Reading towards writing – Part 2

In this post I will explain a little more about how to read effectively.

We usually read for information, to answer test questions or just for fun, but forget about many other interesting detail about language from the passage. What I have learned from my junior high and high-school French classes are, always prepare some highlight pens while reading. You may need about 2 different colors, one for new words and the other, interesting expressions. With those highlights, whenever you revisit your previously read article, you’ll see right away what is important. (Don’t highlight my writing, tho, you’ll get plenty of errors )

Let’s have a look at a message I get from the International Student and Scholar Services of my school about safety Spring Break vacation. As I found no highlight in worpress, I will simply change the characters’ color instead.

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Okay, first, before reading, try to think how would you say these in English:

- hậu quả nghiêm trọng

- người có ít kinh nghiệm lái xe

- tai nạn (giao thông) nghiêm trọng

- lái xe cả đêm

- bị thương nặng

- nghe theo lời khuyên (của ai đó)

- đi chơi xa

- đi chơi gần

- ngủ một giấc thật ngon

- buồn ngủ khi đang lái xe

- ngủ trưa

- lái xe khi đang mệt mỏi

- tỉnh táo

- không phóng nhanh (khi lái xe)

- mất khả năng điều khiển (xe cộ)

- chạy xe đúng tốc độ cho phép

- bị văng ra khỏi xe (ô tô, trong một tai nạn)

- đường ướt

- đường trơn trượt (vì có băng)

- chất bạn bè lên xe (ô tô)

- khởi hành (một chuyến đi chơi)

- để ý, nghe theo một lời khuyên

Now read the passage

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INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WHO PLAN A ROAD TRIP

DURING SPRING BREAK

March 8. 2008

During school breaks, many international students in the U.S. have the desire to travel to and experience other parts of the U.S. To save money, they often travel by car or van with a group of friends, who split the costs of gas, hotel, etc. While most of these trips are uneventful, some of them have disastrous consequences. Because the students are sometimes inexperienced drivers, are not familiar with the U.S. highway system, may have little experience driving long distances or in winter road conditions, sometimes drive old or poorly maintained cars and even drive through the night to save money, International Student Offices in the U.S. are reporting an increasing number of severe accidents which result in serious injury and even death.

UB international students have been killed in car accidents and have been seriously injured in car crashes during school breaks. In fact, three UB international students were in a very serious car accident during Thanksgiving break two years ago. We would like to prevent future catastrophic accidents so are sending you some tips which we sincerely hope you will take seriously.

1) If you are not an experienced driver, travel by bus, train or plane instead of by car.

2) If you are an experienced driver, but are only accustomed to driving in Buffalo, do not attempt a long road trip. Plan a shorter trip instead. Take frequent breaks during your trip and drive shorter distances each day.

3) Get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast before beginning your trip. If you feel tired, delay your departure so you can rest first.

4) If you feel sleepy at the wheel, stop your car and take a nap or check in to a motel. Do not drive while fatigued. If you are a passenger, stay awake to be sure the driver is alert.

5) Never, ever, ever drink (alcohol) and drive.

6) Do not speed. You can easily lose control of your car if you are driving too fast. Drive only the speed limit.

7) Wear seatbelts at all times. ItR17;s the law for everyone in the car. Seatbelts will also ensure that you are not ejected from the car if there is an accident.

Do not drive at night. Above all, do not drive through the night to save hotel money. If you do, you can easily fall asleep at the wheel and have a serious accident.

9) If the road is wet, slow down. If the road is icy, do not continue driving. Check in to a motel instead.

10) Travel with at most one or two friends. Do not rent a van, fill it with friends and classmates, and embark on a trip. Too many international students in the U.S. have died in van crashes. (Such crashes frequently result in multiple deaths.)

We hope that you will have an interesting, enjoyable and SAFE spring break by taking to heart the advice in this message.

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Remember them and use them in your sayings

Have an interesting, enjoyable and safe spring break

Reading towards writing

Does it sound strange? It should not, at least for me . It sounds like “Listening towards speaking”, when I listen to others speaking English, most of the time I’ll try to capture what expressions they are using, such as “roll up and deal with it”, or “Down the hall then take your right” (what we would say is: Go straight down this hallway then turn left). “Way to go” to a good English speaker, tho

Okay, the phrases above is just good for speaking, and maybe regional terms, too. For writing we have to read quite a lot. Frankly, I’m a super lazy reader. That is the reason why I know how to become good in writing, but never could I produce a nice paragraph

Alright. So what? In books for TOEFL there are plenty of advices about reading. They tell us to read from NYTimes, USAToday, Reader’s Digest, etc. (at least the books I got said so), especially from the Opinion, or Op Ed part… Well I tried it, but I didn’t learn much from those articles. One reason, I’m slow . Second reason: those whose writing is published on these popular newspapers/magazines should be very good at formal writing, while I’m too far from that.

Just recently I have found intermediate level articles that I really enjoy reading, learn from, and hopefully you, too. They are school newspapers, where students write for themselves. Their writing should be closer to ours. We have The Spectrum in our school, SUNY at Buffalo. There is also MIT Admission Blogs. And I believe other schools have theirs, too.

To start, I would like to invite you to try one article from The Spectrum, about the controversal right to carry gun in America. Personally I don’t like the idea of allowing citizens to be armed. But the guy support himself really good, and we can learn a lot about writing from his article.

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My turn

The right of individuals and students to protect themselves

MARK W. WEBB – UB School of Management Sophomore

In this fair country of ours, it would seem that the majority of the people consider some of our constitutional rights as more important or more sacred than others. For example, no one, except for the die-hard enemies of democracy, would challenge the first amendment rights of citizens to freedom of speech, religion, and the press. On the other hand, a great multitude of individuals and politicians seem to dismiss the Second Amendment, the right of all Americans to keep and bear arms.

Compared to the general public today, our founding fathers felt much differently about this important issue. They understood that people had a right to live, a right to defend their life, and the right to live it as they saw fit. In fact, they felt so strongly about an individual’s rights to this that they said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Even today, I believe many would be hard-pressed to say that an individual is not entitled to such things; so how is it that “we the people” are so lightly surrendering our right to defend our lives?

