Vocabulary: News Article "Tough questions at rumpus school"

Today, I read an article on the Standard and I think that it was very well written as the author has used a variety of vocabulary which definitely suits my taste.


Of course, there are many many articles you can read in a day and there might be a whole lot of words you need to learn, but I myself enjoyed the moments of checking dictionary for meanings,usage and IPA because,

"One word learnt is one word MORE in your head, LESS in your guess." -- Locky

And after checking each word, don't forget to try to relate the words to something to help you remember them. Such as relating the words to the spelling of the word (if possible) or a story you can think of.






Here is the entire article:

Tough questions at rumpus school

NickkitaLau

Friday, May 29, 2009

Education chief Michael Suen Ming- yeung has been rapped on the knuckles for remarks about the troubled Pegasus Philip Wong Kin Hang Christian Primary and Junior Secondary School.

According to him, the school in Yau Tong is not equipped to conduct both primary and secondary classes.

Vexed by that view, Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organization chairman Mervyn Cheung Man-ping said yesterday the Education Bureau should not therefore have approved an application to run junior secondary classes.

This came after officers from the Independent Commission Against Corruption raided the school late on Wednesday. They took away boxes said to contain evidence.

Suen said the bureau did not ask the graft busters to get involved. However, the bureau has appointed three people to the school's management committee specifically to look into the accounts.

They start work on Monday to ensure a transition of operating rights to the bureau before July 14 so a new sponsoring body can be in place by September 1.

On facilities, Suen said the premises were designed as a primary school and could not accommodate a secondary school at the same time. Still, remaining junior high students may be able to finish the curriculum, he added, and the bureau contacted parents over the past few days to canvass their views ahead of selecting a new sponsoring body. A set of criteria will be announced early next week.

But Cheung wanted Suen to explain why bureaucrats gave approval for primary and junior secondary programs if the premises were inadequate. A decision on a secondary program should be made after consultations with parents and students, Cheung added. He fears a hasty decision will cut interest of potential sponsoring bodies and spur students to go elsewhere.

Board member Ada Wong Ying-kay, meanwhile, claimed that when Carmen Leung Suk-ching was principal she failed to provide documents, which led to incomplete audits. And a parent said Leung admitted at a Parents Teachers Association meeting she was being checked by the ICAC.

The school was named after Ada Wong's father, Philip Wong, and she felt disappointed the ICAC was involved.

She also urged the Pegasus Social Service Christian Organization to stop releasing "inaccurate information."

Vocabulary:

rumpus -- [informal] a lot of noise, especially a loud and confused argument or complaint

to rap sb over/on the knuckles for sth -- to speak officially to someone, in a severe or angry way, because you disapprove of their actions

to be equipped -- to be given someone the skills they need to do a particular thing

vexed by -- Made Angry, annoyed or upset by someone

raided -- (of the police) entered a place suddenly in order to find someone or something

be said to -- [+ to be + noun or adjective] When something or someone is said to be a particular thing, that is what people think or believe about them

graft busters -- officials who fight the act of obtaining money or advantage through the dishonest use of political power and influence

be in place of sth/sb -- instead of sth or sb

to canvass -- to try to discover information or opinions by asking people

inadequate -- not good enough

hasty -- describes something that is done in a hurry, sometimes without the necessary care or consideration

to spur sb to do sth--to encourage someone to do something or make it happen faster

to urge sb to do sth-- to strongly advise or try to persuade someone to do a particular thing

Picture source:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/newsimage/20090529/5_2009052821053900193SUEN.jpg



Resources:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=82768&sid=24029680&con_type=1&d_str=20090529&fc=8

Sports: Common Terms in Basketball

Another of my favourite sport when I was in Secondary school. Almost every week, my hostel friends and I would play basketball. Usually, we go by teams of Nation; however, since there weren't enough Taiwanese to form a team, Hong Kong will merge with Taiwan to play against the against PRC, Thai, Vietnameses and Indonesians.

