Our Sister, Hedy

The 4 Sisters-Hilda,Helen,Hazel and Hedy

I remembered watching this black and white movie when I was a little boy. Perhaps it was in 1960.

Those days, I lived in a plantation and one of my father's duties was to be a projectionist to show movies to the plantation workers once a month, courtesy of Harrisons and Crossfield. The hall was used for this purpose.

Family Squabbles and Machinations

Before the movie started, mats would be placed on the floor of the hall and it will be fully crowded just as the movie was about to begin.

One Chinese New Year weekend, my father showed the movie, "My Sister,Hedy". Before the showing, it was the talk of the Chinese folks in the plantation.

Boyfriend Conversation

In anticipation,we all watched to movie in joyous satisfaction.

The story revolved around 4 sisters. The eldest is Hilda (Mu Hong), followed by Helen (Julie Yeh Fong), Hazel (Dolly Soo)and Hedy (Jeanette Lin Tsui). They lived with their father after their mother passed on.

Hilda was too responsible and acted as a substitute mother busy with housework; while Helen was playful and careless of the woes of the world but to gather boyfriends. Hazel was on the softer side but attractive enough to attract a pilot. As for Hedy she was a tom-boy with nary a worry in the world but her family and school responsibilities.

Family Joys

It's the usual family story where the daughters woo the love of their father, bicker over boyfriends and finally settled into life married to their spouses,for better or worse.

Though filmed in 1957, dialogue was peppery and it was enjoyable to watch.

For me watching the movie again after almost 50 years is indeed nostalgic!

Chopstick Rendition for a Birthday Portrait

Chopstick Effect

Our own local Malaysian artist Hong Yi celebrated the 60th birthday of Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan by creating a portrait of him with 64,000 chopsticks.

This 28 year old Sabah lass took 12 hours a day tying chopsticks together in March 2014. She then presented the portrait to Jackie in Beijing on his 60th birthday.

Observance of All Soul's Day-Cheng Beng

A Heavenly Paradise Beyond Wonder

We observed Cheng Beng for our grandparents and youngest brother on 6 April 2014.

This is one rare day that I had to get up early at 5.45 am, rush through the morning hour chores and drive to Rasah Jaya to pick my brother Jit Cheng.

After almost 50 minutes, I was at the door-steps of my brother's home and sister-in-law served me breakfast. I had a half-boiled kampung egg, a charsiew pau and a a cup of hot Milo.

We were soon on our way to Malacca. After talking with Father, we took Sister-in-law Bo Kiak and our nephew Bo Jee and headed for the Simpang Krayong Christian Cemetery where  our our ancestors laid buried.

I extract some important information from my elder brother,Jit Cheng's email on Cheng Beng.

"The Heng's family siblings namely Jee Heng , Gee Tan and myself in addition Bo Kiak and her  son Bo Jee paid their respect  to our  deceased grand parents at The Simpang Krayong Christian  cemetery  on the 6th April which is  our Heng's family observance  for Ching Ming. 

We cleaned the graves, mopped the headstones and plucked the grass off the grave sites. We offered fresh flowers in the vases on the grave. We then said prayers and sang hymns. The  prayer session was conducted by  Jee Heng with the service ending  with  a song Amazing Grace being  sung together  by all of us.

                         

                          I  am grateful   to  those   who   took the trouble to come to  observe Ching Ming on the 6th.of April. Many  thanks  for participating in this  annual  ritual especially to Jee Heng  and Gee Tan."

Pun and Fun-The Bomohland Satellite

In the aftermath of the disappearance of MH 370 and the antics of a local shaman at the premise of KLIA, someone has even extended it to the concept of the shaman's antics in the form of a Malaysian satellite.

Really creative.

What a laugh!

Poor English: Weak Teachers, Weak Students

He may Make a Good English Teacher

This is a summary of an article that appeared in the Malaysian Insider on 7 April 2014.

Study after study have confirmed this deteriorating standard of English in our schools. In fact, you do not need to conduct any more studies as it will just benefit  consulting groups like Cambridge.

What is needed is an intensification of efforts in the teaching and learning of English. 

Teaching English grammar as well as vocabulary expansion is a must.

Also, making scoring at least a credit in English mandatory at the SPM level  is one concrete way  towards this direction.

The local politicians, particularly the Cabinet, must have a will of steel to steer the national education system so that English will find back its pristine position as in the past. 

Additionally, all English teachers  must go through continuous refresher courses and only those who passed out well can be allowed to teach English.

As an added motivation, such teachers should be paid exemplary cash incentives. 

Let us look at this article on the findings of this most recent study done by the government on the status of English in our schools.

" Monday, 7 April 2014

In a reply to Parliament, Deputy Education Minister, P Kamalanathan stated that a study commissioned by the government has shown that the English proficiency of the majority of both students and teachers had a weak command of the language,

This study, conducted by the Cambridge English Language Assessment on the teaching and learning of English in Malaysian schools has found out  that a majority of the students did not improve their basic level of English especially  skills. As for the teachers, their weakness in speaking skills had prevented them in the improvement of teaching pedagogy.

Carried out last year, this baseline project conducted by the Cambridge Group took place in  476 schools, involving 31,000 students and 1,000 teachers. In this study, teachers and students were tested through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews so as to gauge their English proficiency.

It was reported earlier in The Star that only 37% of English teachers in primary schools had high English proficiency.

The  deputy minister also discovered that the co—curriculum and assessments of schools did not conform to international standards focusing on only reading and writing than on communication and listening.

As such, as a follow-up, a special committee will be set up to evaluate the findings and to obtain  feedback from various quarters, including related non-governmental organisations on how to improve the standard of English in the country."

Bad Spelling Can Be Deadly

Mortally Wounding

Bad spelling can indeed be deadly!

This example exemplifies it.

A man received a text from his Indian neighbour ... 

"Sorry sir, I am using your wife with no permission...

I am using day and night ...

I am using when you are not present at home....

In fact I using more than you using.....

I confess this because now I feel very much guilt...

Hope you will accept my sincere apologies "
 

...... Distraught, the man shot his wife.......

A few minutes later he received another text:

Sorry sir, spelling mistake ... wifi not wife.

Nothing but the Tongue Truth

We Need Joyful Tongues!

Oh, yes the tongue has to be the most dangerous organ in the human body.

It can spin wondrous magic by saying the right words and it can damn you miserably for all eternity.

Let us study the words that emanates from the tongue.

Is it saying things that are true?
Has it spoken kind words?
Has it spoken only necessary words?

If the answer is negative or a mix bag, it definitely is not doing a very good job.