Learning English by Listening

Having taught English for a good number of years, I have often reflected on how to help my students learn the language in the quickest way possible. I must say that there's no shortcut to learning English, or any other language for that matter. Much has been written about how one can learn a language through listening, so what I'm about to share here is nothing new. 

Listening. This skill is often overlooked in the school system. Today,students are fortunate in that they have easy access to a wealth of free listening resources on the Internet. A quick search on Youtube using the keywords English listening exercises reveals 140,000 results. Pick the ones that you like which might not be too difficult for you to understand. Listen to each video several times: Understand what is being said, and after having understood it, learn to speak like the person in the video. I'm not saying you should mimic the person's accent because you may end up speaking as though you're parroting the speaker. If the video is good, you'll somehow know it, learn to adopt the speaker's fluency, pacing, and pronunciation. You might also want to pay attention to the speaker's body language, for example, eye contact and hand gestures for emphasis. Do this over several videos. Not only will you learn the language but you'll also become a good public speaker. 

What are you waiting for? Go to Youtube now!

Charming Cherating

This Chinese New Year I made my way to Kuantan and onwards to my favourite spot in Cherating. As I've stopped swimming in chlorinated swimming pools, the few annual trips to any sea is something I always look forward to. There I was, soaking it all up in the South China Sea when an idiom nibbled at my toes and I found myself out of my depth! Gr-up-gr-up-gr-up...I was gasping for breath, struggling to keep my head above water when something gave me a swift tug and, before I knew it, I was plumbing the depths of the more than 5000 m deep South China Sea. I guess by now you're already saying that all this doesn't hold water - it's all bunk, a load of baloney!

Yeah, baloney, alright. I'm just having fun with some water-idioms. Good thing it wasn't a sea snake that nibbled my toes!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Eureka!

What can we learn from famous personalities, be they scientists, business icons or artists?

I can still recall the vivid tale we read in our science book eons ago about the discovery of the Archimedes Principle: the upthrust experienced by a body immersed in a fluid. Apparently, he proclaimed Eureka! - a word derived from the ancient Greek word heureka, meaning I find - when he stepped into a bathtub and understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body that was submerged. The story has it that he was so excited about his discovery that he ran naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting Eureka!

So, what can we learn from Archimedes apart from the amusing spectacle of a disheveled-looking flasher shouting Eureka!?

Was his discovery of the Archimedes Principle the result of a stroke of good luck, much like striking a lottery? Like Sir John Newton who discovered the law of gravity after an apple fell on his head, Archimedes's discovery was not pure luck. If at all it was luck, it was luck that was caused by the collision of two speeding cars: HARD WORK and OPPORTUNITY.

BING! BANG! BOOM!...EUREKA!!!

Apart from the one-in-a-million chance lottery winner, success for most people comes from hard work and perseverance. If Archimedes had not been thinking and working hard in trying to solve this problem, I doubt if he would have had his breakthrough Eureka moment.

Can you do this?

This is not some Photoshop gimmickcry. See the lady standing beside me? She's a hypnotherapist. I remember when she put me under (subconscious), I was conscious of what she was saying. She was telling me, with my eyes closed, that my body was becoming as stiff as a rod. Then she got two assistants to place me in the position that you see in this photo.

What can we learn from this demonstration?

It demonstrates the power of the human mind. It's often said that we use only 10% of our mental capacity. If we could just tap into the full potential of our brain, we would be able to do much more in terms of what we are capable of. For example, if you're used to learning only one word a day - like we used to do in the old days- from now on, tell yourself that you are going to learn five, 10, or 12 words a day.

Don't limit yourself. Challenge yourself !

Our mind is capable of achieving a great deal more than what we think it is capable of.

 Big bad Wolf Book Sale 2012

Dear Parents, Students & Visitors of this Blog:

I just got back from the world's largest book sale- the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2012. It's on from the 7th to the 23rd December. Book prices start from as low as RM5.00! Hurry, and head over to the Mines International Exhibition & Convention Centre (MIECC) !

Use the following notes to construct a readable story. Remember to state the moral of the story.

An old lady becomes blind-calls in a doctor-agrees to pay large fee if cured, but nothing if not-doctor calls daily-covers lady's furniture-delays the cure-every day takes away some of her furniture-at last cures her-demands his fees-lady refuses to pay, saying cure not complete-doctor brings a court case-judge asks lady why she will not pay-she says sight not properly restored-she cannot see all  her furniture-judge gives verdict in her favour-moral.

Hints on writing your narrative:

1. Make sure your points are connected properly so that your story doesn't become disjointed or jerky.
2. As this is a story, make sure your story is idiomatic and remember to include dialogues.
3. In the SPM exam, if you are asked to provide a title, make sure you have one.