Sunday, September 18, 2011

Books near the Dinner Table

In the past, many Americans kept two or three books in the living room or near the dinner table. Can you guess what they are?


1 The Bible
2 A dictionary
3 An atlas

1 The Bible
Traditional Jewish and Christian families believe that the Bible's teachings (honor your parents, do not steal etc.) should be a part of everyday life, not something we only read on Saturday or Sunday.

EasyEnglish Bible Translation: Deuteronomy 6:5-7

v5 Love the *Lord your God with all of your mind and your thoughts. Make him the most important person in your lives. Think about him every day. v6 Remember with love all these rules that I give to you today. v7 Teach them and explain them every day to your children. Talk about them when you sit at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Repeat them when you lie down. Repeat them when you get up. 

Deuteronomy 申命記 6:5-7
6:5 你們要全心、全情、全力愛上主你們的上帝。
6:6
今天我向你們頒佈的誡命,你們要放在心裏,
6:7
殷勤教導你們的兒女。無論在家或出外,休息或工作,都要不斷地溫習這誡命。 
台灣聖經公會 http://cb.fhl.net/


2 A dictionary
In a healthy family, parents and children sit together at the dinner table or in front of the TV. They will talk about their day in school/at work, today's news etc. Parents want to help their children speak and write better English (The best way is to teach by example 以身作則. If you are always too busy or too lazy to check a dictionary, your children will never check either. Buy a good dictionary and use it). If somebody uses a difficult new word or the wrong word, a dictionary is nearby. Children who often check the dictionary will do well in school.

3 An atlas
When the family reads the newspaper, watches TV news or or an interesting program on National Geographic or Discovery channel, they often talk about new places. If children are curious, they can learn more about these places in an atlas. 

If you know where things are, it is easier to make friends with foreigners. 
Foreigner: “I’m from Uganda”
You: “Is that in Africa?”
Foreigner: Yes, it is.
What do they speak in Uganda?

In our first story, a man takes a train in Finland. Finland is part of Scandinavia (= Northern Europe).


Try these three habits at home.

Comments (10)

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Hello teacher:
Every day when I am free it was about 9 pm. so I don't have much time to study , I
always printed the story first, then I will use my spare time to do it.

I always telling my children to use dictionary to check the words, but they preferred
use computer or electric dictionary , they think it quickly and easily. but they still don't
know which meaning is more correctly. Thank you , you told us how to use the
dictionary and how to choose the correctly words.
1 reply · active 704 weeks ago
Using a dictionary correctly takes training and time.

Most people don't know how to use a dictionary: they are like people who think eating hamburgers and French fries every day is OK ("It tastes good and I don't feel hungry anymore") They become more and more unhealthy, but don't know why.

People who only use so-called "electronic dictionaries" are like those hamburger eaters: they don't understand why their bad habits are slowly making them sick. Electronic dictionary users think if they memorize many Chinese translations of English words, their English will get better. When their English doesn't get better, they don't blame their poor dictionary skills. Instead, they blame their work habits or their IQ ("I didn't memorize enough!" "I'm too stupid!") or blame English ("English is too difficult. I'll learn Japanese instead!"). This is so sad!
before I went to the school...my room have not any books even magazine..
but now the books piling up.
when I'm free. I'll open the dictionary to find 3 stars word.
try to understand what it mean...
I believe that will to promote my english ability...
fighting~~~~~
1 reply · active 704 weeks ago
Hurray! You're doing the right thing. Don't stop. Good results take time.
dear teacher~~~
I want to know if we want to say" 加油"
How to say it in USA?
fighting is mean"加油" in korea.
Could I use that in USA?
1 reply · active 704 weeks ago
Please ask in class
 Bella Varela's avatar

Bella Varela · 703 weeks ago

I keep a Romanian Christian song book near the dinning table, close to the kitchen.
As the food cooks on the stove I take breaks and look at this book
in search for favorite songs.
Then I sing those songs while stirring the food.
You can imagine what blessed and delicious meals we have !

And there are baskets with books in every room in the house
(except in the bathroom !- I treasure the books too much....)
My children have books next to their beds , so there is reading going on
until midnight and first thing in the morning.

I have a friend who has a world map on the wall, next to
the dinning table.
At every meal he and his family will "travel" to new places,
praying for the people living there.

And there is another friend who talks a lot -like me!
But ....I wish there was a dictionary around,
because we can only understand few of the words
spoken.
Pure mystery!
And fun !

May the God of peace be with you.
Because of Jesus,
Bella
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Wow! So impressive. I hope more people copy you!
Bella Varela's avatar

Bella Varela · 703 weeks ago

Also, in the livingroom I keep a basket full of books
for my husband and children to enjoy while they wait
for the food to be ready.
I add new books to the basket every few weeks.
1 reply · active 703 weeks ago
Such a devoted wife and mother. Your family has been blessed by the Lord!

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