E-Resource Feature Focus: History

I think that this type of learning is much better than just memorizing the facts. If one only memorize the facts because of marks, he or she would be probably bored of memorizing after a while unless that person find any interesting facts that he or she would be interested in looking for more information on that particular fact. However, in this case, one is not being forced to memorize facts because it is being tested or marks were being allocated to that particular topic. Contradictory, one is just reading casually about the history of countries and therefore, one would most probably find interest in doing this type of reading as there are no marks allocated so there would be no stress and one also would benefit from it as he or she would learn more about the history and would look for more information himself.

However, as this website does not cite external sources of information and is single-handedly maintained by Russell Tarr, the Head of History at the International School of Toulouse, therefore, students are needed to exercise their good judgment when referring to these resources. Most students might think that this is very troublesome. However, through exercising good judgments, they would also develop critical thinking skills, which would help them in answering inference questions in Integrated Humanities. Therefore, I think that learning like this is much efficient than learning in the school as this is active learning but in school, most of the time we would only memorize facts.

Dear all,

I think that we should have more of this NLB Book Exchange event. It benefits us a lot. As it allows the public to exchange their used books and share their passion for reading with one another, it will certainly make people learn how to appreciate books and develop a reading passion. Young students like us certainly need motivation to read more books especially chinese books as they are less read and not appreciated. Therefore, students tend to read more english books and dislike chinese books. I hope events like this will promote the reading of chinese books. This event also supports the call to adopt a green lifestyle through environment-friendly practices, such as recycling and reducing wastage which is very good as the global warming is getting worse and worse and getting out of control. This event would certainly let people know that the environment is very important as we were told to bring our own plastic bags. However, I think that we seriously need more activities like this as the temperature is rising at a very fast rate, causing the polar caps to melt. We need to let people know the importance of the environment as quick as possible as many people are still non-environmental friendly and if it goes on like this, the condition of the global warming would worsen. Therefore, having more of events are certainly very important as it benefits people in many many ways!

Thinkings on library week

Dear all,

I think that we should have more of events like this as it benefits us a lot. It allows the public to exchange their used books and share their passion for reading with one another, it will certainly make people learn how to appreciate books and develop a reading passion. It also is a good way of recycling books that are to be thrown away(maybe). Nowadays, young students like us certainly need motivation to read more books especially chinese books as they are less read and not appreciated. Therefore, students tend to read more english books and dislike chinese books. I hope events like this will promote the reading of chinese books. For the part on games, I am also very supportive as it bonds students together. However, if students treat this very competitively, this games would not end up nice as students would be angry or be a sore-loser if they lose. I am also very pleased with the donation part. we must support people that are old, disabled or poor that needs help. They are very pitiful and there should be more activities of this kind that promotes donation. Having all these events, the library is very active.

a)When she offered flowers to the sacred rock in the sea: http://images.travelpod.com/users/ulka/10.1253142917.offering-flowers-light-to-ganga.jpg

b)When the medicine-man arrived to help her mother: http://www.dlisted.com/files/3_21_112307_delgado_mary.jpg

c)When Pinto is poisoned: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2128/2466981095_54123aa6e3.jpg

a) It can be seen that this woman in the picture is very shocked. Her mouth is wide opened, her hands are touching her cheeks astonishment, her forehead crinkled up and her eyes are full of disgust, astonishment, fear and sadness. Lila must be very shocked too at that time too seeing Pinto, being poisoned. She must be also very scared of this person who poisoned Pinto and worried if he would find them and hurt them again. Therefore, I think that this picture fits the context very well.

b) It can be seen that the woman’s face in the picture is full of anxious, sadness and a little of relief. Lila, seeing that a medicine man had come to see her mother, who has a high fever then, must be relieved. However, she is still not sure if the medicine man can save her mother therefore she is anxious and sad. Therefore, I think that this picture fits the context very well.

c) It can be seen that this old Indian’s face is very solemn and serious, offering flower. Lila is certainly very solemn too as this procession is offering blessings to the god. Lila is most probably wishing to the god and hope that her mother will turn well and her father would abstain from toddy and their life would be better. Therefore, I think that this picture fits the context very well.

The music that I think that would fit well with the first five chapters of "the village by the sea" is Chopin's Prelude 06 B minor Lento Assai - 'Tolling bells', which was played at Chopin's funeral. The link to this song is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP45-zmQd40 . This song is very serene and quiet, starting and ending in a very sad tune. As life is very hard on Hari, he seems to see the future as very dull and hopeless. Therefore, the music is soothing but sad. As previously being mentioned, this song was being played at Chopin’s funeral, so the music is certainly very sorrow and grief. Hari’s mother could not walk and his father is a drunkard who only knows how to drink and owe a lot of people money. He also always takes the money earned by Lila and Hari to spend on toddy. Hari and Lila are no longer studying because they need to help out with the housework at home. Everyday seems to be the same and boring, therefore, the boy’s future seems very bleak, which is expressed as the tune of the music and the stress of the boy and the girl is being expressed as the background music, which is a very dead and solemn beat. I hope you will enjoy the musicand understand more on the music!

