Inspirational Teacher: The Ron Clark Story

Dear All,

Ron Clark is an unusual teacher with a passion and a mission to educate his students to love studying and to excel in their academic achievements.

This award-winning educator had been invited to the White House and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

His achievements were recognised and he was awarded the Walt Disney Teacher of the Year.

He has travelled to schools and 49 districts in the USA, and also internationally.

An inspiring movie entitled "The Ron Clark Story" was made about him and it can be viewed in parts on YouTube.

He has written 2 New York Times bestseller entitled : "The Essential 55" and "The Excellent 11: tips about how to motivate, inspire and educate children".

Ron Clark had set up the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. This school was primarily for fee paying student but most of them are actually on scholarship. But the main aim this special school was set up was to teach teachers his unorthodox methods that seems to be paying dividends in terms of the students love for learning and their above average academic and co-curricular achievements.

Below is the video from the CNN about this extraordinary teacher, his unusual methods and the school he had built in Atlanta.

Be inspired teachers as I have!

Rodney Tan
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Old Photos: ACS Malacca 2

Dear All (especially the Old Boys of Malacca ACS).

I've scanned some photos from the Malacca Wesley Methodist Church 100th Anniversary book which are related to the ACS school and they include personalities, and ex-reverends and pastors who were the school's chaplain.

Should anyone have any of such photos, please email them to me so that I can upload them here or in the various Old Boy websites/blogs/groups. My email: tanchaiwhatt@hotmail.com

At the same time if you have seen such photos on other websites, please indicate the address of the URL in the comment form below this message.

Enjoy!

Rodney Tan

P.S. Please click on the photos to get a larger size.
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Old Photos: Malacca ACS 1

Dear All (especially the Old Boys of Malacca ACS).

I've scanned some photos from the Malacca Wesley Methodist Church 100th Anniversary book which are related to the ACS school and they include personalities, and ex-reverends and pastors who were the school's chaplain.

Should anyone have any of such photos, please email them to me so that I can upload them here or in the various Old Boy websites/blogs/groups.  My email: tanchaiwhatt@hotmail.com

At the same time if you have seen such photos on other websites, please indicate the address of the URL in the comment form below this message.

Enjoy!

Rodney Tan

P.S. Please click on the photos to get a larger size.
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Website & Contest: 10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors

10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-websites-and-blogs-of-punctuation-protectors/

Posted: 23 Sep 2011 09:58 PM PDT

In honor of National Punctuation Day, commemorated on September 24 (you didn’t forget, did you?), here’s a directory of Web sites documenting, usually with photographs, egregious punctuation errors.

First, by the way, note that the founder of National Punctuation Day, a freelance business-newsletter writer named Jeff Rubin, sponsors a Punctuation Paragraph Contest. The only rule is that you must write one paragraph, maximum of three sentences, using these punctuation marks:

apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon.

(You may use a punctuation mark more than once.) Send your entry to the email address at Rubin’s Web site  http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/  by September 30, 2011.

*1.* Apostrophe Abuse  http://www.apostropheabuse.com/

Tagline: Links and visuals illustrating an orthographic pet peeve.

*2.* Apostrophe Catastrophes  http://www.apostrophecatastrophes.com/

Tagline: The Worlds’ Worst. Punctuation;

*3.* The Apostrophe Protection Society  http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/examples

Tagline: Examples of misuse of the apostrophe as seen by you!

*4.* The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

Tagline: none

*5.* English Fail Blog  http://www.englishfailblog.com/

Tagline: Public Butcherings of the English Language

*6.* The Gallery Of “Misused” Quotation Marks http://www.juvalamu.com/qmarks

Tagline: none

*7.* GrammarBlog  http://www.grammarblog.co.uk/

Tagline: Mocking poor grammar since 2007

*8.* The Grammar Vandal  http://thegrammarvandal.wordpress.com/

Tagline: Taking it to the streets and correcting America, one comma at a time.

