Frogies’ Sense to Appreciate

 Frogies'Sense to Appreciate

So you know,

          Frogs can jump impressively high.

        Frogs can croak loudly enough

       to break the silence at night.

        Frogs with their tongues so long to catch

        insects flying past are fun to watch, too.

        But frogs possess a precious quality

        with skin as sensitive as our eyes,

        how many people see this creature

        with the endowment to feel the environment?

       

        When frogs leaving a place for good are an alarm warning

          But we always take them so lightly to notice anything

         and see them so trivial to the whole environment and our enjoyment.

        They pass us a message for their desperate movement

        but we are just too proud to show any regret

          of their plight and consider them to be of any threat

          to our very survival and enjoyment

         We are just too irrationally indulgent

          in our greed and lust

         for more and more material wealth and enjoyment as such

         at the expense of the environment.

        We insensibly trade our precious air and water

         for many luxurious and fanciful commodities

         serving no particular purpose but our vainglory

        Frogs are our very helpful friends

        To get rid of mosquitoes,

         the bite of which can be very fatal

        But our exploitation and inconsideration

          have forced our precious friends away in desperation

         and let mosquitoes go rampant

        to spread malaria and dengue fever

        We have hence become so adamant

         to prevent and eliminate them than ever

        As time goes by, some day,

         frogs may all disappear totally

        We shall see frogies no more in reality

         though we still have vivid image of them in stories

        We may only recall them at times from memory,

         another legend for remembrance, lah

       

        Frogs’ extinction heralds the calamity

        to befall on human beings sooner or later

        for breaking Nature’s harmony

(Inspiration from the article by a Malay writer – “Frogs, Frogs, where are you?” in See Hua Daily News)

Life and Death

                  Life                           Death

                Life and death but a journey to progress

                And a mission to fulfil

                Life is not born to refuel anybody’s ambition

                To win in the election

                Life and death but a journey to progress

                And a mission to fulfil

                Life is not born to satisfy anybody’s desire

               To go high

                Life is wonderful

                With eyes to see pollution-free land, sky and sea

                With ears to hear melodies of nature far and near

                With nose to smell fresh fragrant air

              With tongue to taste pure organic food

                With heart to feel God everywhere with us

                With mind to sense God’s creation in harmony

                Life is fanciful

                With the sixth sense to remind

                To be graceful and grateful

                To all the living things big and small

                Life is meaningful

                With roles to learn to play well

                With God’s commands to live well

                Life is amazing

                With the law of Nature

               To bind all the creatures big and small

                With the will of God

                To submit and abide

                With the ability each must know so well

                Life is life; death is death

                Life is death; death is life

                Day and night to progress

Dabai / Malaysian Olives

                             Dabai / Malaysian olives                        23/11/12

          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 ………

Where is God?

-->

Where is God?

          Where is God?

          I don’t know but I know He is nowhere.

          He is also everywhere

          I see His presence in the flora and fauna

          I hear Him in the different melodies of birds chirping

          I scent Him in the fragrances of the fresh morning air

          I feel Him in the warmth of the sheep

          He touches me in the soothing water that I quaff.

          I even notice Him in the micro-organism

          He also overwhelms me in the grandeur of mountains, seas and oceans

          I am lost in Him in the infinite universe

          I meet Him, too, in you and me as well as many others

          I really read Him in the full expressions of Truth, Kindness and Beauty.

          He is the emblem of Justice and Love.

English Grammar and Language Experience

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: 

1. Fatimah  has to fetch water from *the well  every day for the household cleaning activities.
2. Tears *well up easily in her eyes whenever she thinks of her pet cat that got drowned in it a year ago. 
3.  John was sick yesterday but he is well today.
4.  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’:

1.   A noun as it is preceded by the definite article ‘the’.
2.   A verb as it is placed right after the subject ‘Tears’ that indicate an action
3.   A predicative adjective as it is placed after verb-to-be ‘is’
4.  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?

The Importance of English Pronunciation

The Importance of English Pronunciation

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:

appeal,  beat,  bean, bleak,  eat, ease, easy, feat, heat, leaf, 
leave, leak, meat, neat, peat,  plead,  please, read,  seat,  
squeak, squeal, weak………….  

The vowel letter cluster ‘ea’ may have / e / speech sound:

          breath,  bread,  head,  health,  wealth,  thread, threat, 
          spread, ………..

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.