The Diploma Birthday Party 4th. December 2009

Saying of the Week

In class we have been studying the mind, and we have learnt a lot of new expressions and vocabulary that is connected to it. So although this week's saying is a little long, it is worth thinking about. It was said by Buddha a long time ago, and it remains absolutely true to this day.

"Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form."

"It's all in the mind".

The good thing is that we can always "change our minds". It's very easy to do. You just go inside and redirect it using the pictures, sounds and feelings, that your mind is constantly creating. Start with the little voices in your head - you must be mindful of these. They can send you in all sorts of silly ways - towards a polluted mind.

Talk to those little voices. First, say thank you for your words, but now I want to move on, forget about all that stuff, and see how I can make the day more enjoyable, by opening my mind to everything that is good and positive. Simple. As Buddha said, in such a clear minded fashion, cleanse the polluted mind and become pure of mind. We would say: open minded.

When you have a clear open mind, you can go anywhere and do anything. Just follow your mind. And as Buddha tells us - that way lies happiness.

End of Course Party, SMV, Lamphun

Yesterday I finished an English course for the employees of SMV, Lamphun, Thailand. On the last day we had a little party and they very kindly presented me with a Christmas Hamper, as you can see in the photo.
I had a lovely time teaching at SMV, and would like to thank all my students for their enthusiastic participation, and also Wat, the H.R. manager, and his two French bosses, who made sure I had plenty of good quality coffee to waken me up in the early mornings.

Saying of the Week

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

An educated native speaker knows about 50,000 words in their own language. To be able to hold an everyday conversation in English you only need about 2,000 words.

It takes about 1,000 hours of study to become proficient in another language, and about 3,000 hours to become an expert (on the same level as a native speaker).

It's not easy to learn a new language. It takes practice and a lot of perseverance. You need to keep at it every day. One step at a time. One block at a time. First, the foundation. Then, the building. And so on.

"Rome wasn't built in a day."

Level 2A Podcast - The Giant's Causeway

Vocabulary:

Finn Mc.Cool - Irish giant
Oonagh - his wife
Benandonner - Scottish giant
Giant(n) - Very big person from mythology - probably not true
Causeway(n) - A road built across a stretch of water
erupt(v) - to explode upwards like a volcano
coast (n) - land next to the sea
plateau (n) - a high flat piece of land
hug (v) - stay close to
hexagonal (adj) - six sided
fall out (v) - not speak to someone you used to get on with

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Saying of the Week

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink

With sayings that have a "result", such as this one, you don't have to say the whole proverb. It's only necessary to say: "You can lead a horse to water". People will then know what you mean.

When I was in my early teens, my mother got it into her head, that her children would learn to play the piano. She had never played a musical instrument, and now, she thought her kids should not miss out on this opportunity, or they would regret it when they got older, like she did.

So, she persuaded my father to buy an old stand-up piano at auction. It was installed in the front room, and I was sent off to take piano lessons with a Mrs. O'Neill. I never really took to playing the piano; I don't have a very musical ear. However, I stuck at it for a while, and I remember passing some theory exams, but I still can't play the piano, and neither can the rest of my family.

You can lead a horse to water .............

My Beloved Aunt

Listen to this week's podcast - My Beloved Aunt by Golf - and read the story below.


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Diploma Level 4A Writing - The Long Walk of Life

This term, the writing task was to write about a person, living or dead, who has been an influence on your life. You had to give examples and details to show how that person was important for you. We used the example of Rowan Atkinson's biography from Module 1 of Cutting Edge Upper Intermediate, which we are studying in Level 4.

This is, also, very similar to the personal preference writing task you get in the TOEFL. Here is an excellent essay written by Patipan Jinawong (Golf), who is an English Major at Chiang Mai University. You can also hear it in the podcast above. So, you can listen and read at the same time.

My Beloved Aunt

My aunt was a dependably selfless woman, who gave everything and did anything just for her family to be happy. Everyone around her would recognize her by the size of her body and the look of her cheerful face.

She was born in 1960, exactly five years after my mother was born. Her family was poor, and her native place was originally Lampang. In 1967, when she was 7, her mother decided to move to Mae Hong Son, because her father worked there. At that time, there was no airport in Lampang and even buses were hardly seen. Therefore, her family had to walk to Mae Hong Son, almost 300 kilometres, and it took them 3 months to get there. Tragically, her father passed away two years later.

She was the youngest in the family, so she got a lot of attention from her mother. In 1977, she was sent to Chiang Mai to further her education, but on one condition, she had to live on a low budget. After graduating college, she moved back to Mae Hong Son and became a teacher. Later in 1982, she got married to a man from a far away province. They said it was fate that brought them together.

As a teacher, she fulfilled her duties, but it seemed her income was never enough to support her family, neither was her husband's. So, she took an extra job selling jewelry. It went well for the first two years, but selling jewelry got her into a lot of debt. Therefore, she decided to do something else apart from selling jewelry. She came up with building a shop, but it was cancelled due to her family's financial position. Finally, she decided to sell Moo Yaw, Thai pork sausage.

In 2006, she decided to have a thorough medical check up, because she had had a terrible stomachache for a long time. The results showed she had stomach cancer, which was really rare. The doctor couldn't guarantee she would get better after surgery, but she was willing to take the risk. Therefore, she decided to have the surgery. The doctor successfully removed the cancer, but it had already spread to her whole stomach. So, her whole stomach was also removed. After the surgery she was continuously treated with chemotherapy. It was unimaginably painful for her, but she fought really hard to survive. She was truly a great fighter.

