeying the rules.

1. Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors.

2. Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your Mind Map.

3. Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.

4. Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.

5. The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker, organic and flowing, becoming thinner as they radiate out from the centre.

6. Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.

7. Use multiple colors throughout the Mind Map, for visual stimulation and also to encode or group.

8. Develop your own personal style of Mind Mapping.

9. Use emphasis and show associations in your Mind Map.

10. Keep the Mind Map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.

Despite of the importance of these rules, you can find your way through drawings, just like me. And hope you all will find it useful. :D

Next week: Some extensive use of mind maps, as well as showing some of my previous drawings.

Process writing

From this entry I will share some of my experience about learning.

We have to write something every day, no matter what the purposes are. Maybe you have heard this before, today I’m going to introduce an awesome method called “Process Writing”. I learned this when I was in Form 6 and found it pretty useful, which I still use it today.

This method consists of the following steps:

1. Brainstorming

2. Mind-mapping

3. Make outline

4. Draft

5. Final copy

First is brainstorming, don’t be confused by this name, what you have to do is THINK. No matter relevant or irrelevant (to the topic), it is a good practice to keep your mind free and open.

Meanwhile, you can either take traditional notes (bullet-point form) or visualize your ideas in form of mind map. Yes, mind map is a more effective (and efficient) way to make notes, which I will have a separated entry for this later. For outline, this is not a must, but still good for min map beginners or if your composition is a homework, which an outline is good for your teachers to know your ideas.

Next is pretty straight-forward, just use some time to draft your words, don’t be serious about spelling or grammatical mistakes, just make sure you’re stick to what the outline shown (i.e. good organization in terms of suitable content order and paragraphs).

Finally is the final copy, in here you can fine tune your words used, especially opening, closing and transitions. Also you have to proof-read your work to prevent mark deduction due to careless mistakes, of course I suggest you to exchange your work with your classmate to check for each other in case you are allowed to do that.

This method is clear, organized and error-proof, but in other way is time-consuming, which is a drawback in exams. So you can refine the process according to your strength and habits, make it serves you well in all situations.

For next week: Extension entry for mind mapping

Sorry :(

Sorry for being absent last Sunday, because I had other things to deal with. The upcoming entry will be a bit longer, which is about how to learn, stay tuned!

Bob

How to improve your English through (online) games

Maybe some of you will be interested in what I’m going to mention today……”how to improve your English through (online) games”. If you’re parents or teachers, believe it or not, this is a good way to practice English and expand your social network. Of course, please discuss this issue with your child first.

(I do not mean to advertise the games I’ve played) The first game I was playing is called DeadFrontier, just another zombie shooting MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). So, what’s the point? Bundles of vocabulary and sentence structure inside the inventory, forum and wiki. In the multiplayer mode, you can interact with other players. However, I won’t recommend this game because it is time consuming; better just leave after you learn from items and the wiki.

Facebook is a great tool of making friends (as well as finding friends lol), game companies were realizing that this is another potential market, so there are plenty of good games for us. Last year I was used to play one of them called My Heroes Ability, which is a tribute to the well known TV drama episodes Heroes. The most precious memory was that met friends around the world, created a clan and became one of the strongest in the whole game. Unfortunately, the company stopped supporting this game and even closed. After that, I started my journey in Battlestations. Like the former one, I can meet clanmates which are from other countries, chi-chat and discuss game issues in the chat room (English is the only language), as you are not too shy to join the chat, you will eventually master English in normal interaction. Though it may not be useful in exams, you can sounds more natural in conversations with foreigners.

All in all, learn English from games is another effective way. But bear in mind that, even the game has Chinese version, please use the English version, and not to be addicted for sure!

Learning English

Though I was used to be a student of EMI school, I don’t think I’m very good at English. Actually, there are many ways to learn English, the way used in schools are not the only. This time I would like to share with you all some of my experience, and hope you will found them useful too.

In schools (not only EMI), students are usually practice and practice, followed by dictations and tests, no matter for vocabularies, grammars, speaking and so on. Undoubtedly (無可否認) some of the steps are necessary, but we can make them more interesting:

Games: Scrabble, word clozes are good to enhance your vocabulary. Online games and Facebook games which are from foreign countries give you chances to communicate with people around the world, which English is the most common language inside the chatrooms.

