Children should keep a diary

For most of young children at schools nowadays, writing is an activity that they find intimidating, tedious or just plain difficult. In light of this, as a teacher, I will always remember an old saying, practice makes perfect. Developing strong written communication skills is a vital component and it is a long process.

A diary represents a private space in life. A diary is also a tool for self-discovery, an aid to concentration, a mirror for the soul, and a place to generate and capture ideas.

The first and obvious benefit of writing a diary is that it engages our brains. To write, we have to think. By keeping records, one is able to monitor the practice. Writing encourages students to explore their mind.

Second, it improves spelling and grammar. The more a child writes, the more likely it is that he or she will seek the correct way to form letters and spell words.  Additionally, regular writing helps children practice structuring sentences and learns a variety of sentence patterns.

Thirdly, by writing diary, it helps with reading. As we all know, reading and writing go hand in hand.  The mechanical process of spelling out a word, letter by letter, reinforces that word’s construction and helps a student understand what he or she is writing and how to sound it out.

These are only some benefits that I can figure out at this moment.

Although I do not teach English at school now, I do require my students to write diary, in Chinese language. At the beginning of this year, I want them to write three sentences. There are a few students who are lazy to complete this work. And only few of them can write complete sentences. But until now, I found some improvement from these Year 2 students. They make fewer mistakes on writing words and the use of punctuations. And I found out that encourage is the most powerful tool.

I am so happy to see improvement from students. I will continue my effort to lead them to better writing skill.

                                              Diary, my old friend…

Once, it was a familiar word to me. I used to write diary since secondary school. It really helps me to recall many memories. I wrote when I was happy, or when I was unhappy. After moving to Kuching, I wrote about my marriage life. When I was expecting, I wrote about everything of my little ones. Diary acts as a platform between me and the baby.

Anyway, having two children and taking the long distance education now, the diary lies quietly most of the time in the drawer. Twenty-four hours a day sometimes seems short to me. The busy life has “train” me to finish the tasks on hand in a given time so that I can handle well the roles of a teacher, a mother, a wife and a daughter-in-law. The result is, I prefer to take the time to rest rather to meet with my diary.

Somehow I missed the diary too. When I felt depressed or isolated, I took out the diary. It seems like an old friend, telling stories to me in a calm manner. And I like to listen to it. After enjoying the secret moments with the diary, I felt that I’m energetic again. I became strong and confidence to face the reality.

Oh, my diary. I shall back to you soon.

Letters

There are two letters by John Keats in the module. The first one is for his beloved Fanny Brawne, and the other is to his poet friend, Shelly.

Letter writing was an art form at one time. Letters reveal much about the writers. But nowadays, few people write letters. Emails are probably more popular and common. Most people enjoy sending emails. Since emails are functional, people can make use of the extra features like adding pictures, songs and greeting cards. Email is one of the easiest and fastest ways of interaction. Although email is becoming wider these days, writing letters did not lose its originality. Generally letters are used to convey state of being as well as to share ideas, thoughts and emotions. A friendly letter is a way of communicating between two people who are usually well acquainted.

I used to write letters before. When I first transferred to Kuching in 2003, I received many letters from my students in primary school. They wrote to tell me about their new life in secondary school. They shared their experience as well as problems. In return I gave my advice or opinions to them. Normally I received a letter a month from them. After three years, there were only two girls continue the journey of letter-writing. I am happy because they still remember me and willing to connect with me. They are now in colleagues. Although I do not receive their letters for a year now, I could still connect with them through email and facebook. I do appreciate the modern technology that provides another platform for our interaction. However, I like the surprise feeling when I saw letters lying in the mailbox. Moreover, I miss the step of opening the letters and read it aloud of what my students wrote to me.

Death of a friend

The death of an old friend a week ago reminds me of a play by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman.

This play is based on the brink of the 1950s, a decade of unprecedented consumerism in America. The main character is Willy Loman, an insecure and self-deluded traveling salesman. He believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. Nor do his sons, Biff and Happy fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. Willy considers the promise of the American Dream—that a “well liked” and “personally attractive” man in business will unquestionably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life.

He is a dreamer of epic proportions. He dreams of material success and freedom. In the end of the play, Willy’s blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline and finally to his suicide.

The death of Willy Loman is due to his inability to distinguish his wild hopes from rational realities in the present. He is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life.

Back to our real world, we are all given the time and plenty of opportunities. We should consider our dreams and ability when accomplishing them. In the meantime, we should show our love and caring to our dearest family members.

The healthiness of mental is as important as the healthiness of physical. Take care of our body as well as our minds. There are ups and downs in daily lives. Challenges and uncertainty create fear, doubts, anxiety, pressure and even depress in us. Sometimes look the problems at the other angle will make us find new ways. There is no use to hold tightly on something until it harms our heart and mind.  There must be some conclusions to the problems. Sometimes all it needed is time. Sometimes we need to make a stop. Rest for a while and reflects on what we have done. Think about our progress and plan for the journey.

As long as we have the time, we should not be afraid of the problems we face. Thus, manage our time wisely. “Play well” and achieve what we want in a healthy way.  The most important is appreciate the time we have. I believe a wonderful and healthy long life is ahead of us.

Our “play” continues; our story proceeds; but not the friend of mine. His “play” has been taken by a sudden disease. His story ends at the age of 32years, 3 months and 13 days. Rest in peace, my dear friend…

An enlighten from newspaper

I read some paragraphs from a newspaper this morning. I found it reflects me sometimes and like to share here.

A little rat is always anxious, because it is very afraid of cats. The God have much sympathy for what has happened, so cast the rat into a cat. The rat turned into a cat but is then always afraid of dogs. The God change it into a dog, but it began to fear for the tigers. The God turns it to a tiger, however it worries all day thinking of it would be catch by hunters.

Finally, the God had it changed back to a rat, and said, "No matter what I do could not help you, as you have only the heart of a rat.”

People often want to change something bad in their lives. In fact, the external environment and conditions are not what we need to change, but it is our inner heart and mind. Let us use our wisdom and be courage to face the challenges firmly.