Preparation of Chapathi
Ingredients:
6 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour or 1/2/1/2 whole wheat /all purpose flour 2 tsp. Salt 6 tbsp. Vegetable oil	1-3/4cups warm water, plus more as needed 1 cup, melted ghee or clarified butter
Methods:
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Sprinkle in the oil and rub it into the flour with your hands. Make a well in the center of the flour, pour in the water, and mix together by hand until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for 15 minutes. Clean out the mixing bowl, butter it lightly, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel and let the dough rest for 2 hours. Divide the dough into 36 pieces, then work with only 3 pieces at a time — the chapatis should not dry out before cooking. With lightly floured hands, roll each piece into a ball, flatten slightly, and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough into evenly flat 6" rounds. Roll out two more chapatis, then begin to cook. Heat a cast-iron griddle over medium-high heat, then place a chapati on the griddle. Cook for 30 seconds, then flip it over, cook for another 30 seconds and flip again. The chapati should puff up and become freckled. When this occurs, remove it from the griddle to a towel-lined basket, brush lightly with ghee or clarified butter, and cover to keep warm. Stack the breads on top of each other. When the first three are done, reduce the heat under the griddle and roll out the next 3 chapatis; then turn up the heat and cook them. Continue rolling and cooking, rolling and cooking, until the dough is gone. Preparation of jalebi Ingredients 200 gms. plain flour (maida) 20 gms. gram flour (besan) 200 gms. sugar few drops yellow colour 2 tbsp. milk ghee to deep fry a plastic easy squeeze bottle Method Sieve 100 gms. maida and besan together. Make a batter using warn water. Keep aside for 24 hours. Add remaining maida and food colour and more warm water if required. The batter should fall easily when poured - Not too thick not too thin. Keep aside. Make syrup of the sugar by adding water and boiling. Add the milk and all the scum to form while boiling. Make one string syrup. Strain. Fill bottle with batter. The nozzle should have a hole the thickness of a knitting needle. Heat ghee well in a shallow frying pan and form jalebis in the form of concentric circles about 2 inches on the outside. Fry till crisp, drop into hot syrup. Drain with a perforated spoon, serve hot. Chapati is served with meat and vegetables, while Roti Prata can be taken plain, with eggs, onions etc. Jalebi is a fried sweet dipped in sugar, while You Tiao is a long deep-fried dough, without any sugar

Interview with Hari

Me: Hi, Hari, how are you?
Hari: Things are better now than before. Father has abstained from drinking toddy and Mother has healed. I have also earned some money already in Bombay.
Me: How about your sisters?
Hari: Bela and Kamal are still learning in school, and Lila still helps out with housework at home.
Me: Now that you have money, do you think that you should go to school and learn again?
Hari: I have never thought of that. However, I think that it is possible now having more money.
Me: How about the farm that you are planning to do?
Hari: It is not built yet. But I think that it is a very possible idea.
Me: Then how are you going to make use of the skills that you have learnt from the watchmender?
Hari: When the factory is built, the people from town who wear watches will come here and thus, I will have jobs to do!
Me: Thank you for letting me interview you! All the best for your future!

Preparation of Chapathi
Total time	3-3-1/2 hours
Dough preparation	1/2 hour
Rising	2 hours
Cooking	1-1-1/2 hours
6 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour or 1/2/1/2 whole wheat /all purpose flour 2 tsp. Salt 6 tbsp. Vegetable oil	1-3/4cups warm water, plus more as needed 1 cup, melted ghee or clarified butter
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Sprinkle in the oil and rub it into the flour with your hands. Make a well in the center of the flour, pour in the water, and mix together by hand until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for 15 minutes. Clean out the mixing bowl, butter it lightly, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel and let the dough rest for 2 hours. Divide the dough into 36 pieces, then work with only 3 pieces at a time — the chapatis should not dry out before cooking. With lightly floured hands, roll each piece into a ball, flatten slightly, and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough into evenly flat 6" rounds. Roll out two more chapatis, then begin to cook. Heat a cast-iron griddle over medium-high heat, then place a chapati on the griddle. Cook for 30 seconds, then flip it over, cook for another 30 seconds and flip again. The chapati should puff up and become freckled. When this occurs, remove it from the griddle to a towel-lined basket, brush lightly with ghee or clarified butter, and cover to keep warm. Stack the breads on top of each other. When the first three are done, reduce the heat under the griddle and roll out the next 3 chapatis; then turn up the heat and cook them. Continue rolling and cooking, rolling and cooking, until the dough is gone. Preparation of jalebi