HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY 2009

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone of us a Happy Teachers’ Day today. All of us are teachers in one way or another. In life, we all learn from people around us, in knowledge, in behaviour, in habits, in everyway. We are all influenced by people surrounding us. Both consciously and sub-consciously.

How To Improve Your English

Learning English (or any language for that matter) is a process. You are continually improving your English and the following "How to" describes a strategy to make sure that you continue to improve effectively.

Here's How:

1. Remember that learning a language is a gradual process - it does not happen overnight.
2. Define your learning objectives early: What do you want to learn and why?
3. Make learning a habit. Try to learn something every day. It is much better to study (or read, or listen to English news, etc.) 10 minutes each day than to study for 2 hours once a week.
4. Remember to make learning a habit! If you study each day for 10 minutes English will be constantly in your head. If you study once a week, English will not be as present in your mind.
5. Choose your materials well. You will need reading, grammar, writing, speaking and listening materials.
6. Vary your learning routine. It is best to do different things each day to help keep the various relationships between each area active. In other words, don't just study grammar.
7. Find friends to study and speak with. Learning English together can be very encouraging.
8. Choose listening and reading materials that relate to what you are interested in. Being interested in the subject will make learning more enjoyable - thus more effective.
9. Relate grammar to practical usage. Grammar by itself does not help you USE the language. You should practice what you are learning by employing it actively.
10. Move your mouth! Understanding something doesn't mean the muscles of your mouth can produce the sounds. Practice speaking what you are learning aloud. It may seem strange, but it is very effective.
11. Be patient with yourself. Remember learning is a process - speaking a language well takes time. It is not a computer that is either on or off!
12. Communicate! There is nothing like communicating in English and being successful. Grammar exercises are good - having your friend on the other side of the world understand your email is fantastic!
13. Use the Internet. The Internet is the most exciting, unlimited English resource that anyone could imagine and it is right at your finger tips.

Tips:

1. Remember that English learning is a Process
2. Be patient with yourself.
3. Practice, practice, practice

HEALTH IS WEALTH

Stress builds up in your system, eventually weakening it. You would see the effects slowly taking its toll on you mentally, physically and sometimes emotionally. When you’re doing overtime at office and spending long hours studying or completing assignments, it has a way of striking you mentally (e.g. stiff neck, headaches, watery/red and sore/strained eyes). When you lack recreation or don’t take care of yourself, your body tends to ‘breakdown’, because there’s no room for the trapped negativities to escape.

Inactivity, especially when you are a sedentary worker--all you do is sit most of the time working, e.g. typing on the computer and/or hunched while writing something important on a few sheets of paper. The only time you get up and start walking is when you need to go to the lavatory. At times, you tend to hold it in a little longer. This is a very bad practice. It affects the urinary tract causing bacterial infection or stones in the bladder.

Never take to mind that the lack of water in your body will cause you to dehydrate and the apparent result will be headaches. It’s alright to go on an overdrive once in a while but almost everyday will upset your system in a big way. You won’t get ill immediately. But, when it comes, you’ll feel as though you’ve been hit by a truck. Not a nice feeling, that’s for sure!

Another instance of adrenalin rush, if you deprive your body of sustenance for twenty-four hours, the result is hunger. Hunger causes your blood sugar to drop and places stress on your adrenal glands, triggering your sympathetic nervous system. It can result in everything from light-headedness to anxiety and fatigue. I’ve seen and heard many co-workers in those said departments and a few fellow students having problems, such as high blood pressure and acute heartburn before age thirty. I’m one of those people who would often skip lunch and not going to the lavatory because of work. In the end, I was clinically declared unfit because I was always suffering from stomach discomfort, flatulence and heartburn.

It could get very messy when your system’s down, e.g. you could get a bad case of flu or relapses of it, gastrointestinal problems like flatulence, acidity, stomach discomfort like cramps, indigestion, or worse cases, ulcers. Others include putting on weight (when you deprive yourself food, you’ll tend to eat more then your usual consumption). If you sit too long, you’ll get lower backaches, crouching too long writing / typing will end up having tensed muscles, shoulder aches, joint pains, carpal syndrome, etc. It means in all likelihood your emotions too would be taking a dive for the worse. Your battered condition slumps you into depression, your movements sluggish, your morale low and you start to hate everything and everyone including yourself. The mental, or physical and/or emotional agony you are experiencing is your body telling you to stop abusing it.

It’s time for you to rectify the damage you’ve caused with healthy remedies either clinical or traditional. Take time to enervate your battered well-being. Do the things (e.g. go for weekend nature trips to the beach / Taman Negara / Ulu Yam, etc. with family or friends) that would bring joy or serenity into your hectic life. A hectic lifestyle is not stylish. It’s actually no life at all.
Life is about living. And the continuation for survival is what makes life worth living. Is it worth a four digit or more salary only to be diagnosed having acute coronary disease or something more devastating by the time you reached your prime (40s). I don’t think so. Yet, there’s this unsinkable feeling in your guts telling you that you’re never too young to die. Unless…

Take a good look around you, at the working conditions or environment and colleagues. Have you taken a good look at yourself in the mirror lately? I mean, really stare at yourself. What do you see? Are you a picture of glowing health or you can be mistaken as a mummy come back to life? The principle to take to heart is when you are healthy there lies your wealth!

A healthy mind lies in a healthy body.

Last Respects

One day not too long ago the employees of a large company in St. Louis, Missouri returned from their lunch break and were greeted with a sign on the front door. The sign said: "Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym."

At first everyone was sad to hear that one of their colleagues had died, but after a while they started getting curious about who this person might be.

The excitement grew as the employees arrived at the gym to pay their last respects. Everyone wondered: "Who is this person who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he's no longer here!"

One by one the employees got closer to the coffin and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood over the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself. There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: "There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU.

You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself.Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes.

Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.


"The most important relationship you can have, is the one you have with yourself."