In the light of such incidents as the recent campus shooting at Northern Illinois University and the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007, people are quick to blame guns and the “obsession” America has with them. Many use such incidents to fuel anti-gun legislation and brainwash and/or force good, law-abiding citizens to relinquish their rights by banning firearms. You may not know it, but there exist a number of so-called “Gun-Free Zones” all across America. These include universities, some government offices, primary and secondary schools, along with many others depending on the state. In fact, you’re most likely in a Gun-Free Zone (UB) while you’re reading this. These zones force law-abiding citizens, with otherwise completely legitimate and official permits to carry concealed firearms for their protection and the protection of others, to leave their legal weapons at home. You may be inclined to think that this is a good thing: “the fewer guns the better, right?” Well, if you’re talking about criminals, yes: the fewer the better – I’m with you; however, if you’re talking about law-abiding citizens who know how to handle a gun safely and properly, then absolutely not. “Gun-Free Zones” and related laws DO NOT stop criminals from carrying out their illegal and murderous acts – they only prevent good law-abiding citizens from defending themselves and others. The murderers of Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, and many others planned to kill the innocent and then themselves; why would they bother obeying a “Gun-Free Zone” if they’re already going to commit murder and don’t plan on living more than a minute or two past their sickening acts anyway?

In the end we must recognize we cannot stop insane people intent on committing insane actions, no matter what laws or legislation are passed. We see shootings at schools because the politicians and the government have disarmed good citizens, and hence offered up a flock of sheep to the slaughter – a place where the likes of Eric Harris, Cho, and Steven Kazmierczak can kill without worrying whether or not their victims are armed. We may feel safe, but campus police and even the regular police are not everywhere at once, and the casualty rates of such shootings prove this. If lawful students/faculty with proper licensing and training sufficient for everywhere outside such zones, could carry their firearms onto campuses, these shootings would be fewer in number and the number of victims would drastically decrease. We should not wait for these killers to finish their work and commit suicide. We should be defending ourselves in kind. All of us have a right to defend our lives, 24/7 and 365 – regardless of what those in Albany say.

Remember the victims of “Gun-Free Zones” and use your First Amendment Rights to stand up for the Second Amendment. In this “Gun-Free Zone” at the University of Buffalo, it’s a big step towards the only defense we have in the face of madmen at the moment of truth.

How can I speak English like an American?

This post is combined from here and here of Yahoo Answer!

Best Answers (the first one is chosen by asker, the second one is chosen by voters)

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By Two Lips:

I’ve answered this question asked by someone else already, but here I go again.
First, WHY would you want to speak like an American? I’m Canadian. Believe me, you should aspire to speak like a Canadian instead. Canada is a cultural mosaic while America is a melting pot. Canada encourages people to celebrate their heritage and allows for dual citizenship, all of which is frowned upon in the U.S. If you speak with an accent indicating that English is not your first language, this is a NORMAL thing in Canada and no one will think any the worse of you.
Second, if you insist on speaking like an American, you do NOT have to learn your grammar as others have suggested; rather, FORGET the grammar you do know, especially the present perfect. Americans do not say, “I have forgotten my key.” They say, “I forgot my key,” and they wouldn’t be able to explain when one is supposed to use the present perfect as opposed to the past simple.
Third, Americans have a tendency to swallow their words, so I would recommend you put large amounts of gum in your mouth and speak while you chew.
Fourth, there are so many different accents throughout the North American continent. You can’t just say “American accent”.
Fifth, be proud that you have learned English on top of your mother tongue. It’s not easy to learn a different language. Congratulations on having done so.
Good luck in your endeavour.

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To speak well like the Americans, speak to Americans. Find and create every opportunity to have a conversation.

Watch more American movie or TV program.

Don’t be embarrassed about your grammar or vocabulary. The most important thing is to use t as often as possible.

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Other answers are:

Practice makes perfect, they say. It is not always true though. Depending on how old you are, whether you live in America or not, and of course depending on the amount of communication (both when you speak and listen), you will get to a certain degree of pronunciation. I am a professional translator and I lived in USA for three years now, but I still speak with a Russian accent myself. I heard of a 76-year old woman, living in Britain, who moved there when she was little, and she speaks with an accent still. Try hard, attempt to listen not only to the words, but the ways they are pronounced. Also try to sing after American singers – it will be fun, not boring way to practice. If you have an opportunity ask an American to correct your pronunciation, and don’t get offended by it. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, don’t forget, that the main thing is your ABILITY to speak the language – they understand you, that’s really all that matters. HOW you speak it is another matter – you want to be better? please yourself, but don’t get stressed if it doesn’t work out – most of people don’t even speak a second language.

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Watch CNN instead of BBC;) And – American films;) Well, generally I think most of us have no accent – only the one of our native language… I would love to speak British, but … I don’t know, looks like I was born with American – somebody told me… And it “improved” as I had an American teacher.. – maybe try that?

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Watch more American movies, talk to more Americans, speak English at all times. You can record your speech and listen to it to see how you improve.

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And, finally, have fun with your study

We are no heroes

Let’s relax with this lovely song

(Well… I could not embed it to this blog as WordPress does not support it. You need to click on this link to go to the song then. Happy listening )

WE ARE NO HEROES
[Music and Lyrics: Dieter Bohlen]

You’re (1) ____ in your heart
And I swear I will be there, if you need me
Nobody’s home, (2) _________
And I’ll show you there will be a destiny
There’s a star, it shows the way for me and you
There’s a star (3) __________ what I shouldn’t do
So if you trust me I’ll stay always by your side
And I promised I’ll be your (4) ____ light

We are no heroes, but we are your friends
We all need love, oh, just (5)________, baby
We are no heroes, oh, don’t let it end
And music, music will (6)_____
There’s a chance for your dream
You are larger than (7)__________
A romance, oh, it seems
It’s so hard to find, my baby, can’t you see
Oh, I’ve lived a (8)_______, baby, in one
Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, but (9) ______
Life is too short, my baby, don’t throw it all away
And I promised, babe, I’ll (10) ________.

Listening & Speaking practice – Trial version

Hi all,

How is the semester going so far? It seems like everyone is getting busy, letting our blog kind of deserted

I got suggestions and questions from my friends about speaking problems. Here are some of my thoughts. Those are not new, but I believe they worth being repeated.

1. The first key to successful speaking is somehow get a clear and correct pronunciation for each word.

2. Don’t be afraid to speak so slow. What to be afraid of is speak so fast but others could not understand us (you may want to check Dr Le Dung post – Kinh nghiem hoc tieng Anh va nhung sai lam cua toi).

