Merry Christmas!

Students, I must apologise that I have not be updating my blog as regularly as I would like to. These few weeks have been rather busy for me. Anyway, this is my new blog entry.

Everyone must be very excited that Christmas is coming. I am very excited too because I am going back to Singapore to celebrate Christmas and New Year with my family. But I am a little sad that I'm going to be leaving my dog, Happy behind in Hong Kong. I can't bring her on the airplane to Singapore. What a shame!

This is Happy. Isn't she just adorable and cute? She can be very naughty at times. She likes to find tissue paper and then tear it apart and make a mess! Naughty dog!

Anyway, back to Christmas. Every Christmas Eve, I go to church with my family. On Christmas Day, I go to my parents' home and give presents to my parents and my sisters. We'll have a huge lunch there. My dad makes the best roast turkey and roast beef! Yummy! Can't wait to eat it. After lunch, we will spend sometime there with my family and friends. Then we'll go to my husband's granny's home for Christmas dinner. I am so excited to go back to spend Christmas with my family and my other dog in Singapore.

This is my other dog, Hobbit. She's in Singapore with my mother because my mother loves her too much to let her come to Hong Kong to live with us. So we get to see Hobbit only a few times a year when we get home. I miss Hobbit a lot!

Back to Christmas again. I love Christmas because Christmas reminds of me of God's love for me. He loves me so much that He sent his only son to Earth for me. And that's why we celebrate Christmas. Every Christmas, I think it is important for us to spend with our family because it is a time of us showing love to our loved ones. That's why every Christmas I head back to Singapore to spend with my family.

This is a picture of my sister and her husband at her wedding. I could not find a photo of my family. I'll try to take a photo of my family this Christmas and I'll post it up on the blog. Christmas is very important in my family because we are Christians and we want to remember the reason Jesus came to Earth. He came for me and you!

Students, write and tell me what you plan or did during Christmas. And before I forget,

Have a Blessed and Wonderful Christmas!
And May God Bless You and Your Family Richly in the New Year!!!!!

23 Days to Christmas!!!

It's 23 days to Christmas! Ya!!! I can't wait. When I was a child, in early December, my mother would decorate our home with Christmas decorations and a Christmas Tree. She would then place our Christmas presents under the tree. My sisters and I would also buy presents for each other. This tradition is still going on now. Every year, we crack our heads thinking of what presents to buy for each other. I love Christmas!

For the last few days, I've been thinking of how to decorate our English Room to make it more 'Christmassy'. So this is what we're going to do. Students, if you have Christmas decorations at home, can you bring it to school so that we can decorate the English Room? It'll be nice if someone can donate a Christmas Tree too. On Friday, the English Room will be closed so that we can decorate the room. Let me know what you can donate by leaving a message on my blog.

Thanks students!

Christmas Card Making

Christmas will be here soon. When I was a child, I loved to make Christmas cards for my family and friends. So, starting from this week, we are going to be making Christmas cards in the English Room. I will be there with the English ambassadors to help you. This is a card that you can make for your family or your friends. I made this last night.

These are the times that we will be making Christmas cards in the English Room.
Tuesday - Lunch Time
Wednesday - Recess Time
Thursday - Lunch Time
Friday - Recess and Lunch Time

Hope to see you in the English Room!

Oh, My God!

I have been hearing this phase, 'Oh, my god' very often in school. I wonder if you students know what you are saying? Sometimes when we watch television, we should not learn and say and copy whatever we see. This is very important because God does not like His name to be used in whatever ways we like.

This is taken from the Bible.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
Exodus 20:7

This verse in the Bible clearly says that anyone who uses His name or call His name with no reason, will be punished! This is quite serious. In other words, if you say, 'Oh, my god!', God can punish you because you are using His name in vain.

So students remember, instead of saying, oh, my god, say, oh, my goodness.

Important Notice

Dear Students,

We are going to have a competition to see who leaves the most comments on my blog every month. Therefore, it is important for you to leave down your name, class and class number when you leave a comment on my blog.

Let's see who is the winner for November.

Love,
Faith

Congratulations to the Winners of Peer to Peer Writing

I want to congratulate the winners for October from the Peer to Peer Writing Competition. I must say that these students have made a wonderful effort in writing their stories on the platform. I've have put up their writings. Enjoy reading them. Remember to enter your writing onto the Peer to Peer Writing platform so that you can be the next winner!

The first in primary 5 is Wong Wei Hau, Silas from 5C, 15 stories.

Gerald's Grandfather

Gerald was very fond of his grandfather. They always did things together and one of their favourite hobbies was watching television. Gerald's parents went out for a wedding dinner one night and Gerald borrowed a video tape, ''Toy Story 2'' from his classmate. He sat down to watch the movie with his grandfather.

