A Reflection

We all experience the fact that we don't have enough time to finish the assigned work or meet the deadline. Maybe we can reflect on the following questions:

• Do we know what we need to do or to study each day?
• How often do we study or do thing without a clear focus?
• Do we keep track of our time?
• Do we spend time improving our capablility?

Planning the time is a difficult task initially, but once we get used to it, we'll see how much time we actually have!
You can be successful, not just academically, but in every area of your life. One of the requirements, though, is that you learn to make every moment of your day worthwhile. I'm sure you have a lot to finish, so make it happen. Doing so always leads you closer to your dreams than ever before.

Reading Fast and Increasing Comprehension

Reading fast can also help to increase your comprehension if one can fulfill the following conditions.

1. Read the material that meet your level of language proficiency.
2. Read and never lose your wonder in seeking meaning. Read with a purpose, follow the argument/s or story plot/s not the details.
3. Have fun in reading, time your reading if you have a clock around. By reading faster, one can make the reading process more challenging. Reading fast can also keep you awake because you must concentrate more.
4. Use a pencil tip to help your eyes scan the text in phrases, and always move forward as fast as as possible.
5. Speed up your reading by practise reading, reading, and reading. Progressively learn to see and comprehend more and more words ( i.e. from 3 to 10 words) at a time.
6. Target yourself to read at an average speed of 200 words per minute to a more advanced speed of 800 wpm.
7. Seek professional help if you find the suggestions can't help you.

Add your comment below if you have something to share!

Sentences in Passive Forms

The photos were taken in March, 2008 when Terri and her family visited Danxia Mountain. Located in the northeast of Shaoguan city in Guangdong Province,Danxia Mountain is called "Red Stone Park of China",45 kilometers away from downtown Shaoguan.

Because of the brilliant red color,the red stone group covering a total area of 282 square miles is called "Danxia Mountain", meaning "red rays of the sun" in Chinese word. Formed of the red sandy rock, Danxia Mountain area is characterized by the red steep cliffs with precipitous landform of even peak, sheer body and flat valleys.

In geography, it is also the name place of "Danxia Landform", which refers to the sort of landform similar to the Danxia Mountain. Since 1988, Danxia Mountain has been successively appointed as National Scenic Spot, National Natural Protection Zone for Geology and Geomorphology in China, Grade AAAA National Tourist Spot, and National Geological Park of China.

Extracted and adapted from the website Shaoguan Travel at the link:

http://www.sgtravel.cn/english/01_news_list.asp?Nno=118

Relative Clauses - A Practice Task

A relative clause is a subordinate clause that begins with a question word; e.g. who, which, where, or that. We can use it to modify a noun or pronoun.

Now read the sentences below and learn the structure of a relative clause.

Poor character (a.) // sets(b.) // the environment (c.) // that breeds the death of any good relationship (d.). by Robb Thompson
(a. Subject)//(b. verb) //(c. object)// (d. relative clause )

Now read the paragraph below and expand the imcomplete sentences (3-6) using the sentence structure with a relative clause.

Secondary school education is our fundamental cornerstone of learning. It is important to help students to understand the factors which influence personal development, interpersonal relationships, values and beliefs; and to devlop self-understanding and self confidence.

1. School education // is // the cornerstone //that helps students with self development.
2. Schools // can provide // a learning environment //which develops students' value and beliefs.
3. Education creates manpower that ....
4. Most school graduates have received the education that ...
5. Studying at university ....
6. Learning different languages equips students with language skills that ...

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More sample sentences

• Students who can develop independent learning skills often achieve good academic results.
• A university is a place where people pursue advanced knowledge in specific academic disciplines.
• What’s the name of the person who/that first landed on the moon?
• The student who achieves the highest score in this school will be awarded a scholorship of $20,000.
• Computer games that involve fighting and shooting apparently have a negative effect on young people.
• Albert Einstein, who put forward the theory of relativity, is considered by many as the most intelligent person in human history.
  

Reduction of relative clauses. You can sometimes reduce a defining relative clause to create a more concise style. You cannot reduce a non-defining clause.