3. Don’t get panic when you don’t know the exact word for whatever you want to talk about, use alternate words/phases. The ultimate purpose of speaking is to communicate, right? So do whatever you can to “transfer” your idea to others. That’s what I do all the time, from the first time I started learning English till now (cuz I’m very very lazy to learn new words and I have very bad memory )

Anyway, today I have a “new” idea to try, let’s see how much you guys like this. This is to practice both listening and speaking. I just know that NPR has an interactive show where listeners call to express their own ideas. Listening to this show will definitely help you with contemporary English speaking. How American speak and express their ideas, how they pronounce and their intonation, and more important, how they put all the words together to express their idea. I believe this show will be very beneficial for anyone who would like to improve their listening and speaking skills.

The show is good, but they do not provide the script for it. Well… actually they did, but we have to pay some money to get the transcript. Here is my idea. Each time I will suggest which show and episode to listen to. You will try to listen and write down the transcript (namely, write down whatever they said). This will be a contribution topic. You might work at your own peace, type the transcript as comments reply to this post, and we will check if you get the correct script or not. As soon as we finish with one episode, we will start a new one.

You don’t have to write down everything. Just try part by part. Please however keep the parts in the right order, so we can easily follow and construct the whole transcript back if needed. In brief, start with the beginning if you are the first to reply, or start with the end of the previous person.

Here is our first topic:

Gore Nobel sparks debate over Climate and Peace

Talk of the Nation, October 16, 2007 · On Friday, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in promoting awareness of global climate change. The honor has sparked a public debate, as some question the characterization of climate change awareness as peace work.

Link

Click on the “Listen” button. You only need Windows Media Player to hear it.

Have fun

- Minh Anh -

Around the world of blog

This post is to answer to a Luan’s question about news from Vietnam from us. Along with waiting for news our authors and readers, I’d like to introduce some of the interesting blogs that I’ve known so far.

Blog Khoa Học Máy Tính, from a Hưng, Associate Professor of the Computer Science Department of my school, SUNY at Buffalo. This is a little like his online journal, and many of his posts are very interesting. There he has Blog Cầu to introduce interesting blogs around us, and in a post where he asked reader to introduce interesting Vietnamese’s Blog, a reader gave lots of blogs from our journalists, I think those might help us with having lots of news from Vietnam. He also personally recommend the journalist Huy Duc’s blog. He also have the Categories of Dành Cho Du Học Sinh, Giới Thiệu Sách and Trang Web Hay that I think are very interesting for us.

Well, those are just one way to know more about news from Vietnam, I hope that someone at home might be willing to answer a Luan’s question for more news ^^, the more people the more news the better

What is your favorite online dictionaries and why?

My current 3 favorites dictionaries are:

1. Dictionary.com:  fast and easy looking up with a huuuuuuge result coming from a diversity of resources: Dictionary.com Unabridge, American Herritage Dictionary, Online Etymology Dictionary, Wordnet, Online Medical Dictionary and Merriam Webster’s Medical Dictionary. Moreover, from the right upper corner links of the page, we can easily change to Thesaurus for synonyms and antonyms (from Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, ), Encyclopedia for anything related to the word, All References for the combination of all the 3 above, and finally, The Web for … well… I don’t know . Previously it also cited results from The Merriam Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, and offered sound pronunciation for each word. Now as it have just begun its commercial version where we have to pay to be able to listen to the pronunciation, the Merriam Webster results are taken off. The free version is still valuable for us when looking for a word.

2.  Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: There is 2 ways to use it.

One way is, simply use its features on the front page for a fast result. We can hear the pronunciation by clicking on the small red speaker next to the word.

Second way is, using its Unabridged Dictionary. If we look at the lower left corner of the front page, there is a small add say “FREE Premium Access”, click on it, then click on the blue button saying “Click Here To Enter Free …”, view a short commercial add. When the add is over, there will be a link to the Unabridged Dictionary at the lower right corner of the page, click on it and enjoy its premium features.

Personally I prefer Dictionary.com over Merriam Webster, and just go to Merriam Webster to listen to the word.

3. Vdict.com: mostly for a fast English – Vietnamese translation. This dictionary is sometimes not accurate and not so informative. But in general it is OK to use.

Improve your English by blogging with BBC

Added by Paul Scott on September 11, 2007 (Thank you very much for your information )

Hello everyone.

I work on the bbclearningenglish.com website. I am glad that you have found the blog area of our site and that you think it is a good idea.

I thought I would try to answer the questions above. For September and October we will not be running a competition.

I hope that we will be able to resume the blog competition during the month of October and announce a winner of the competition at the end of the month, ready for November.

You can find out what is happening with the competition by visiting the blog competition page, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/blog_competition.shtml

You may also like to join our Facebook group where we will also announce when the blog competition restarts.

Thank you for your interest in our site and good luck with your English.

Paul
BBC Learning English

Comment by Paul Scott | September 11, 2007 <!– @ 12:11 pm –> | Edit

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Update: There will be no Blog Competition of BBC this August and September. If you are interested in their competition you’ll have to wait for a while ^^

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Out of many interesting features it has, the BBC Learning English network is now holding A Blog Competition, here is the detail

Each month we will run a competition to select a new student blogger. The winning blogger will need to write a daily diary about their life on this site.

To enter you need to:

• Answer three questions.
• Write a paragraph explaining what you would blog about if you won.
• Send your three answers and your paragraph to learningenglish@bbc.co.uk
• Remember to include your name, country and contact telephone number and please put ‘blog competition’ in the subject line.

What does the blogger do?

• Every week, Monday to Friday, for a month, the blogger will visit this site and write a blog.
• The blogger will be able to write about most things but must stay within our blogging houserules.
• The blogger may respond to comments sent in by visitors to the website.
• The blogger will receive language guidance and writing ideas from the teacher blogger and can use this information within their blogs.

There are, of course, some rules you need to follow, please refer to them here.

I sure don’t have to say anything about the benefit of winning this competition and writing for them, you know it all . Last time’s winner was an Vietnamese girl named Ha. She wrote a lot about our country with many beautiful pictures, you can read her writing from The Student blogger. Correspondingly, you can read many great comments and vocabulary from The Teacher blogger. Just one note, this is British English so some of the idioms and phrases may not apply to American English. However this is a great opportunity to improve your English skill

Good Morning, Vietnam … er, Oklahoma

While checking my old emails I saw this interesting article from The NYTimes that anh Phú sent us long time ago. If you found this article difficult to read here, you may follow the link above to go to the original page and use the auto look-up of the NYTimes that I mentioned on previous post to help with your reading. Enjoy

By MATT GROSS

AMERICANS do not like vegetables. At least, it seems that way after almost two months on the road, during which I’ve eaten at countless country cafes and rarely ever encountered anything fresh and green. When I have, it’s been iceberg salads with toupees of flavorless yellow cheese, battered and deep-fried string beans and, inevitably, cole slaw.

