once upon the time there lived a little
frog at the bottom of the well every day
they fought the Frog swim in the whale
pod Oh explore the walls of the well and
gaze upon the little round sky above him
he told himself I’m lucky frog no one in
the world lives better than me a paper
happened to fly by and stood on the edge
of the well upon hearing the boast of
the Frog the bird said jump out I’ll
carry you to see the big ocean where the
water is immense and the sky has no
limits this famous Chinese proverb gene
DG WA literally means a frog at the
bottom of the well but the phrase really
implies someone with limited outlook and
experience in life the ending of the
story always bothers me every time I
heard it growing up in Taiwan I have
always wondered before the Frog has the
audacity to dream about swimming in the
big ocean it’s the Frog ready to be out
of the whale with the Frog survive in
the big ocean I like to identify myself
as the big bird preparing my students uh
the little frogs a journey out sceptered
well learning another language would
certainly take them beyond the little
whale they live him however simply
learned the language is not good enough
we all know certain words and phrases
exists in some language but not in
another we all eat different foods
celebrate different holidays and have
different habits our thinking process is
vary from one culture to another because
we all interpret our world differently
it’s also important to understand that
certain concepts may exist in one
culture but not in another
for instance children whining was a very
strange concept to me when I first came
to this country children in my culture
do not whine
as a matter of fact if you look up the
verb to wine or to complain you will
have the same Chinese verb paulien and
English speakers knows that whining and
complaining are two different actions
and the concept of children whining
simply does not exist in the Chinese
cultural language because in that
culture children expected to behave like
grown-ups the ins culture will simply
let a child be a child it’s the same way
we look at teenagers we know they are
Moody
they are rebellious and they may be
heavy irrationally because they’re
raging hormones one of my teacher
friends described her high school
students as someone walking around with
underdeveloped frontal lobes it’s
socially accepted that teenagers or be
teenagers several weeks ago when I
register my teenage daughter for her
summer camp I forgot to include myself
as someone who can pick up the child
from the camp so the camp counselor is
refused to let me send her out
frustrated I half jokingly yell to her
who was standing outside of the office
tapping on her phone I said would you
please tell this nice nice lady that I’m
your mother still on her phone without
looking up she answered well I don’t
know do I know you
you can understand my embarrassment so I
turned to the camp counselor and I said
trust me no mother would pick up a
random teenager of her own free will
the camp counselor was laughing so hard
she let me sign up my daughter without
further ado when I returned the
following week she had shared my
teenager comment with other parents so
you see I got autumn a trouble by
telling a teenager joke however I was
offended somebody by making a similar
remark in a different culture I met this
German teacher in the conference in
Germany when she told me the age of her
own children at home I said Wow three
teenagers at home that must be hard
any American parents at this point of
time would have started on talking about
the trials and tribulations of raising
teenagers this woman to my surprise
look at me sternly and said they are all
good kids and walked away I think I
offended her so much she avoided talking
to me for the rest of the conference
let’s go back to the Frog story let’s
say the Frog has learned different
languages and understand the culture
differences and he’s ready to leave the
well and he wants to pack his suitcase
here we have three bags perseverance
Mama’s homemade cookies and star chasm
which bag should the Frog take certain
virtues such as politeness and
perseverance are universal Mama’s
homemade cookies if they fit into your
suitcase why not however as we open up
our minds to the outside world we also
need to leave something in our culture
behind to avoid misunderstanding in
another culture it is important to
understand that
I teach in the International
Baccalaureate program the writing
symbols my students are often graded by
teachers in other countries
one of the most freakin comment I say to
my students is be very careful about the
sockets and you use in your writing
it may not be appreciated in another
culture and I use a personal example
every summer I take my children back to
Taiwan to visit their grandparents
before they leave the house I always
tell them to leave your sockets and back
at home here in America no matter how
funny or punny you think the situation
is going to be my parents consider my
children are extremely rude and
insincere when they say something but
means something else opening up your
mind look at the world from another
conscious perspective it’s important
it’s learning another language over the
course of my teaching career I have
taught many little frogs one of them did
the artwork for my presentation today
there’s also one special frog let’s call
him froggy
when froggy was a freshman in high
school he was the loudest frog in my
classroom not only he was loud he was
sarcastic and loved to argue
froggy croaked our argued for three
years one day his junior year he told me
this for the past three years every time
I open my mouth you put me right back in
my place I was just so used to look at
the world only from my point of view
that self-realization was a pivotal
point for him in his senior year
froggy won a scholarship to visit
Germany his first trip south of the well
in college
froggy grabs every opportunity he gets
to travel around the world
he was especially proud of himself when
he was able to use his German skill to
navigate the streets in Poland where
English is not as common the ladies I
heard from him is that he’s learning the
art of haggling in the markets in Vienna
where he works as an intern now he has
opened up his mind to true how
understanding his sky has no limits our
children and students may have the
audacity to dream but as their parents
teachers and community leaders are we
preparing the way that their dream can
really come true I see myself more than
just a language teacher I prepare them
to become global citizens they need to
learn the language they need to
understand we all interpret the world
differently and most importantly they
need to open up their minds to the world
be young the well and don’t forget once
upon the time I was that little frog in
the well in Taiwan and I have used my
second language English to teach my
third language German for the past 19
years and I can say I survived in the
big ocean being prepared to have the
audacity to dream where ensure a dream
can really come true and it is my
biggest dream one day when all the
little frogs are out of the well they
can all live happily ever after
thank you very much
you
