What are two things you would recommend to someone…….?

Last Saturday, I administered the final written test for the summer English conversation course which started in March this year. I had 65 students in one group while the other group consisted of 45 making a total of 110 in both classes.

It is natural to notice that EFL students make mistakes when they engage in classroom activities. In L2 learning, mistakes are divided into errors and slips. Errors generally occur when learners try to say something that is beyond their current level of language processing ability. However, if a learner is tired or emotionally disturbed, it is likely that such a learner uses a simple present to denote a past action. Eg. Yesterday, I go for a walk in the afternoon. But later, the learner knows what he/she said was wrong. So those kinds of mistakes are known as slips.

The role of error in L2 acquisition is a vast field which cannot be discussed in a blog like this. What I want to tell you is that EFL learners sometimes make funny mistakes when they speak as well as write. As I stated above, after the examination when I was marking the papers, I found a funny answer written by one student to a question in the English conversation final written test. The test was not very hard in that it included five parts to test different language skills. Part 3 included five divergent questions. Therefore, students were free to write their ideas or opinions concerning the questions posed. Of the five questions, one question was “What are two things you would recommend to someone who can’t sleep well?” It is expected that students should be able to give simple instructions on how to deal with life-related problems. I observed that many students had answered the question above well. Their instructions to someone who can’t sleep well included exercising, reading a book, listening to soft music, and so on. However, one student wrote a quite different answer to the question above. Please read the student’s answer below.

Even though it seems funny, what the student has intended is clear. The student in her answer refers to the role of grandparents in our families. There cannot be a single individual who has not been lulled to sleep especially by a grandmother in his life time when it was very young. I come to believe this particular student must have been very much influenced by his/her grandparents. This may be one of the reasons why the student in this particular answer thought that the grandparents could help someone with sleep-related disorders to overcome them.

  

Spectacular animals’ and birds’ performances

Animals’ performances are an integral part of a public zoo in many countries nowadays. In Asian countries, animal shows in which elephants, chimps, tigers, and lions include are very popular and attract both local and foreign visitors in large numbers every year. I recently visited Songkla Zoo located a few kilometers off the ancient city of Songkla in the south of Thailand. This zoo has been constructed in a dense jungle. Therefore, visitors to Songkla Zoo can watch the animals and birds as if they were living in their natural habitats. Since the zoo extends a vast area, visitors may need a vehicle of their own or they can hire a specially constructed vehicle available at the zoo.

The zoo has recently added a water park where visitors can swim or play in specially constructed pools. Because of the water park, the number of visitors to the zoo has doubled for the past two years. Facilities such as food stalls, restaurants, lavatories, and vehicle parks inside the zoo are quite satisfactory.

Walking in the zoo, even though it may be a little tedious, can be exciting and fun if you choose to visit it in the afternoon because the sun will not scorch your skin.  

Animals’ and birds’ performances are shown in a specially made enclave with a visitors’ pavilion and showtimes are mostly in the afternoon. One of the special features I noticed in this show is that the performances of birds such as hornbills, hawks, and eagles are quite extra ordinary in that hornbills have been trained to catch nuts thrown at them with their long beaks while eagles soar and snatch worms held with fingers by a trainer. All these activities are performed according to the sound of music the animals and birds hear. However, this is an exciting event in the zoo not to be missed by any visitor. Please watch the video at   (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENsxJyUfBwc) and enjoy.

Water park erected at Songkla Zoo. Visitors to the zoo can take a dip in the pool to rejuvenate their weary bodies. The water park overlooks Songkla city's panoramic view.

A language classroom with many facets

What is it a classroom? If someone asks you this question, the picture that may paint in your mind is a place where a group of students engages in learning a subject or subject with the help of a teacher. This is not a definition for a classroom but an idea or concept of this nature might strike in your mind. However, if the question stated above is referred to a scholar, his/he answer may be totally different from the one I have just mentioned above. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s dictionary (2005) defines a classroom as “a room in a school or college where groups of students are taught” Anyway, the definition for the classroom is not crucial in this discussion because it is not the definition that matters but the process that actually happens inside the classroom is vital in terms of teaching and learning.

