Lessons learnt

Thank you for your comments, Mrs. J.
I am inspired to write and update my blog.

Just wanted to share with you all, about putting into practice what you learn or have learnt.
After Friday’s class, I looked forward to the weekend. Saturday mornings are usually spent taking long walks (my husband and children jog- I can’t do that due to my knee problems) in Bukit Jalil. Do you know that at one stage early last year, my left knee was so swollen and painful, I could not walk and had to sit in a wheelchair. Then the doctor said I had to lose weight and exercise more. Of course I had to go for weekly physiotherapy and was introduced to glucosamine and chronditin. Well I decided to do something about that and since then, I have lost 7 kgs and with exercise become slimmer and stronger...yippee!

So, last Saturday, while walking with my children I took the opportunity to share what I had learnt the day before (Friday/yesterday).
I started by asking my daughter (she’s in Form Two and her exams are round the corner) whether she remembered her English grammar – the parts of speech and tenses. So I told her that I would be doing some revision with her there and then. Haven’t found the time nor opportunity to do this previously. It’s never too late I guess. So I started with nouns, concrete and abstract nouns by asking her to name a few of each. So we looked around us and the list just grew: trees, grass, people, buildings, garden, lake, fountain, fish, flowers, father, son, mother, daughter, grandmother, grandfather, pram, stroller, baby, wheelchair, walking stick, see-saw, slide, gym equipment, badminton racquet. Wasn’t that a long list? Abstract nouns we listed: happiness, joy, laughter, sadness, love, anger, playful.

Next, I asked her to describe the words which describe nouns and revised adjectives. So to the list we added: tall trees, green grass, old and young people, big lake, pretty baby, colorful fish, beautiful flowers. Then I asked her to use adjectives to describe her father and her brother and of course that created some argument between brother and sister especially when my girl described her brother as tall and obnoxious (horrible, intolerable, unbearable), as he is always disturbing her and I did tell her not to use such strong words unless we know the exact meaning. Anyway, my son in turn described her as “self-absorbed” (reason : my daughter loves posing and taking photos of herself). She went on to describe her father as youthful, healthy, handsome, smart and strict.
It was quite a fun experience. You all should try it.

Then I moved to verbs and adverbs: walk, run, jog, play, drive, (fishing and swimming are not allowed at the lake) etc. Adverbs used to describe the verbs included: walk quickly, slowly, run fast, run quickly,play happily, drive quickly, slowly, then I also revised adverbs of time, place, manner and also degree.

I also took the opportunity to revise pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. All in all, a rewarding exercise. My daughter was quite happy about the whole “study experience”. I also did some revision on tenses and reminded her of all the time signals. It was really helpful. Taking the cue from Mrs J., I also stressed on the use of synonyms every time she or anyone used a word. For example from the word pretty, we used other words of similar (same) meanings and words in that category ‘like’ or ‘close to’ to describe males and females, such as beautiful, smart-looking, handsome, good-looking, attractive, sweet, glamorous and stylish. We also listed words to describe homes with words that are positive such as: big, large, grand, fantastic, spacious, roomy, comfortable and palatial (to describe homes that are large or mansions that look like palaces), beautiful and pretty. For words with negative connotations, homes can be described as small, tiny, over-crowded, old and dilapidated (run-down).
My daughter enjoyed the impromptu (unprepared, unplanned, spontaneous, off the cuff, spur of the moment) revision and I must say I am glad I did it.

Thus, the whole weekend slipped by with ‘occasional pockets’ of reference to what took place in Bukit Jalil and the involvement of father and son as well.
Thanks Mrs. J. I haven’t had the opportunity to ‘download’ to my children what I usually ‘study’ or learn during my courses unlike this one. It was good, quality, bonding time for me and my family. Next, I will be using the notes on the lesson learnt from the Friday afternoon class I missed to do revisions with the children. Thanks for all the notes, Siew Wai, Sam and Mrs. J.

This coming weekend we will be off to JB for another round of bonding time with the extended family.
Have a great weekend everyone.
I am sure Mrs. J. and her husband are already enjoying China.
Cheers!