• Half of the training sessions (that are) arranged for the athletes have been cancelled due to bad weather.
• The foreigner (who/whom) you saw at the party last night is Giorgio Armani!
  

Tea 'healthier' drink than water

Do you know why there are two quotation marks quoting the word, 'healthier' on the title?

See the examples:
1. I am healthier than my parents.
2. Tea is 'healthier' than water.

Do the two examples give you some clue?
Can you explain why?

Read the article extracted from the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5281046.stm.

Summarise in three to five sentences why you think tea is a better drink than water.

Yes, when you read don't forget to search for the three adjectives or noun phrases (key words) that give you reasons why tea is a better drink.

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The researchers recommend people consume three to four cups a dayDrinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers.

The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates. Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found. Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health.

These polyphenol antioxidants are found in many foods and plants, including tea leaves, and have been shown to help prevent cell damage. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it .

Public health nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, and colleagues at Kings College London, looked at published studies on the health effects of tea consumption. They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack.

Some studies suggested tea consumption protected against cancer, although this effect was less clear-cut. Other health benefits seen included protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay, plus bone strengthening.

Dr Ruxton said, "Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it's got two things going for it."

Rehydrating
She said it was an urban myth that tea is dehydrating. "Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid. "Also, a cup of tea contains fluoride, which is good for the teeth," she added.

There was no evidence that tea consumption was harmful to health. However, research suggests that tea can impair the body's ability to absorb iron from food, meaning people at risk of anaemia should avoid drinking tea around mealtimes. Tea is not dehydrating. It is a healthy drink
Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation Dr Ruxton's team found average tea consumption was just under three cups per day. She said the increasing popularity of soft drinks meant many people were not drinking as much tea as before. "Tea drinking is most common in older people, the 40 plus age range. In older people, tea sometimes made up about 70% of fluid intake so it is a really important contributor," she said.

Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "Studies in the laboratory have shown potential health benefits. "The evidence in humans is not as strong and more studies need to be done. But there are definite potential health benefits from the polyphenols in terms of reducing the risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancers. "In terms of fluid intake, we recommend 1.5-2 litres per day and that can include tea. Tea is not dehydrating. It is a healthy drink."
The Tea Council provided funding for the work. Dr Ruxton stressed that the work was independent.

HKCEE and Sound-based Approach of Learning

As a matter of urgency, some students who are taking the HKCEE next month ask for a quick-fix learning method to prepare for the exam in May.

Language learning takes time; practising with past papers, reading newspaper articles, revising grammar points and usages, watching or listening to English news, attending examination preparation tutorials will take you enormous amount of time.

Can a quick-fix learning strategy work in a month time? Well, if the traditional method cannot provide a quick-fix solution, you may want to try a relatively more natural learning method to speed up your learning. The method is called a sound-based approach of studying English.

The sound-based approach can speed up your learning by increasing for you the audio channel of learning input and output. The following provide some ideas and guidelines for implementing the sound-based approach preparing for the approaching exam.

1. Repetition - The essence of sound-based learning approach bases on its natural language techniques, i.e. we learn a language when repetitively listening to and understanding sounds and utterances of the language.
2. Input Comprehensible and Visible - The other essence of the sound-based approach is that language acquisition involves differentiating and associating sounds with corresponding meaning using your imaginative mind.
3. Be a Keen Learner - Be like a little child trying to learn to control his world by listening to the repeated instructions of adults, so listen to some read-aloud passages repetitively until you fully understand the audio messages and be able to act and use them accordingly.
4. Use your Right Brain - Listen to the video or audio recorded news as many time as possible until they unconsciously embedded in your right brain with the audio (such as different tones)and visual clues (such as mind map). You must learn to attach to the message with some visual clues when you repetitively listen to and watch the news.
5. Maximise your Resources - Some past-exam audio tapes, read-aloud texts can be good resources, you can recycle and use them for means and ends to facilitate your audio input and outputs. Make sure the audio resources must be a quality production, in other words, quality input results in quality output.