Why can't teachers work happily?

I had a seminar yesterday morning. With a free afternoon, I went back to the school where I had been teaching for over ten years to visit my friends.

The first thing I saw was my old office. It has been changed into a language room. The room is newly and nicely decorated. It is completely different from the old one. There are no more desks but a few computers with high chairs for students to sit on to use the computers. A small stage for students to sit or stand on and a large 47" LCD TV for video meeting with the outsiders. The students are lucky to have a room like that for language purposes. BUT I MISSED MY OLD ROOM. I had lots of good memories there.

I met many of my old colleagues. They have been working very hard since the new principal came. When they saw me, they were very happy to talk to me. Actually not because of me personally, but because they seemed to find someone that understand their feelings. By talking to them, I could feel that there was a kind of grievance inside them. Everyone there was unhappy, not because they have to work hard. But because of ...... Why can't the teachers work happily? What is wrong with the school? I think the principal has the responsibility to deal with it seriously.
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Attitude of learning English

In the book 'A Language Lover's Guide to English' by Siu Sir, "attitude" is the first thing mentioned.

There are five main points to remember, i) to increase English Language ability, one has to read more English books and watch more English TV programmes instead of spending too much time on practising past exam paper.

ii) Avoid using difficult vocabulary; grammatical structures; and wrong use of memorized idioms. When learning a new word, one must learn to use the word in the right situation and the meaning behind it.

iii) To develop the feeling of English, how? To develop such feeling in two months intensely, one must read English books for one to two hours every day. Find one interesting book that suits your level. Besides reading, one must write in English every day. Write what is in your mind. If it is difficult to think of a theme, just write a diary. The main point is to express yourself.

iv) One difficult part of learning English is the great amount of vocabulary in English. How to use the right word for the right genre. Just memorize thousands of words is not that helpful. One must read more, read different genres; think more and ask more.

v) English is everywhere, you can get leaflets from fast food shops, banks or the government department, etc. Don't just read from text books or comprehensions in supplementary exercise books. Reading a large various of material helps you improve writing different genres.
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Learning English

I have read a book about learning English. The book is called 'A Language Lover's guide to English'. It is written by Siu Sir. I would like to recommand this book to Hong Kong secondary school students.

This book is biliterate, i.e. it is written in English and Chinese. It is easy to understand. The examples he uses are autentic and close to young people. It has five different sections: the attitude of learning English; reading and writing; listening and speaking; grammar; English that you cannot learn in class. The writer also shares his experiences in learning English at the end of the book.

I recommanded this book because I strongly agreed with what the writer talks about the attutide of learning English. I will talk about it next time.
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St Catharine's 40th Anniversary Concert

What a wonderful night! The music, the songs, and the smile of everyone are still lingering in my mind. It started with the school hymn that I haven't sung with my school mates for a long long time. It was a beautiful hymn. It reminded me of my old days.

Mr Geoffery Weaver, who was our music teacher, came back from England and conducted the concert. The very old girls, the not very old girls and the very young girls (as Mr Weaver said ;-) ) performed fantastically. I wished I could sing and be one of them.

The whole concert was warm and joyful. The heart of all the girls, old and young, joined together in one. The entire evening showed the very strong spirit of St. Catharine. Although I have left school for such a long time, the spirit of St. Catharine is still amazingly persevered by our very young sisters. I am proud to be a St Catharine girl, old girl :-)

It was great to meet my old teachers, Ms Lau (Mrs Yee) and Ms Sin. I was happy to meet some of my old 'young' school mates, especially Meranda. Thank you, Ms Tsang (Mrs Yung) for inviting me to the concert. I will surely go to the next one on 6th October at St John Cathedral.
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Creamy candy and Chocolate-filled biscuit - YUM

Melamine

I thought Malamine had nothing to do with me at the outbreak of the scandal. First, I am not an infant; second, I have no children; and third, I don't live in China. I have only drunk a carton of Mengniu milk (250ml) so far in my life.

It seems that Malamine is getting closer and closer to me since it was found in more and more food and drinks in the world. My favourite White Rabbit Creamy Candy and Lotte's Koala's March soft milk chocolate-filled biscuit can not escape from the contamination of malamine. There are increasing numbers of products being tested and more food is exposed to be positive for melamine.

Not only my health is affected by malamine but also my pride. Being a Chinese, I feel ashamed:-( Now Chinese becomes the joke of the world which cannot be hidden by the fantastic Olympics in Beijing and the spacewalk mission of the astronauts. The malamine incident shows clearly that China is a nation that does not care about her next generation. The mainland Chinese are so cruel that they could poison their babies for money. I can see kids are loved and cared in most part of the world, in England, in Australia and in Japan, etc.

Why not in China! What a shame!

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Mamma Mia

Watched Mamma Mia last week. It was a very good movie. I enjoyed it very much. There were lots of music and lots of fun. Being nostalgic, listening to Abba's songs with the background story was a great pleasure . The whole movie was fun and enjoyable.

Meryl Streep, one of my favourite movie star, has a brilliant performance there. Her first movie I watched was 'Deer Hunter'. A woman of her age can still sing and dance like that is incredible. I wish I could 'move' like her when I were sixty years old :-)

Julie Walters (watched many movies and programmes of her),Colin Firth (my favourite star in Pride and Perjudice and Bridget Jones),Pierce Brosnan ( James Bond! YES! Like the other 'James Bond"- Sean Connery,they both increase their sex appeal when growing older) are all in the movie.

Watching the movie with my very old friend, Anissa, was great because we are of the same age ;-)

Oh! By the way, our three great Chinese astronauts set off to the space tonight!
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Why watch 'The Weakest Link'?

Hagupit had gone. It brought me an extra holiday today. I stayed at home. Enjoyed myself by reading and relaxing.

Haven't watched 'The Weakest Link' for quite a long time. I used to enjoy watching it although I couldn't answer most of the questions. The easiest questions for me are Mathematics, like one plus one equals two. :-)I always got the answers correct.
Why I like this programme because Anne Robinson speaks very fast English especially when the time is running out. I found it challenging when she was speaking fast. I also had a sense of achievement when I got the answer correct.

However, it shocked me today when I accidentally watched it again.(just for one minute) I found the Chinese subtitle on it. It is very distracting. You can't just ignore the subtitle if it is there. And the most ridiculous is, believe it or not, they put the answers on it as well. So, not to mention listening to English, who would like to watch a quiz programme when the answers are on the screen. Arrrrrrgh...

NowTV, what on earth are you doing?
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A typhoon Night

It is a typhoon night. T8 is up. the name of the typhoon is called 'Hagupit'. I wondered what it means. I can hear the wind from time to time. It's quite scary when the sound of the wind blowing up objects. It is nine-forty in the evening. I am listening to the radio and waiting for tomorrow's 'good news'- typhoon T8 - no need to go to work :-)
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