iWriting線上寫作網

Many of the people who come to visit this blog were or are students of the Criterion Virtual Writing Class. You began to know Stephanie, who guided you through the 6 weeks of the course in her PPTs, and learnt many things about writing an essay. As a Virtual Teacher, I saw many of you improve your writing, going from strength to strength. It was beautiful.
And now, we have a special new Virtual Class – especially for people taking the TOEIC test, or those who want to improve their business writing prowess. Introducing: 　In this 8 week course, you will learn how to answer all the questions in the new writing section of the TOEIC – sentences, emails and essay questions. This course is designed to prepare people to not only take to test, but to also succeed in communicating with others in professional English. Learn how to write business emails – the most widely used form of communication is email because it is quick, convenient and economic. Learn to Write Essays – whether your manager asks you to write a report or you need to write a letter to a client, knowing how to write an essay is an essential skill to complete these and other tasks!

前幾天有去跨年嗎？是看了101煙火，還是跟三五好友在家開跨年派對呢?這次Riana要跟大家分享她的跨年活動，看看跟我們有什麼不一樣！
Counting down to the New Year is one of the most exciting things to happen at the end of the year. During this event I am usually with my friends, hanging by the bridge in my hometown, waiting for the fireworks display to start.You’d think that we should be with our family during this event wouldn’t you? Ah, but you forget – we just celebrated Christmas with our entire family, and now it’s the time for us to catch up with our friends to simply relax. I always plan with my friends to watch the fireworks and to count down together to the New Year.
Usually I meet up and have dinner with my friends and my brother. Because I’m a twin and my brother is the same age as me, we often have the same friends. So we eat dinner together on New Year’s Eve, perhaps enjoy a few drinks and chat a little bit before going over to the bridge or somewhere we can see the fireworks. As a hint: never try to buy Fish ‘n’ Chips on this day… everyone else thinks it’s a good idea too, and you’ll end up waiting for an hour or more!

這幾天天氣又變涼了，才忽然感受到聖誕節的氣氛，今天Riana要跟我們分享她的聖誕節趣事，聖誕節到底要怎麼過呢？趕緊來計劃一下吧！
Every week on Thursday I meet up with my friends, Joanna and Xiao Hua, to have language exchange. We usually meet up in a coffee shop such as Dante (丹堤) or Starbucks (統一星巴克). ！
First we order some coffee or cakes. Now that Christmas (聖誕節) is coming, Starbucks has some really awesome coffees that you can try. Whenever I order coffee, unsweetened latte is definitely my favorite. But recently I tried the gingerbread latte (畺汁那堤), which tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg and Christmas all in one! Both Joanna and Xiao Hua have Starbucks cups, so whenever they use their own cups instead of the stores, they can save NT$10 each time. I'm thinking of buying a cup now because we go there so often!！
For a normal latte though, I prefer going to a cute café. Usually chain stores' coffee are ok, but to enjoy a truly skillfully made coffee you need to go somewhere quieter where the heart and soul goes into making coffee. Maybe I will introduce you to some of my favorite cafes in Taiwan in another article.！
But Christmas is coming, and so the last conversation with my language exchange partners was about celebrations. I think that Taiwanese people don't really celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, but if you are not religious (like me) then it is a time of peace and goodwill. People don't go to work and instead spend time with their family. During Christmas I'm always merry-making with my family, eating special meals together and giving gifts to everyone. We play with the younger children and make Christmas day truly special for them, because for children Christmas is a magical day filled with laughter, good things and family. Personally, I think giving gifts is a little bit silly, because many of these gifts we don't need. I enjoy cooking special meals for my family and singing Christmas carols with the children. One year I even made a gingerbread house and decorated it to look like a snow-covered cottage!！
I think this year I will travel to Taichung (台中) to see my “Taiwanese Family”, and eat a special dinner with them. I will call my family back in Australia and wish them “Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!”… already I'm making a special package of gifts from Taiwan to send them. I think it will bring them joy and surprise to taste some special Taiwanese foods and see some interesting photos and toys. It will be a special Christmas – my first time to celebrate without my family!
Joanna told me that Chinese New Year (春節) is probably the biggest celebration for Taiwanese. When I first came to Taiwan, I arrived just before the Chinese New Year. It was so exciting to travel around with my friend and visit her family. I feel like I tried so many Taiwanese foods, and everyday I had to eat so much! It felt like it was Christmas every day for a week… I think that Taiwanese are very lucky to celebrate such a festivity with their friends and family for a whole week!
The traditions are also very interesting to learn – like how you need to visit the older people in your family on the first day, then for married daughters to visit their parents on the second, and so on. I think that Chinese New Year is much more interesting and meaningful than Christmas, because of the many traditions and family-orientated activities!
看完了文章，今天晚上的聖誕派對有靈感了嗎？聖誕節必備的薑餅、肉桂、肉豆蔻你準備好了嗎？出門狂歡前，先複習一下今天的單字吧！
awesome..........令人敬畏的