Not that the food hasn’t been delicious — like the pulled pork at Blue Mist in Asheboro, N.C., or the patty melt at Spice Water Cafe in Lime Springs, Iowa. But a diet of meat, starch and fat is not what you want when you spend hours a day sitting in a car. Often, as I digested the latest gut bomb, I would wonder if my budget was keeping me away from greener, healthier restaurants. But, no. I rarely glimpsed such places outside big cities and a few hip towns.

And so, with Oklahoma City in my sights, I headed south as fast as I could. I had one thing on my mind: Vietnamese food.

It may come as a surprise that Oklahoma’s capital has a significant Vietnamese population — around 20,000, according to the Vietnamese American Community organization — but such ethnic enclaves are a new American reality. Hmong live in large numbers in Minnesota, for example, while Columbus, Ohio, is home to some 30,000 Somalis. And in each case, the immigrants bring their own cuisines, which often are tasty, full of veggies and inexpensive.

Oklahoma City, however, lay a long way from Nebraska, where I’d just visited Carhenge (www.carhenge.com). From there, I drove through Kansas, stopping at Greensburg to witness the aftermath of the May 4 tornado. Then I had to drop the car off in Wichita, at Gorges & Company Volvo (3211 North Webb Road, 316-630-0689, www.volvobygorges.com), for much-needed repairs; 6,000 miles’ worth of leaks and electrical problems cost a disheartening $855.

 

It was late on Saturday evening when I finally drove into Oklahoma City and checked into the first place that looked clean, had Wi-Fi and was cheap. The Hospitality Inn (3709 NW 39th Street, 405-942-7730) is a simple motel — two stories arranged around a swimming pool — but it is on the fabled Route 66 and less sketchy than some of the older motels, and the proprietor knocked the price down from $62 a night to $51.25 when I said I’d be staying three days.There was a lot to see, but the real plan was to eat as much Vietnamese food as possible. I knew this would take discipline, so as soon as I woke up Sunday morning, I went jogging. The motel is on a highway, but a few blocks south is Will Rogers Park, several acres of grass, trees and ponds. Ducks and geese and hares had to scurry as I bounded over bridges, through the rose garden and around the arboretum for about 30 minutes. On my way back, I took note of the park’s tennis center and wondered if I could find a partner there later in the day.

Now, however, it was time for breakfast, so I drove through the city, past numerous barbecue joints and root beer stands for the more balanced delights awaiting me in the city’s Asian District, a modest neighborhood of strip malls and slightly run-down houses lining North Classen Boulevard.

I knew exactly what I’d be eating: pho, the beef noodle soup that is considered the national dish of Vietnam. It may seem a strange breakfast, but all over Southeast Asia, it’s common to begin the day with noodle soup.

And that’s how I began at Pho Hoa (901 NW 23rd Street, 405-521-8087), recommended by an Oklahoma-born friend. In the brightly lit room, surrounded by Vietnamese families, I ordered a small bowl. The first bite was heaven, as if my taste buds had been in suspended animation all these weeks. The noodles were thin but firm, the broth redolent of star anise, topped with thin slices of rare flank steak and well-cooked brisket. I garnished it with bean sprouts, basil and ngo gai, a long, lemony leaf known as sawtooth or culantro, then squeezed in some lime juice and mixed it all together. The bean sprouts crunched, and the herbs provided a fresh counterpoint to the hot soup.

When I dipped a slice of flank steak in a little dish of Sriracha chili sauce, I could tell it had been a long time since I’d eaten like this — my tongue, usually able to withstand any assault, from habaneros to bird’s eyes, was on fire. I cooled down with a salted-lime soda, then walked out the door with an iced coffee enriched with condensed milk, having paid only $11.53 for a taste not just of Vietnam but of home. (I lived in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, in 1996 and 1997.)

My stomach temporarily full, I drove downtown to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, a park dedicated to the victims of Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Two stone arches bracket a reflecting pool, bearing the times “9:01” (before the bombing) and “9:03” (after), and 168 chairs sit in a field of grass to represent those who died.

As I walked in, I heard a teenager ask his mother why McVeigh did it.

“Well, he had something against the government, I guess,” she answered, and they walked out.

If they’d stuck around, they could’ve learned more from Rick Thomas, the National Park Service employee who gave a free orientation under the Survivor Tree, a century-old elm. In the span of 15 minutes, he covered everything from the details of the attack to the ways the memorial tries to address the emotions of everyone affected by the bombing. I left hoping my own city’s 9/11 memorial winds up being, as Doug Kamholz, a reader, wrote of this one, “a worthy balm to the heart.”

After a brief stroll through the area, I returned to the Asian District around 11:30 a.m. in search of banh mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches. And in Oklahoma City, the signal for banh mi is an enormous milk bottle sitting atop a tiny shack on Classen Boulevard. Once, this place sold Braum’s ice cream; now it’s Banh Mi Ba Le (2426 North Classen Boulevard, 405-524-2660), famous as much for its outsize sign as for its warm mini-baguettes stuffed with roast pork, pâté, cha lua (a Vietnamese mortadella), lightly pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro and green chilies. I love them — especially when they cost $1.85. It’s ridiculous how much you get for so little.

It was sort of the opposite at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (1700 NE 63rd Street, 405-478-2250, www.nationalcowboymuseum.org; entry, $8.50), which readers suggested I visit. It was quite large, with rooms full of saddles, guns, clothing and cowboy art, but it seemed geared toward 10-year-old boys, more interested in perpetuating the romantic myth of the cowboy than in understanding how that myth came to be and what it means for American culture. It was almost as if “Deadwood” and “Unforgiven” never existed.

As I drove away from the museum, I passed yet another barbecue joint, right next door, and wondered if I was missing something in my single-minded devotion to Vietnamese cuisine.

