Thursday, May 14, 2009

On your mid-year examination...

I'm halfway done with marking your free writing.

Just one thing to say: if you don't pay attention to me for a particular module, then don't attempt that text type. Since when did I mention that introductory & concluding paragraphs only consist of ONE SENTENCE??? These people should be slaughtered, you know who you are.

If I'm marking a Primary School student's essay, then I will expect to see only 3/4 page. I don't understand why you can't write beyond that.

Some of you buggers - PUT MORE EFFORT INTO YOUR HANDWRITING!!! I'm going blind by the end of the week. Let me say this: if I can't decipher what the word is, then IT IS WRONG. No arguments on that.

Correction tape/ fluid used!!! I think you need me to paint your face white with correction tape!

Now for the good part: Some of you have improved, in the sense that you do take extra care in the way you write. It shows in your essay. For a few of you who constantly fail your free writing, I could tell that you did write with more care, and I think that helps your language a bit more. Keep it up, yo!!!

All I can say is, it takes practice and hard work to do well in English. Don't be complacent and rest on your laurels. Work harder - your final 'destination' for this year is the N Levels Paper!!!

Overworked.

Think you are overworked??? It's time to reflect again. I don't think you are on the brink of death... Read the news below.

May 14, 2009
Girl 'overworked to death'

DHAKA - A BANGLADESHI teenager who died in a garment factory that supplies cheap jeans for export to Europe was 'overworked to death', a rights group said.

Fatema Akter, an 18-year-old garment worker in the port city of Chittagong, died during her shift in December last year, according to the US-based National Labour Committee (NCL).

'Forced to work 13 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, Fatema was sick and exhausted, with pains in her chest and arms,' the report said, adding that her job was to clean 90 to 100 pairs of finished jeans per hour.

'Rather than grant her a sick day (her supervisor) slapped her face very hard and ordered her to continue working.'

The committee said an investigation showed that 14-hour shifts with few breaks were common at the factory, overtime was compulsory and workers were regularly beaten by their superiors.

The report, released earlier this week, said 80 per cent of garments produced at the factory were supplied to German-based retail giant Metro Group.

NCL has called on Metro Group, which sells bargain jeans across Europe, to guarantee the legal rights of the workers.

A statement issued by Metro Group said the company was 'deeply saddened' by the death and had immediately terminated its contract with the Bangladeshi supplier that used the factory.

Rights groups have long questioned the working conditions in Bangladesh's thousands of garment 'sweatshops', which provide some the cheapest labour in the world.

Last year Spanish fashion firm Zara forced the closure of a supplier's factory in the capital Dhaka after workers said they were being abused. -- AFP




Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A word a day.

iridescent
adj.
  1. Producing a display of lustrous, rainbowlike colors: an iridescent oil slick; iridescent plumage.
  2. Brilliant, lustrous, or colorful in effect or appearance: "The prelude was as iridescent as a prism in a morning room" (Carson McCullers).
ir'i·des'cent·ly adv