My focus in this discussion is on a language classroom because it has undergone a number of changes from what it used to be a few decades ago. Gaies (1980) has noted, the classroom is the crucible- the place where teachers and learners come together and language learning, we hope, happens. It happens, when it happens, as a result of the reactions among the elements that go into the crucible- the teachers and the learners. As indicated by Gaies, the classroom is an important place where one meets real-life teachers in real-life teaching situations. Therefore, in order to gain an insightful understanding of what goes on inside an L2 classroom, classroom observation seems critical. Wajnryh (1992) asserts that “there is a lot to observe: teaching behavior and learning behavior, the pattern of interaction, different learning styles, concentration spans, patterns of group dynamics” (p. 8). It is for this purpose classroom observation and evaluation of learning and teaching procedure which is carried out by teachers and learners in the classroom becomes important.

Recently I wanted to observe one of my classes I teach in order to investigate what adult students really do when they are allowed to do their activities as they wish. On this particular day, the students had to present their role-plays for the final examination in their course. I first told them that they could leave the class once they finished their presentation. Since the class consisted of a lot of students, even classroom arrangements for their role-plays were difficult. Therefore, they had to present their respective performance by standing. While the students started their presentations, I placed a portable video camera on the teacher’s table and pressed the record button using the remote controller of the camera, and left it focused on the class. From time to time, I moved it to every corner of the classroom including the presenters. After 10 minutes, I switched off the video recording and the students also did not bother about the camera instead they continued their activities.

I then uploaded the video from the camera to my computer and carefully watched the video which contained a number of activities that they had done while in the class. Some of the activities such as writing, planning an activity, reading, discussing with peers, presenting role-plays, pair work, and practicing conversation are related to academic type. Meanwhile, I observed that one female student was taking photos of her face using her mobile phone. She was so engrossed with what she was doing that she forgot she was in the class while another male student began to play a game on his mobile phone (Please watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DejZfevg0Bs)

However, it can be said that the classroom is a community so one cannot expect only academic activities to occur in it. Therefore, given the view that the classroom is a community, I believe that it should cater for students’ personal and psychological needs provided that they do not cause problems that can affect the smooth flow of the classroom activities. However, it is expected that students should take maximum use out of the opportunities they are provided in the class to improve their proficiency in the target language because once they leave the class; it is impossible for most of the students to get an opportunity to study or use English in social contexts since English is not widely used for communicative purposes.

                                A photo of my face from this angle may be nice

                                It is a nice game

                                A nap is a must when you are tired

Format of the question paper for English Conversation 1: 890-212

It should be noted that the main objective of the English conversation course is to help students develop their oral proficiency in the target language. Therefore, our teaching procedure as well as the evaluation process should conform to the objective stated above. Whatever the teaching procedure carried out in the classroom by respective teachers, evaluation procedure (written tests) seems deviant from the objectives. In other words, our written tests do not test what the students can do with the language instead they mostly focus on to test what the students cannot do with the language.

Since speaking is a productive skill, it should be tested orally. However, since we have written tests, then, they should test what students can produce in writing. When examining our test papers, it is evident that most questions except one or two aim to test the reading ability of the students on one hand and, on the other their standards are low. Given the problem stated above, to improve the quality of the English conversation course written tests, I suggest that the format of the test papers should be re-structured as follow so that students will have opportunities for producing the language they know in writing.

Current format

1.      Gap filling

2.      Matching items

3.      Multiple choice questions

4.      Ordering a conversation

5.      Comprehension questions based on a passage

6.      Writing activity

Suggested format

1.      Gap filling-based on a conversation (words provided) – 10X2=20points

2.      Multiple choice questions- 5X2=10points

3.      Ordering a conversation -10X2=20

4.      Picture description-(a picture is given, the answer should consist of at least ten sentences) 2X10=20

5.      Completing a conversation with appropriate sentences/questions. Use your own sentences- 3X5=15

Eg. A: What did you do on Friday?

       B:_______________________

       A:_______________________

       B: The movie was so exciting and funny.

6.      Writing a short a conversation based on a given situation. Each person in the conversation should speak at least ten utterances and they need not to be complete sentences-2X10=20 (For example see below)

            English Conversation 1 890-212- Proposed sample test paper

1. The conversation below is about a boy called Jack and a girl called Helen. They are talking about a rock festival. Fill in the blanks with correct words choosing from the list of words given in the box. You don’t need to use all the words. (2X10=20)

book, Don’t, were, expected, rock, vegetarians, festival, concert, see, supposed, meet, good, was, ate, go

Girl: Hi Jack, how are you?

 Boy: Fine, Helen. Did you go to the ______ festival last Saturday? I didn’t _____ you there.

 Girl: Well, there ______ lots of people! It was great, wasn’t it? Boy: Well, one or two bands

        were brilliant, yes, but I have to say it wasn’t as _______ as I thought it would be.

