Dabai
/ Malaysian olives are in season and are abundant in supply in Sibu now.I bet the supply is so much greater than
demand as I see the drop of prices of olives in different sizes and qualities
as compared with the prices I knew few weeks ago.
So
dabai, dabai everywhere abundant in supply.What are the growers, sellers and buyers going to do with so many dabai
at their disposal?I guess the growers
have to negotiate with the sellers for a price that is incentive enough for
them to sustain.And the sellers have to
think of all ways to find and persuade the buyers and told all the health benefits
of eating dabai.
Well,
well, well for the amateur grower like my husband who has 5 dabai trees and 4
trees are really fruitful.He has harvested
at least 100kg this time.This is the
first time he has collected so many dabai.What is he going to do with them?At the time when dabai are in
abundant in Sibu.They are not lucrative
enough for him to think of selling them in town.
Luckily,
they did not ripen at the same time.Otherwise
it would be a tough job for him and his two friends to pick them.The dabai spaced out to ripen in a period of
two weeks.They went three times to
pick.My husband had to take leave for
five days.He and his another friend, Lu
had to go there to look after them more vigilantly for fear someone who would pick them as our
farm has not been fenced up yet.This friend
has been farming with him for the past 12 years.They go there almost every Saturday
afternoon.This is the first time they
have had such a rich harvest.Three of
them each took home 30+kg.
For
our share of 30+kg,We gave away some
to 2 neighbours beside us, my husband’s siblings and friends.The rest about 15kg+ we kept.Luckily, I have learnt from relatives and
friends different ways to eat them and preserve them.We find the balai marinate with soya sauce
and brown / cane sugar and heated under the sun taste best.You can also put dabai in warm water to
soften them and then marinate with soya sauce and sugar.I also try to bring water to boil first and
turn off the stove. Then I steam them in the pot for a few
minutes.
To
preserve them, I pack them in containers and put them in the freezer
compartment of the refrigerator.People told
me they can last for a year or more.I
shall find out.Lately, I have found out
an interesting fact about the frozen olives/ dabai which will become soft and
ready to serve when you de-froze them.I
have tried them and it proved to be true.I was overjoyed to realise it.Hence
I can take the loads of olives at ease now as I know how to preserve them.
For the baked or steamed olives that we cannot
finish, I scrap the fresh off the seeds and add in sugar to make olive paste and
bottle it.It is another fun way of
eating olives.
People
say olives like durians are heaty .I think
so because they seem to work up my digestive system a bit more and I pass out
bad wind every now and then.I think it
is a kind of food with a lot of good enzymes, too.I think it is tonic as well.
Dabai
are a seasonal fruit.I see dabai
heavenly food we have on earth.They should
have the properties as good as their ‘cousin’ the Mediterranean olives which
have been proven to be so good for health.
So
dabai, dabai everywhere in Sibu, how nice to know we can eat to enjoy them and for
our health’s sake.We can preserve them
to prevent them to go rot /waste.Maybe
someone shall process them ………
My perception of English grammar and
language experience
What is grammar all about? To me, it is about word classes / forms and
their functions. Grammar is the summary
of word classes and their functions. So
it is about general rules and exceptional cases to know and remember. Based on the theory of grammar universal
researched by some linguists, all
languages share some common features though every language is unique in quite a
number of ways. It has its own unique
system of grammar / arrangement of words / language structures as well as the
sound system.
In English, words can be categorised into 9 word classes
/forms, namely
1. Nouns
2.Pronouns
3.Verbs
4.Adjectives
5.Adverbs
6.Conjunctions
7.Prepositions
8.Interjections
9.Determiners
The knowledge of grammar is a must in order to speak and
write correctly and properly. It
concerns with the arrangements of words as well as choice of words in different
word classes properly and correctly to express your ideas, feelings, opinions
or thoughts in both spoken and written communication. For example, the word “well” used in
different word classes:
Fatimah has to fetch water from *the well every day for the household cleaning activities.
Tears *well up easily in her
eyes whenever she thinks of her pet cat that got drowned in it a year
ago.
John was sick yesterday but he is well
today.
Peter speaks Japanese well.
To know how to use the word “well”, for example, in
different word classes properly,
the best way is through language experience.
It is that you are exposed to how
it is used in different word forms in contexts and know their meanings.
Reading widely enables learners to acquire
the language naturally as well as the culture of the language.
Listening to radio programmes, watching English movies
or movies with English subtitles and hearing the speech sounds of the words and
the meaning associated with them are excellent ways to input the language
besides texts reading in English.