frog at the bottom of the well every day
they fought the Frog swim in the whale
pod Oh explore the walls of the well and
gaze upon the little round sky above him
he told himself I’m lucky frog no one in
the world lives better than me a paper
happened to fly by and stood on the edge
of the well upon hearing the boast of
the Frog the bird said jump out I’ll
carry you to see the big ocean where the
water is immense and the sky has no
limits this famous Chinese proverb gene
DG WA literally means a frog at the
bottom of the well but the phrase really
implies someone with limited outlook and
experience in life the ending of the
story always bothers me every time I
heard it growing up in Taiwan I have
always wondered before the Frog has the
audacity to dream about swimming in the
big ocean it’s the Frog ready to be out
of the whale with the Frog survive in
the big ocean I like to identify myself
as the big bird preparing my students uh
the little frogs a journey out sceptered
well learning another language would
certainly take them beyond the little
whale they live him however simply
learned the language is not good enough
we all know certain words and phrases
exists in some language but not in
another we all eat different foods
celebrate different holidays and have
different habits our thinking process is
vary from one culture to another because
we all interpret our world differently
it’s also important to understand that
certain concepts may exist in one
culture but not in another
for instance children whining was a very
strange concept to me when I first came
to this country children in my culture
do not whine
as a matter of fact if you look up the
verb to wine or to complain you will
have the same Chinese verb paulien and
English speakers knows that whining and
complaining are two different actions
and the concept of children whining
simply does not exist in the Chinese
cultural language because in that
culture children expected to behave like
grown-ups the ins culture will simply
let a child be a child it’s the same way
we look at teenagers we know they are
Moody
they are rebellious and they may be
heavy irrationally because they’re
raging hormones one of my teacher
friends described her high school
students as someone walking around with
underdeveloped frontal lobes it’s
socially accepted that teenagers or be
teenagers several weeks ago when I
register my teenage daughter for her
summer camp I forgot to include myself
as someone who can pick up the child
from the camp so the camp counselor is
refused to let me send her out
frustrated I half jokingly yell to her
who was standing outside of the office
tapping on her phone I said would you
please tell this nice nice lady that I’m
your mother still on her phone without
looking up she answered well I don’t
know do I know you
you can understand my embarrassment so I
turned to the camp counselor and I said
trust me no mother would pick up a
random teenager of her own free will
the camp counselor was laughing so hard
she let me sign up my daughter without
further ado when I returned the
following week she had shared my
teenager comment with other parents so
you see I got autumn a trouble by
telling a teenager joke however I was
offended somebody by making a similar
remark in a different culture I met this
German teacher in the conference in
Germany when she told me the age of her
own children at home I said Wow three
teenagers at home that must be hard
any American parents at this point of
time would have started on talking about
the trials and tribulations of raising
teenagers this woman to my surprise
look at me sternly and said they are all
good kids and walked away I think I
offended her so much she avoided talking
to me for the rest of the conference
let’s go back to the Frog story let’s
say the Frog has learned different
languages and understand the culture
differences and he’s ready to leave the
well and he wants to pack his suitcase
here we have three bags perseverance
Mama’s homemade cookies and star chasm
which bag should the Frog take certain
virtues such as politeness and
perseverance are universal Mama’s
homemade cookies if they fit into your
suitcase why not however as we open up
our minds to the outside world we also
need to leave something in our culture
behind to avoid misunderstanding in
another culture it is important to
understand that
I teach in the International
Baccalaureate program the writing
symbols my students are often graded by
teachers in other countries
one of the most freakin comment I say to
my students is be very careful about the
sockets and you use in your writing
it may not be appreciated in another
culture and I use a personal example
every summer I take my children back to
Taiwan to visit their grandparents
before they leave the house I always
tell them to leave your sockets and back
at home here in America no matter how
funny or punny you think the situation
is going to be my parents consider my
children are extremely rude and
insincere when they say something but
means something else opening up your
mind look at the world from another
conscious perspective it’s important
it’s learning another language over the
course of my teaching career I have
taught many little frogs one of them did
the artwork for my presentation today
there’s also one special frog let’s call
him froggy
when froggy was a freshman in high
school he was the loudest frog in my
classroom not only he was loud he was
sarcastic and loved to argue
froggy croaked our argued for three
years one day his junior year he told me
this for the past three years every time
I open my mouth you put me right back in
my place I was just so used to look at
the world only from my point of view
that self-realization was a pivotal
point for him in his senior year
froggy won a scholarship to visit
Germany his first trip south of the well
in college
froggy grabs every opportunity he gets
to travel around the world
he was especially proud of himself when
he was able to use his German skill to
navigate the streets in Poland where
English is not as common the ladies I
heard from him is that he’s learning the
art of haggling in the markets in Vienna
where he works as an intern now he has
opened up his mind to true how
understanding his sky has no limits our
children and students may have the
audacity to dream but as their parents
teachers and community leaders are we
preparing the way that their dream can
really come true I see myself more than
just a language teacher I prepare them
to become global citizens they need to
learn the language they need to
understand we all interpret the world
differently and most importantly they
need to open up their minds to the world
be young the well and don’t forget once
upon the time I was that little frog in
the well in Taiwan and I have used my
second language English to teach my
third language German for the past 19
years and I can say I survived in the
big ocean being prepared to have the
audacity to dream where ensure a dream
can really come true and it is my
biggest dream one day when all the
little frogs are out of the well they
can all live happily ever after
thank you very much
you
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