執教歲月─第三集

One day

One day, Student A slouched over his desk and groaned,
"Studying vocabulary is so boring! I keep memorizing and memorizing, and my brain is fried."

I gently tapped his desk, my tone calm but firm,
"Sit up straight. There’s a proper way to sit, just like there’s a proper way to stand. Slouching while studying not only wastes your time but can also lead to poor eyesight."

Student A glanced up at me, clearly not too pleased with my serious tone, and muttered,

"You’re so strict!"

I sighed, thinking to myself: If he’s not willing to learn, his progress will suffer.

So, I decided to try a different approach and see if I could spark his interest.

"How about we talk about something more interesting?" I smiled, trying to gauge his reaction.

Student A’s eyes immediately lit up, and he eagerly responded,

"Yeah! Sounds good!"

Looking for a way to grab his attention, I noticed the Nike logo on his sneakers. That sparked an idea.

"You're wearing Nike, so you must want to win, right?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he looked puzzled, his curiosity piqued.

"In Greek mythology, there’s a goddess of victory named Nike."

"Really? That’s awesome!" he replied, clearly intrigued.

I felt a sense of relief—thankfully, I knew he liked basketball.

"Yes, and in Roman mythology, she’s known as Victoria. Didn’t you learn the word 'victory' before?" I raised an eyebrow.

He thought for a moment, then his eyes brightened,"Oh, I know! When I play games, I love seeing 'victory' pop up, but I hate 'defeat.'"

"Great! Can you think of any related words?" I asked, taking the opportunity to quiz him.

He tilted his head, thinking, then sheepishly said,

"I’m not sure. Can you teach me?"

I smiled, feeling pleased with myself. It looked like I had piqued his interest.

Quickly, I took advantage of the moment to teach him a few more words:

• Victoria – Not only is she the Roman goddess of victory, but her name was also that of the famous British queen. (I remembered a university course on British literature that focused on the Victorian era, which left me with a lasting impression of this word.)
• Victory – noun, meaning "the act of winning."
  • vict- is the root meaning "to conquer" or "to defeat."
  • -ory is a suffix that turns the root into a noun, indicating a state, action, or result, as seen in words like "memory" (記憶) and "glory" (光榮).
• Victorious – adjective, meaning "having achieved victory," much like how we learned in middle school that adding "-ous" turns a word into an adjective.
  • -ous means "having the qualities of."
• Invincible – adjective, meaning "unable to be defeated,"
  • in- is a prefix meaning "not" or "unable."
  • vinc- means "to conquer" or "to defeat."
  • -ible means "able to be."
• Invincibly – adverb, meaning "in a manner that is undefeatable,"
  • -ly turns the word into an adverb.

"Why aren’t English classes like this at school?" Student A asked, clearly excited.

It seemed I had captured his attention."Would you like me to share more?" I asked, eager to keep the momentum going.

"Have you heard of Victor Hugo, the author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables?"

"I know him, he’s really famous. I even watched the movie Les Misérables," he said.

"Did you notice the name 'Victor' in there?"
"Wow, that’s cool! How did I not notice that before? Names are so interesting!"

"Would you like to hear more?" I asked, smiling at his curiosity.

"Sure!" Student A said, his eyes full of focus and anticipation. His genuine eagerness to learn was contagious, and I couldn't resist sharing more.

"How about I tell you the story of surnames?" I began, remembering how Qin Jiaxian 秦假仙in Pili Puppet would often tell stories to get people’s attention.

A good story can capture anyone’s imagination, so I decided to take a page from that playbook.

The Story of Surnames

Nobility

Long ago, most Europeans had only a first name, not a surname. Only the nobility or those with land and status had surnames, and they often adopted the name of the land they ruled. For example, Richard of Gloucester was "Richard, Duke of Gloucester," before he became King of England.

Occupation

As the population grew in the late Middle Ages, having only a first name became insufficient to distinguish individuals in busy towns. To solve this, more specific identifiers started to emerge.At the same time, with the growth of trade and craft industries, occupations became a key way of identifying people. For example, the surname Taylor means "tailor," Baker refers to a baker, Miller a miller, Carpenter a carpenter, Smith a blacksmith, Forester a forester, Hunter a hunter, and Bauer a farmer.

Place of Residence

Others derived their surname from the places they lived. For example, Hill referred to someone living near a hill, while Brook meant someone by a stream. Every surname told a unique story about a person’s origins.

"Wow, that’s so cool! I never realized there were so many interesting stories behind names!"

Student A exclaimed, as if he’d uncovered a hidden treasure.

"Does the Japanese surname Tanabe田邊 mean they live next to a field?" he suddenly asked.

"That’s a great connection you made," I said, smiling. "But I might need to look that one up to be sure."

Conclusion

I’m thrilled he enjoy these little nuggets of knowledge.
But once again, I was stumped by a question I couldn’t answer.

I guess part of being a teacher is constantly looking things up!