Riana的台南之旅下集來囉！
讓我們從外國朋友的角度來看台南吧！At Chien Shan Pi Reservoir the accommodation was so cozy! We stayed in log cabins with big fluffy beds and pillows.

 

When I woke up, I realized how nice, soft and comfortable the beds were! I had slept so well, I didn’t want to get up straight away. When I did get up, I went around the resort with my friend taking pictures. It was very nice in the morning, and we discovered the entire resort by ourselves before breakfast. After we’d eaten, we played in the dragon “water bicycles” – racing against colleagues in other water bicycles, feeding the fish in the pond and just enjoying a peaceful time out on the lake. Chien Shan Pi Reservoir is really a very beautiful place!

你有見過聖誕老人嗎？
Riana跑去台南玩耍
竟然遇到了聖誕老人！
一起來看看，Riana的台南奇遇！ 

After many long hard-working months, our company announced that we would be going to Tainan for a 2 day tour. I was very excited because I have never been to Tainan , and my friends had told me many interesting facts about this historical city of Taiwan . I was ready to see all the wonderful sights planned for our tour, and to taste some of the famous local cuisine!

Day 1

Very early on a Friday morning, I made sure to wake in time to meet my colleagues in front of our company building.We drove to Tainan for many hours, and arrived at Chien Shan Pi Reservoir (尖山埤水庫) in time for lunch. Some of the first differences I noticed between Taipei and Tainan was the air temperature. Tainan was cold and windy! I thought that it would be warmer, but maybe it was just the weekend that we were there… thankfully, after putting our bags in our rooms we went to the restaurant to eat a warm and hearty lunch.



The activities for Friday included eating some fresh oysters at the Wild Bird Society of Happy Family (黑琵家族野鳥學會). I sat with my colleagues in a circle around the barbeque which was very cozy. As we chatted, we cooked and ate the oysters – yummy! After some time, we left to start a tour on a boat and were shown how the oysters were kept in farms. Our tour guides were quite interesting, and told everyone interesting facts. 



The next thing on our tour itinerary was to visit the Salt Mountain . Long ago when salt became unprofitable, the owners turned their business into a tourist attraction; where you can see Santa and his reindeer at the bottom of the mountain, or climb to the very top to look at things far away. I was surprised to learn that out of the two mountains, one of them is made from Australian Salt! I thought that was really cool, that in the middle of one of Taiwan ’s historical cities, there is a reminder of my homeland. I made sure to take a picture with the mountain and my colleagues


After running around and exploring all these places, everyone was getting a little tired and hungry. So we returned back to the resort and feasted on some more delicious Tainan dishes for dinner. I ate an interesting dessert for the first time – it was sweet potato dipped in toffee, all sticky and sweet until you dipped it into cold water so it could turn hard. It was really tasty! Then we all had free time to relax and look around the resort before we slept. My manager, May, and I were really full after eating all that yummy food and so we decided to go for a swim in the pool. It was really beautiful to swim at night, and although there weren’t any stars to see, I could still admire the night view.

And then… sleep. 