Language experience through listening and reading enables learners to
get familiar with the usage and structures as well as to acquire a wide range
of vocabulary in contexts and the
culture. Of course, there must be enough
repetition and rehearsal in the language through different listening and
reading activities to acquire it.
Having the knowledge of grammar equips learners with the
tools to edit his/erown
writing. Learners can analyse sentence structures to
check and edit. In the above sentences
based on the structure, we know that the word ‘well’:
A noun as it is preceded by the definite article ‘the’.
A verb as it is placed right after the subject ‘Tears’ that
indicate an action
A predicative adjective as it is placed after verb-to-be ‘is’
An adverb of manner as it modifies the
verb ‘speaks’
Grammar is about general
rules that govern a language. It is
systematic in nature and the regularity is high. However, grammatical rules are just hard
facts, rigid and stiff. Language can
only come alive when you know how to use it creatively, expressively and lively
in a natural way in the output in speaking and writing.
To use a language
spontaneously or at will requires a constant language exposure or experience in
listening and reading in the input and the output in language use in speaking
and writing.
English is learnt as a
second language in Malaysia. Hence
deliberate effort is needed to learn English grammar. At the same time, a conducive environment
should be created to acquire it in a natural way through language exposure /
experience in different contexts.
So if you know all these
rules thorough well and can use the
language spontaneously / at will in speaking and writing, you can declare that you
have mastered the language. That means you
are in command of a language as you have reached the benchmark for accuracy and
fluency. Do you think so?
Language is a system. Hence we
can learn the rules that govern it systematically. Unless it is our mother tongue that we can acquire
the language in a natural way without knowing much of the rules, however, for the second language learning, we definitely
need to know the forms and their uses well to use it properly in speaking and
writing.
A language usually has both spoken and written
forms. It is like a coin with both
sides. To learn a language well, we have
to know the speech sounds that match with the written forms of the language. Since our ears can learn faster than our
sight, I see the importance of English pronunciation to master the
language. I believe our learners can
learn better if they know these two main categories, namely vowel and consonant
phonemes (speech sounds) of English.
In Malaysia, English is learnt as a second language. Thus the knowledge of English pronunciation is
as important as the knowledge of English grammar (forms and functions). Therefore, I see that the knowledge of the
general rules of English pronunciation is essential. We can approach them through English phonics
which concerns with the regular spellings of the words that match with the specific speech
sounds. For example, the
letter cluster ‘ea’ vowel letter spelling usually goes with / i: / speech sound
/ phoneme. Words with ‘ea’
vowel letter spelling:
There
are exceptions to these 2 rules as ‘ea’ might have / eI / vowel speech sound:
break,
great
Do you agree that learning is
considered to have taken place when students can remember what they have learnt
and know how to apply the rules? In English
learning, of course, our students need to know English grammar (i.e forms and
functions / uses) and pronunciation of English words in order to remember them. The use of language in speaking and writing
will reinforce the language learning.
Our students can remember English words
easily when they know how to pronounce them at ease. Being able to pronounce English words will
also reinforce their learning and even inspire their interest in the language. Hearing how the words are pronounced and know
how to pronounce them are the ‘secret’ keys to remember them. Knowing how to use the English words they
have learnt in spoken and written communication at will boost their confidence
in the language and create good self-image.
You may ask what about those born deaf
and dumb and how they can use the language.
Well, they use Sign Language that they use their hands to gesture and
facial expressions to convey the message.
These signs and signals are their pronunciation of the words.
A normal person with good audio-visual
faculty, s/he has all the advantages to acquire the language easily. A language can be acquired easily in its
natural environment when you are exposed to it all the time. Is it not how we acquired our first language?
Well, for second language learning, you still
need a lot of texts reading to build up your stock of vocabulary to master the
language. Again, I would like to
emphasise that you need to know the pronunciation of the words to remember the
forms / spellings of them. For the
functions of the words, you need to ‘experience’ the words used in contexts to
get the language sense of the words to use them correctly and properly.
To learn a language well, knowledge of
pronunciation is one of the components that you cannot afford to leave
out. Like the Chinese Han-yu-pin-yin, English
pronunciation is also based on the unique combination of consonant and vowel
speech sounds in different ways for the letter spelling of the words as the example, ‘ea’ may have / i: / or / e / and the exception in the lists of words stated
in the passage.
According
to the interpretation of Julia Lee Ai Cheng, today, cognitive science, refers
to “the scientific study of the mind; how we think, perceive, remember and
learn “. Have you ever asked yourself
how you think, perceive, remember and learn something, for example, driving a
car, learn a language, social skills,
how to use the computer, how to make a cheese cake and the like?