從前

某天，高一的學生A趴在桌上，抱怨道
「背單字好無聊喔。背背背，我腦袋都累了。」

我敲了敲他的桌子，語氣平靜但不容置喙
「坐正。坐要有坐相、站要有站相。這樣趴著看書，不僅效率低，還容易近視。」

學生A 抬頭看了我一眼，似乎對我的正經態度頗有微詞，忍不住抱怨

「老師，你好嚴肅喔！」

我嘆了口氣，暗自思忖：
如果他不願意學，學習效果堪憂。

於是我改變策略，決定來點不一樣的看看他會不會喜歡。

「要不然來點有聊的？」我對他微笑，試探著問道。

學生A抬起頭，眼神瞬間亮了起來，滿懷期待地回答：

「好啊！」

想辦法引起他的興趣

我觀察了一下，瞄到他腳上那雙熟悉的「打勾勾」球鞋——Nike，一個靈感悄然而至。

Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash

「你穿Nike，是想贏吧？」我問道。
「什麼意思？」他忽然有了幾分精神，眼裡透著疑惑與好奇。
「希臘神話有一位象徵勝利的女神，名字就叫Nike。」
「真的假的，這麼酷！」看來他喜歡這個小知識點，這時候不禁慶幸，還好我知道他喜歡打籃球
「是的，羅馬神話對應的是維多利亞Victoria。你不是學過victory這個單字嗎？」我挑了挑眉毛

他想了想，眼睛一亮：「我知道，玩遊戲的時候最喜歡看到victory這個單字了，討厭defeat」
「很好，那你可以說出相關單字嗎？」我順勢追問。
他歪著頭想了想，隨後有些不好意思地說：「不知道，老師，還是你教我吧！」

我嘴角盪起一抹微笑，看來我成功了
趁此機會多教他幾個單字

Victoria【羅馬神】維多利亞（勝利女神），他不只是勝利女神的名字，還曾是英國女王的名字 (我大學時有一門必修課程，就是要唸英國文學，維多利亞時期的作品，所以我對這單字印象深刻)

victory是名詞，勝利

• vict-：字根，意為「征服」或「戰勝」。
• -ory：名詞字尾，用來構成抽象名詞，表示一種狀態、行為或結果。其他有ory的單字例如 memory（記憶）和 glory（光榮）。

victorious勝利的，是形容詞，就像是你國中學的famous後面字尾ous，會變成形容詞

• vict-：字根，意為「征服」或「戰勝」。
• -ori-：中間連結部分
• -ous：形容詞字尾，表示「具有…特性的」或「充滿…的」，將字變為形容詞。

Invincible 無法戰勝的、無敵的adj.(形容詞)

invincibly 戰無不勝地、無敵地 adv.(副詞)

• in-：否定字首，表示「不」或「無法」。
• vinc：意為「征服」或「戰勝」。
• -ible：形容詞字尾，表示「能…的」。
• -ly：副詞字尾

「為什麼學校的英文課沒有這麼好玩？老師你可以多講一點嗎？」好奇寶寶開始說話了

看來我引發了他的興趣？

「好啊！」我說

「你聽過《鐘樓怪人》、《悲慘世界》的作者維克多‧雨果Victor Marie Hugo嗎？」
「我知道，這很有名，我還看過悲慘世界的電影。」
「有沒有注意到這個名字的拼寫裡面也有Victor。」
「有耶！好神奇。我怎麼以前沒有注意到。老師，姓名也好神奇」
「老師，你能再多說一點嗎？」學生A 眼神專注而期待地盯著我；這股求知的熱情喧染開來，讓人忍不住想多分享一些知識來滿足他的好奇心。

「要不然來講姓氏的故事好了。」我開始學秦假仙講故事 (我記得霹靂布袋戲裡面有一集。秦假仙在煩惱要怎麼讓別人願意聽他說話，後來他想出的辦法就是──講故事)

很多人都愛聽故事，我也來運用一下秦假仙的智慧。(我找不到秦假仙講故事那一集，給大家看秦假仙唱歌的橋段好了) ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

姓氏的故事

貴族

很久以前，大部分的歐洲人只有名、沒有姓氏；通常要擁有土地的貴族或地位很高的人才有姓氏，他們會在名字後面加上領地的名字變成姓氏。

例如：Richard of Gloucester就是「格洛斯特的理查」，(英格蘭國王，在成為國王前為格洛斯特公爵，封地格洛斯特（Gloucester）。

職業

隨著中世紀後期人口的迅速增長，僅靠單一的名字在喧囂的城鎮中已難以準確區分個人身份。為了應對這種混亂，更多精確的識別方式逐漸應運而生。

與此同時，隨著手工業的繁榮與貿易的興起，職業也成為了區分個人的重要依據。

例如姓氏Taylor是指裁縫，貝克Baker麵包師傅，Miller磨坊主、Carpenter木匠、Smith鐵匠、Forester樵夫、Hunter獵人、Bauer農夫

居住地

另一些人則從居住地汲取靈感，為自己取姓。例如，「Hill」住在山丘附近，而「Brook」則代表溪流旁的居民。每一個姓氏背後，可能就有著一段獨特的故事。

「哇，好酷喔！原來姓名背後還藏著這麼多有趣的故事！」學生A 彷彿發現了未知的寶藏。

「那老師，日本人的姓氏，田邊，是因為他住田的旁邊嗎？」學生A突然問了一個問題

「同學你舉一反三很棒，這個我要查一下才知道。下次再跟你說吧！」

結論

很高興他喜歡這些小知識

不過我又被問了我也不知道的事情

可能老師的工作之一就是

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