More On Modernized Masks

 

Flag of Singapore.

I have two friends who teach music in Singapore. One of them told me in detail how the teachers of music must proceed in schools. The children are not allowed to sing, but can use musical instruments. 

Cleaning Shared Musical Instruments

The children use only instruments which can be cleaned quickly and thoroughly. For example, plastic or wooden xylophones. The children are not allowed to touch the instruments, but must play them with two sticks. At the end of the lesson all the sticks are dropped into a container. The teacher disinfects the whole lot with a spray which is issued to the teachers.

The pupils also have a disinfectant wipe for their hands, and items they touch, before they start to play and after they finish.

Improved Masks

The latest masks issued free by the government to everybody are a new design and heavier. They can be washed off, like plastic, unlike washable cloth, so they last longer. They also fit better around the top of the nose and the chin. But that means they are harder to breathe through. The teachers have to wear them all day. Much less waste of resources and landfill. Especially when you compare the new type to the first disposable masks, still available, the concertina type with the plastic ear loops which quickly pull out. 

"They are more effective, but harder to wear. And they make it harder to communicate."

Transparent Masks

 I asked, "What about transparent masks?"

"In the early days at school the teachers could wear those masks which look like a suspended sheet of plastic. But they Don't block out the underneath. At one school for little children (in Singapore) a male teacher wore that kind of mask and a whole cluster of the kids were affected. So they had to close the school temporarily to clean it. Then they banned those masks."

Useful to know. Because I bought one before our son's wedding. I thought they seemed a great idea. They allow a greater area of air to breathe, less pressing against your mouth and nose. I would have thought you could re-design them to make them enclose all around, possibly with a drawstring.

Alas, I missed out. The new masks are no longer available.

Useful Websites

https://www.todayonline.com/world/explainer-n95-kf94-which-mask-best-protecting-against-covid-19-1793866?cid=instagram_ig-profile_social-free_06092018_today

https://www.temasekfoundation.org.sg/news/media-releases/free-for-each-singapore-resident-one-maskpure-air-reusable-antimicrobial-mask-with-n95-grade-filtr

Author

About the author of this blog post

Angela Lansbury

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Universal Testing for Covid19 - on its way?

When I applied for a job as an English teacher in Singapore I first had to be tested for TB and to be clear of it before I started work. Never mine whether I had symptoms. I had to be tested.



I thought that was entirely reasonable.

It looks like the same thing will happen everywhere soon. We will move on from testing at airports whether you have a symptom such as a high temperature.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker to type and easier to remember:  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL


Useful websites
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52840763

How To Teach Children At Home & Home School During Coronavirus

Teaching children at home is the dream of some parents and children. For others, a challenge. I see it as an opportunity.

UK flag.

In the UK, schools will close from Friday March 20 because of Coronavirus, COVID19. Everybody is aghast.

However, it is not that difficult, if you get organized. Let's look at the options.

US flag.

In the USA and UK home schooling is well established. You can join a group of parents and share information on resources. The pupils can keep in contact with each other.

French flag.

French Textbooks
In France it is easier for schools and teachers to organize. I heard that a set textbook is issued for every subject for the year. So you start on page one and work through the book at the required page.

School Teaching Pupils Online
In the UK some of the teachers are running classes at school for the children of hospital and health workers and families of those working in other essential services. The simplest thing for teachers to do is to carry on as normal, but online so the pupils at home can watch the lesson. And maybe participate.

You follow the same syllabus. You stick to the same timetable.
You take the register. The video I watched showed the teacher saying the pupils all sent her emails.



Singapore online Toastmasters.

We are practising giving speeches. We are logging in from Singapore and China in Asia, England and Greece in Europe, the USA, all over the world.

Here we are all adults, but ending every session with a photo pf us showing soft toys

Video Conferencing from Singapore
In Singapore I belong to Singapore online toastmasters. I have just started doing video conferencing using Zoom. We have members in Singapore, Hong Kong, Greece, and the UK, and the USA.