The movie was really entertaining and there were many instances when Gerald's grandfather and he laughed so much that tears streamed down their eyes. When the show was half-way through, Gerald's grandfather suddenly started to perspire a lot. Gerald noticed it and decided to turn on the air-conditioner to cool down the room.

After five minutes, his grandfather suddenly started to breathe loudly. He placed his hands to his chest as if he was in great pain and he said to Gerald, ''I can't breathe, and my chest hurts very much! Help!'' Gerald was alarmed by his sudden turn of events and tried to calm his grandfather by patting him on the back.

Suddenly, his grandfather fainted and slipped to the floor. Gerald panicked for a moment. Then he realised that he should call for an ambulance. He picked up the phone and dialled 995. The ambulance rushed his grandfather to the hospital.

Thankfully, Gerald's grandfather only suffered a mild heart attack. He was discharged from hospital after a week. The doctors praised Gerald for his quick thinking and action.

The second in primary 5 is Virgina Wong from 5C, 12 stories. This is an excellent recipe.

Do you know how to make a Pecan Butter Cake? Let me show you how. Ingredients Butter 80g Sugar 80g Beaten eggs 80g (about1 1/2 eggs) Flour 60g High-gluten flour 20g Baking powder 3/4 tablespoon Pecans(chopped) 30g Vanilla extract 1/4 tablespoon Method: 1) Leave butter at room temperature until soft. 2) Preheat an oven to 200o'c.Line a rectangular baking mould with a sheet of baking paper 3) Beat butter with an electric mixer briefly .Add sugar and beat until creamy white. 4) Stir beaten eggs into the butter slowly .Add vanilla extract. 5) Sieve the flour, high-gluten flour and baking powder into the egg mixture .Stir well. 6) Add chopped pecans and stir well. 7) Pour the batter into a tray. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve.

Learning from my mistakes :
Once I forgot to add vanilla extract in step 4. I thought it was okay to add it back in step 5. However, the cake turned out to be bitter because the flour absorbed too much vanilla extract directly.

The third in primary 5 is Chun Cheuk Hin from 5D, 4 stories. This is a wonderful poem.

We Are Different

Some teachers are tall and others are short,
Some like reading and other like sport.

Some children are big and others are small,
Some are naughty and write on the wall.

Some people are generous and others are mean,
Some kids are always dirty while others are clean.

The first in primary 4 is Wong Yan Lam from 4E, 10 stories. This is a wonderful poem.


My School and My Friend

My friend is short.
She likes sports.
I like toy that daddy bought.
Because I got all one-hundred marks in my report.
He lets me play tennis in a court
because I have put a lot of effort!

The first in primary 4 is Chak Wai Ying from 4E, 4 stories. This is a simple and yummy recipe.

Banana Lollies

Banana lollies are yummy food.
What is needed :
gloves

Ingredients :
3 banana
yogurt
chestnut
6 sticks

steps :
First peel the banana.
Second cut the banana in half. Put a stick in each half banana.
Next dip the banana in yogurt.
Then roll them in cookies crumbs.
After that freeze them for one hour.
Finally you have yummy food.

I really enjoyed reading the students writings on the platform. I think our students are excellent writers. Hope you will also enjoy reading your friends writings on the platform.

An English Activity

Tonight's post will be slightly different. It's going to be an activity. I am going to type a passage and I want you to read and spot my mistake. When you spot my mistake, I want you to copy and paste the sentence and then correct the mistake. This is an example of what I want you to do.

Last Sunday, I go to Central to have dinner with my friends.

There is a mistake in the sentence above. So this is what you do. Copy and paste the sentence and correct it, just like this.

Last Sunday, I go to Central to have dinner with my friends.

Last Sunday, I went to Central to have dinner with my friends.

Simple? So have a try at this. Read carefully and now, it's your turn to be my teacher!

Last Saturday, I have diner with a few friend at Causeway Bay. The food there is delicious. We has bif, porke and vegtables. My favourte dish is the bif. The bif were yummy and nece to eat. Everyone enjoys the yummy food. Next week, we is went there again. Where do you went for dinner last wekend? Wat you like to eat?

Okay, now, correct the passage above and see if you can pick out my mistakes!

My Grandma

Tonight, I thought that I'll write about my grandma since I just visited here over the weekend. This is my grandma. My favourite grandma! Not that I have many grandmas. My grandma lives in China now. You must be wondering why is my grandma living in China, right? Let me tell you the history of my grandma and history of me too.

