Carltonlad

Members
  • Content Count

    68
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Posts posted by Carltonlad

  1. I think I should explain a little more about this topic. Maybe the title is not exactly what I wanted to say. I came on to this site earlier with very little time to write too much. I just wanted you to share these videos with me.

    The two videos were sent to me. They are American videos in English, but after watching them they made me wonder about my past and if I was really sincere when saying thank you.

    This topic is not about Nottingham, but it does involve a lot of people in the Nottingham area, especially during my early years. And in a way Nottingham did shape me into what I am today.

    The first video really made me think. It also put tears in my eyes. How many times have we been sincere when we say thank you to someone for their help and then quickly put to the back of our minds what those people really did for us. I am certainly guilty of this on more than one occasion. It made me go back in time and also think of some of the people who were a great influence on my life and how I never had the opportunity to say thank you. I went so far back that there was one very good friend who I grew up with, a very strong young person who to me at the time was not afraid of anything. Many people on here may know him. He was a very good friend, at times a protector, at other times he taught me to have confidence in myself by building my inner strength to where I was not afraid to take on any challenge. The lessons he taught me in my early life have been used continuously throughout my life. He never knew he was a teacher at that time. And I never realized that he was teaching me. We were too young. This video made me realize that I left England with only a goodbye. I never said thank you for what he had done for me, and over the years have still not said thank you. There have been other people just like this person who have also had a strong influence on my life. In my early years I lacked strength and self confidence (Some people may say I was a weakling). With the help of various people who helped me in many different ways I gained the confidence and the strength to succeed.

    The second one made me realize that at times we do take some things for granted and that I never said thank you enough. What saddens me is that for some people, closest to me that influenced my life, any thank you is now too late, they will not hear them.

    I also think back to my ex wife, she left me, not because of another woman, but because of a lack of appreciation for what she did. At the time I was married to my job, I thought all she wanted was for me to provide for her and our family. Maybe a few more thank yous could have stopped a divorce. Luckily we remained friends afterwards, when I realized I was at fault.

    As I hope you can see from what I have written, I would like you to watch the videos and think about the people you could say thank you too, and also maybe say a thank you too, to the people who many years ago helped you in some way to show you have not forgotten them.

    Believe it or not I am making a list of all the people I feel I should still say thank you to, before it is too late.

    I really would like to hear your comments. Please do not judge the book by its cover the content is excellent and at times motivating.

    You may have to copy and paste the link to gain access to the videos. I don't know how to put a link on here.

  2. I have only stopped by for a minute today, as I want to share something with you.

    I do not know if this topic should go here.

     

    Below are 2 videos that I would like to share with you and gain some feed back on your thoughts.

     

    The first video was attached to a thank you email from a past student.

    The second one was also passed to me by a student regarding a topic we discussed last week.

     

    Both are short videos only about 10 minutes each.  If you open them please view all the main content of the videos.

     

     

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtvUn2PR8cshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhID-_WNy98&feature=youtu.beI hope you like them.I would appreciate your thoughts about your past experiences
  3. My first school was Carlton Central Primary School 1952-1958

    I think Mr Lockwood was the headmaster. My first teacher was Miss Marshall a great young woman. I don't remember names of the other teachers. But a Mr Pugh springs to mind.

    1958 to 1962 Chandos Street Boys school.

  4. And thank you too Micheal Booth.

    Please keep adding to this topic. Don't forget idioms.

    It is a steal. Steal is to take something that is not yours. The idiom means It is a bargain.

    Another one. You can soar as high as you want to go. But never cry when you arm is sore.

    I want to go to the fair tomorrow, I hope it is a fair day and we get fair prices on the rides.

    • Upvote 1
  5. I live in a community where children still ride their bikes and scooters. Sometimes too early in the morning. But I have no complaints being woken up early in the morning to children's laughter and fun. I have 2 boys living across the road from me still play with toy guns and home made swords, and they have girls joining in their fun. Taiwan really does bring back the memories of when I was a child in Carlton.

    • Upvote 2
  6. English is becoming like politics and religion. It generates discussions, debates and also arguments. Never to be brought up in a pub.

    In school we were taught that dived was the correct past form of dive. Over the years things have changed and even in some parts of Britain dove was used as the past form of dive, but more in spoken language than in the written form. Many of the regular verbs have taken on the use of an irregular past participle as an additional past form and vice versa. We as individuals have the right to decide which past participle we want to use. Both are acceptable now, even the British English international test (IELTS) accepts both forms of the verb. I personally prefer dived but I also cannot force my opinion onto students, so I must teach both as correct.

    There are now 3 recognised International English languages.

    1. British English.

    2. American English

    and in recent years a third one has been added

    3. Australian English.

    So as a teacher of English to foreign students imagine the problems I have when teaching English.

    I have students who tell me I cannot spell when I spell theatre and not theater, or harbour and not harbor. Even my spell check is telling me I am wrong now. I have also had problems with students telling me I pronounce words wrong when I use the British pronunciation.

