I Hate Public Speaking Song - Joyful Public Speaking

This week I shall be doing Public Speaking with my Form 6 students and I think this video may offer some light humour to a heavy subject. I realize that not many people enjoy public speaking, even though, given half the chance, they would ordinarily talk incessantly with their friends. I suppose public speaking is similar to speaking normally with friends. The only difference here is they don't reciprocate; a one way communication. I assume the thing that gets people off public speaking is that they are prone to the scrutiny of their listeners and also the fact that they have to talk about one particular subject for a given amount time; not less than five minutes usually. However, the one thing that my students have to conquer is not their fear of public speaking but their proficiency in English Language. I suppose that is the thing that they fear the most, speaking publicly and in English!

Engelbert Humperdinck - Spanish Eyes 1969

This is another classic song that no other singer can sing as well as the original singer. The singer has left such a tremendous mark on the entertainment world, no one can even hope to imitate him. And when you talk about classic songs, that is the very reason why no one can even hope to write a song that comes even close to the beautiful melody in this song.

"The Lucy Show" Joan Crawford Guest Stars PART 1

Another favourite of yesteryear. I didn't really know how to speak English Language when this show was shown on television here in Malaysia more than thirty years ago but surprisingly I think i understood what the laughter was all about. I knew where the humour was. Some comedies do not need long scripts to reach the punch line. With Lucy, it was punches all the way.

Tom Jones - It's not unusual (This Is Tom Jones - 1969)

I went for a course last week and met some old friends, some of whom I have not met for many years. It was a nice, warm feeling reminiscing with them about old times including some very old songs; songs we used to hear in our teens. One of these songs is this one sung by Tom Jones titled 'It's Not Unusual'. Indeed, it is not unusual to get to meet old friends once again. Here's to many more meetings in the future!

Servants and Labours : Happy Labours' Day

Wow! It has been a while since I posted anything in this blog of mine. Since today is the 1st of May, I guess it is appropriate to write about Labour's Day, what we teachers being government servants who are actually labours. If you think about it carefully, teachers are in a way like labours, which does not necessarily require us to do labourious tasks. But, teaching and everything else that comes with it, IS labourious. Much have been said about the piles of work put on a teacher's shoulders. If it were teaching per se, I am sure no teacher would complain. However, we have to express our grouses because most of what we do in school does not reflect the aspiration of teaching at all. Clerical work, meetings, courses, workshops, organising social activities and a lot of other unrelated things that people outside the teaching refuse to believe. I say, let these skeptics take over our duties for a week and see how they feel.