Quotes on Happiness

Entry Word: Happiness
Function: noun
Text: a state of well-being and contentment
Synonyms: elatedness, elation, exhilaration, exultation, intoxication; ecstasy, euphoria, heaven, rapture, rapturousness; delectation, delight, enjoyment, pleasure; cheer, cheerfulness, exuberance, gaiety (also gayety), gladsomeness, glee, gleefulness, jollity, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilation, lightheartedness; content, contentedness, gratification, satisfaction

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26th September 2007

Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy and enough money to buy me gifts

“The great essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.

-Margaret Bonnano

People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.

The Obstacle In Our Path

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

The peasant learned what many of us never understand! Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

Everyone Is Important

During Mark's first month of college, the professor gave his students a pop quiz. He was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until he read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke. He had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would he know her name? He handed in his paper, leaving the last question blank.

Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward the quiz grade. "Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They each deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'hello'". Mark never forgot that lesson. He also learned her name was Dorothy.

The Frogs and the Tower

There once was a bunch of tiny frogs...
... who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...
The race began...
Honestly, no-one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as:
"Oh, WAY too difficult!!"
"They will NEVER make it to the top".
"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...
... Except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher...
The crowd continued to yell
"It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...
...But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...
This one wouldn't give up!
At the end, everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!
THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?
It turned out...



That the winner was deaf.

Chopsticks

A woman who had worked all her life to bring about good was granted one wish: "Before I die let me visit both hell and heaven." Her wish was granted.

She was whisked off to a great banqueting hall. The tables were piled high with delicious food and drink. Around the tables sat miserable, starving people as wretched as could be. "Why are they like this?" she asked the angel who accompanied her. "Look at their arms," the angel replied. She looked and saw that attached to the people's arms were long chopsticks secured above the elbow. Unable to bend their elbows, the people aimed the chopsticks at the food, missed every time and sat hungry, frustrated and miserable. "Indeed this is hell! Take me away from here!"

She was then whisked off to heaven. Again she found herself in a great banqueting hall with tables piled high. Around the tables sat people laughing, contented, joyful. "No chopsticks I suppose," she said. "Oh yes there are. Look - just as in hell they are long and attached above the elbow but look... here people have learnt to feed one another".

ALWAYS BE YOUR BEST!

When you think it doesn’t matter
if you fail or pass the test.
Keep in mind the reason why
you should always be your best.

While the whole world may not notice
if you tried to give your all,
there is a person in you
to whom it matters if you fall.

That little voice inside you -
which directs your thoughts each day -
will make the final judgement
if you won or lost each day.

Never can you fail yourself
if you give it all you’ve got.
The world extends a hand to you
when you give life your best shot.

For all that really matters
when you're finished with your test,
is not the final score at all -
but did you do your best?

- Tom Krause
Copyright 2004

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"Everyone is NECESSARILY the hero of his/her life story."

Oral Examination Tips

I've decided to post this entry about the Oral Examination Tips that I had discussed in class earlier for your information.

The oral examination is divided into 3 parts;- Reading, Picture Discussion and General Conversation

Reading
In the reading component, read the article with clarity and watch your pronounciation. Do not mumble. If the examiner starts to use expressions such as these;- "Hahh?", "What?", "Say again?", "Read louder can?" or "You're talking to the table is it?", then you may be in trouble.

Use varied intonation in your reading. Do not read in monotone. Nobody likes to hear a voice like a 'robot' right?

Picture Discussion
In the picture discussion component, talk about;-
1) the settings (where you think the event is taking place)

2) general observations of the incidents in the picture which are normally spoken in the third person eg, The boy is seen walking with his sister.
(Note: This is a low-level skill and one with which, if you are skilled enough,talk about till the cows come home.)

3) infer some details about the pictures. Use your opinions to talk about what you think will happen in the next moment. Voice your opinions in the first person eg " I think...", "I believe....", "In my opinion....."
eg, In my opinion, the boy should be holding onto his sister's hands when they are crossing the road. This is a safety aspect one should consider when crossing a busy road like the one depicted in the picture. Failure to do so may result in an accident since the sister looked so lost and occupied with eating her ice cream and may not be aware of the dangers on the road.

4) Sum up your picture description with a lesson that can be learnt from the picture
eg, From this picture, one lesson we can learn is to be careful when crossing roads, no matter how 'safe' they may look since danger can be found everywhere and not to take safety for granted.

General Conversation
For this section, just relax and try to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the examiner. This section ties closely with the topic of the picture description.