Then I arrived at Banh Cuon Tay Ho (Little Saigon Shopping Center, 2524 North Military Avenue, 405-528-7700) for a midafternoon snack and forgot all about hickory-smoked slabs of meat. The signature dish, banh cuon, is a kind of northern Vietnamese ravioli — warm, thick, soft rice noodles filled with ground pork and mushrooms, and topped with bean sprouts, sliced cucumbers, cha lua and shredded mint. Here it was served with a fried cake of sweet potato and shrimp that was simultaneously salty and sweet, crunchy and creamy. In fact, I think the whole plate contained every known texture and flavor — and for a mere $6.

By now, I needed to work off three meals, so I returned to the park, hoping to find a pick-up tennis partner. I didn’t. (Who but the Frugal Traveler goes to a tennis court alone?) Instead, I swam laps in the Hospitality Inn pool, napped briefly and emerged from the motel — ready to eat again.

Golden Phoenix (2728 North Classen Boulevard, 405-524-3988), recommended by the proprietor of Banh Mi Ba Le, was bustling with families and college students, and with the help of my waitress, who giggled at my poor Vietnamese, I put together a standard southern Vietnamese dinner — the kind of meal I ate every day a decade ago. First, a deep-fried soft-shell crab that dribbled its bubbling green juices into my rice bowl with every bite. Then water spinach stir-fried with garlic, fresh from the wok, the tubular stems crunchy, the leafy bits lush and juicy. A clay pot showed up full of caramelized braised fish, and finally goi ngo sen, a salad of cucumber and young lotus shoots threaded through with rau ram, a diamond-shaped leaf that tastes like cilantro but is spicier and soapier.

I ate — and ate and ate. Soon, I knew, I’d be off to Texas and day after day of beautiful barbecue (mm, burnt ends!), but for now I was crunching through fresh veggies, searing my mouth with chilies and drowning myself in fish sauce — deliriously happy in the heartland of America.

By the time I finished, I’d spent $48 (including a beer, dessert and tip) and barely touched the lotus-shoot salad — it was just too much food. Instead, I had it boxed up to take back to the motel. It wasn’t quite pho, but it would do for breakfast.

Next stop: Texas.

Học tiếng Anh với The New York Times

Mình nghĩ có rất nhiều bạn đã biết đến The NY Times khá lâu, nhất là phần The NY Times Learning Network dành cho các học sinh lớp 3 đến 12 (grade 3 to 12), nhưng đối với SV Việt Nam tụi mình thì nhiêu đó cũng đủ mệt rồi . Trước đây khi còn học luyện thi TOEFL mình cũng rất hay vào đây in bài ra tập đọc.

Ngoài các phần như Daily New Quiz, Word Of the day, Test Prep Question of the day (dành cho SAT), các bạn có thể xem thêm Conversation Starter – nơi nêu ra các câu hỏi liên quan tới những sự kiện đang xảy ra trên thế giới, Letters to the Editor – nơi các em học sinh gửi thư nói lên suy nghĩ của mình đối với những sự kiện đã xảy ra, Ask a reporter – nơi các em học sinh hỏi và nhận được câu trả lời từ các phóng viên, và Web Navigator – nơi có rất nhiều links dẫn tới những websites học tập khác, và còn nhiều chủ đề khác mà bạn có thể khám phá.

Ngoài ra, hôm nay tôi mới phát hiện ra một khả năng mới của The NY Times, đó là tra từ nhanh chóng và tiện lợi khi đang đọc bất cứ bài báo nào bên ngoài Learning Network. Rất đơn giản, khi đọc đến một từ bạn không biết, hãy di chuyển con trỏ đến đúng từ đó và double click.  Một cửa sổ pop up sẽ hiện ra, trong đó có phần định nghĩa từ American Heritage, Wordnet, và có thể có cả từ Thesaurus, Idioms, Grammar dictionary, … Có một số điểm lưu ý là tính năng này không hoạt động ở trang điểm tin ngoài và sẽ chỉ bắt đầu hoạt động khi trang web đã được tải xong hoàn toàn. Ngoài ra bạn cũng phải enable pop up cho các trang của The New York Times nếu bạn có xài pop-up blocker.

Tony Phillips’ Take on Math in the Media – A monthly survey of math news

This month’s topics from Math in the Media from the AMS.

• Too good at math?
• Mathematical patterns in songs
• Curvature and the growth of cells

Too good at math?

According to Slate Magazine’s Fred Kaplan (posting updated May 18, 2007), Paul Wolfowitz’s problem is that “He’s too good at math.” Wolfowitz, the former Deputy Secretary of Defense and the soon-to-be former President of the World Bank, majored in mathematics and chemistry at Cornell (his Ph.D. is in political science). His excellence in math is in fact a matter of record: according to Anil Nerode “Paul was one of the two or three smartest math students I’ve ever seen.” (Quoted by David Dudley in the Cornell Alumni Magazine Online). How this talent is a flaw is not clear from Kaplan’s analysis, which begins by positing “… judgment and character trump dedication and belief …” as the root explanation for Wolfowitz’s downfall. Judgment and character, dedication and belief, both pairs of traits are quite independent of mathematical ability. What the Slate piece shows in fact is that Kaplan himself has had some disagreeable experiences with mathematicians: “In math, methodologies and answers are right or wrong, and those who choose the wrong ones are properly ignored or savagely dismissed. Mathematicians who enter the political realm tend to retain this attitude.” Perhaps at the undergraduate level, where answers can be checked at the back of the book, one can reduce everything to “methodologies and answers are right or wrong.” Kaplan does not seem to realize that the universe of a working mathematician is much more like real life, where one struggles to disentangle what is true from what one would like to be true.

Mathematical patterns in songs

One of the videos generated by the the 2007 New Yorker Conference has their staff writer Malcolm Gladwell interviewing Mike McCready, whose company, Platinum Blue, has developed computer algorithms for analyzing songs. In the interview, McCready describes (in rather non-specific terms) how Platinum Blue’s software has identified 30 quantifiable elements in the makeup of a song which are significant enough for neighborhoods in this 30-dimensional space to be commercially exploitable. For example, a pop hit will fall with very high probability into one of some 60 clusters. Taking the points corresponding to the songs in an album and overlaying them on the display of hit clusters can help a producer identify which track should be released as a single. The ultimate commercial application, McCready believes, will be a personal recommendation service, where Platinum Blue takes a set of your favorite songs (which can include classical items or music from exotic cultures) and generates a list of music titles which you are mathematically guaranteed to like, even though you may never have heard of them.