Everybody logs in and you can see their face on the screen like a chequer board. Everybody can see everybody else's face. You have a chat box which appears in the column on the side of the screen.

The host of the meeting can see everybody. So you could set up in the morning 30 minutes before the lesson. like a school assembly.

You could ask each pupil to say their name and their favourite school subject.

Assign one person to read a quotation. Other say their name and comment on the motivational quotation.

What about a morning prayer or grace before meals or a weekend session on Hebrew or Greek or Arabic or Aramaic (the language of Jesus).



You can learn Greek, Hebrew and Arabic from Duolingo and other online free language learning systems.

Religious Lessons For All Religions And None
In the case of a religious school you could have the life story or an incident of a saint, rabbi, or other noted person. In a secular group, any non-religious person and their achievements.

Obviously relevant examples would be those who have achieved academic success or education despite handicaps, such as Helen Keller.

Set Up The Desk
In the UK schools go to go home, and learn at home from tomorrow afternoon, Friday 20 th. Set up a clear desk and a laptop or mobile home. For those homes without, ask the school and everybody in the street if they can lend you an old phone or laptop or screen.  Some schools or teachers might have spare equipment.

Borrowing Laptops
If you have younger children without equipment, they can watch the lessons of the older pupils, and use the equipment at staggered times, during the lunch break. Or the older pupil can act as a teacher, and teach the younger brother or sister.

Parents working from home could also lend a laptop to children during the lunch hour. Anything is better than nothing.

If all else fails, a parent can structure the day and teach subjects thought the day.

Time
Somebody has to keep time. At the end of each session you ring a bell. A bell is surprisingly cheap. I bought one for 2 Singapore dollars from Daeso, the Japanese all one price store.

Teaching Languages
For example, you can teach languages using the multi-lingual labels on food and clothes and household products.

Inexpensive DIY Notebooks & Stationery
You can create notebooks using the backs of envelopes. Or the white backs of advertising leaflets sent through the post.

Borrow laptops, if needed, on a temporary basis, no commitment on the part of the donor. Give receipts. Get the children started with sitting learning straight away.

PE and breaks
I was interested to hear that all classes could be taught at home, including physical education. You could do exercised, or on the spot zumba, or the sort of exercises for people in wheelchairs or office workers at desks. You could also have 5 minute breaks every hour to have a glass of water and stretch and go to the toilet and wash your hands.


English
I suggest everybody doing an hour on English to start the day.

 30 minutes on computer skills, video conferencing, contests online. For non-English speakers, their own language comes next for an hour. For English speakers a foreign language lesson.

Homework
Homework could be what the Americans call Show And Tell. Each person in the class picks a topic. It could be simple cooking.
Or growing plants from seeds in a flower pot.
It could be the maths of coronavirus statistics from various countries.

If you have a computer, and internet access you don't need books.
You can download language lessons. And watch free Youtube lessons.

You can watch cookery online.

You can get exercise videos online.

You can research English classic books and authors from Wikipedia. Classic books are available from wikibooks. For younger pupils and those who speak other languages, you can use Simple Wikipedia.



Science, biology, maths - it's all online.

When I was looking for instructions on making puppets, I discovered that many schools in America put up games and lesson online free for their own school pupils and parents, and other schools, and educators worldwide.

As for getting children to sit still, it depends on the determination of either the parent or the pupil.

The tiniest tots will mostly happily watch the screen. Especially if they are teaching teddy or dolly. (Or even a cat or dog or parrot.)

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling
duolingo.com


About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English and English as a foreign language and beginner's French. Semi-retired home tutor.

Dress to impress when on business or holiday, or inconspicuous, anonymous and pickpocket-proof in crowds?

I must admit I dress to to be noticed.

Problem
When I travel, I am always colourful. I want to dress well and look pretty to get the best deal - maybe a chance of an upgrade on an airline, and to look good in my holiday photos.

For Glamorous Clothes
Pick out and pack those interesting outfits. I might be in the bar of a hotel, and in dim light I need colour and glitter to be noticed. All those outfits which I can't wear in the supermarket on a Monday morning, must get an airing on holiday.