Media: Newspapers are good but you may think SCMP is too heavy. Instead, The Standard or the English section in Metro Daily (都市日報) and Sing Tao Daily (星島日報) are suitable to start out. TV programs are good too; start with the ones you like, personally I like to watch Heroes, 24 and Discovery channel.

Books: For CMI students, try to acquire the English textbooks or notes inside tutorial classes. Not only the glossary and jargons (專業術語), but also the composition of sentences and organization of information are useful. Furthermore, guide books and novels are tools to improve writing skills; I will recommend some at the end of this blog entry.

Daily life: English is everywhere in our life, from package of products, food menu, to signs at outdoors. Be a good observer when you hang out next time. J

Above is some ways I have used in years, yet there are still many other ways out there and waiting for you to discover. Believe me; you will have a lot of fun when you have success without using a traditional way. Last but not least, questions and comments are welcomed.

Further reading:

(MLA style citation used in here, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_MLA_Style_Manual to learn how to use it, which is useful (and necessary) to quote from materials when doing projects.)

Diamond, Harriet and Phyllis Dutwin. Grammar in Plain English (3^rd Ed.). New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1997.

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Batko, Ann. When Bad Grammar happens to Good people – How to avoid common errors in English. New Jersey: The Career press, 2004.

Remarks: Learn from mistakes are the fastest way to improve your English.

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Colfer, Eoin. Artemis Fowl. New York: Viking press, 2001.

Remarks: Artemis Fowl series are interesting novels.

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Clancy, Tom. Rainbow Six. New York: Putnam, 2001.

Remarks: The original novel of the well-known video game.

Political issue

Notice: The blog will be updated on every Sunday afterwards, stay tuned.

In this year, after the government proposed the “Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012”, there are many issues raised, such as “Five Constituencies Referendum” (五區公投) and the debate between Donald Tsang and Audrey Eu. Mass media have widely reported on the political reform throughout the year. However, do you know their name and definition in English?

Today we will have some vocabularies and their explanation for the constitutional development of Hong Kong. No matter you have chose "Learning English through Debating" or "Learning English through Social Issues, you may found the following are useful:

Universal Suffrage (全民普選) - All eligible voters having the same number of votes.

LegCo - Abbreviated form for “Legislative Council (立法會)”.

CE - Abbreviated form for “Chief Executive (行政長官 / 特首)”.

Pro-Beijing Camp (親北京派) - The group of people who mostly agree with the policy and ideology of the Beijing Government, in terms of the 6.4 (六四事件), and the political reform issue.

Pan-Democratic Camp (泛民主派) - The group of people who struggle for universal suffrage in both LegCo and Chief Executive elections. They also fight for the abolishment of the functional constituencies, because it gives a minority too much power and influence.

Referendum (公投) - A direct vote in which all eligible electorates were asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy.

Functional Constituency (功能組別) - A professional or special interest group which involved in the electoral process. Eligible voters in a functional constituency may include natural persons as well as other designated legal entities such as organizations and corporations.

Also in here we have some political entities in Hong Kong which have positions in the LegCo. Remember, besides social occasions, the word “party” can also used to describe political organizations:

泛民主派 - Pan-Democratic Camp

民主黨 - Democratic Party

公民黨 - Civic Party

社會民主連線(社民連) - League of Social Democrats

香港職工會聯盟(職工盟) - Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions

香港民主民生協進會(民協) - Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood

Democracy

街坊工友服務處(街工) - Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre

公民起動 - Civic Act-up

親北京派 - Pro-Beijing Camp

民主建港協進聯盟(民建聯) - The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong

自由黨 - Liberal Party

經濟動力 - Economic Synergy

香港工會聯合會 - Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions

專業會議 - Professional Forum

港九勞工社團聯會(勞聯) - Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions

匯賢智庫 - Savantas Policy Institute

西九新動力 - Kowloon West New Dynamic

Hello

Hello everyone, my name’s Bob, one of the founders of the Learnin’2pi platform. Besides of this identity, I will also in charge of the English section, particularly this blog as a supplement. Not much grammar and exam skills will appear in here because you all may fed up by these in lessons, as well as I believed that I’m not qualified to do so too. Instead, I would share some of my experience during my study of English, also with something interesting such as learning skills and games. Hope all of you will enjoy it!

Bob

p.s. Just forgot, feel free to ask in blog or send to my email bob@l2pihk.net in case you have any question. Corrections and comments are also welcomed. =]