My grandma is 84 years now. She was born in 1923 in Liao Bu in Dongguan. When she was 14 years old, she left China to go to Singapore to work. She must have been very brave to do that. She worked as a cleaner. At 20, she married my grandfather. They fell in love and got married. They had a daughter who I call Aunty. A few years later, they adopted my mother. So my grandparents are not my real parents but my adoptive grandparents but they love us a lot. My grandfather was not from China. He was a Baba which is also known as a Straits Chinese.The Babas are descendants of Chinese immigrants that settled in the Malay archipelago as early as the 17th century. Intermarriage with the native peoples of the region was common and engendered a unique culture that combined various traditions and customs. So both of them were very different.

When we were young, my parents will bring us to visit my grandparents every weekend. My grandma cooks the best Chinese soups. Very yummy! Over the years, grandpa passed away and grandma decided that she wants to return to her hometown to live as she misses her home. To grandma, China is still her home. So she returned. Of course, we were sad and we did not want her to go back to China as we will not be able to see her as often as we would like to. But now that I live in Hong Kong. I try to see grandma at least once in 2 months. I have to make an effort to see Grandma more as she's getting old and she gets sick more often. I miss her soups as she doesn't cook as often now that she's rather old.

Write and tell me about your grandparents. You must love your grandparents as much as I love my grandparents.

Chung Yeung Festival

Ever since I started working in Hong Kong, I am learning more and more of Chinese Festivals. Growing up i n Singapore, I did not understand or celebrate as many Chinese Festival as the people in Hong Kong and it's interesting to learn of the history behind each festival.

The Chung Yeung Festival is a day to respect and remember ancestors. Also known as Autumn Remembrance, this festival is similar to Ching Ming in the spring, in that families journey to the graves of their ancestors to perform cleansing rites and pay their respects. They share the food they bring along, especially Chinese cakes, ko, which is a homonym of the word for "top". Some believe that those who eat these cakes will be promoted to the top.

It is also a day for hiking. The Chung Yeung Festival commemorates a Han Dynasty (BC 202-AD 220) legend, which tells how a fortune teller advised Woon King that he should take his family to a high place for the entire ninth day of the ninth moon. Upon their return, the Woon family discovered all living things in their village had been killed. Today, many Hong Kong families head to the hills to picnic during the Chung Yeung Festival.

This is a popular Chinese poem that’s recited by children during Chung Yeung Festival.

"Double Ninth, Missing My Shandong Brothers" - Wang Wei (Tang Dynasty)

Original:

《九(jiǔ)月(yuè)九(jiǔ)日(rì)憶(yì)山(shān)東(dōng)兄(xiōng)弟(dì)》 王維

獨(dú)在(zài)異(yì)鄉(xiāng)為(wèi)異(yì)客(kè)，

每(měi)逢(féng)佳(jiā)節(jié)倍(bèi)思(sī)親(qīn)。

遙(yáo)知(zhī)兄(xiōng)弟(dì)登(dēng)高(gāo)處(chù)，

遍(biàn)插(chā)茱(zhū)萸(yú)少(shǎo)一(yī)人(rén)

English:

As a lonely stranger in the strange land,

Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.

Knowing that my brothers have reached the peak,

All but one is present at the planting of zhuyu.

The information above was taken from these websites.

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/heritage/festivals/he_fest_chun.jhtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ninth_Festival

Write and tell me what you did during the long weekend.

Nick Vujicic - Life Without Limbs

My sister in Singapore sent me this video link. I was very touched by this video and I thought that I'll share this with everyone. When I first watched this video, I was moved that I almost cried. Even now as I'm writing this, I still feel very touched. When I watched this video, I thanked God for making me fine. I've got legs and arms and that I should not be complaining about my life. And like Nick says, the joy of the Lord is knowing no matter what happens, God is with you and He will never forsake you. Nick is such an inspiration.

Write and tell me how you feel after you watch this video? I hope after watching this video, you'll be inspired and touched like me!

A Sweet Banana Hot Dog

This week in primary 4 reading workshop I made Sweet Banana Hot Dogs for the children in class. I have to apologise that not everyone had a chance to have it. So I've decided to put up the recipe on my blog so that pupils can try at home. Enjoy it!

A Sweet Banana Hot Dog

Things Needed

1. A plate

2. A butter knife

3. A pair of gloves

Ingredients

1 hot dog bun

1 banana

1 tablespoon of nutella

1 tablespoons of peanut butter

sprinkles (optional) or raisins (optional) or chocolate chips (optional)

1. First, spread the peanut butter on one side of the hotdog

2. Second, spread nutella on the other side of the hot dog bun.

3. Next place the banana in the middle of the hot dog bun.

4. Then put some peanut butter or nutella on top of the banana

5. After that, sprinkle some sprinkles, raisins or chocolate chips on the banana

6. Finally, your yummy Sweet Banana Hot Dog is ready to eat!

Mid Autumn Festival

Mid Autumn Festival just passed. When I was living in Singapore, it was not a special festival for me. I would buy mooncakes and eat them at home. My favourite is the snowskin with egg yolks. It is so yummy. But living in Hong Kong, I realised that Mid Autumn Festival is very important to the Chinese people.

