Relative Pronouns (A lesson for my ESL Students)
There are three (3) “Relative Pronouns” in English–THAT, WHICH, WHO. Their job is to come after a noun and introduce more information about that object. Basically, they answer the question “What _____? I need more information please!”
Especially helpful if you need more information in order to correctly identify that specific object from a group of similar items.
We are at the airport, and I say “Go get the car.” But you don’t know my car, you have never seen my car. How do you pick my car from a group of cars?
Well, I could have given you more information about the car using “Relative Pronouns.”
Since “Car” is a thing, I could use either “that” or “which.”
Both of these would give you more information so you can pick the correct car.
**Not sure where this came from – kind of how I’ve been feeling this week. Been trying to organize my future and every time it seems like I’m on the right track, something else goes wrong. It’s like the world is sending me mixed signals on where I’m supposed to go from here. A bunch of my friends are experiencing the same feeling. Still, it’s the little moments of hope that keep us moving on, trying again and again no matter how often life shuts us down.**DB
These are my amazing students! As part of our Business Negotiations class, I asked them to prepare a group dance. They had to work together and we voted on who had the best dance. There were some GREAT ideas here, and I was really proud of them. Make sure you watch the last dance!
This week, I was teaching my Economic Law and Int’l Economics students about the dangers of Government Mismanagement of resources as one of 6 leading causes for economic collapses. Then this article came out as a perfect demonstration!
Venezuela is desperately in need on businesses to increase its economy. Now, thanks to this move, while poor children might enjoy it for a bit – the long term results are not promising. The company, with no profits for Christmas, will likely employ much fewer workers for the holiday and may in fact fire several. It is also possible that they will go bankrupt. Thus resulting in more poor children (demand) and an even smaller supply of toys. Which means both more poverty and likely higher prices. Even my students with an elementary economics-background were able to say “the government has poor long-term vision”
Venezuela’s country fair pricing watchdog Sundde seized toys that distributor Kreisel kept in three warehouses located in Caracas and Guarenas on Friday, local media reported.
Meanwhile, authorities ensured local supply committees (CLAPs), created in April, would distribute subsidized food and commodities, to “fairly” spread the confiscated toys among poor children.” . . . .
Found this while wandering down Tianzifang in Shanghai. Tianzifang is a maze of buildings in the old French Concession area.
Did you ever read one of the old books where someone got lost in the streets of China? Going farther and farther back into the twisting buildings built one overlapping the other, up and up and up. And below it all, the stranger moves deeper into an under-land of small one room stores and little, elderly artists and laborers selling their services? Tianzifang is one of the magical places, full of mystery, history, and a touch of the mystical.
Just letting you know that VyprVPN is starting their end of the year sale if you’re interested!
As some of you know, I’m a big supporter of using VPNs to protect your computers from viruses, trojans, and other attacks. Plus, living abroad has taught me the importance of “location” for computers. By leaving the States, I immediately lost access to a lot of “location-centered” computer websites. As most of you know, China blocks a large number of websites (Youtube, Google, Facebook), but it’s more than that. Hulu is location based – outside the US it isn’t offered. Youku (a Chinese hulu) is location based – outside China it isn’t offered. My Chinese universities online system is location based – outside China, I can’t access their version of Blackboard to grade my students’ work. Kindle is also somewhat “location-centered.” Many of my friends in China and Korea have complained that they cannot download their Kindle books without a VPN.
Then there’s the fact that everything wants to automatically revert to the language of your “location.” So when I’m in Korea, everything on google, facebook, twitter, amazon, and my email turned Korean. When I’m in China, it all goes Chinese. For Amazon, it even sends me to the “Chinese Amazon” website instead of the “US Amazon.” Sure, not everything does that, but many sites that are “location-centered” will automatically change to the language or website of that country.
To be honest, I’m also not a fan of governments who want to snoop around and steal information from perfectly innocent, non-crime committing individuals around the world (aka UK and USA). And then you have companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google tracking your every move in an effort to “better market to you” (and other dubious matters such as tracking your political or religious beliefs).
One of my concerns as a teacher abroad has been the issue that immediately upon leaving the States, most teachers complained that their computers slowed down substantially. Several professors have been warned upon hiring computer fix-it companies to clean trojan or other problems that they have as many as 200-300 different tracking programs embedded in their computers at the end of one year. McAfee and other security programs were running and still missed these issues. Their computers turn on and off at night for no reason. Programs suddenly start crashing. Emails magically don’t show up when you send them. One of the US universities I traveled here with warned that it is entirely likely that we will have state, national, provincial and foreign governments all putting tracking info on our computers. I didn’t realize until I came how risky it was being a foreign teacher – I’ve known many teachers who were either teaching the children of important people or who were asked by different government / business institutions to translate or train their people for different projects. Or were wives of military personnel. One of my friends taught the daughter of a family who met with one of the royal families every week for tea.
Result? – 1) I’m not exactly confident in my computer’s security with just the usual virus-removal programs. 2) I am from the tecno-age. I have NO patience for slow computers or programs bringing my system down. 3) I have a moral / ethical belief that governments should not be invading innocent civilians computers without a legal warrant, and a strong desire to limit it as much as possible. 4) I don’t really want Facebook, Twitter, etc. following my every move, tracking me, my family, my friends, and my students just by watching what I email, my travel plans, etc. Think of it this way, what if you were an abuse victim and all your abusive husband/wife had to do was look on your Facebook/Google page to see “Abuse Shelters” and “Divorce Lawyers” show up on the ad side because that’s what you’ve been researching recently. It’s dangerous! 5) I want my websites in English! And usually I want the USA version of the site, not whatever foreign version they’ve come up with for other countries!
So far, my experience with VyprVpn has been really good. It works consistently, was easy to install, and simple to use. It often works when Astrill doesn’t, and I’ve rarely had problems with it. They have options available for Windows, Apple, Android, TVs, and Routers so almost everything is covered. I’ve never had problems with the Windows, Apple, or Android versions. The most basic version is either $80.04/year or $9.99/month. Their sale right now is on the best or “Premier” Vypr. Usually if you pay monthly, it’s $10/month ($239.88/year if paid monthly). But if you upgrade to Premier today, it’ll only be $120 if you pay for the whole year! That service gets you several of their “extra security” offerings like Chameleon and the Firewall, as well as access to Vypr on 5 devices simultaneously. It’s what I’ve been using for two years now, and I really like it! You can find out more information on http://www.goldenfrog.com.
*Disclaimer – I am a Vypr Affiliate. Every time someone buys Vypr by going through my website, I get an Affiliate fee from Vypr at no extra cost to you. However, please note that I am devoted to honesty and transparency (thus this disclaimer). I would never recommend a product I was not happy with myself. Note that I am also an affiliate of Astrill, but I’m not recommending them to you right now. That’s because I’ve had several problems with them recently (i.e. my location doesn’t change when I turn it on), and I cannot confidently recommend them to you as a working / safe system. Vypr, on the other hand, I’ve really liked!
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
Language Translation
Deceptively Blonde 