Girl: Oh, why’s that?

 Boy: Well, perhaps I _________ too much … It did cost a lot of money to get in.

 Girl: Didn’t you _______early? My ticket was much less.

 Boy: But you had to buy that so long ago!

 Girl: So?

 Boy: Well, I mean until last Wednesday I thought I wasn’t even going to the _________.

 Girl: Oh that’s right. You were ________ to go to Singapore, weren’t you? I’m sorry that didn’t

         happen.

 Boy: ________ remind me about it! … I doubt if I’ll ever get the same chance again.

 Girl: I’m sure you will, Jack. Anyway … talking about the festival, what did you think of the

        food there?

Boy: It wasn’t bad.

Girl: So much choice, especially for __________ like me … and there never seemed to be many

        queues.

Boy: Mmm. You know, I enjoyed the afternoon …

2. Multiple choice questions to be extracted from the test booklet Person to Person (2006)    Oxford University Press. (5 questions 2X5=10points)

3. Put following conversation in order. (2X10=20points)

____A: Hi, Burt.  I heard you're looking for a new job.

____A: Oh.  How did it go?

____A: This Friday?  Looks like they want to hire the person as quickly as possible.

____A: What are your chances of getting that job?

___A: Well, good luck, then.

____B: Thanks.  I hope it helps.

____B: Yeah.  I just had an interview yesterday.

____B: I think I did well.  They said they would make a decision by this Friday.

____B: Yeah!  I think so, too.

____B: I believe I have a very good chance.  The director seems to like me.

4. Study the picture below and describe it in as much detail as you can. You can use the words given in brackets). You need to write at least 10 sentences. (2X10=20points)

(Market, buy, check, fruit, customers)

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

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5. A and B are having a conversation. Imagine you are B and complete your part. Use your own sentences. (3X5=15)

A: How are things going with you and your roommate?

B: ___________________________________________

A: I know how you feel.  I used to have a roommate like that.  He never cared about me.

B: ____________________________________________

A: Yes, he was very bad, but my new roommate is very helpful and understanding.

B:_____________________________________________

A: To tell you. Last week, we went out for dinner.

B:_____________________________________________

A: Yes, you’re right. He paid our bill.

B: _____________________________________________

A: 550 baht.

6. Write a short conversation in any one of the following situations given below. Your conversation should include at least ten sentences (utterances) by each speaker. (2X10=20points)

                                                                  Situation 1

                                                                   A: You

Imagine you want to go shopping with one of your friends. Call your friend and ask if he/she could go with you this afternoon. You should tell your friend where you hope to go shopping/what time/what items you want to buy/ how you plan to go and any other information you think is relevant.

                                                                   B: Your friend

You are A’s friend. A calls you and invites you to go shopping with him/her. Accept the invitation and get the required information by asking questions such as “Where are you going?” “What time are you going?”

                                                                  Situation 2

                                                                   A: You

Suppose you are a foreigner who has arrived in Hatyai and want to check into a hotel. Go to a hotel and inquire about the availability of room. You should ask the room charges/facilities available in the rooms and other information you need.

                                                                   B: A receptionist in a hotel

You are a receptionist in a hotel, Hatyai. A foreigner has come to your desk and inquires about rooms in your hotel. Help him reserve a room. You should provide him/her with relevant information such as the types of rooms available/ facilities they have/ the charges per night etc.

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

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A culture-specific retirement ceremony I witnessed

A culture-specific retirement ceremony I witnessed

Important events in human lives are generally celebrated with ceremonies that are organized and held in accordance with traditional customs, norms, and values associated with a particular community. Even though birth, marriage, and death are common phenomena experienced by all human beings living in the four corners of the globe, ceremonies associated with those life-related events are different from one community to another, one country to another, and one culture to another. For example; a marriage ceremony in Thailand is different from a marriage ceremony in America or an African country. Those life-related ceremonies of a given community can be considered as a part of their culture which has come down from generation to generation.

What I have been describing above is to tell you about a colorful retirement ceremony I witnessed last year by being a participant in it. It was organized by the Faculty of Liberal Arts,  Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai Campus because two lecturers from the Department of Humanities who had ended their long service formally to retire.

As can be seen from the video below, the procedure of a retirement ceremony of Thai nationals who strive to preserve their cultural aspects embedded in their society is quite interesting and thought-provoking to watch as it proceeds. I was fortunate enough to be a participant in this spectacular cultural event which showed how much they care, respect, and appreciate their senior citizens’ contribution to the progress of Thai society.