There
are many interesting facts about the working of the human mind. How do we remember things? Where do we store the information? How do we retrieve the information at
will? How do we recall the past events
when we are stimulated by an object or a scene and the association of thoughts
with the event.
It is the power of
memory that we remember what we have learnt or experienced. Otherwise, you may find difficulty to locate
your own house or where you park your car each time. Cognitive science creates the awareness of
how a person thinks, perceives, remembers and learns. Recall how you can remember things that you
did, learnt and experienced. For example,
I always can remember that the things where I put if I put the things at the
same place. I can even find it in
darkness because my mental map has the record where it is. However,
if I change the place frequently, I often get mixed up and fail to find
the thing.
Hence, I believe
children learn better if teachers are consistent in their delivery of the
lessons. There must be a system to
follow so that it is easier for students to learn. That is why a child as small as 2 or 3 years
old can count or say the English alphabet without much difficulty /
hassle.
In the language
learning, a child hears and codes the language.
Some scientists even believe a child learns as early as prenatal
stage. Though most children only speak
at 1 and a half or 2, they actually learn the language he / she is exposed to
in silence through his / her interaction with adults. So, we, adults, never underestimates the
learning power of an infant! (We have to
watch our language. Children pick up
every word we utter.)
People say, “We
are what we eat.” and in parallel, we
can also say, “We are what we experienced and learnt and how we were taught as
well as what we are exposed to.” A
famous philosopher said, “I think therefore I am.” (if I am mistaken, his name
is Voltaire). Our thoughts are based on
what we experienced, learnt and how we were taught as well as what we are
exposed to. Thus, I really believe in
the power of family, school and social education on the development of a
person. Of course, life-long learning
helps us to readjust and improve ourselves all the time.
Cognitive
science gives light to us that there is immense capacity of human mind to
improve and progress. Hence, life-long learning makes sense. That’s why we often heard people say, “We
learn from experience and mistakes.” It
is because we have the record of the events somewhere in the human mind. (I guess there are numerous storerooms in our
brain.)
Imagine
some people who lost their memory due to accidents or illnesses or senile. They forgot almost everything, including
their family members, not to say the languages they knew once and other
skills. Have you come across someone
suffering from the disease called Alzheimer.
(People say it happens mostly to old folks.) (Recently, I read an
article from the newspaper saying that it was due to pesticides.) Cognitive science deals with all these things
concerning human mind. I hope one day
scientists will find the solution for the cure.
As
we all know that our brain is the most delicate organ in our system. It is so delicate that the scientists
studying the human brain just can’t go as fast as the other scientists dealing
with other organs in the human body. Hence,
the knowledge of the human brain is just at a primary stage of development. Cognitive science really includes “researchers from various fields such as
philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics,
education and anthropology in the interdisciplinary study of the mind“. It is from these different aspects of studies
to get better insight of the human mind.
It
is interesting to note that the way how a child perceives (see, hear and
understand ) the world makes the difference of an individual. This, of course, has something to do with the
environmental stimulation and response.
It , in turn, influence the mindset of a person, do you agree? (That is why I often see that an individual
is at the mercy of his / her environment.).
It is not surprising that different individuals having different opinions
on an issue as an individual have
different perception of the world. No
matter how different an individual holds to the opinions of an issue, I think
the universal truths and facts are the standard to follow as an individual
reaches the stage of intellectual maturity.
Every progressive individual learns to adjust and improve all the time
for the good and better. This is the
reason why development of human capital is considered a very important factor
for a strong nation.
It
is due to the research that the
scientists came to know that the human brain can be divided into two
hemispheres. Did you know that our
right and left our brain function differently? According to the scientific report, our right
brain is more inclined to imagination, arts, creativity, music and aesthetic things whereas our left brain is
mainly concerned with the power of reasoning, language, facts, laws, physics and the other scientific
stuffs. Hence, the strength of the side
of the brain becomes a factor to decide the aptitude / interest of a
person. Did you know that the right or
left handed person has something to do with the power of the left or right
brain? It is believed that the left-handed
person tends to have stronger development of the right brain and the right-handed
person has the stronger left brain power.