That's all the tips that I can think of at this moment. All the best for your Oral Examination and carpe diem!

CW - The Beggar

1. You were waiting for the bus at the bus stop when a man approached you for some money. He was very dirty and his clothes were torn in some places. Everyone at the bus stop refused to give him any money.

Based on the above situation, write a composition of at least 150 words. In your story, make use of the points below.
- how the people reacted
- what you did
- what happened in the end
You may reorder the points. You may also include other relevant points.
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The sun's magnificent rays shone down as fluffy white clouds hung low in the azure blue sky. I was waiting at the bus stop for the bus to arrive. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man approaching the bus stop. He was clutching his stomach in pain. His hair was shaggy and his clothes were torn in some places. He asked the people at the bus stop for some money but they refused to give him any. Sadden, he walked feebly towards me and begged in a tired voice, "Please give me some money as I am hungry and want to buy some food to eat." When I heard it, I offered to buy him some food but he insisted that he wanted to buy it later on. So, I gave him four dollars and he went away.

Not long after, the bus came. I boarded it and went to Lot 1 to buy some groceries. A few hours later, I went to the food court for lunch. As I was walking there, I walked past a "4-D Toto" shop. Suddenly, I saw a familiar face queuing to buy "4D". He was well-dressed and in his hand was a thick wad of cash. I tried to recall where I had seen him before. Then, a thought struck me. He was the same man that had begged for money from me that morning!!! My face was flushed with rage as I walked up to confront him. "I thought that I had given you my money to buy food to eat! Why are you using it to gamble?" I yelled at him at the top my voice. All eyes were fixed on us. The man stared at me open-mouthed. When he recognized me, he felt embarrassed and quickly ran away. I immediately chased after him but lost sight of him soon.

As the saying goes, "Once bitten twice shy" I have always been extra careful whenever any beggar came to me and begged for money since.

- by Chew Zi Ling P5B 2007

edited by Mr Danny


::Mr Danny's comments::

Story has a good development and there's even an appropriate lesson to be learnt at the end of it. I like the twist in the story where the beggar exploited the writer's kindness for his own selfish greed.

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It was a lovely day. The blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds that drifted lazily in the gentle breeze. I was strolling to the bus stop. I had to do a research and proceeded to go to the library. Normally, I had to wait for twenty minutes so I took out a storybook to read. Suddenly, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a man. He was very dirty and his clothes were torn in some places. "Little girl, can you give my some money? I have not eaten for two days."

Everyone at the bus stop refused to give him any money. Instead, they shooed him away. I pitied him and gave him three dollars. "Thank you! Thank you!" He thanked me profusely. Everyone else at the bus stop saw this and had a guilty look on their faces, but they still did not give the man any money. Then, the man started to walk away. Five minutes later, the bus arrived. I boarded the bus. On board the bus, I kept thinking of the good deed I had done. Ten minutes later, I arrived at the library. I went into the library and started to do my research.

I was so engrossed in doing the research that I lost track of time. When I realised the time, I packed my things and went to the nearby coffee shop to buy dinner. At the coffee shop, I saw the man whom I gave money to. He was drinking two bottles of beer, a plate of chicken rice and had a drumstick in his hand. I thought "I only gave him three dollars. He could not possibly have bought so much food with three dollars!" I suddenly realised that he had tricked me into giving him some money! I shouted at him and he took to his heels and fled.

I chased after him. A few passers-by saw this and ran after him too. A few minutes later, we caught up with him. I demanded him to return the money I gave him. He took out the money and returned the money back to me. He begged me not to call the police and I agreed. Subsequently, I went home and told my parents about the incident. After that incident, I learnt not to trust strangers easily.

- by Ang Jia Xuan P5B 2007

edited by Mr Danny

::Mr Danny's comments::
A compact story that has appropriate pacing and development with a well-thought moral at the end.

Adjectival Clauses

Links to notes and practices on Adjectival Clauses;-

Notes
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/adjectiveclause.htm


Practices
wwwnew.towson.edu/ows/exerciseadjclause.htm
http://wwwnew.towson.edu/ows/exerciseadjclause2.htm
http://wwwnew.towson.edu/ows/exerciseadjclause3.htm

The $50,000 wish......