Curvature and the growth of cells

A mathematics article was published, April 26, 2007, in the general science journal Nature. This unusual occurrence is due to the prominence and wide applicability of the result. Robert MacPherson and David Srolovitz solved the 50-year old problem of generalizing to three dimensions John von Neumann’s work on the growth of cells in planar tesselations. The hypotheses in both cases are that cell walls move with a velocity proportional to their mean curvature, and that domain walls meet at 120°, hypotheses which are realized in many physical and biological contexts.

Von Neumann showed that the rate of change dA/dt of the area A of such a cell can be expresed in terms of γ the surface tension of a domain wall, M a kinetic coefficient describing the walls’ mobility and n the number of vertices where distinct walls intersect, by

dA/dt = –2πMγ(1 – n/6). So for example in the tesselation portion shown in Fig. 1, the 8-vertex regions A and B will grow at the expenseof the 2-vertex region C.

Fig. 1. With the common factor 2πMγ set to 1, von Neumann’s formula tells us that dA/dt = dB/dt = 1/3, while dC/dt = – 2/3.

MacPherson and Srolovitz’s formula for the rate of change of the volume of a domain D in a 3-dimensional tesselation is formally analogous but requires the new and ingeniously defined mean width , which they describe as “a natural measure of the linear size” of D. In terms of , their formula reads

, where e_i is the length of the i-th 1-dimensional edge of D, and the sum is taken over all the edges. Note that following our initial requirement, faces meet 3 by 3 along an edge with dihedral angles 120°.

The mean width is computed in two steps. First, for each line through the origin, the Euler width of D along is the integral along of the Euler characteristic of the intersection of D with the plane perpendicular to (see Fig. 2):

. So if D is convex (χ always = 1), is exactly the length of the projection of D on .

Fig. 2. For D a 3-dimensional domain, and a line through the origin, the Euler width of D along is calculated by measuring, for each point p on , the Euler characteristic of the intersection of D with the plane through p perpendicular to , and integrating along . Image from Nature 446, 1053-1055, used with permission.

Then is computed as twice , averaged over the space RP² of lines through the origin:

, where d is normalized to have total integral 1.

The authors state that their formula and von Neumann’s are both special cases of a general n-dimensional formula, which they give. The Supplementary Information for their article (entitled “The von Neumann relation generalized to coarsening of three-dimensional microstructures”) gives the proof of their 3-dimensional formula and rules for computing ; for example the cube of side length a has mean width 3a.

Tony Phillips
Stony Brook University
tony at math.sunysb.edu

Lại thêm một Forum hữu ích cho học Anh Văn

Hôm nay mình đang lang thang trên mạng thì phát hiện ra Forum này. Không rõ có ai nhắc tới chưa (lười quá không check lại đâu ) nhưng mình nghĩ Forum này xứng đáng để được giới thiệu riêng, hữu ích cho không chỉ các bạn đang luyện thi TOEFL mà nó còn có những tài liệu tốt cho các tiền bối đã đi du học nhưng vẫn cần luyện thêm về nói tiếng Anh, đó là ÁiChàChà! Information Exchange http://www.aichacha.com/forum/index.php?act=home

Mình chưa có thời gian nghiên cứu kĩ Forum này, nhưng nhìn thoáng qua thì nó có những nội dung hấp dẫn sau:

Tải các ebooks – Mình thấy rất nhiều sách hay để luyện tiếng Anh.

Tải các phần mềm – có cả Matlab 7.1

Trao đổi nhạc, phim, shows.

Nếu vào Forum chính, bạn sẽ tìm được thêm nhiều tài liệu và tin tức mới.

Forum này do các cựu sinh viên trường Đại Học Ngoại Ngữ Hà Nội (Hufs) thành lập.

Harry Potter Grows Older and Darker

(From Time)

Deep into the new movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, our teen wizard (Daniel Radcliffe) finds the strength to face down the dark lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) — and the wisdom to pity him. “You can never know love or friendship,” Harry tells the noxious, noseless one. “And I feel sorry for you.”

 

Special Report

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The final Harry Potter book will be released July 21, and a lot of factors go into creating that “magic moment”

A creature of such magnificent maleficence, who rules less by his own considerable powers than by others’ fear of him, feeds on cunning and hatred. And that, Harry believes, should make Voldemort hungry for what he lacks: humanity. He is almost chaste in the purity of his evil, innocent of inner virtue. His genius for mischief leaves no room for the emotions and kindnesses that make Harry both more vulnerable and more formidable than the dark lord knows. That goodness, that love, is what lifts Harry above other heroes of young people’s literature; that love, and the amazing detail J.K. Rowling has poured into her imaginary universe, are what attracted readers to the Potter oeuvre. It was love at first sight.

First love is a tumbling passion, an addiction to a substance one didn’t know existed. Readers encountering the first Harry Potter books felt something like the glorious enthrallment of first love, the swooning immersion in a strange, seductive new world, without the concomitant misery and an impulse to stroll off the nearest bridge. That’s one of the perks of the best popular culture; it offers the ecstasy without the depression.

Another perk: Harrymania didn’t become epidemic in the U.S. until The Prisoner of Azkaban, the third in J.K. Rowling’s seven-book saga, hit the bookstores. So most fans gleefully consumed nearly half of the total opus in one reading orgy — shot themselves into the canon, so to speak — as they learned the lore, were introduced to the wizarding world and became familiar with its rules. Hogwarts was a secret society, a magical fraternity, that the reader heard about in the first book, joined in the second and had moved into by the third.

And though the books were officially in the 9-to-12 children’s section (and banned from the New York Times’ main best-seller list), Potterphilia was an affliction that touched adults too. I’m no kid, and I have none that I know of, but in August of 1999 I read all three books aloud to my wife, who stayed up way past bedtime to insist on hearing one more chapter.

…

Read the entire article here.

Tìm thông tin du học Hoa Kỳ ở đâu?

Sưu tầm từ mục Tư vấn du học của Tuổi Trẻ Online.

Nói chung thì các bạn khoa mình không cần phải lo về vụ này, nhưng mình nghĩ trong đây cũng có vài thông tin hay cho cả các bạn SV trong hay ngoài khoa Toán tụi mình  

Original Document. 

Phụ huynh, học sinh tìm hiểu thông tin du học Hoa Kỳ tại một triển lãm du học được tổ chức tại TP.HCM – Ảnh: Như Hùng

TT – Nhiều người có ý định đi du học ở Hoa Kỳ, nhưng lại khá mơ hồ về những thông tin du học ở nước này. Những thông tin cần thiết ấy có đầy trên các trang web.