The retirees sit on a stage placing their hands on a low table making it easy for those who come to bless them by pouring a little water onto their palms. Before pouring water, a small garland made of small flowers is presented as a token of appreciating their service to the institution and then their colleagues, friends, relatives wish the retirees longevity, good health, and prosperity. After everybody has finished performing the aforesaid ritual, all participants including the retirees enjoy a stupendous meal, followed by a presentation of gifts to the retirees by their colleagues and friends who then entertain the gathering by singing and dancing. Thus comes to an end of a retirement ceremony of Thai nationals in an educational setting.

To watch the retirement ceremony held at the Faculty of Liberal Arts on the 30th of August, 2011, please click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQCjmflKxdc

English conversation course for food sellers in Songkla-2nd batch

The training program for food sellers (2^nd batch) in Songkla was conducted on 9^th of April, 2012 at the Non-formal education center in Songkla. This is the second program for another group of food sellers which was attended by around 30 participants and I was invited to conduct Basic English conversation lessons for two days (9 and 10, April). The classes were held at the Non-formal Education office in Songkla with the patronage of Aj Somjit who is a supervisor there. Unlike the first batch of food sellers, the composition of the second batch was different in several aspects such as age and occupation. This group consisted of school students who had attended the class on their parents’ behalf. The parents were busy with their work so that they had sent their students to study in the class. However, I observed the students’ proficiency in the target language was better than the adult participants in this group.

       According to the schedule of the program, I had to teach them some language functions such as ordering food, taking a food order, and food serving which I planned to teach them through role-plays. As is often the case with many Thai learners of English, pronunciation of some words and phrases became problematic for some adult learners. Due to mispronunciation of a certain word by an adult student, the whole class burst into laughter which sustained for a few minutes. The participants were exposed to pair and group activities in which they could use the target language to a certain degree with their peers. A language is best learned by using it. Therefore, a teacher should maximize the opportunities for learners to use the target language. Mistakes should be allowed at the initial stage and gradually the learners should be provided with corrective feedback.

       As I indicated earlier that this batch consisted of different learners such as food sellers, shop owners, hawkers, and school students. Among these different participants, I found a fortune-teller who uses a card pack to tell the future happenings of people. I have never met a fortune-teller in my teaching career to date even though I have taught adults from different walks of life. Therefore, I consider my encounter with a fortune-teller is an important event. From her speech, I came to know that she has traveled to many countries in the world and she has many friends all over the world. She stated that she could explain to a foreigner what would happen to his/her life in the future in English but she could not write English. This reminded me a short story called "An Astrologer's Day" written by one of the celebrated Indian writers, R. K. Narayan.

                                                         
                                                            R. K. Narayan

       My class for food sellers lasted for two days (9 and 10 April) and during the two days, I enjoyed a lot teaching to them. I wish I had more time to help them improve their English language skills. I video-recorded the classroom presentations of the participants and publish some of them below so that those learners can watch how well or not they speak in the given situations. I hope the videos will provide them with a feedback.

                   The language function they practice here is how to refuse an order politely. However, the customer becomes the seller at the end of the transaction.

Another pair of students role-play the same situation described above

Mid semester oral examination for conversation course

Getting foreign or second language learners to talk naturally in the target language seems to be a perplexing problem for most L2 teachers on one hand. On the other, it may be a challenge in terms of teaching conversational English to learners who study English in contexts where English is not widely used for interactional and transactional purposes in social situations.

       However, as a teacher of English, one’s preoccupation should be to help his/her learners improve oral proficiency in the target language. In order to help L2 learners improve their oral proficiency, a teacher can make use of a number of teaching techniques that may be easily applied in the class. One effective way is to use role-playing activities in which two or more learners play their parts previously assigned or they have decided to depend on the situation given. In my classroom teaching, I use role-playing activities to provide learners with adequate opportunities to interact with their peers and me so that they can receive modified language input.  As Long (1985) indicates, modified interaction will make language input comprehensible and compressible language input will help learners to acquire it with ease. This is the basic theoretical view of second language acquisition.

       On 4^th April 2012, I conducted an oral examination for my students who study English conversation course. I first put them into groups (where necessary into pairs) and assign each group with a different role-playing activity. They were given 10 minutes to prepare for the activity and after the preparation, I called each group to present its role-play to the class. The role-playing activities included real-world situations such as shopping, asking for directions, visiting a doctor, talking about holiday plan, borrowing money, eating out, inviting someone to see a movie on the phone, making a seat reservation on a plane, and having a birthday party.