I have to say that we generally played quite well, as we had the "twin towers", two junior boys who were both around 2m tall, but the Indonesians jumped the highest!!!

Anyway, back to the NBA playoffs. It has been playing for awhile now and the Lakers are not as brilliant as many might have expected. I'm no fan of any teams, I just want to see some great basketball, so if you are also interested, I guess you can catch the match on Saturday mornings on TVB Pearl.

Time for some common terms used by the NBA commentators, taken and adapted from the resource links at the bottom of this entry:

VIOLATIONS:

Travelling -- the person with the ball is moving both feet without dribbling the ball.

Double (dribbling) -- the person dribbled once, stop and held the ball, and then dribbled again.

Backcourt Violation -- when a player with the ball crosses the half way line and then back to his own court again.

Goaltending -- when the player attempt a shot and the ball is blocked by the opponent player while the ball is on its downward flight to the basket, that is, has already reached its top point in the air and is coming down.

Foul-Out -- when a player has committed enough fouls to be sent off.

Free Throw -- a kind of compensation for suffering from a foul, a chance to shoot from the free-throw line.

And-one -- when a player is fouled during a shot attempt and is awarded with a 1 point free-throw.

SHOOTING

Jump shot -- attempt a shot when one is jumping.

Layup -- jumping from below the basket, laying the ball up near the basket

Slamdunk/ Slam / Dunk -- to put the ball into the basket by slamming the ball in with one or both arms

Goes for 3 / from downtown -- to attempt to shoot from the 3 point line

Air ball -- when the ball hit nothing at a shot attempt

Brick -- a bad shot

Alley-oop -- a player pass the ball high and over the basket and another player receives it in mid-air and performs a dunk.

Fadeaway -- a jump shot while the player is jumping backwards away from the basket

Hook-shot -- a player with the ball swings the arm in the path of the shape of hook and so the ball gently leaves the hand and heads for the basket.

GAME PLAY

Pick and roll / Screen and roll -- one player blocking the opponent player, acting as a screen for the teammate with the ball and then roll around the opponent to receive the ball.

Double team -- defending one opponent player using two players.

Full-court press -- the defense team apply man-to-man or zone defense for the entire length of the court.

DRIBBLING

Crossover -- to move the ball from left to right or vice versa.

Picture resources:

http://paperthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/allen-iverson-picture-5.jpg

Suggested reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#Playing_regulations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Basketball_terminology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_moves

Grammar: Singular They

Singular "They"

Following the question I asked you guys in the Learning Psychology: Afraid of Speaking in English? entry, I have decided to post the answer here on a separate entry.

From the title, I guess you have already found the answer you want, but how do we actually use it?

Take a look at the following examples:

1. "That's always your way, Maim—always sailing in to help somebody before they're hurt." — Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
   
2. "Arise; one knocks. / ... / Hark, how they knock!" — Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

From the above examples, you can see that the word "they" only refers to one person, but we use this to convey the point that:

a) you don't know what the person's gender is.

b) if doesn't matter what the person's gender is.

c) you don't want the readers to know what the person's gender is.

d) you don't want to use generic "he" to confuse others that the person is a male figure because of a) or c).

So, next time, if you are facing the problem of using he/she/it, you can use "they".

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_pronoun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

Picture resources:
http://i40.tinypic.com/707vab.png

Animals and Environment: Do Sharks Deserve to Die for Their Fins?

I LOVE SHARKS

Recently, I bumped into a video of my favourite animal since I was young, a video that showed something that I never would have thought about but appeared to be true, that sharks can really be trained just like dogs, dolphins and seals, that they can even perform tricks for human!!!!

How bizarre (meaning "very strange and unusual") is that!!!!

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/shark-week-training-a-shark.html

I have transcribed the script of the movie clips here for everybody to read:

********************************************************************

"At Chicago's John G. Shredd Aquarium, scientists have opened their revolutionary classroom, a training program used on dolphins and whales has been adapted for an unlikely subject.

It started about 3 years ago, when I first started aquarium's shark school new exhibits, and we began training them behind the scenes in our holding facilities.