又吃又喝又玩，Riana一定睡得很香甜！
我們來複習一下單字吧！

announce historical city cuisine colleague oyster cozy itinerary unprofitable resort feast

宣佈 古都 菜餚 同事 牡蠣 愜意 行程 無利益 渡假村 筵席

　

　

Riana在澳洲的時候，有一個最大的嗜好是和他的朋友一起下廚，他們通常會選定一個主題，決定今天要做哪一國的料理。
你喜歡烹飪嗎？或許下次你會在超級市場遇到正在採買食材的Riana喔！別忘了跟他打個招呼
One of my favourite hobbies in Australia was cooking with my friends. We had a special way of deciding what to cook though. Usually we picked a country, such as Mexico , India or Japan . Then we would find music and recipes from that country on the internet. After comparing what we’d found, we would choose the best looking ones.
We often cooked on a Friday night after our university classes. We’d go home together and start playing music. Each of us had bought some of the ingredients to make the meal. For example, one of my best friends from my Japanese class wanted to cook asparagus pie one day. She asked if I'd like to come and cook with her because we always cooked funny things together.

趁著週末，Riana和他的朋友去了趟台北龍山寺，大家除了對寺廟建築的雕樑畫棟驚豔不已，也體驗了傳統的擲筊與抽籤詩。你去過龍山寺嗎？來看看Riana眼中的龍山寺吧。
 
On the weekend, I had the pleasure of introducing Taipei to one of my friends from Taichung. Well, actually he's from Colombia - but he'll be working in Taichung for a year and a half! We're both here on AIESEC internships, and that's how we met each other.

Riana換新髮型了！Riana剪短了她的頭髮，很多人問她是不是因為心情不好？還是失戀了？所以她要把頭髮剪短？
其實她只是想換個造型，剪短頭髮，讓自己看起來更輕鬆而已！
女生，妳在什麼時候會想把頭髮剪短呢？聽聽Riana怎麼說吧！

今年20歲的Riana有個雙胞胎哥哥，她與哥哥的感情很好，是彼此的最佳玩伴，他們兩個甚至在7歲的時候就自己搭飛機到美國去，飛機上同行的乘客都對他們感到不可思議！
今天Riana要告訴大家，她與哥哥在小時候的故事！
 

上週末，Riana到台中拜訪她的好朋友Jack，Riana和Jack是在澳洲雪梨的室友。就在Riana來到台灣工作不久後，Jack也完成他在澳洲的學業回到台灣。中國人有一句話叫做『他鄉遇故知』，Riana要與你分享她和Jack的友情。
現在，在這個地球村，每個人隨時都會遇到來自不同國家的朋友，發生不同的故事。就像在Criterion線上英文寫作班，線上老師來自不同的國家，你可以在他們身上看到許多有趣的故事。因此我們希望幫助你學會使用英語，讓你可以更輕鬆與來自世界各地的人交流，認識更多新朋友
Kangaroo Jack is Back - in Taiwan!!
 

上週末，Riana到了熱情的南台灣 - 高雄，參與AIESEC一年一度的會員大會。來自世界各地的AIESEC學生，在這個活動中相互認識與交流。
As a member of AIESEC, I am often invited to go many places. Last weekend, AIESEC in Taiwan held their summer national conference in Kaohsiung . They asked me to join them for the weekend, because I have work during the rest of the week. The thing that I love most about AIESEC conferences is the energy! You gather up the young people from all across Taiwan and prepare for a most wonderful experience to happen.

People dance and talk in the beginning, reconnecting with people from many different places. At this conference there were international delegates from Canada , the U.S. , Singapore , Japan , Colombia , France , Italy , Russia and Australia . That’s 9 people from across the world… and only a small number out of all the people from all over Taiwan ! People came from the East, West, North and South of Taiwan to come to this truly inspiring conference.

很多人喜歡旅行，在旅行的途中其中一個最吸引的人的地方便是你可以到一個新的環境，認識新的朋友！
當Riana今年2月底剛來到台灣時，這裡並沒有她認識的朋友，但是經過了幾個月她已經交到了不少朋友，除了同事、Criterion線上英文寫作班的學生之外，另外還有AIESEC的朋友。
今天Riana要與你分享她這幾個月來在台灣交到新朋友的喜悅！想要與Riana作朋友嗎？快來留言版吧
One thing that can be a little scary whenever you travel to another country, can be meeting new people. When I first came to Taiwan , I knew nobody here! Luckily, some people from the student organisation that I’m a member of came and took care of me. These members from AIESEC found me a house to live in, and introduced me to my new workplace. They organized tours of Taipei for me, and showed me what a cool city this is.