Từ phổ thông đến ĐH

Chỉ cần đến với trang www.foreignborn.com/self-help/school/index.htm, phụ huynh, học sinh sẽ tìm được thông tin về cả hệ thống trường phổ thông tại Hoa Kỳ. Bản đồ trên trang web cho phép “tham quan” hơn 120.000 trường phổ thông gồm khoảng 92.000 trường công lập và 29.000 trường tư theo từng tiểu bang riêng biệt. Ở đó, phụ huynh sẽ có được địa chỉ, điện thoại, số học sinh và nhiều thông tin khác. Còn nếu như chỉ muốn tìm những trường công lập, phụ huynh cũng có thể vào địa chỉ www.greatschools.net hoặc chỉ cần tìm những trường tư thì có thể viếng thăm trang www.boardingschoolreview.com. Bên cạnh đó là trang thông tin về những trường chỉ dành cho học sinh nước ngoài www.schools.com, www.boardingschoolusa.com/toc.asp, http://nces.ed.gov/, www.nais.org.

Ngoài ra, chương trình trao đổi văn hóa, các ĐH cộng đồng cùng những khóa học tiếng Anh nâng cao cũng được rất nhiều phụ huynh quan tâm. Có thể tham khảo các địa chỉ như www.americancommunitycolleges.com, www.aspectfoundation.org/ex_study/high_school.html, www.cci-exchange.com, www.ayusa.org, www.uciep.org/index.php, www.esl.com, www.intensiveenglishusa.org. Một số trang web trong đó có khá đầy đủ thông tin về chương trình, một số khác còn cung cấp thêm đường dẫn đến hàng loạt khóa học, chương trình khác, giúp học sinh, phụ huynh có thêm nhiều chọn lựa.

Một bước quan trọng trong quá trình chuẩn bị đi du học chính là hoàn thiện khả năng ngoại ngữ và lấy được một chứng chỉ phù hợp với chương trình, bậc học mà mình mong muốn theo học. Không cần phải hỏi nơi này nơi khác như trước đây, người học có thể tự tìm thấy thông tin ở các trang web như www.ets.org/toefl (thông tin về TOEFL), www.mba.com (thông tin về GMAT), www.ets.org/gre (thông tin về GRE), www.lsac.org (thông tin về LSAT), www.collegeboard.com (thông tin về SAT) và www.ets.org/toeic (thông tin về TOEIC). Đây là những kỳ thi đã được chuẩn hóa, rất cần thiết với học sinh, đặc biệt là những người có dự định du học bậc sau phổ thông tại Hoa Kỳ.

Thông tin về tài chính, visa, học bổng…

Trong trường hợp phụ huynh, học sinh phải đối mặt với vấn đề tài chính, họ vẫn có thể tìm cách tháo gỡ được khi đầu tư thêm thời gian để tìm hiểu một số trang web như:www.fundingusstudy.com, www.fastweb.com, www.internationalstudent.com. Ngoài một số trang đề cập đến chương trình hỗ trợ tài chính, nhiều trang khác cung cấp khá nhiều thông tin về những chương trình học, học bổng dành cho du học sinh. Chẳng hạn trang www.scholarshipexperts.com cung cấp danh sách của hàng loạt học bổng khác nhau từ một số địa phương, tiểu bang hoặc của học bổng quốc gia hay một số học bổng đặc biệt của các trường. Nguồn học bổng cũng khá dồi dào ở một số địa chỉ khác như: www.collegescholarships.com, www.finaid.org, www.internationalscholarships.

Ngay cả những thông tin về visa du học, phụ huynh và học sinh cũng hoàn toàn có thể tự tìm kiếm ở trang web www.unitedstatesvisas.gov hoặc trang http://hanoi.usembassy.gov. Đặc biệt, để kiểm tra xem một trường nào đó có được công nhận hay không và đang đứng ở đâu trong bảng xếp hạng các trường ĐH của Hoa Kỳ, phụ huynh, học sinh chỉ cần vào địa chỉ của hội đồng kiểm định ĐH và sau ĐH Hoa Kỳ www.chea.org hoặc trang www.usnews.com.

Trong trường hợp cần trao đổi, thảo luận thêm về những vấn đề mà mình quan tâm, những người có dự định du học lẫn du học sinh đều có thể tham gia một số diễn đàn để được làm rõ những thắc mắc của mình. Một số diễn đàn tiêu biểu như: www.mba.us-guide.org, www.vietabroader.org, www.chuvanan.org, www.lehongphong.net, www.hn-ams.org…

T.LONG

Khi một số bước chuẩn bị đã sẵn sàng, phụ huynh, học sinh cũng có thể tìm đến với những các web liên quan đến tất cả các vấn đề chung về du học. Điển hình là các trang như www.educationusa.state.gov, www.us-guide.org, www.collegeview.com, www.americangraduateeducation.com, www.petersons.com/educationusa, www.internationalstudentguidetotheusa.com, www.collegeconfidential.com, www.internationalstudent.com, www.vco-edusa.net.

Danh sách rất nhiều các nguồn học Anh Văn online

Mình đang lang thang ở Diễn Đàn Toán Học thì tình cờ tìm được một danh sách rất dài các địa chỉ giúp các bạn học Anh Văn online. Mình không thể viết bài giới thiệu chi tiết các trang này được (nhiều quá ) nhưng mình nghĩ các bạn đang học ở nhà thế nào cũng sẽ vào tìm hiểu. Vậy khi bạn thấy trang nào hay thì viết một bài giới thiệu trang đó cụ thể đăng lên để chia sẻ với mọi người nhé.

Nếu viết bài, bạn có thể liên lạc với Minh Anh hoặc Hoằng, hoặc email tới englishstudyforvms@gmail.com kèm tên của bạn để tụi mình đăng lên nhé.