      While the students were presenting their respective role-plays, I observed that most of them could produce a lot of languages relevant to the situation because the situations are related to their day-to-day life. Furthermore, I noticed that some students extend their role-play with preceding events. For example, while some groups were role-playing the shopping situation; they included suggestions as follows;

A: Mini, we have more time today. Let’s go to see a movie.

B: That’s a good idea. Let’s go to the 5^th floor and see what is on. (They were shopping at a mall where a movie theater is located on the 5^th floor).

Two students are talking about their holiday plan

The language most of the groups and pairs produced was authentic and appropriate to the context given. I, furthermore, observed that most groups could speak naturally rather than regurgitating chunks of sentences from a scripted dialogue with no paralinguistic features found in commercially produced textbooks meant for teaching oral English.

The pictures below show students’ presentations in the oral examination which counts 20% of their total scores.  

One has a problem with money, so she asks if she could borrow her friend's money

There's a new movie at Diana, one calls her friend to ask if she would like to see a movie

Visiting a doctor

Seat reservation in a plane (The student on the right took some of the photos shown here)

Asking for directions

Inviting to see a movie

Eating out. A waitress is taking an order for food and drinks

Shopping for dresses

Talking about holiday plan

Inviting to see a movie on the phone

Talking about holiday plan using a PowerPoint

On the left is "Bell" who took some of the pictures shown above while the students were presenting their role-playing activities

Passenger aircrafts

My son has been fascinated by airplanes from the time he was a toddler. He says he wants to be a pilot in the future. He always talks about planes, draws planes, and plays flight simulator video games. After seeing his first account (How I spent my December vacation in Hatyai 2011, Thailand) published in my blog, he wanted to write about planes and have it published in my blog. The following is what he wrote about planes. I corrected a few mistakes he had made.

Aircraft are the most popular in the world. The airplane was invented by the Wright brothers. However, Orville Wright had already built it.  There are planes that fly within a country. They are known as domestic planes. But the planes which fly from country to country are known as international planes.

          There are various types and sizes of planes. In the world, there are two main companies which manufacture planes. They are Boeing and Airbus. Boeing also can be classified into many types. Some of them are Boeing 717, Boeing 777, and Boeing 747.

              The biggest of the Boeing aircraft is Boeing 747. It is a powerful plane with 4 jet engines and needs three pilots. It is a two-storied plane and has 14 wheels. It can carry up to 400-600 passengers.  A Boeing 747 can be seen in the picture below.

(A Cathay Pacific Boeing 747  400taxing to runway)

       The Boeing 777 is a much smaller plane than the Boeing 747. It has 2 powerful engines and needs 2 pilots for takeoff. It is a one-storied aircraft with 14 wheels. It needs only 2 pilots. It can carry up to 100-200 passengers. The Boeing 777 Dreamliner is the most popular of Boeing 777 aircraft. Given below is a picture of a Boeing 777 Aircraft.

                                           (Emirates Boeing 777 is on the runway.)

       Airbus is another company that builds up aircrafts such as Airbus A320, Airbus A340, Airbus A380. Airbus A320 is a plane with 6 wheels and can carry up to 50-100 passengers. It has only one story with 2 small jet engines. Two pilots are necessary for Airbus A 320 to fly. Shown below is a picture of an Airbus A320.

(Air Asia airbus a320)

       Airbus A340 is a plane that is larger than the Airbus A320. It is a one-storied plane with 4 powerful jet engines and it can carry up to 100-300 passengers.

Airplane crash news- Many crashes have been reported from the Airbus A340.

Shown below is a picture of an Airbus A340.

(Swiss Airways airbus A340 300 pushback)   

The Airbus A380 is the biggest of all the aircraft. It is the biggest aircraft in the world. It is a large plane with 2 stories. It needs a long runway for takeoff and landing. It has 4 large and powerful jet engines and can carry up to 700-800 passengers. Shown below is a picture of an Airbus A380.

(Air France airbus A380 800)

       An airplane is comprised of a part called the cockpit where the pilot controls the aircraft. In big planes, there are many control devices but in small planes, there are fewer control devices. The cockpit has many types of buttons and switches. The aircraft is taken off by the throttles. In addition, there are also other devices that can control the aircraft. The flaps help in landing and takeoff. The spoilers slow down the aircraft when landing. The switches and other components of the cockpit can be seen in the picture below.

