A Few Notes on Usage and Talking

--Remember that in a list you have to put "and" before the last item: "The movie stars Antonio Banderas, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, and Mike Meyers." <--A lot of you have been leaving out the 'and'.

--Remember that "however" implies that something unexpected happens. "Sammo Hung (洪金寶) is fat. However, he is a great martial artist." "The movie is bad. However, the acting is good." We think a large person would not be a great martial artist, and we think that a bad movie usually has nothing good in it. Many of you are writing things like, "Pretty Woman is a great romantic movie. However, it is great that the man and the woman get together at the end." "However" doesn't work here because it is normal for the man and the woman to get together at the end of a romantic movie.

--You have to be able to speak for this class, and you have to be able to speak to get anywhere with your English. Practice if you have to. I understand that people are shy; you have to be ready to talk even if you are shy. Perhaps to make people feel better about talking in class, I will do something difficult in front of all of you, maybe sing a Chinese song (something by 莫文蔚).
You are getting lots of practice listening to me; try to practice listening to English language radio, etc. if you are able, and speak English with your friends for a few hours a week. If you can't understand what I am saying and cannot speak complete sentences without difficulty, you might want to consider taking this class later or getting a lot of help from me and the tutoring services at the school and in the city.
--Sean