Hi everyone,

There's a $50,000-make-a-wish competition organised by Starhub and I hope all of you can participate in. Basically, just write 100 words or less what you would like to do if given $50,000 to spend. Do take note that you'll be needing your parents' consent to participate but with a $50,000 prize at stake, I'm sure they wouldn't mind :)

The website is at http://www.starhub.com/iamahub/

This would also be the premise for the compulsory Assignment #2 (due 1st week of week 3) that I want the whole class to attempt. Write in your blogs/Jotterbook Journals what you would like dreams/ambitions/passion you would like to pursue if given $50,000. (To the P5E bloggers participating in the competition, you can just cut-and-paste what you wrote to your blog). It would be interesting if the entire class can share their ideas. And if anyone of us wins, don't forget to treat the class :)

PS: I'm in the competition too. Big prizes for everyone if I win. Hehehe!

PSS: Don't wish for wishes that are too self-indulgent or sounds greedy such as; "I wan't $50,000 so I can buy the entire POkemon card collection". I don't think the judges will favour such request. Put your altruistic wishes first and I think you'll stand a better chance :)

Project: Challenge Yourself!

Project: Challenge Yourself is an initiative for P5E pupils to keep track of their goals and set achievable targets for their performance in the English language.

I have set up a url for you to access your grades for CA2 and all the mock tests that will be carried out till SA2. It can be accessed here

The main purpose is for you to be aware of your current grades and to make personal goals for you to surpass your current CA2 grades. Goals are powerful instruments in achieving measurable success.

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Quotes on Goals

"The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach."
- Benjamin Mays

"Choosing a goal and sticking to it changes everything."
-Scott Reed

"The significance of a person is not what he attains but in what he longs to attain"
- Khalil Gibran

The Mexican Fisherman

The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while." The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."

The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years." "But what then?" asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." "Millions?...Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

The Struggle - The Story of A Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.The moth seemed to be stuck and appeared to have stopped making progress. It seemed as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

The man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth; so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But its body was swollen and small, its wings wrinkled and shriveled.The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to and able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a small, swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

The man in his kindness and haste did not understand that the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was necessary to force fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight upon achieving its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets, and don't forget the power in the struggle.

The Results Are Out......

The English results were finally released today. There were indeed signs of resignation and disappointment for those whose hopes were dashed on achieving a better grade.

As a consolation, I would like to add that if you had done your best and yet you did not perform well, there is nothing to be sad about.

I hope that this feeling of temporary sadness will spur you to perform better for the last test of the year which is the impending SA2. Given the right motivation, resolve and hard work I believe those of you who wish to perform better will. Remember, you reap what you sow and there's no short cut to success.

Remember that 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down. Today we may grieve for our losses. But tomorrow, we'll be prepared and be ready to make a comeback.

Still, it was also disappointing to see some pupils who had not fared well actually rejoicing and did not show any signs of remorse whatsoever. You know who you are. Remember, at the end of the day, only YOU can help yourself and you are ultimately answerable to your own future.

May each and everyone of you achieve the grades you hope for.

Yew Tee Bloggers

P5B 2007
Rachel Maverick Shermaine Daniel Melvin
WeiBin Cheryl Nigel

P5E 2006
Sze Yee Deanne Denise Wee Hui Min
Geok Teng

Introduction To The World of Blogging

Bloggers of P5E

Today, 11 pupils from P5E sacrificed their Thursday morning of the one week September holiday to undergo a 3-hour intensive blog-training session. It was indeed a fun session for there was time to surf, saying 'hi' to friends once again after a short period of absence during the holidays, playing online games (right Daryl? :) during break intervals but most of all to learn an important skill that you could say that not many 11-year old know.

Some of the items that were covered include;-
- role of being a responsible blogger
- positive/negative consequences of blogging
- setting up a blogspot account
- creating, deleting and editing of the posts
- accompanying pictures with the post
- backing-up of blog using MS Word
- installing advance skins to the blog template
- simple editing to HTML code for further customisation of the blog

In closing , I would like to wish a hearty congratulations to Yi Jetz, Irdina, Geok Teng, Denise Wee, Siti Aisyika, Daryl, Christopher, Denise Chew, Deanne, Sze Yee and Hui Min for successfully completing the training session.

To the bloggers, you may post your daily account of your everyday life to your blogs. Practice is still a must if you want to truly internalise the workings of a blog before the latter becomes second nature. It's like riding a bicycle; once mastered, never forgotten :) Oh..... and do write complete sentences in your blog too since one of the primary objectives of a blog is to inculcate the love of English through writing.

For the other pupils of P5E who could not make it to the blog-training session, do approach Mr Danny when school re-opens if you are interested in setting up your own blog.

2 days to go before the new school term starts. Happy holidays and carpe diem!