    I believe the English language can be fun. I still believe this is an excellent topic. But lets not turn it into a fighting ring. Lets enjoy this topic the way Micheal Booth wanted it to be FUN. So if you can add to this great. If not, just sit back and enjoy the fun of your own language

    But let us all be proud of the fact that the English language originated in Britain, and it is our language that has been accepted as the basis for the International English languages. let us accept the changes. Another thing too. British English was originally accepted by America, they just had to make a few minor adjustments to a great language so they could call it American English.

    Have a great day everyone and please remember ENGLISH IS FUN

    • Upvote 3
  7. #1 Michael Booth Excellent post

    English isn't easy. Everyday as I teach it. I am asked Why? Why? Why? I am sick of why

    In fact it was only last night I had to try to explain fill in the forms or fill out the forms.

    I never realized how hard English was, until I started to teach English as a second language (ESL) It is surprising how we took everything for granted and never questioned anything at school. I can't remember any student during my school days saying "Why do you have to do it that way?" or Why do you use the same words for different things.

    I was teaching Business English, literacy and numeracy in Australia for 13 years. I never had the problems I encounter teaching ESL. Here not only do I need to know the vocabulary and what it means, but I also have to try to explain why it is used in a certain way.

    Another one today. Why is it when someone sneezes do you say bless you? I had to think hard before I answered this one.

    He lives to make many lives happy.

    She felt the felt in her hand.

    He took the bow and arrow from the king on the bow of the ship and gave the king a bow as he left.

    My dear there are deer over here. Why don't we put a s on the end of deer when we talk about many deer?

    We have 1 steer or many steers, but steers cannot steer a car, a boat or a bicycle.

    But not just with English, Chinese has similar problems. In some cases one character can be used for many different words.

    Keep up the good work. Very interesting topic.

    • Upvote 1
  8. This is a link to a good blogsite that has better photos of our night market. Most of the night markets are very similar to this one some are bigger so are smaller. As I have said I would not eat in the Night Market but a lot of visitors do and seem to enjoy the food. You can also read some of the responses to the night market on this blog

    I hope you can appreciate these photos.

    www.mykafkaesquekife.BlogSpot.tw/2010/miaokou-night-market-keelung.html

  9. My first crush was my year one teacher at Carlton Central Primary school 1953 or 4 Miss Marshall. She was young for a teacher of that period.

    I remember sitting in class not being able to take my eyes off her. Fell in love with her. Cried when I went to year two. When I started school it was still close to the end of the war and most of the teachers were old. Miss Marshall was like breathe of fresh air. She is also the only teachers name I can remember, so she must have had some impact on me.

  10. I would like to say I am sorry to the people who were looking forward to an update about the Lantern Festival. It rained for 15 days, on the last day (the 16th) we had sunshine and 300,000 people attended the light show on that day, so the local government decided to extend the period another week so that more people would get the opportunity to see it, me being one of them. The next day it started to rain again and it stayed until after the lantern festival finished, so I did not get the chance to visit it. Therefore I have nothing to report. This brings back memories of the English Weather. My parents always used to say that summer only lasted for 1 day. That is why we went on Holiday in August.

    It is finally starting to warm up a little so I have now come out of hibernation. I had to hibernate as I had used up all my chairs and tables on the fire in my living room.

    A little about the night life in Taiwan. We have many things to do in the evenings, from Night clubs ( I am getting a bit long in the tooth for those now, but I have been told most of them are quite good), Cinemas (Some with the latest English films and some with only Chinese), and theatres. Plenty of good restaurants and believe it or not, most are very reasonably priced (between 5 and 10 pound for a 3 course meal) I pay about 7.5 pound for soup, steak with a vegetables and bread buffet (all you can eat), dessert, usually fruit and ice cream (again buffet style) and coffee. This is because about 60% of the Taiwanese actually eat out, they never cook. And then there are the night markets, most of them have a food section and outdoor eating areas. So you can visit the night market and after wandering around to see what you can find you can stay and eat for around 49 pence. I will state now I do not eat in the night markets, but many people do. At shi lin market in Taipei you can even get snakes blood broth and snake stew. or if you feel you want something more exotic try the stinky tofo. It lives up to its name.

    I once took someone out with me in my car, we stopped at a vendor next to the ocean and my companion went to get some food for us. I had B.B.Q Chinese sausage (they are a little sweet but very tasty for something with a lot of fat in it). My friend came back with some stinky tofo for herself. The smell was so bad I had to tell her to eat it outside the car, (I cannot describe the smell other than to say it is the worst thing I have ever smelt, Maybe close to a tannery smell. Thinking about it, the tannery may smell better). As you walk around the night markets people like myself have to hold their breath. But the night markets are good cheap entertainment. There is always a lot to see and do. Be prepared they are always bright and noisy. Talking about noisy, Don't expect to go for a quiet dinner somewhere unless you go to the more expensive restaurants. The Taiwanese are always noisy. We have got use to this and now we never forget to take our earplugs with us.

