Have You "Kuro"ed Today?

The website of Kuro: http://www.kuro.com.tw/Kuro/tv_view.htm

After watching the TV commercial of Kuro, one can only give both thumbs up for its success in influencing and persuading people. Just like what the title suggests, it seems that using Kuro is as routine, if not necessary, as eating three meals every day.

This reminds me of the five steps in the Motivated Sequence developed by Alan Monroe and Douglas Ehninger and the Law of Consisitency and Conformity proposed by Kevin Hogan. On the one hand, while the commercial of Kuro is presenting the problem of most people's lack of musical etiquette, it is motivating the audience by developing the need step. Kuro cleverly appeals to the Social needs, suggesting that the Kuro users will no longer be regarded as music fools and will even be considered "high-class." On the other hand, the commercial makes good use of some Laws of Persuasion by creating the feeling that the audience should become the members of Kuro if they realize the importance of musical etiquette and the threat of being musically illiterate, and if they notice its popularity among the majority of other people or their peer groups.

So, go check that website and its TV commercial. You'll feel the persusive power of Kuro as I do.

Guided Imagery

So let’s begin the Guided Imagery. Concentrate on going into a deep level of relaxation, take a nice long breath, fill up your lungs, real good, breathe all the way in, and hold it for a second. And as you breathe out, close your eyes down, and let a wonderful wave of relaxation flow through your entire body.

Keep your eyes closed and begin to follow your breath in and out of your nose or mouth, which ever is more comfortable for you. Now give yourself the suggestion that each time you breathe out, your body becomes more and more relaxed. Really let yourself become loose, limp, and relaxed.

Good. Now imagine yourself in a long dark tunnel. The tunnel is large and a little bit cold, but that is OK with you. You see a small, white light at the end of the tunnel, so you are flying through this tunnel and speed toward the white light. As you get closer to the white light, the white light becomes bigger and brighter, and you feel warmer and more comfortable. Finally, you’re right there in the light and all that you see is a fantasy world of your own. You slow down your flying pace and start enjoying every moment with the scenes, animals, plants, and people that you consider your favorite. Every second there is nothing but happiness and ease. You’ll have three minutes to enjoy yourself there. (Pause for 3 minutes)

Now it is time to return here, bringing with you the joy and ease that you have experienced. In a moment, I will count to five. Open your eyes at the count of five, feeling relaxed and alert. One ... two ... three ... four ... five.

Finally... I'm into the field of BLOG!!

Dear everyone,
Can you imagine how excited I am while typing each word of my first post in a BLOG right now? Were I not in the dorm, I would exclaim with excitement for sure! A commonplace for many, BLOG is absolutely a brand new idea for me. I am tremendously delighted that I finally catch the wave of fad, having the opportunity to be someone that is REALLY COOL!! *^0^*Since this is my first post, truly, I am not in the mood to say anything that is "serious." Therefore, I would like to postpone my sharing of thoughts about education or English teaching till a couple of days later. At this moment, my brain is still amazingly full of thoughts about the power of imagery. What we did this afternoon was awesome, wasn't it? At the very beginning, I sort of distrusted it, casting doubts on its possibility to release a person's stress. Worse still, as we moved on to the "experiment" of using an imaginative Garbage Can to get rid of our anxiety and thus achieve the utmost relaxation, my doubts became stronger because that stinky garbage can filled up with tons of my stress just couldn't be carried away by the balloon. No matter how hard I tried, the garbage can along with the balloon remained there in my fantasy world. As I was about to give up trying any bit about guided imagery, the Desert Island and the Fairy saved me from my bad dream. There, on the island as well as in the world with the fairy, I MET MY MR. RIGHT, RESPECTIVELY! Believe it or not, my stress was totally gone with the wind! Nothing left! My goodness! It was really incredible! Starting off with doubts, I was finally in heaven! But, here comes the question: Should I attribute such unbelievable yet fabulous change to the power of guided imagery or to my prince? Anyway, I am more than satisfied with the ending.

Welcome and have fun!!

This is a park for sharing ideas about anything related to English. Take your time here in this park. As I keep adding new materials into this "meaningful" place, hopefully, you'll have a bunch of wonderful learning experiences. *^0^*