PIES 5: 18 - 22 April 2011

FUNNY STREET ART ON THE WALL
Visitors to inner George Town can look forward to eight more witty caricature sculptures to mark the city’s Unesco World Heritage Site. The eye-catching pieces will be put up by Sculpture At Work, the Kuala Lumpur-based company which won the ‘Marking George Town — An Idea Competition for a Unesco World Heritage Site’ in April last year.
The ‘Labourer to Trader’ sculpture at Chowrasta Market will feature two traders skillfully carrying their wares on their heads. Early convict labourers were reputed to have built most of the government buildings in the state. Some became petty traders and were the core group that started Chowrasta Market.
At Acheen Street, the ‘Escape’ sculpture along an old godown will see an escape rope dangling from the window as the building was originally a jailhouse. A trader on a small sampan professing his love to a young maiden staring down from her bedroom window is the design for the ‘Waterway’ sculpture at the Prangin Road Ghaut.
Back in the old days, the Prangin River was a bustling waterway for goods that were shipped to Penang from all over the world. The ‘Limousine’ sculpture at Carnarvon Street will show an artisan making a paper car. Carnarvon Street was and is still “the” place to go for coffins and paper effigies!

WORD LIST
1 pieces
2 heritage
3 sculpture
4 feature
5 wares
6 petty
7 core
8 godown
9 dangling
10 originally
11 professing
12 shipped
13 limousine
14 artisan
15 effigies

Instruction: Listen and write down the definitions of the words given.

ENRICHMENT LIST
1 Caricature
2 Convict
3 Reputed
4 Maiden
5 Bustling

Melaka State Teachers' Debates

I was one of the judges for the teachers' debate (Melaka state) on 4th April 2011. The motion of the debate - This house believes that teachers play the main role in transforming the nation. Being involved in debates for many years, training the students for debates at state level as well as for HKSBP, I believe that many teachers ought to be exposed to this kind of competition. It is important for teachers to know as they are the ones who are going to train the students. It is high time for many other schools in the state to take up the challenge to be involved in debates.I'm sure gven the chance and the right exposure, we will find many hidden talents among our students. I also believe that the young teachers should be involved in this kind of debate as for many years, we have been working with the same set of teachers. No doubt that they are good but as I said before it's time for some new and fresh faces to take over.

RHB Mighty Mind Challenge 2011

MOZAC sent 2 teams this year, one for each category. The representatives are:

1.Uman Hakeem Zulkarnain 3 Alpha
2.Muhammad Shamir Roslan 3 Alpha
3.Fatin 3 Alpha
4.Muhammad Sirajuddin Roszali 5 Alpha
5.Muhammad Rafie Shaharudin 5 Alpha
6.Imran Khairulezuan 5 Alpha

Nevertheless,we did not win this year.Hopefully we will do better next year.

PIES: 4- 7 April 2011

THIRD EXPLOSION ROCKS NUCLEAR PLANT
SOMA (Japan): Radiation spewed from a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third explosion early Tuesday, in a dramatic escalation of the four-day-old catastrophe, forcing the government to tell people nearby to stay indoors to avoid exposure.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from four reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima province that was one of the hardest-hit in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.
He said a reactor whose containment building caught fire Monday has not contributed greatly to the increased radiation. The radiation level around one of the reactors stood at 400,000 microsiverts per hour, four times higher than the safe level.
Officials said 50 workers were still there trying to put water into the reactors to cool them. They say 800 other nonessential staff were evacuated. The death toll from last week's earthquake and tsunami jumped Tuesday as police confirmed the number killed had topped 2,400, although that grim news was overshadowed by a deepening nuclear crisis.

WORD LIST
1 tsunami-ravaged
2 escalation
3 exposure
4 televised
5 province
6 magnitude
7 containment
8 contributed
9 increased
10 microsiverts
11 reactors
12 nonessential
13 confirmed
14 topped
15 overshadowed

Instruction: Listen and write down the definitions of the words given.

ENRICHMENT LIST
1 Spewed
2 Catastrophe
3 Ensuing
4 Evacuated
5 Grim

Dublin Literary Award for Young Malaysians 2011

5 students took part in this competition this year. They are:
Junior Category:
1. Norhafizah Muhd Asri
2. Amira Deana Abraham
3. Azyan Anisah Ramli
4. Umar Zulkarnain

Senior Category
1. Jananeiswary Servai

Hopefully more students will be able to take part in this competition in the years to come. More entries could have been sent if the school receives the letter earlier.

Topic: Teenagers Today
Length: 800 - 1200 words
Prizes:
Best Essay Overall - Trip to Dublin Ireland for the winner and their parent
Special School Prize
10 consolation Prizes
Certificates for 20 short listed entries and the winning school.