Post 99 It is fun going to school
When I was in the primary school in the 1950s, I had very few textbooks and homework. My siblings and I spent our afternoon in outdoor activities. We slept at 8.30 pm.
The school life of my two grandchildren staying in Southampton, United Kingdom is even more fun. While on vacation to see them, I asked my grandson who is going to be 11 years old to show me his school textbooks. He told me there was none. Learning takes place in a virtual environment coupled with hands-on activities.
His school bag had only one homework notebook to record the assignments to be done within a stipulated time during which he had to do research from the internet. His assignment was to be handwritten. When he took leave from school to be with me for one week, he said he could email his homework to his teacher.
Digital resources are used as teaching aids and pupils are taught to do presentations through power-points. He reads and writes; represents his school in drama, cricket, relay team for a running event, long jump; plays the guitar and the keyboard, and could swim 2500m without a break. He too slept at 8.30 pm.
What a truly holistic education in nurturing pupils to have joy, self-confidence and be healthy and innovative!
28 June 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Eat food of different colours
Post 98 Chinese physicians and the colours of food
When my siblings and I were young, our parents consulted Chinese physicians to treat our minor illnesses. They had more confidence in Chinese medicines. As I grew older, I began to understand their preference for Chinese medicines over the western ones. The former treats patients to make them strong to fight the illness while the latter treats the symptoms.
The parts of the body and the different colourful food of nature are closely interrelated. For a healthy diet we were told to eat less “white” food like sugar, salt and rice but eat more “black” food like black beans and dates. We were also encouraged to take in more green vegetables and red food like tomatoes and carrots. The only supplement we took then was the cod-liver oil. It is interesting to note that the price has since gone up 10 times, and the bottle is smaller now.
It is of everybody’s concern nowadays that the quality and safety of food, beverages and milk sold in the market may have been compromised. We now have tainted dairy products, vegetables covered with pesticides, and meats contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria just to name a few.
Besides, the unbalanced diet of the modern affluent society has caused more people to suffer from heart problems, diabetes and other diseases. Chinese physicians recommend that drinking green tea is good for health. The thousands of years of Chinese tea history can attest to that.
21 June 2011
When my siblings and I were young, our parents consulted Chinese physicians to treat our minor illnesses. They had more confidence in Chinese medicines. As I grew older, I began to understand their preference for Chinese medicines over the western ones. The former treats patients to make them strong to fight the illness while the latter treats the symptoms.
The parts of the body and the different colourful food of nature are closely interrelated. For a healthy diet we were told to eat less “white” food like sugar, salt and rice but eat more “black” food like black beans and dates. We were also encouraged to take in more green vegetables and red food like tomatoes and carrots. The only supplement we took then was the cod-liver oil. It is interesting to note that the price has since gone up 10 times, and the bottle is smaller now.
It is of everybody’s concern nowadays that the quality and safety of food, beverages and milk sold in the market may have been compromised. We now have tainted dairy products, vegetables covered with pesticides, and meats contaminated with strains of drug-resistant bacteria just to name a few.
Besides, the unbalanced diet of the modern affluent society has caused more people to suffer from heart problems, diabetes and other diseases. Chinese physicians recommend that drinking green tea is good for health. The thousands of years of Chinese tea history can attest to that.
21 June 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A family trip to Europe
Post 97 Well- spent holiday
The decision by the European Union to abolish visas and human borders and become homogeneous with one currency has made my family trip to Europe a pleasant one. When the world opens up, one gets to see and experience different cultures and ways of living without any hindrance.
I was on vacation in Europe for two weeks with my family members in May/June 2011. From Dover we boarded the Peninsula and Orient (P&O Ferries), a British ferry operating the English Channel route, to begin our exploration by car. We drove to border cities like Calais and St-Omer of France; Aachen, Germany; Brussels, Brugge and Antwerp of Belgium; Luxembourg; Rotterdam and Amsterdam of Netherlands; London, Reading, Portsmouth and Southampton where we stayed for a few days. We rented a cottage in Ohey, Belgium to make it as our base in Europe and put up two nights at a resort home in Stellendam which is a town in the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland.
It was also a trip down memory lane in the United Kingdom which had been home to my family for a year in the 1980s . It is very interesting to recollect how events have shaped our life. In each phase of our life, opportunities present themselves at their heights leading us to new avenues and new fortunes. They become experiences that enrich our life. That is why it is important that we take stock of each phase of our life's journey knowing that an examined life is a meaningful one.
This well-spent holiday offers me ample time to relax, recall the past and re-think my perception of life, besides enabling a closer bond to exist between the family members.
14 June 2011
(On vacation from 25 May -8 June 2011)
The decision by the European Union to abolish visas and human borders and become homogeneous with one currency has made my family trip to Europe a pleasant one. When the world opens up, one gets to see and experience different cultures and ways of living without any hindrance.
I was on vacation in Europe for two weeks with my family members in May/June 2011. From Dover we boarded the Peninsula and Orient (P&O Ferries), a British ferry operating the English Channel route, to begin our exploration by car. We drove to border cities like Calais and St-Omer of France; Aachen, Germany; Brussels, Brugge and Antwerp of Belgium; Luxembourg; Rotterdam and Amsterdam of Netherlands; London, Reading, Portsmouth and Southampton where we stayed for a few days. We rented a cottage in Ohey, Belgium to make it as our base in Europe and put up two nights at a resort home in Stellendam which is a town in the Dutch province of Zuid-Holland.
It was also a trip down memory lane in the United Kingdom which had been home to my family for a year in the 1980s . It is very interesting to recollect how events have shaped our life. In each phase of our life, opportunities present themselves at their heights leading us to new avenues and new fortunes. They become experiences that enrich our life. That is why it is important that we take stock of each phase of our life's journey knowing that an examined life is a meaningful one.
This well-spent holiday offers me ample time to relax, recall the past and re-think my perception of life, besides enabling a closer bond to exist between the family members.
14 June 2011
(On vacation from 25 May -8 June 2011)
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