I Don't Check My Mother at the Door

 

In this chapter, we learn a lot about the sport of road cycling, including some specialized vocabulary, such as peloton and domestique. There are also a lot of idiomatic expressions, such as gate-crasher (p. 51), a chip on my shoulder (p. 52), and riding on the coattails of other people (p. 55).

 

 

 

a. In my opinion, I think the best tactic to overcome the unknown vocabulary is having a dictionary about idioms. (Actually, I have one dictionary that has some idioms, but not everything.) When I meet the idioms in an article, first of all, I always check an online dictionary. There are three online dictionaries I use: Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Answers.com. The Answers.com has a picture to explain more clearly. By the way, this is also very useful webpage about idioms, Dennis Oliver's Idioms

Sometimes I also ask a friend or teacher who is American. I think it is a best way to get the correct answer too. In other words, a writer who can use the idioms or slang effectively could make an article more interesting. As a reader, I would strongly recommend that you understand the idioms and use them in your life.

(Jennifer, 020407)

Jennifer: Dennis Oliver is a friend of mine! (Nina)

 

b. Frankly, when I read It’s not About the Bike, there are a lot of words that I have never seen. I used to use an electronic dictionary and internet dictionary, but now I try to guess these meanings. When I face a strange word for the first time, it is very hard for me to guess its meaning. However, I can find the word on another page. Then, I guess the meaning. If I cannot guess the last time, I search in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and answer.com. There are many example sentences and they show the word meaning clearly.

If I have a problem, it is a very good method to ask somebody. However,in my opinion, the best way is to think over the meaning with a dictionary and internet by myself.(Dae Gun Kim, Feb 08, 2007)

 

c.Sometimes I guess the meaning of the words through the cues in context. I write down the words, and when I finish the chapter or section, I use a dictionary to get their exact meaning. I do not use a dictionary unless I cannot understand or catch the meaning of the whole sentence. It makes me depressed if I use dictionary too much times when I read. (Fei, 02/08/2007)

 

d. I just ignore it and keep reading, and I think this is the best tactic. If I looked up each new word, I wouldn't even finish a chapter this semester! >>> just joking :) ( Aziz )

 

e. When I encounter this kind of idioms or new words I highlight them and keep reading, but if I feel that I really need the meaning of that piece of sentence at the end of my reading I look it up in the dictionary or ask somebody else (native speaker). (Felix, 02/11/07)

 

f. The best tactic is to keep reading the entire chapter. Then if you feel that it is very important to know that word or idiom, at that moment it is a good time to check the dictionary because now you have the entire context and the principal idea and it will be easier for you to understand the new vocabulary.(Flavia, 02/12/07)

 

g. I deal with the new vocabulary in different ways. When the word appears many times or when without this word I couldn't understand the sentence, I look it up. If the word seems not really important or just is an expression word, I will not look it up but try to figure that out by using the context. (Hsingchuan 2/12/07)

 

h. In my opinion, the best way to understand the unknown vocabulary is to guess the meaning without any references such as an electronic dictionary and on-line dictionary. I have been trying to guess the meaning of unknown vocbulary to understand. (Jinwoo Kim 02/12/07)

 

i. I usually ignore the words which I do not know. I sometimes regret doing that because I get confused. If I get confused, I check the meaning of the word which I do not know. When I read an article in English, I can find many difficult words. If I checked everything, it would take time. I think that guessing the meaning of the word is one of the best ways to read articles written in English. (Makoto Nakayama 02/14/2007)

 

j.  I agree with Aziz about reading a chapter. I like this chapter more than one & two, because a lot of things happened in this one. (Nazanin. 2/23)

 

Culture Shock: On p. 57, Armstrong describes his feelings of culture shock when he was traveling in Europe. You can read about culture shock at John's ESL.

 

 

 

a.(1)Honeymoon: When people just arrived in a new country, everything is exciting. (2)Rejection: Newcomers will feel disappointed with the new country, because they are homesick or can not manage everything well. (3)Regression: newcomers try to find their own culture via watching movies in their language. (4)Recovery: newcomers have become accustomed to living in the new city and ?get better before they arrived?. (5) Reentry: newcomers become more strongly to face their life, ?even more customary?.

I strongly believe it is a very good description of culture shock, because it really touched my heart. As an international student, I have known the feelings and experiences as the author said. (Jennifer, 02/04/07)

 

b.I agree with Jennifer mostly. A little complement on rejection, I think rejection is the disagreement of a newcomer with the new country on some aspects, and his/her fear of everything that he/she is not familiar with. And what's more, I think it is difficult to get through the stage of regression. Does anyone have some suggestions? The description of culture shock in John's ESL is really useful for me to understand the culture shock. I think this paragraph is the definition of culture shock.

