ESL Fiesta on the 22 July 2010

What To Do When Insect Goes Into Ear

Especially for us who have young children....
Very useful tips for parents and grandparents, baby sitters, aunties and uncles:
FYI. Especially those who have young children, sharing this knowledge.

A Family wrote about the incident of their child.

Early this morning at about 4am, my eldest daughter was complaining and cry-saying that she felt pain in her ear. I tried to calm her down and persuaded her to let me have a look at it but she refused and showed us her stubbornness and tormented her anger at us.

I can see why, as I saw pain in her little eyes. It was a scary incident for us as we're worried and got no clue of what is the cause of it and what to do. So I decided to call my sister-in-law whom is a doctor for advice. She told me to pour baby oil into my daughter's ear. After a while of persuasion, I finally manage to calm her down and pour baby oil into her ear. She then manage to go back to her sleep.

Next morning, she woke up without complain and went to her usual Sunday Class. I thought everything was ok. But,when she came back from school, she complained to me that she found difficulty in hearing clearly. I quickly took her to ENT Specialist. In my heart was asking questions on whether is it due to the oil that I poured last night and hence, it affected her drum? The thought of it scares me.

When it's our turn to see the doctor, I explained to the doctor on last night incident. The doctor then inserted a small wire, which is also known to be a tiny camera into my daughter's ear. I was amazed when he showed me on the TV screen, the leg of an insect and told me that was the cause of the pain and hearing problem. He then inserted another kind of wire to suck the insect out. He told me that luckily I poured baby oil into my daughter's ear quick enough, otherwise the "alive insect" could go deeper and it can damage her ear.

He told us what we did was a right thing to do as baby oils or cooking oils will kill the insect. However, after doing so, we must quickly visit the nearest doctor, to take it out. Do not wait any longer. I was relieved and thankful that nothing happens to my daughter, even though we took our time to see the doctor, after putting the baby oil in her ear.

ESL Games: Charades

How to play Charades?

About Charades

Charades is a popular word guessing game. It is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to convey the meaning to another party. Usually Charades is played by two competing teams in a race against time: each time a player acts out a phrase, a stopwatch is used to track the time, with a maximum of one (or two) minutes for each turn.

The Rules Of The Charades:

1.The players divide into two teams. 7 players in each team.

2.Flip coin to determine which team goes first.

3.The team must send a player as an actor to act out. He is known as actor.

4.The actor must pick up a piece of word card randomly from the container.

5.The actor should act out the words/phrase written on the shown word card.

6.He/She allowed to tell the clue but disallowed to tell the word/phrase.

7.Each team will be given 1 minute to guess the word/phrase.

8.If the team can correctly identify the clue within the time limit, they get a point.

9.If the team failed to do so, they will pass their turn to the opposite team.

10.After the time is up, or the clue has been guessed, the next team goes.

11.Actor is allowed to use physical gestures only.

12.The actor disallowed to make sounds, lip movements or point out at any of the objects present in the scene, if by doing so they will lose their turn.

13.Usually, any gestures are allowed other than blatantly spelling out the word.

14.The game will repeat until any of the teams reach final score which is 10.

15.Team with most point will be declared winners.

Since so many rules can vary, clarifying all the rules with the game coordinator before the game begins can avoid problems later.

How to act out your Charade

Each category has its own action which you must perform initially to tell the others what you are about to try and describe. These are as follows:

1.Quote/Saying - Make quote signs with 2 fingers on both hands

2.Movies - Pretend to use an old fashioned film camera, cranking a handle to operate it and looking through the lense

3.Books - Open a pretend book with your hands

4.Music/Songs - Simulate sound coming out of your mouth with your hands

5.TV - Draw a television shaped rectangle in the air with your hands

6.Plays - Pretend to pull the ropes of a theatre curtain

7.People - Stand with your hands on your hips

8.Location - Draw an Earth with your fingers, then point somewhere in the middle

9.Event - Point at your watch (or just your wrist if you're not wearing one)

10.Word/Phrase - Similar to Quote/Saying, make quote signs with your hands

ESL Speaking: Enquiries About Jobs by Ben and Wadi

Another way of motivating students to participate intrinsically in ESL is by asking them to come out with a dialogue in the target language on controlled topics. Students can choose to memorize the dialogue or just by reading it with the right ESL intonation and pronounciation. Here's an example of a dialogue based on my controlled topic which are related to the course that I taught.