Besides, if the plane came down, my lovely clothes would have been a waste of money, never worn. Next year the fashion will have changed or my weight might have changed.

When I started teaching in a school in England where pupils wore uniforms, I wore a plain suit and white blouses - a different one each day, to look authoritative and not distract from my subject matter.

However, when I taught pupils of all ages in Singapore, English as a foreign language, the head of the school called me in. The pupils wanted me to wear colours, bright colours, different colours each day, not dull black and white.

So, now, in Singapore and the Far East, I am less conspiscuous if I dress like the locals in bright colours.

To go with the glamorous outfits, I should make my face look the part.

Against Make-up
However, when I got pregnant I gave up face make-up and eye make-up. I felt caked in make-up, caked in paint, horrible. My pores were blocked.

For Make-up
I admit that lipstick and a little blusher enhances me enormously, but I wash it off at night. Even if you have a mid-afternoon nap, if you forget, your pillow is covered in gunge and has to be washed immediately.

Safety When Travelling
Sometimes you want to minimise the appearance of being a tourist, a foreigner. Pickpocket-proof clothing comes in muted colours. I used to wonder why. The answer has just come to me. You don't want to attract attention from the wrong sort of people.

If you go to sports wear shops, you will find clothes in beige and brown, olive, grey, dark green and black, camouflage colours.

Here's a typical hiking hat in a dark green, hiding a zip. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

My convertible trousers (Americans say pants), brand name Regatta, convert from trouserts to short with a concealed zip and other concealed zips are to keep your possessions safe.

Useful Websites
Article about the Instagram face:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/5c237a34-7a47-4deb-a5b4-a23e77cc88f7

Discreet, Practical Travel clothes:
clevertravelcompanion.com (travel clothes)
clothingarts.com
craghoppers.com

Roundups of protection for possessions
https://www.corporatetravelsafety.com/safety-tips/pickpocket-proof-clothing/
https://www.rd.com/advice/travel/pickpocket-secrets/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How Many Accents Have You learned on your travels? French. Oo la la!

Problem
How many accents can you understand? How many can you do?

Answers
I just watched an entertaining video in which a man on a bus talks in different accents as his friends shout the nationalities.  I played the video back without the sound to note the languages from the subtitles.

He did thirteen accents: 
Irish; 
N Irish; 
Welsh; 
Scottish; 
Spanish; 
French; 
German; 
Dutch; 
S African; 
Nelson Mandela; 
Italian; 
New York; 
Australian. 

That's a challenge. 

How many can you do? I went through the list and found I can do eight! Hurray.

On the other hand, I can do only eight, and just a sentence or two before I lose it. 

I can do some other languages. 

I can do Welsh. I just visualise Gerry, who runs Writers Holiday in Fishguard, Wales. I imagine he is talking to me, and his intonation.

I do Yiddish. It's like German but you have to smile and talk about bagels and bubbas. 

I can do deep South USA - make all the vowels last long and say y'all. 

I can do a sentence in England's Birmingham (oi give it foive).

I can manage a word in Mancunian, Munchester, to help me start me off with a Munchester accent. (Uck-sent?) 

I can easily demonstrate to people in Singapore because they would not know if I lapsed from Mancunian into Geordie. I just say it's a Northern accent. 

The man in the video is very good because he has practised it and has a story ready - otherwise you keep stopping to plot your story which delays the flow. 

How Accents Helps You With Entertainment
I must work on this. It's a great party trick. I can do Japanese. When in Singapore surrounded by it, I can do Singlish. If you can practise even going from one language to another and back again, it's amusing.

How Accents Help You With Education and Language

From the point of view of a teacher of English, I find listening to people speaking English with a foreign accent, and making grammatical mistakes, helps me to learn their language and helps me to help them learn English.

I can teach people to say THREE instead of tree. I am hoping somebody can teach me to roll my Rs. RRRRRRR!

Here's the video. It was on Facebook, with the headline: He nails every accent:

https://www.facebook.com/22WordsPresents/videos/10155264813017606/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.