Workplace Woes: He Hovers While You Work
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9164947

老闆和員工之間的互動常因表達和解讀的差異而產生誤解。對於上司近距離的指導溝通，有些員工卻感覺有不適當的反應。很多人不喜歡在工作時有人在旁邊觀看，對上司來訪的反應就像是驚弓之鳥一般的緊張。尤其當熱情的老闆時常來找員工討論工作上的進度，近距離的接觸或許會讓員工有所抱怨。可是，我們又不希望這種好像可小不大的事影響了和老闆的友善關係。站在老闆的角度來看，他們或許沒有察覺到這樣的舉動會造成某些人的困擾。其實，透過適當的提醒和告知，可以化解一些因文化差異而帶來的困擾。
不同的文化背景有著不同的交際行為模式，有些文化很重視人與人之間的親密接觸，他們用見面時的擁抱和貼頰來寶表示友好。而東方人如我們就要保持一些個人空間，也讓彼此比較感覺舒適。所以當妳的老外上司徘徊於妳的身邊而讓妳神經緊繃時，或許妳可以如報導中所給的建議：唱首“Don’t Stand So Close to Me”來聰明的點醒化解當時的尷尬。

Interacting with colleagues in the workplace has something to do with cultural aspects. When your boss acts the way you don’t feel comfortable such as hovering around while you’re working, what you would deal with the situation appropriately. The invisible stresses and uncomfortable feelings may come from the behaviors of violating personal privacy. When someone’s concern turns out to be your tension, you should start the conversation to express how you really feel about the whole thing. Don’t just pretend nothing happened, and hide your unease feeling. You may have a nice talk with your boss with a healthy attitude.

Below, Dattner offers more suggestions for dealing with a hovering manager.

Understand your boss. If your boss is from another country or another culture, he or she may have a different notion of personal space and nonverbal communication than you do. What to you seems like hovering may not be hovering at all in the culture that your boss is coming from.

Why is she hovering? Perhaps he or she is concerned about your performance and that of your co-workers. In that case, communicating more proactively about what you are doing may set your boss at ease and make him or her less prone to walking by to check up on you.

Ask for some space. Mention to your boss, in a friendly and nonthreatening way, that he or she is making you feel uncomfortable by standing too close to you. Respectfully ask that he or she keep a little bit more physical distance. If you approach the conversation in a positive, nonaccusatory manner and present a solution, your feedback and request will be much easier for your boss to listen to.

Rearrange the work space. Some people protect their privacy in the workplace by configuring their office or cubicle in a way that minimizes the possibility that others can hover. Sometimes, people even put up mirrors in their offices or cubicles so they can see people standing behind them. Doing this may help in the short term but may also make the situation worse over the longer term if your boss perceives that you are trying to limit his or her access to you or to monitor his or her comings and goings.

Take your concern to a higher level. In today’s litigious workplace, bosses are likely to be responsive to employee requests about things like physical space, especially when any kind of discomfort or harassment is potentially being experienced. If your boss is not responsive to repeated, clear requests, you may need to go to his or her bosses or to human resources to ask that they intervene.

A last resort. You can hum the song ”Don’t Stand So Close to Me” by the Police whenever your boss stands too close to you. This is obviously more likely to be effective with a boss who knows the song, gets the reference and takes the hint. However, even a boss who doesn’t know the song could potentially be conditioned to keep a bit more distance if your humming is a direct function of his or her proximity.

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514

Toys play the important role that more than you can imagine for kids’ development in many ways. The more simple-designed, the more help for kids creativity. The imagination is produced during the process of inventing rules of playing. New toys usually tend to too much ”convenient for kids that they don’t need to spend too much energy to figure out how to play with their toys. However, it won’t help kids’ to stimulate their curiosity and think more.

some words I’ve catch from the listening:
self-regulation, impulsive, private speech, toy, self-deciplain
play, safety, secure, penetrate,

玩，玩具，玩出什麼樣的能力？
一起來玩吧，如果這在２０年前，我們想到的是捉迷藏，紅綠燈，過五關等的團體活動。到了現在，玩具則取代了玩伴和遊戲的角色。各式各樣聲光動作變化十足的玩具，相較於需要玩伴的遊戲活動，這些玩具是否讓有助於孩子的成長呢？
研究的結果發現，從前孩子可以從遊戲中培養出來的自我管理(self-regulation)的能力在現在小孩身上已經減退了.訪談中還提到private speech,(應該翻成自我對話吧)這種習慣可以養成人們思考解決問題的能力.