A friend was feeling upset and posted this on Facebook: Life is like grass. 人生如草 We could have consoled her by saying: take care, life’s not that bad and so on. But if you were good in Chinese, you could say: 野火烧不尽 春风吹又生 Sounds more poetic, right? This means the fire can’t burn all the[…]
The great thing about teaching kids is you keep yourself updated with what’s happening in their world. The bad thing is- you feel like an old fogey. Asked the students to write a letter to their idol today and I promised to send them to the heartthrobs after the edits. One girl likes the “Little[…]
Collective nouns are nouns which stand for a group or collection of people or things. They include words such as audience, committee, police, crew, family, government, group, and team. Most collective nouns can be singular or plural. However, there are a few collective nouns that are used only in the plural form, the most common[…]
Over the past couple of days, a video of a student shouting at his teacher went viral.Yesterday, it was reported the student has apologised and “shown remorse.” This reminded me of my secondary school days when I was in one of the rowdiest classes. There was a classmate who joined a gang (the infamous 369[…]
Have you ever complained about doing Maths homework, saying you will never use it when you grow up anyway? Well, you are wrong. Someone used Maths to find love. True story. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/how-to-hack-okcupid/
I must say the P1-2 class is the hardest to teach. As the students are very young, we have to maintain discipline, ensure they learn, make it fun and be innovative. This combination is almost impossible.Besides focusing on their writing, I want my lower primary students to be able to present and express themselves from a[…]
Quiz: How do you pronounce “often”? a. with the “t” b. without the “t” c. all of the above Solution: The answer is (c) all of the above. “Often” can be pronounced with and without the “t”.Interesting things to note:1. The pronunciation with “t” is a reversion to the 15th century pronunciation2. Most British and American[…]
Thanks to Pornsak for graciously agreeing to attend the “Study Room Press Conference”! He shared with us how he learnt his languages, why he got into the entertainment circle and how he managed his time despite his busy schedule. The budding young reporters in the Upper Primary English class were awed by him and were[…]
“How much is that diamond ring?” asked Tai Tai A. Tai Tai B shrugged, flashed the glistening stone in front of her friends, blinding her friends. “Come on, give me an estimate, agar agar,” Tai Tai A persisted. What Tai Tai A could have also said: “Come on, give me a ballpark figure.” Ballpark refers[…]
We can easily label someone 13-19 years old as a teenager. How do you call someone who is in his 70s or 80s? Do you know there’s a term for every age group? . . . . . . . . 10-19 years old: denarian 20-29: vicenarian 30-39: tricenarian 40-49: quadragenarian 50-59: quinquagenarian 60-69: sexagenarian[…]