To
keep both sides of the brain in optimal state is proved to be the most
effective tool to learning. What I mean
here is to use both sides of the brain properly and in a good balance. You will see that it really works wonder to
your life. To prove with an evidence,
when my eldest brother went to
to study, he was 37 years old with a family (3 children and a wife). He had to work and study at the same
time. To cope with the task, he made
full use of the theory of keeping the
brain in the optimal state. That is to
use both sides of the brain: when a
person is at work or studies, he uses his left brain; our brain like our body will get tired with a
certain amount of work. It is time a
person must relax with some kinds of recreations. He/ She
may listen to music, draw, look at his fish, flowers, cook, go fishing,
watch TV and so on to activate his / her right brain and let the left brain
take a break.
Well,
this is how my eldest brother planned and allocated time for his studies. He usually studied for 45 minutes and stopped
for 15 minutes for relaxation. He said
he looked at his fish to relax. (It is
his way as he likes fish. It may not work in you.) Then he went back to study for another 45
minutes and stopped again. He exercised
strong self-discipline. Thus he got the master degree in 2 and a half
years. Actually, he needed 5 years to
complete because he did the course
part-time. The proverb, “All work and no
play makes Jack a dull boy” is indeed
true.
There
are a lot more to tell, but due to the time constraint, I must stop here. To conclude, I would recommend you to read
the book, entitled “Cognitive Science” and another book “A complete idiot’s
guide: Improving your memory”. You can get them from the Sibu public
library. I have read them. The books are interesting and informative. They will help you to gain better
understanding of yourself how you think, perceive, remember and learn
something.
What
do you think Critical Thinking and Learning is ?Well, to the best of my knowledge, it is the
thinking process when we ask questions like --- what, where, when, who, whose,
whom, which , why and how ----- in order to get the answer that can convince
us.Thus, analysing and assessing the
information is a must to obtain the desired result.
You
definitely agree with “the concept of critical thinking expressed by Dr Linda
Elder, the president of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and Dr Richard
Paul, director of the Research Centre for Critical Thinking as:The process of analysing and assessing
thinking with a view to improve it.”“As a result of analysing and assessing thinking”, you are enlightened
or inspired to the new level of understanding and adjustment of your thinking
for being more objective or universal in nature.In other words, the process of analysing and
evaluation of your thinking results in some changes or adjustment or
“restructuring thinking”.
As
an independent individual, you want to be in control of your life.It is important to take charge of you
thinking before you are in control of your life.As “Thinking leads man to knowledge.You may see, read and learn whatever you please
but you will never know anything until that you have thought over that, which
by thinking you have made the property of your own mind. ” (J. Pestalozzi, a
Swiss humanitarian and educationalist)
I can stress again one main fact that
everything needs your careful thought.That’s why it is emphasised again and again in your course-book, the
importance of planning which definitely involves a lot of thinking, analysing,
assessing and sorting work.
To
let you have a clearer picture of what critical thinking is, here, I would like
to elaborate with some examples.Look,
we are now living in an age of knowledge explosion and moral confusion.How can you still stand firm with all the
bombardment of different kinds of information and values?It indeed needs your critical thinking to
evaluate the information in order to ‘wield off’ undesirable elements.
You know
obesity/overweight has become a disease plaguing human being in the age of
technology.It was reported that 60% of
Americans were obese.Malaysians are not
spared of this “pandemic” of being obese.The number of people becoming obese seems to be increasing.Hence “slimming” centres are booming
everywhere.There are lots of articles
discussing this issue, too.Some
scientists attributed “genes” to be the culprit to the disease whereas some
scientists asserted that lifestyles and diet were the influencing factors.
Well,because of critical thinking, I, of course,
did not take their words for granted.I
started looking around for evidence and proofs to test the claims of the
scientists.How much do genes play in a
person’s weight gain.?It, no doubt, is
genes that makes a mouse different from an elephant; a cow different from a
pig; a duck different from a chicken; a goat different from a giraffe
………………………..
I really think a
pig grunts; a pig oints.A pig is
identified because of a thick layer of fat.Of course, the lifestyle of a pig also contributes to the cause.However, when I found that a wild boar which
moves a lot also has a thick layer of fat though not as thick as a domesticated
pig.This is my observation and
understanding that genes indeed plays a part.If you see “fatless pork” or “pork too lean to be true ” in market, you
should know what I mean.Similarly, a
cow “moos”.A cow is supposed to eat
grass.If a cow eats processed food,
you, indeed, need to lend your imagination beyond.People say, “You are what you eat.”Be aware !
Other than that, I would say diet and
lifestyle are the main contributing factors for the problem. Nowadays, many
people face the common problem:eating
too much but not exercise as much.No
doubt, obesity has become an issue in the age of technology.Due to critical thinking and analysing, I,
have become more alert than ever before as far as food is concerned.