I think I am in the stage of honeymoon and rejection. I was excited when I went out and found something new to me. I also feel a little nervous when I do something by myself. I always compare the States with China, and have some complaint about the States. (Fei, 02/08/2007)

 

c. 1. Honeymoon phase) Honeymoon phase is the first stage of culture shock. When people visit other country, everything is strange and exciting to them. People consider some problems as new things. 2.Rejection phase) In rejection phases, a visitor faces some problems of his or her life in the new country. At that time, he or she thinks that other people take care of him or her, but they don’t try to understand strangers and don’t like foreigners. In the rejection stage, newcomers complain and reject some bad things about the host country. In this stage, a visitor decides whether he or she stays here or not. 3.Regression phase) Regression phase is the third stage. In this stage, newcomers’ complain is very high. They watch videos with their own language and spend a lot of time to use their own language. Also, they miss their own county and always think the positive things about your country. 4.Recovery phase) In this stage, newcomers think that new place is not different to their country. It is just problem of different lifestyle and thinking. Newcomers are accustomed to new surrounding and new language. 5. Reentry phase) When newcomers return their hometown, they might have another culture shock which is called “reverse culture shock”. It is the final stage, reentry phase. They are already accustomed to the host country’s lifestyle. Therefore, when they come back their own country, it is not comfortable.

I think the classification is best. I totally agree with the author. Each part is very clear and reasonable. (Dae Gun Kim, Feb/08/2007)

 

d. As an answer to the question, I think he is mostly rejecting his new life. This can be a description of cultural shock in some cases but not all. (Aziz)

 

e. “An American in cycling was comparable to a French baseball team in the World Series”, this sound to me like rejection, isn’t it? (p. 51); or he said he was missing his beer, food and the Texas weather (p. 57). Also “…learning to recognize fine food and wine… and … in that instant all of my ideas about art changed forever…” (p. 58) sounds to me like recovery and reentry at the same time. Which means he experimented all the phases but a little bit messy. And yes, it is a good description of each phase of culture shock. (Felix, 02/11/07)

 

f. He is describing the rejection and regression phases. He started the regression phase with the description of the good things about his home country, where everything in his country was good and nothing bad. His complaint about the motel, food and cars is a good description of the rejection phase. That is because he complained about Europe and only looked for bad things. (Flavia, 02/12/07)

 

g. I belive most international students, including me, strongly agree with the author`s opinion. Culture shock is composed of 5 categories: honeymoon, rejection, regression, recovery, reentry. 1) honeymoon : It is the 1st step of newcomer. When people visit new country, everything is new. 2) rejection : After 1st step, most newcomers have difficulties to deal with their problems. Honeymoon was gone! 3) regression : In this step, many newcomer spend a lot of time to use their native language and watch videos with their native language. 4) recovery : In this phase, people who is newcomers try to acclimate themselves to a new environment. I think I`m in the 4th phase. I have tried to acclimate myself to my new surroundings. (Jinwoo Kim 02/12/07)

 

h. Rejection is the answer here. This is a good description.... Most people who live in foreign country have the same types of experience. In my case, I did not go outside for my first 3 days here because I was so scared of everything here. (Makoto Nakayama 02/14/2007)

 

 

 

 

1."There are moments when you can use your energy to your benefit and there are moments when you use it to no avail. That's a waste" (p.56)

What's the question? (Nina)

 

2. Why is the title of the chapter "Don't check my mother at the door"? I think the chapter describes the process and experience that Amstrong grew up to be a world champion.(Fei)

Answer: In this chapter, Armstrong describes a moment when he was told that his mother could not accompany him, and how he refused to participate without her. (Nina, 2/14/07)

 

3.“You might even experience the regression phase on Monday, the at ease phase on Tuesday, the honeymoon phase on Wednesday, and the rejection phase again on Thursday.” In this sentence, I don’t understand what the at ease phase on Tuesday means. Please show me its meaning. (Dae Gun Kim)

Answer: The "at ease" phase is the stage of culture shock when the traveler/immigrant feels comfortable ("at ease" in his/her new surroundings. (Nina 2/14/07)

 

Similes and metaphors: List any figures of speech (metaphors, similes) that you find in the chapter below. Don't forget the page number!