2013年9月26日星期四

Newly Arrived Highland Apples from North-western China

Inter-dependent Highland Fuji Apples & Pears

"We have been waiting for months!" Tin Shui Wai Residents flocked to the stall by the escalator of Kingswood Richley Plaza.

"We simply can't forget the crispy and sweet bites."

'My mom said it was the best apple she had eaten in her life."

I have wanted to write the story of how these apples are grown and have come to Hong Kong since the first day it was launched in Kingswood Richley Plaza at about this time last year.

Within a month of the appearance of these Highland Apples, the high priced fruit stall in the shopping mall closed down.

What made the miracle?

Story coming soon when the mastermind of these Highland Apples returned from his Highland Orchard in Shan Bei.

Pat Heung Shui Lau Tien 2 － A wild life haven

26 Sep 2013

Just like the old days when we were helping in the rice paddies and farms at Ting Kok in the 1970s. The autumn breeze cooled our sweating bodies playing with the soil and tomatoes under the scorching sun. Little tree frog stuck out his little triangular head with protruding eyes from time to time in his hiding place - a long long plastic water pipe. The pool was nearly full with water lilies blooming. Purple flowers dangled down the rustic brown wall in the distance.

An Angel back from Maine to Help us Clear the Weeds

My First Plot of Tilled Land

2013年9月12日星期四

我第一個小學生。前測的結果的確使父母擔憂：小五學生卻未達小一程度，學了七年英文，基本上是英文聾啞，完全「開不到口」。經過兩節朗讀課，作了一篇文，信心就來了。

Lisa is my first primary student, daughter of a friend in Tin Shui Wai. She is primary five in a government school. She kept telling herself, 'I cannot do it. I cannot work out the sounds. I am no good.' She has been put in Class A - a non-elite class.

This is Lisa' first piece of writing modelling on the reading text from i-learner reading level 2, "My classroom is exciting". The first session I had with Lisa was at the Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Public Library, diagnosing her reading level using the ladybird read aloud books. She was a clear case of 'struggling reader' with hardly 200 sight vocabulary, with basically zero phonemic awareness. Having gone through the diagnostic cum treatment reading aloud session, she proved to be a very normal child. The second session she heard the reading passage from i-learner a few times and then she could make up her own story by substituting the key words retrieving from her limited vocabulary bank. After reading a few more phonics books during the third session, she was well on the way of recovery. She could even make good guesses of the spelling of words from videos in the English Central programs!

2013年9月1日星期日

愛•樂湖•功課輔導室 Love. Locwood. Tutorial

經過八個月的探索，清晰知道二十年前上帝給我的異象仍然在我心裡：為華人子弟，尤其欠缺英語環境，欠缺家庭支援的孩子尋找高效能學習英語的方法。高科技和英語作為第二語言研究的結合，使英語學習可以衝破貧富界限，學習不再限制於課室的四堵牆。英文老師不再只有被校長分配跟著學生三年那一位。英文老師可以來自不同的國家、不同的行業、不同的媒體網路。