For the first time, Shedd placed all shark species in one big tank to avoid feeding frenzy of wild breed, each specie now answers to its own dinner bell.

All the sharks are given auditory call, and then you put their shape in the water. We do our colour contrast to make sure that if they don't see colour necessary but they do see the contrast so they understand that's their shape. And as they approach the shape, we feed them food on the end of tongs as a positive reinforcement.

The training does more than reduce competition, it shatters stereotype.

The idea that these sharks are man-eaters that don't think is definitely starting to change. These animals are very intelligent, they respond to so many different things and they can learn and they understand when they are doing something right.

A star pupil named 'Seamour' not only responds to touch, he performs like a trained seal.

My favourite is looking for Zebra sharks. They are the most responsive to the training, they are sort of like puppy dogs, they love to have their noses rubbed, they loved to be rubbed on their bellies, it just have been so enlightening and very rewarding to see a shark do something that ...you know you normally see a dolphin do. I enjoy every day coming in and seeing these guys just knock my socks off. They amaze me every day."

********************************************************************

I have loved sharks all my life. I despise the eating of shark fins and I never eat it myself. In fact, sharks being at the top of the food chain, carry so much mercury that anyone who eats sharks is prone to mercury poisoning. After watching the movie clip, I understand that sharks are indeed way more clever than we thought. If sharks can do what dogs can do, and we are eating them, doesn't that make you feel like eating dogs?

Looking up on the internet and you can easily find cruel photos of many shark massacres. Like the photo above, the sharks are killed with their fins removed, also known as "finning", while they were still alive and then thrown back into the sea when they eventually died agonizingly of blood loss and suffocation. Have you ever put salt on your wounds? Guess how the sharks feel in the salty sea water?

According to an article on Encyclopedia Britannica -- Advocacy for Animals, "about 73 million sharks are killed each year in this (finning) fashion.

Sharks are not always man-eaters. They are in fact monitors and monitresses of the sea. They helped to clean up injured fish and sea animals thus maintaining the ocean's eco balance. Just like too many sea stars will do very bad harm to mussels and beautiful corals, thus some sharks consume these sea stars to keep the balance.

The tiger sharks are famous for their unbiased appetite, that they eat anything they come across, and it is not hard to find tin-cans, boots, car license plates, plastics, etc. inside their bodies. Who throws all these into the ocean? Man does. Who cleans them up with their body? The tiger sharks do. Who is doing more for the environment? I think you have the answers.

Let me introduce some sharks I like to you next time. Till then, please go to this WWF website for further reading and take a look at the leaflet they published.

Please love the sharks. Will you?

Vocabulary:

revolutionary -- completely new and having a great effect

frenzy -- uncontrolled and excited behaviour

shatter -- to end something

stereotype -- a fixed idea that people have, especially one that is wrong

knock sb's socks off -- to surprise sb very much

despise -- to dislike sb or sth very much, to hate sth or sb
be prone to -- tending to suffer from sth

agonizing -- causing extreme pain

suffocation -- death due to lack of oxygen

Resources:

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/shark-week-training-a-shark.html

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/08/man-bites-shark/

http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/conservation/seafood/sharkfin/

http://www.wwf.org.hk/eng/pdf/conservation/footprint/seafood/sharkfin-e.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbz1Caiq1Ys

picture sources:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/zebrashark/zebrashark3.jpg

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/wp-content/uploads/sharks.jpg

http://www.elasmodiver.com/Sharkive%20images/Dead%20Tiger%20Shark%20020.jpg

Learning Psychology: Afraid of Speaking in English?

Occasionally, I do get some emails from my diligent ex-students sharing their problems with me and asking for advice, and of course, I can’t welcome more. It is a great signs of improvement and the first step is always the hardest to make, especially asking someone how to do something. Today I have selected a case that maybe some of you are also facing now, and I will then offer you some mental training to help you overcome this problem.