 

Ben: Hello, good morning. This is Celestica (AMS) S.d.n B.h.d?
Ady: Hello, good morning. Yes, this is Celestica (AMS) S.d.n B.h.d. Can I help you sir?
Ben: My name is Marzuki Bin Muhammat, I’m calling about your advertisement in jobstreet.com.
Ady: Owh, which job you want apply?
Ben: Actually, I want ask you about qualification do I need to apply job in your company as a technician?
Ady: In technician post, you must have at least certificate in mechanical engineering.What qualification do you have?
Ben: I have a certificate in Mechanical Petroleum from Kuching polytechnic.Am I qualified for the post?
Ady: Yes, I should think so.
Ben:Do you require candidates without work experience?
Ady: Actually, we accept a fresh graduated also. But,i f you have some experience it’s is an advantage for you.
Ben: Could you please tell me some of the responsibilities of a technician?
Ady: Well, the technician is directly responsible to check any machine if have any problem could happen and you must fix it.
Ben: What are the working hours like?
Ady: You must be able to perform permanent 12 hours day or night shift.
Ben: Oh, I see. May I know how much the salary is?
Ady: Well, the starting pay is RM 1800.00, after three months probation it will be increased to RM 2400.00.
Ben: That sounds reasonable. I’d like to make an interview appointment. May I know if it’s possible for you to arrange that?
Ady: Yes, of course. Can I have your full name and contact number please?
Ben: My full name is Marzuki Bin Muhammat. My cell phone number is 010-8888567.
Ady: Do you think you can come tomorrow at ten in the morning for interview?
Ben: Of course I can.
Ady: Please refer to the address in the advertisement when you want to belong to this company.
Ben: Thank you for you information and help.I’ll be there for the interview tomorrow.
Ady: See you then, bye.

ESL Speaking: Meeting New Friends by Mohd. Redhuan, Mohd. Sizal & Hii Kuang Soon

First day arrive at Politeknik Kuching Sarawak.

Wei : Hi, what is your name?

Kwang : Hi, my name is Hii Kwang Soon.

Wei : Oh ya,nice to meet you. For your information, my name is Teng Jing Wei. I Came from Sarikei Sarawak. Can you tell me more about yourself?Kwang : Nice to meet you too. I can from Sibu Sarawak. Just beside your hometown. The journey only takes me 1 hour to arrive.

Wei : Eh, Kwang there is a boy that looks handsome. Let’s go to make friend with him.

Wei & Kwang : Hey , handsome boy.

Wei : How are you? Can we be friends?

Michai : Of course. My name is Mohd Sizal Bin Mohd Nor.

Kwang : Can we know more about you?

Michai : Can. I am from Sabah. I am taking Diploma in Air Conditioning Engineering. My age is 18 years old. For your information I am still single. I am very glad to be here at Politeknik Kuching Sarawak today.

Wei : Thanks for information. I am glad to meet you. Beside Kwang and I also take the same course as you.

Kwang : Let us have some drink at cafeteria.

Wei : Yeah, it’s a good idea. Let’s go. Hey, see that guy. He has lot money. We can have some benefit from him.

Michai : Yeah, sure he will have a car. In this condition we will not having problems to find transport for us to go the city. Hello, can I be your friend?

Idan : Oh yes, sure can. Do you have your lunch already? If not me can eat together.

Wei : That’s great.

Idan : If like that when me finish buying our food then I gather at table number 2.

Michai : Great, so me buy our food first then.

Kwang : Wah, your food looks great Idan. Sure in a rich family right? Oh ya, I forgot to ask about background. Can you introduce yourself?

Idan : Hmm.. As you know my name is Mohd Redhuan Bin Masarapi. I am 18 years old. I came from Sabah. I am taking Diploma of Air Conditioning Engineering.

Michai : Wow! Same as what I am taking. Look like me 4 people can be good friends. My room number is A329. If you need any helps then you can come and find me anytime.

Idan : Michai, I am in same room. My room number also A329. Look like me are roommates now. That’s great.

Wei : Kwang, how about you? What is your room number?

Kwang : Oh ya, my room number is A 227.What about you Wei?

Wei : Kwang, we are also roommates. That’s good, if like that, when we are having difficulty then we can find each other to discuss. It is ok?

Kwang, Michai & Idan : Yeah, it’s ok.

Wei : Sorry guys, I have things to do right now so I got to go now. See you guys later in the evening. BYE!

Kwang, Idan & Michai : Ok…BYE!

Teaching Speaking To Non- Speakers

One of the difficulties in teaching English as a second language is teaching speaking. Speaking is one of the major skills beside reading, writing and listening. Most second language or ESL learners can master reading and writing throughout a lot of practices and tasks overtime but the same thing never or rarely happened to speaking skills.

Speaking skills required not just the commitment but also determination from second language learners. First students need to overcome negative attitudes for example shyness (feeling afraid of being laughed by their friends), refusal (not willing to try at all) and denial (switching off/ not motivated to learn to speak). These attitudes will block the learning even before it starts. And it will be very difficult for the ESL teachers to give once was a well- planned instruction specifically for the target skill.