I also face the
weight problem.I have to be very
careful with the diet.If I am indulgent
in food, I gain weight steadily.I know
“slimming” centres won’t help me much if I don’t practise some discipline on
food intake.I make sure that I must
have a balanced diet and enough exercise to maintain weight, if possible to
reduce some weight.In my case, I am
certain that it is not gene.It is food
and lifestyle.
Another
interesting example I would to share with you is about frequent floods in
Sibu.Since 2001,I started to look at the flood conditions
critically and I realised two important facts that the poor drainage in Sibu
and the siltation of the river have been the main causes offloods.Solving the problem of flooding in Sibu is to improve the drainage
system and regular dredging of the river is required.Besides, a long-term policy to reduce soil
erosion and top-soil running off needed to be implemented.Nothing much has been done to remedy the
situation since the independent day.
Did you know that Malaysia
has such a high rate of fatal road accidents?It was reported that 50% of the road users were motorcyclists.Do you think the road system ismotorcyclist-friendly?Do you think there are enough safety measures
to protect these “vulnerable” lots of road users?Did you know motorcyclists have always ranked
No. 1 in fatal road accidents?Critical
thinking, no doubt, foster you to gather information in orderto analyse and evaluate the situation before
you make the judgement.It helps you
identify the cause, the truth and facts of the problems and thus solutions.
Thanks to the
critical thinking skills that I ruled out landslide, broken bridge, building
collapsing, ……………. to be God’s will.I
see the conditions to be the greed, indulgence and lust of the ministers and
other heads in amassing wealth at the expense of product quality to be
provided.Critical thinking prevents you
form being “led by the nose“ or follow blindly what people say.
Critical thinking
and learning helps you in your studies, too.Due to critical thinking and learning, I learn to group words into 8
categories and use them according to the function of each word form.Hence, I know the difference between
“complaint and complain; everyday and every day, practice and practise; advice
and advise; ……….” and so on and so forth.I have discovered many intriguing and interesting facts of the
language.
Due to critical
thinking and learning, many great inventions happened.In other words, no invention is possible
without the critical thinking and learning process.It is indeed true that you need to have
“thought over” what “you may see, read and learn” to make the information a
part of you or to get new ideas with the information that you have been exposed
to.
There
are endless examples of the practicability and usefulness of applying critical
thinking and learning in our personal and professional lives.
Recall the language or your mother tongue that
you are in command. Is it the language
that you are using all the time and you are exposed to it, too? That means you must have enough input of the
language in listening and text reading as well as output in speaking and
writing. Do you agree? Besides, you can creatively use the language
at will and you have strong language sense (linguistic intuition). With this sense, you know whether you use the
language correctly or not. Moreover, you
know how to adjust to improve the language.
For the 2nd language
learning, (any language other than the mother tongue/ your first language), you
are required to put in enough effort and must be sensitised to the structures,
spelling, pronunciation, punctuation and vocabulary of the language. In other words, you must have the awareness
of these items in order to speak and write well.
Of course if you can learn the 2nd
language just as you learnt your first language, that is marvellous. However, you must have enough exposure to the
second language to acquire it in naturally way.
Otherwise, I am afraid, some deliberate effort is required to acquire
the second language. As we know, the
English language is learnt as the 2nd language in Malaysia. So I am convinced to say that there must be
enough effort to acquire the knowledge
of the language, namely,
spelling,
vocabulary,
pronunciation
and grammar, especially.
To become proficient / competent in the
spoken and written English, you need to know the spelling of English words,
pronunciation, and grammar fairly well.
Of course, you must acquire enough vocabulary to use the language freely. I must say that it is prerequisite to have
enough knowledge of the English language in order to command it.
Then you can engage in the
language use in speaking and writing at will.
Definitely, you must also have
enough knowledge on the subject matter to speak / write well.
According
to Noam Chomsky, a famous linguistic researcher, being able to use the language
in speaking and writing is the
performance of the language. No
doubt, it requires enough practices to excel in it.
All in all, language learning is a
life-long process. I strongly believe in
reading widely to acquire vocabulary in context to increase the stock of the
language. To conclude my writing, I
would like to repeat that you need enough knowledge of the language and enough
practice to master the language. What do
you think?
Noam Chomsky’s definition of:
Competence: the knowledge of the language
Performance: being able to use the language in speaking
and writing
Reference Assoc Prof Dr Arshad Abd Samad, Dr
Mariam Md Nor, Abd Halim Ibrahim. (2010)
HBEL3203 TEACHING OF GRAMMAR
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