I have this student who felt more comfortable chatting through email rather than face to face or over the phone. Like many working for foreign companies, English is an essential part of their daily work. The problem was, the more they have to use, the more fearful they grew due to the lack of self-confidence, and so they did whatever necessary to avoid the communication with the foreigners.

Most of the time, a lot of the problems are created not by the foreigners, but by oneself. It is obvious to me. Why? Maybe you can ask the person working immediately beside you, ask them if they have the same problem as you do. It is not hard to find someone who does not share your fear despite working in the same environment. And why is this the case? Because trouble is a feeling generated by your brain, by your mind, and not by others.

If you are having the problem mentioned above, first of all, ask yourself,
“Can you not eat but feel full? Can you not drink but feel not thirsty? Can you not work hard and become rich?”

I think you would say "no". Then can you not try but speak good English? Often, you just have to bravely and boldly face the problem because you just cannot escape from it.

If you ask me which is the most important in learning English, I will say, "Passion, Confidence, Practice". If you don't have Passion, meaning your love for English; Confidence comes second, because with confidence, at least you would be active in speaking; Practice comes third, because without Passion and Confidence, Practice will ensure enough training.

What do you think about yourself? Which of these three do you have?

Since the problem comes from your mind, you must ask your mind to fix it. Try putting yourself in a dangerous situation. Man fights back at the very last moment.

Tell yourself, if you don't speak English to those foreigners, you will definitely lose your job. There is no more time for ‘later’. Would you try your very best to speak now?

Or, if you don't speak English, you can never get to earn a single dollar more because you will never get a promotion. There are so many others who can speak better than you and thus your job is not secure. If you want to prevent all these from happening, would you open up yourself and try more?

Many others are taking actions while you are still feeling miserable, and time doesn’t wait for anybody.

Remember, your character decides your destiny, so start now!

“Your future starts today, not tomorrow.” – Pope John Paul II

Picture source:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWXLkARsDxNIycIaQjb5wEXdO-wrG8N6IjwLMgYmUc6ZjVZUBaopHudYRWENFidJmTuXMQK6J3e7zGtZ1K7qZlCpzmiLnZadmVR_Wv-pAsEEEc60OIR_n-otKu-Jeepm_AtjzMO0CMsQX/s400/EnglishSpoken.jpg

Question:

Why did I use "they" when I am talking about 1 student only?

English For Young Learners: The Student Standard Website

Hi there! My dear blog chasers!I suppose that many of you from my classes know that I give theStandard.com.hk huge credit for their free English news service and the appropriateness of their level of English used. However, just as I thought that was about all for the website, I realized that I was only half way through my feast of knowledge!For those of you who have children in primary and secondary school, you have got to check this part of the Student Standard out!

http://www.student.thestandard.com.hk/student/index.asp 

Here you can find listening and reading practices for your children relating to the latest news, so you can kill “three” birds with one stone!

There is also the VIEWPOINT section which you can read what some of the students have to say about the new articles from the previous issues, thus your children will get to know the English level of some other children and hopefully motivate them to learn better English after seeing what others can write.

The VOCABULARY section will allow you to revise some of the words that appeared in certain selected article. It comes with meanings and you can even listen to the pronunciation of the word by the click of a button!The Goodies page is more or less another linking page to the previous one, but a bit more colourful, and it also comes with the a selected article on Liberal Studies. Why not getting your children to learn a bit about the politics of Hong Kong? That should give them more ideas as to what social responsibility is!

http://www.student.thestandard.com.hk/goodies/index.asp

Here is one example of the listen and read from the goodies page.

http://www.student.thestandard.com.hk/goodies/lr_content_vpdf.asp?id=777

You will realize that the pace is slow for the speaker and it is suitable for children even at a young age. It is advisable that you can read it with your children instead of letting them practise on their own so that you can provide them with a bit more information of the topic. It also enhances your bond with your children and you both can learn English together (trust me, there are things you can learn from there too), why not?Enjoy the fun of learning!

Happy Friday!

Picture resources:

http://www.student.thestandard.com.hk/goodies/image/front_r1_c2.jpg