Later in 2007, her condition got even worse. There were no cures or remedies for her. Her body gradually turned black, due to a lack of "something or other" in her blood. Tubes were pushed down her throat, so she couldn't talk. Her hands shook when she tried to write. Her tears shed every time we came to visit her. It was a tremendously horrible moment. After three weeks of horrendous suffering, she passed away.

As I attended my aunt's funeral  tears formed in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. She was one of the greatest and most interesting people I've known in my entire life.

Saying of the Week

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

This is a very powerful saying. In English we use weather terms to express emotion. The sun represents happiness and rain represents sadness. So, if there are clear, blue skies you don't have any troubles, but if it's cloudy and raining life is full of sorrow. You'll hear these images sung in many songs. Of course, when the cloud and rain drift away, the sun comes out and everything is fine again.

"Every Cloud has a Silver Lining" tells us that no matter how bad things may get or seem, inside that cloud, in the lining of that cloud, is something good that can help you in the future. Behind every problem lies an opportunity.

And in my experience, it's absolutely true. Sometimes, we need those storm clouds to come along. We need a change in our lives, good or bad, to wake us up and get us moving again. Life would be dull and boring otherwise. For the sun needs the clouds, just as the clouds need the sun.

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Love Listening to English

Today we're starting "Love Listening to English" podcasts. Each podcast will have a story, followed by questions. They are for Diploma students, but anyone can practice listening. If you want to improve your speaking you need to listen a lot. With the technology of the Internet and podcasting we can now listen where and when we want.

This story is for Diploma Level 1B and is called "Peter had a terrible weekend". Use the player below to listen to the story and answer the questions.

Love Listening to English

Diploma Level 1B - "Peter had a terrible weekend"


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Saying of the Week

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

This is one of my favorite sayings. When people start giving me earache about this or that, I remember that what you do is what matters, not what you say. So many people, today, talk and talk, promise this and that, but they don't follow through. They think if they smile and say sorry that's ok.

For example, my best friend's father never said very much, but his mother talked a lot and no one listened. One evening we came back to my friend's house and started playing music in his living room. His mother kept saying to us to keep the music down, and my friend kept saying ok.

Of course, we didn't and we were quite loud really. After about one hour, the door opened and my friend's father walked in, and without saying a word, he walked over and turned off the electric fire and the music, switched off the light, closed the door and went back to bed. 

We all knew what he meant, by his actions, and went home with our tails between our legs. Actions speak louder than words. Or, as the Chinese say: Talk doesn't cook rice!

Watching Music Videos With Lyrics

If you go to Google or Youtube you can search for music videos "WITH LYRICS". There are a lot now on Youtube and other sites. Find the song you like, watch it with lyrics, and then draw a Mind Map of the song.
I've posted a song below by Timbaland, which also contains the lyrics.

Watching Music Videos With Lyrics

Mind Maps

Both nature and us, including our brains, are not created in straight lines. But, we tend to do a lot of things in straight lines. Language always comes in straight lines. Buildings, rooms, roads, queues, shops, arguments - it all comes in straight lines. Nature doesn't build in straight lines. Look at trees, flowers, rivers, mountains, animals and people - no straight lines.

So, when scientists started examining the design of the human brain and our thought processes, nothing was straight. There were cells in all sorts of curves and circles, connected in many ways, pinging off each other. And then when they looked at the great minds like Leonardo De Vinci, Einstein and Newton they didn't think in straight lines. No, they drew and doodled and added words and thoughts. We should do the same.

This is where Mind Maps come in. Mind maps are a way to create a space like our brain on paper. Mind maps use color and a radial pattern like our brain to mark thoughts and pictures on a sheet of paper. They can be used for decision making, planning, problem solving, self awareness, learning languages, artistically and so on. But, the biggest thing they do, is to get you to use your brain.

As an English language learner you should be using them to remember vocabulary, explore grammar, plan essays and presentations, summarize what you have learnt, and record your progress.

Below Ajaan Jeannette has put together a powerpoint presentation on the benefits of mind mapping, for both teachers and students.

We will start using this tool in future Diploma classes.

How To Use MindMaps by Jeannette Kelly

Using mindmaps

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The Diploma Level 3 Final Test - "To Kill a Mockingbird" Presentations

Yesterday the students did their presentations for the character they had chosen from "To Kill a Mockingbird". I have posted two of the powerpoint presentations below.

I must say that everyone did a fantastic job. I'd like to thank all of my students for their hard work this term. They had to watch a movie and read a novel in English and then prepare their presentations. So, it was a lot to do.

Aw,Fai and Ging got very passionate when talking about the treatment of Tom Robinson in the story. You could feel that they really cared about this character.

Kantong, Earth and Nam introduced us to Scout,the young narrator of the story and even though they hadn't done this sort of thing before they produced a wonderful piece of work.

Ying, Pid and Namcha showed us their powerpoint on Atticus, who was played by Gregory Peck in the movie, and whom they had all fallen in love with. Ying told us a heart-warming story about how she had read the book with her 80 year old neighbor, who had lived in America for 40 years, and remembered it all like yesterday.

And finally, Nu, Jeab and Juice produced a very professional presentation on the character Jem, Atticus's son and Scout's sister.

All in all I was bowled over by how good everybody was and how everybody really took to the book, and found a meaning in it for themselves and for society as we know it. It seems that perhaps we have lost a lot of bad, but we maybe have lost some good as well. Or maybe nothing has changed at all and that's what makes this story a classic for every generation.

The Diploma Level 3 Final Test - Presentation of a character from "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Mockingbird Ying Pid Namcha

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The Diploma Level 3 Final Test - Presentation of a character from "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Mockingbird Nu Jeab Juice

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