Đây là danh sách lấy từ blog của bạn với nickname anhminh (tình cờ gần trùng tên với Minh Anh ) Rất tiếc mình không có account ở đó nên không nhắn với bạn anhminh trước được. Thôi thì đăng đại và xin gừi lời cảm ơn tới bạn anhminh nhiều + xin lỗi vì mình không nói trước

ENGLISH STUDY

(sẽ cập nhật liên tục)

* Sách: Accent Reduction – from LinhGIang
http://www.zshare.net/download/accentreduction-pdf.html

*Sách: Nghệ thuật gây ảnh hưởng đến người khác, nếu bạn muốn thuyết trình bằng tiếng Anh- from Kinhnghiem
http://www.dethi.net/books/How%20to%…20peopl e.htm

*From Drkhanhb
- Bạn muốn luyện nghe một từ bất kỳ, một đoạn văn bất kỳ, đây là công cụ:
http://vhost.oddcast.com/vhost_minisite/demos/tts/

- Những trang luyện phát âm cơ bản:
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/index.htm
http://www.fonetiks.org/shiporsheep/
http://www.oupchina.com.hk/dict/phonetic/home.html
http://www.manythings.org/pp
http://eleaston.com/listening.html

-Những trang luyện nghe và phát âm khác:
http://www.vr.com.vn/VRSpeak/index.htm
http://www.focusenglish.com/
http://esl-lab.com/

- Liên kết các bài Test luyện nghe và luyện thi với miêu tả rất chi tiết!!
http://www.englishstudydirect.com/OSAC/langacls.htm

-Nghe những trạm radio đủ mọi lãnh vực ngành nghề
http://podcasts.yahoo.com/

-Luyện nghe qua các câu chuyện cổ tích, thơ ca, viễn tưởng, các câu châm ngôn và các tác phẩm nổi tiếng !
http://repeatafterus.com/

-Học nói theo các chủ đề
http://www.englishclub.com/speaking/index.htm

-Dạy phát âm tiếng Anh, có hình minh họa
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phone…..;/frameset.html

-luyện phát âm, nghe tiếng Anh – Mỹ
http://www.americanaccent.com/
- Tra cứu:
http://www.essayworld.com/download.shtml
- Academic skills:
http://cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/sites/academic.htm

1. HỌC TIẾNG ANH

www.talkenglish.com
www.paltalk.com
www.duhocvn.org
www.dethi.com
www.bbc.co.uk
www.vietanhedu.com
www.manythings.org
www.english-test.net
www.essaybank.co.uk (subscription needed)
www.essayedge.com (subscription needed)
www.englishforvietnamese.com
www.effective-public-speaking.com
www.world-english.org
www.englishtips.org
www.englishtime.us
www.ttvnol.com (mục Ngoại ngữ)

2. CHUẨN BỊ CHO CÁC KỲ THI STANDARDIZED (GRE, ACT, SAT, etc…)

www.number2.com
www.englishtips.org
www.duhocvn.org
www.urch.com/forums/

3. THÔNG TIN VỀ CÁC KỲ THI ĐÃ ĐƯỢC CHUẨN HÓA

www.ets.org/toefl (TOEFL)
www.mba.com (GMAT)
www.ets.org/gre (GRE)
www.lsac.org (LSAT)
www.collegeboard.com (SAT)
www.ets.org/toeic (TOEIC)

4. THÔNG TIN DU HỌC CHUNG

www.educationusa.state.gov/
www.us-guide.org
www.collegeview.com
www.AmericanGraduateEducation .com/
www.petersons.com/educationusa/
www.internationalstudentguide totheusa.com
www.duhocvn.org
www.collegeconfidential.com
www.ttvnol.com (mục Du học)
www.internationalstudent.com
www.vco-edusa.net (Education USA Virtual Consulting Office-Answer YOUR question about studying abroad in America)

5. BÀI LUẬN

www.teenink.com
www.bignerds.com
www.123student.com
www.able2know.com/forums
www.wayabroad.com/twe

6. FORUM DU HỌC CỦA HỌC SINH VIỆT NAM

www.mba.us-guide.org
www.vietabroader.org
www.chuvanan.org
www.lehongphong.net
www.hn-ams.org
www.ttvnol.org
www.duhocvn.org
www.mangduhoc.com

7. HỌC BỔNG/HỖ TRỢ TÀI CHÍNH

www.FundingUSStudy.com
www.fastweb.com
www.internationalstudent.com
www.scholarshipexperts.com (Provides a customized list of local, state, national, and school-specific scholarships)
www.collegescholarships.com ((Scholarships for international students who are currently living in the United States)
www.finaid.org (Search for scholarships that match your profile
www.InternationalScholarships .com (News, information, resources and more about being and international student.)
www.free-scholarships–and-financial-aid.com (Resources to help you learn about the college admissions process, identify and contact colleges, and discover the scholarships and financial aid programs)

8. VISA

www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/
vietnam.usembassy.gov/

9. DU HỌC BẬC PHỔ THÔNG,

www.foreignborn.com/self-help/school/index.htm (public and private high schools)
www.greatschools.net (public school)
www.schools.com/ (boarding schools only)
www.boardingschoolreview.com (private schools)
www.boardingschoolusa.com/toc.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/
www.nais.org (financial aid for high school study; go to “Admission and financial aid”, then “Financial aid facts for parents”, then “scholarship providers”)

11. THÔNG TIN VỀ ĐẠI HỌC CỘNG ĐỒNG, KHÓA HỌC TIẾNG ANH NÂNG CAO VÀ TRAO ĐỔI VĂN HÓA

www.AmericanCommunityColleges .com/
www.aspectfoundation.org/ex_study/high_school.html
www.cci-exchange.com (for high school home-stay programs from 5-10 months also has short-term high school programs)
www.ayusa.org
www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/karin.html (links to many programs, also short-term English language programs)
www.aaiep.org/search.cfm (run by American Association of Intensive English programs)
www.uciep.org/index.php (run by University and College Intensive English programs)
www.esl.com
www.intensiveenglishusa.org

10. THÔNG TIN CÁC TRƯỜNG ĐƯỢC CÔNG NHẬN (ACCREDITATION) VÀ THỨ TỰ XẾP HẠNG

www.usnews.com (US News & World Report)
www.chea.org (Council of Higher Education Accreditation)

Added by anh Dự

Here are some online dictionaries that translate paragraphs or websites:

Babel fish atlavista (multilanguages)
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

And a specialty for Vietnamese: Vdict
http://vdict.com/?autotranslation

Added by me

Another site to translate paragraphs

http://www.google.com/language_tools

Added by Hong Thuy

www.globaledu.com
www.englishtime.us
www.free-english.com
www.englishclub.com

Added by Khac Phuoc

Học tiếng Anh qua các bài hát thiếu niên :
- www.the-bus-stop.net