On the other hand teachers’ task would be the motivators to second language learners. Teachers can come out with interesting, authentic and essential topics that students can discuss or talk about especially in the target language. The related topics should be easy and understandable. As a start ESL teachers can relate the topics with students’ interests before moving to serious topics like national issues or the world politics.

As an ESL teacher I realized teaching speaking is not as easy as it may sounds like. From my experience it actually started within the students, as long as they are willing to try, usually and normally they will succeed by the end of the day with flying colours. In learning speaking, the motivation and determination can only come from the second language learners most of the time. Teachers are just the facilitators and examiners. The process itself is like a trial and error but it really worth to try something which will become a very important skill in the global future.

Teaching Oral Communication Skills to Diploma Students

Starting this semester (Semester July 2010) year one students will need to take a new subject in English which is AE101 Communicative English. This subject would not only new to the students but also to some English Language tutors including me. The subject (according to the syllabus that is given to me) will focus more on communication skills like listening and speaking especially. The subject will not have any final test since every single assessment or the 100 percent will be implemented in classroom throughout quizzes, writing tasks, group discussions, assignments and individual oral presentations.

It’s is a norm to have some students with difficulties in speaking for instance, but in another way they are good in term of writing skills or comprehension and the situation goes vice versa. Tutors tasks or responsibility here are to be the facilitators to students and the rest is depending on them whether they willing to try and succeed or stop trying and remain at the same level all time.

For the past 2 weeks everything seems to goes very well in my class. In my observation, most students are giving their full commitment and cooperation in class and ready to take their language learning experience to the next level. It’s a very good start for both parties; language learners and tutors. And I hope the positive situation goes the same way until the end of this semester. As far as I am concerned, the students listened to my instructions in class and get along very well with my explanations on related topics.

Teaching and especially learning communication skills does take time. The most important thing to remember is to make sure students know what they are doing especially in using the communication skills appropriately in the future. The focus now is in making sure that the class will have 100 percent participation and develop speaking skills from time to time.

Top 5 Reasons Why A Sports Competition Should Not Be Implemented Or Organized In An Organization.

Generally, competition is a good motivation for participants to be the best or better than the others. Other than that competition can determine those that will succeed in life and those that will stay the same way forever. However, most of the time competition brings more negative effects than the positive one in instance rivalries and frustrations. Here are some of the reasons why I believe sports competition should not be implemented or organized in an association:

1. Sports competition will only create or seeds hatred among participants/ employees. This unfortunate event really happens in the organization that I am working in right now and I can observe the differences in term of social interaction that starting to collapse since such competition started.

2. Employees will start talking or spreading bad rumors about other employees even though they are in the same office or department. This event will happen even to two best friends that went to the cafeteria together before at every single morning.

3. Certain employees will take or assume themselves better than others and will create some sort of negative contradiction between employees. When everyone thinks that they are better than the others, some may take it too personally and may gone too far.

4. Between employees there will always be a gap because of the position or rank in the organization itself. Sports competition between different departments will only make the gap worse than it was before especially when one team started to use dirty tactics to win a game for example by committing a lot of unnecessary physical faults on the other team.

5. Employees will have to bear with unnecessary bad or serious injuries as the cause from the sports competition or game. The stake was just a plastic trophy which is definitely not worth it. Injuries can cause something negative towards the organization productivity.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

This is the 7th Edition. However, we will be using the latest edition which is the 8th Edition that has extra 1000 new words and their meanings.

This might be useful http://esl-and-more.blogspot.com/2008/08/using-dictionary.html

Travels Do Teach People a Lot

When we move to one place to another it is known as a travel or travelling. Travel creates time frame, new experience and as time passing by, we see all the things and peoples that we have never seen and met before, whether we like it not. It could be interesting, boring, saddening, surprising and full of lesson but that’s life and it will always remain that way.

Well travels do teach me a lot about life. Even though I have been there before, living and participating in the society that I am familiar with, there will always something that give me the revelation even to the minor things. You know when you are travelling to a place after a really long time, suddenly everything seems so unreal, like nothing else matters.

Anything that I can touch, smell and see seem not as important as the life itself, the feeling of being there myself and enjoying the moment of being a human, breathing the air and not thinking of others. Nothing is important no matter what it is or who they are.

I see changes, I experienced changes in everyone that I know, that’s a big matter to me. I see the reflection of myself as I see them because I was so close to them like I know them more than I know my own family. It is really nice to see changes for some times, it’s good to see development in someone that you knew. It’s how you understand things, not on how you see them, and when you combine both; seeing and understanding, you will get a perfect point of view from the perfect angles, corners, and most importantly perspectives.