                                  Parts of a cockpit with their names

The video above shows the arrival of a Qatar passenger airplane at Katunayake Bandaranayake International airport in Sri Lanka. This video was recorded on the 26th of March, 2012.

Thank you for reading my post about passenger aircraft. Please remember to visit this blog again and read my postings.

Gavindu

How I spent my December school vacation in Hatayi, Thailand-2011

Last December, my family visited Thailand and my son wrote a short account of his travel. He wants me to publish his account in my blog. So what he wrote is as follows;

I was amazingly looking for the December vacation with great joy because we had planned to go to Thailand. My father works there. At first, we flew by Cathay pacific which left Katunayake international airport at 2.15a.m.

on 12^th of December, 2011 and landed at Swrnabhumi airport at 6.15 local time in Bangkok. I took some photos at the airport.  

At Swarnaboomi air port, bangkok

As were flying, I noticed that our plane was flying over the clouds. At a distance, I saw beautiful patterns of clouds through the window. They looked like cotton wools. When our plane was reaching Bangkok, I saw small buildings with tiny vehicles moving along the highways.

After a half an hour we were in the Bangkok airport. The airport was full of passengers who were busy running here and there checking times for their destinations. We also quickly went to the domestic terminal to check into our plane. We traveled by Air Asia from Bangkok to Hatyai. It took us one hour and fifteen minutes. Although it was not as big as Cathay pacific, it had all other facilities. Our destination was at Prince of Songkla University.

On the first day we went to a big department store. There I played a car game and bought many things from there. Next day we went to a temple named Thankwan hill. Before we went to the top of the hill, I saw a lot of monkeys wandering around at the bottom of the hill and I took a photo of two monkeys who were sitting on a wall by the road.

                   Two monkeys sitting on a wall at the bottom of Thankuwan Hill in Songkla

To reach the top of the hill, we had to go by a cable car. The cable car took about 5 minutes to reach the top. At a time, around 15 people can travel in the cable car. When it reached the top of the hill, I could see a beautiful view of the Songkla city. To one side, there is a lake called Songkla Lake and on the other, Andaman Sea dotted with many islands.

                       A panoramic view of Songkla city from the top of the Thankuwan Hill

As we came to the top we could see a vast area of Songkla city. Later, we went to the beach. It is known as ‘Samila’. We were taken there by a professor called Premin who works at the Faculty of Liberal Arts. He was accompanied by his wife who is also a government servant.

   On the top of Thankuwan Hill, from left, Dr. Premin’s Wife, my mother, me, and Dr. Premin

There is a statue of a mermaid on Samaila beach. Since the statute of mermaid is very famous, most tourists either local or foreign, who visit Samila beach never forget to take a photo with the mermaid as a memorial. On the day of our visit to Samila beach, the weather was not favorable because it was raining and the sea was little rough so there were a few people on the beach.

                                     The statue of Mermaid on Samila Beach, Songkla

However, I played on the beach for a short time. While I was playing, one of my slippers was drifted away by the waves of the sea, I jumped into the sea to get my slipper but I could not catch it since it was again drifted away by another wave. I held a stone because I felt that I too was being drifted away by a wave. Just then my father quickly came to me and got me out of the water. At that time, I was very afraid because the waves were little strong. My shorts and T-shirt got wet so we bought a new pair of shorts and a T-shirt to wear.

                 The place I was playing when a wave took one of my slippers into the sea

Around 4pm, we came back to our apartment in the University.

Another day when I was going to a department store with my mother and father, I saw an epiphyte plant that grows in tree. An epiphyte is a plant that normally grows on another plant for support. It is not parasitic, but uses the host plant for support only.  Epiphytes can be found in many different environments all over the world, but many of the most beautiful come from the tropic rain forests.  Here epiphytic plants can be found high up in the tree canopy, growing from branches, rooting in pockets of humus, decaying leaves or other organic matter. 

Many different plant families contain epiphytic members, and they are not always found growing epiphytically.  For instance many epiphytes can be found growing on rocks or even in soil, anywhere where the conditions are suitable in fact.  Epiphytes are often found growing in shady conditions, under tree canopies and so on and these are usually adapted to relatively low light levels and many therefore can make good houseplants.  The cactus family for instance contains many epiphytic members and here the stems have become flattened and leaf-like, the spines have been very much reduced and many have become popular in the home such as the Christmas Cacti, Easter Cacti and the Orchid Cacti (epicacti or epiphyllums).

                 An epiphyte plant that grows in a tree near Songklanagarind Hospital

After my December vacation was over, my mother and I returned to Sri Lanka.