I found out that the Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year). Families gather around for dinner. I also found out that there are legends from Mid-Autumn Festival. I found it all very fascinating and interesting. I read the information below from Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Chang O

The Mid-Autumn Festival is linked to the ancient fable of the beautiful Chang O, wife of the Divine Archer. The tale is told of how she took a magical pill from her husband and suddenly began floating into the air all the way to the moon! She remains there to this day, and on the full moon of the eighth lunar month, her beauty casts a silvery glow upon the earth! Moon Cake During the Mid-Autumn Festival people eat sweet tasting cakes called moon cakes made of ground lotus and sesame seed paste, egg yolk and other ingredients. Moon cakes symbolise the gathering of friends and family and are an indispensable part of the Mid-Autumn festivities. Moon cakes are also associated with the overthrow of the Mongol invaders in the 14th century. The story goes that Chinese revolutionaries planned to revolt against the government on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. This message was passed around hidden in moon cakes amongst the people who subsequently rose up and overthrew the oppressive tyrant. Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance The annual dance, with the 67-metre-long fiery dragon made up of thousands of burning joss sticks, originated in Tai Hang more than a hundred years ago in an effort to ward off evil spirits that were harming the village. It worked and ever since then the villagers have performed the dance every year. Make sure you see this unique Hong Kong folk ritual.

Do you have any other information or legends about the Mid Autumn Festival? How did you spend your Mid Autumn Festival? I did not do anything special. I went for a walk with my husband and my dog around Park Island.

Can't Wait to Start School!

For the past few days, I've been busy as a bee. Buzzing away busily in school, getting ready my materials and resources for you students. I've been busy attending meetings, workshops and getting my reading booklets ready as well. I've had a good rest and now I can't wait to start work again. I miss the students in school and I miss teaching everyone. So are you excited going back to school? Remember to say hi to me when you see me on Monday. And tell me all about your summer vacation.

Summer Holidays Ending

Summer holidays are ending soon. I just got back to Hong Kong from Singapore. I had a good time spending time with my family and friends. I also attended my best friend's wedding. It was really wonderful and nice. The bride looked so beautiful and the groom looked very handsome too. I'm going to try to enjoy the rest of my holidays before school starts. I miss you students. Can't wait to see you kids in school again! What are you going to do before school reopens?

Summer Holidays - Trip to USA

I just came back from California, USA, this morning. I went there for about 2 weeks to visit my cousins who live in San Francisco and also my best friend who live in San Diego. I really had a great time there. I visited San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and also Los Angeles. Enjoy the pictures below. I will be heading to Singapore with my husband on Monday to visit my family and friends. Did you guys have a great vacation? Write and tell me about it.

This is my cousin Eelynn, she lives in San Francisco. Don't we look alike?
This is an attraction in San Francisco, The Seven Sisters. I love these beautiful houses. Don't they look really nice?
This is my friend, Eve. I went to Las Vegas with her. Las Vegas is fun but it's very hot. Las Vegas is in the desert that's why it is so hot all the time.
At Balboa Park in San Diego. This is a very beautiful park. Lots of Spanish influence.

At La Jolla Beach in San Diego. I was told by my friends that one day, the seals decided that they were going to make this part of the beach their home and they have been there ever since.
I had so so much fun at Knott's Berry Farm. The rides were so fun. But have to say that it was really hot there as well.
Santa Monica is in Los Angeles. We went there for a day. Walked around and saw lots of people at the beach.
At Ocean Beach in San Diego. This beach is especially for dogs. People come to this beach to swim and play with their dogs.

Lunch at a restaurant in Fishermen's Wharf at San Francisco with my cousin, Sharon.

My Long Weekend

A chapel in Cebu City. I can't remember the name of the chapel.



As Hong Kong was celebrating her 10th anniversary of handover to China, I went to Cebu in the Philippines with my husband and a friend.

Cebu is a beautiful place. We went to a beautiful island off Mactan. Not quite sure of its name but it was so beautiful. The water was clear and the sand was soft. Love it. But there was also a side to Cebu that left me with a sad feeling. In Cebu, there were kids coming up to us begging for money. It was a little heart breaking for me. The people seemed so poor that it made me feel very thankful for what I have.

How did you spend your long weekend. Have you been to Cebu?