*9.* The Great Typo Hunt  http://greattypohunt.com/?page_idX

Tagline: none

*10.* Wordsplosion  http://www.wordsplosion.com/

Tagline: Showcasing the best of the worst of the wide world of words

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*Original Post: *10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-websites-and-blogs-of-punctuation-protectors/

*Your eBook*: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/download/Basic-English-Grammar.zip

 

Learning the Alphabet : Past & Present

Dear All,

Before learning the English language, we need to learn the very basic foundation of the alphabets.

I recalled what my teachers used as objects to associate with the alphabets. For example, A - Apple,
B - Boy, C - Cat and so on.

But nowadays, students will be learning the alphabets in a contemporary way. It has a lot to do with technology.

Please look at the difference below.

An idea I had was to use this 2 charts as a warmer and get the students to read both charts aloud for fun. As an extension activity, students can write sentences using those words. A spelling test would also be a fantastic activity. The technological alphabets & the objects can be used as a discussion of what is the purpose or the uses of each type of technological innovation. It could even end up as a writing activity. Lastly, the pictures can be a take off point to discuss how technology had pervaded our modern lives.



Enjoy!

Rodney Tan
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Poem & Video: Heart of A Teacher

Dear Teachers,

This is another well-done video poem to uplift the teacher's heart.

The video is 3 mins 6 seconds long.

This video is from www.belief.net

Hope you like it!

Rodney Tan
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Song: A Song Just for Teachers

Dear Teachers,

This song is an original song specially written for teachers everywhere.

Its lyrics are meaningful and seeks to thank and show appreciation to the teacher.

Enjoy!

Rodney Tan Chai Whatt
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Inspiring Talk: Taylor Mali on What Do Teachers Make?

Dear All,

You may have read an inspiring anecdote : "What Do Teachers Make?"

Its about a teacher's worth and role in society which has been frequently undervalued or even sneered at by others.

The reply to this put down by a comedian named Taylor Mali is powerful and direct.

He passionately states what teachers are so powerful that only they can make students do what other revered professions such as lawyers can't.

Enjoy the video of the original ocassion where this point was brought out by Taylor Mali.


The video is 3 minutes 8 seconds long.


Rodney Tan
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News: Ministry ropes in private varsities to help train English teachers

Tuesday August 30, 2011

Ministry ropes in private varsities to help train English teachers

By LOH FOON FONG
foonfong@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: The Education Minis­­­­try has roped in private universities to help train English language teachers.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that with the Upholding Bahasa Malay­sia and Strengthening English policy, the hours for teaching English in primary schools would increase and more language teachers were needed.

“For this reason, we need help from private universities to help train more English teachers, including Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar),” he said after the signing of an agreement for Utar to train Korean students in English with Coree Corp Sdn Bhd yesterday.

Sealed deal: Wee (centre) witnessing the exchange of documents between Prof Chuah (left) and Choe in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

Dr Wee said the pioneer batch of 25 trainees recruited by the ministry had begun the programme in Utar last month.

The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia students would undergo a five-year programme and graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree.

Dr Wee said that in the past, the Government used to send students to Australia and Britain but the tie-up with private universities would cut Government spending by at least 70% .

Meanwhile, Utar will also be taking in South Korean students to learn English through an immersion programme.

The first batch of 50 students will begin the intensive English Immersion in a Multicultural Society Programme at Utar’s Perak campus, Dr Wee said.

“Malaysia is an ideal place for South Koreans to learn English because it has a cost advantage compared with other English-speaking countries,” he said.

Utar president Prof Datuk Dr Chuah Hean Teik said he hoped the programme would contribute to the Government’s edu-tourism initiatives.

Coree Corp managing director Choe Geonil said South Korean students wanted to learn English because it was an important asset.

“They used to go to the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and recently the Philippines.

“I think Malaysia offers a conducive environment,” he said.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/8/30/nation/9394644&sec=nation