    Don't worry the earplugs do not affect your conversation with your friends, because even without them you would not hear your friends talking, if your friends are Taiwanese they will be shouting so that will penetrate the earplugs. Ok, so I am exaggerating a little, but it is only a little.

    To get to your preferred entertainment, use public transport. I live about 25 kilometres from the nearest big city which is the capital of Taiwan, each way on a bus I pay just under 1 pound. It's cheaper than taking my car.

    I live in a small city, although it has the second largest port, we get the cruise ships coming right into the city centre. The one thing I miss here are the shopping malls, none of these in my city. But we have just about everything else (although we do not get the latest movies in the cinemas), and more. Because we are a port city, the city caters to the seamen.

    This is for Bazza. Yes we do have special clients here and as I have said we keep them in cages. Towards the back of the city there is a very narrow road, along one side of this road are little rooms, each room has its own 2 foot by 2 foot window with steel bars and a door. This is so the seamen or other clients can walk along the road looking into each window until they find what they want. Once the man goes inside a little curtain is pulled across the window to tell others they are busy. I do not know when the cages started (but they do look very old), but I do know their heyday was during the Vietnam war catering to the troops on R and R. They are somewhat a secret tourist attraction, when I first came here, I was taken to this place by a local woman the first night in town. When I told her I do not need places like this, she just looked and smiled and said all our first time visitors are introduced to this road. Now I have been living here for 10 years, I take my visitors to them. They are tolerated by the community. The police don't bother them, WHS never visits them, but there are some health regulations they must abide by. I think in a couple of years time when all the women reach 80 and retire the street will close. Younger girls do not seem to be here.

    The next post will be sightseeing around Taiwan. Watch this space for further updates.

    post-6313-0-95768600-1395148780_thumb.jp

    • Upvote 1
  11. I have the same problem. When I first joined this site I noticed that I could put myself on the map. I thought excellent idea, so for many weeks I kept trying and all I got was "unable to locate your address". So I gave up.

    I don't mind putting myself on the map, I live in Taiwan, but I will draw the line at putting my full address on it. I don't want every Tom, Dick and harry knocking on my door uninvited. But Tabatha, Doris and Harriet will be welcome. Maybe the map thinks I am Chinese so it is politely telling me to p*** off.

    Seriously, I have tried every way I can think of to put my location on the map.

  12. #203 Bilbraborn So true, but they still need some freedom to be allowed to follow through on their inquisitiveness and also need adults to answer any questions they may have truthfully. Many parents (mainly the parents who have to work) and even some teachers do not take the time to respond to children's questions. As for computer games, my English classes start with conversation, with questions such as What have you been doing? 98% of the answers are playing computer games or watching TV, so to get a conversation going I have to ask; "And what games have you been playing? or and What movies have you watched? Tell me more about the TV show you watched?". The next problem is most kids can tell you the games they have played, but many cannot tell you what they have watched on TV. And in many cases this also relates to older and adult students too. We sit on a bus or travel the tube and most people are standing or sitting playing their i phones. A student was telling me last night that her teacher writes everything on the blackboard and then tells the students to copy it, If the students finish early the teacher just tells them to write it again. Yesterday the student's teacher was found by the principal to be sipping milk and playing games on her iPhone at her desk, while the students were writing. She was quickly marched out of the class by the principal. But she returned later.

    With the interest this teacher shows in her students what chance do her students have.

    Now to change the subject.

    #161 mick2me. In Taiwan, we still use bins next to the toilet bowls. This is because the sewer pipes are too small. When I first came to Taiwan it was hard to handle, but as I got use to it, I came to accept it. Bins have plastic liners and lids on them, in public places older people are employed to work in the toilets to keep the them clean and clear out the used paper. In most cases only one or two pieces of paper are in the bin when they are emptied. Most public toilets are kept spotless and I have never had a problem with smell. The paper is also kept in clear plastic bags, so the rubbish collectors can see what is in the bags. They are kept and disposed of separately from other rubbish.

    Re: Post #181 Bilbraborn Your post is right, I have had many an opportunity to ponder this question. Women do screw up and men do fold. It seems this maybe a world wide practice. Now I am going to stir the pot. Maybe the men are more space conscious than women, as a folded piece of paper take up less room in the bins. Or, maybe the women may be more hard working than the men and do not have time to fold, so they always screw up.. Maybe we should conduct a survey on why you fold or why you screw up. Now I hope this has got to the bottom of a couple of questions. Love bottoms do not like screw ups.

  13. When I was a kid in Nottingham, I used to enjoy the field trips, some were abroad or trips to London etc. These trips took the kids out of their comfort zones and helped them to adapt to different situations.

    In Australia I had a thriving business. I used to organize school field trips for the schools (mainly primary schools). In the contract I organized the bus, food, menu and activities program for a 4 to 5 day trip. All equipment was supplied, tents, cooking equipment etc. (we had a fully equipped trailer). The camps were usually conducted in National parks which had limited facilities

    With each camp went a camp cook, a leader (who was also qualified in First Aid) and 2 teachers from the school.

    The activities included leadership skills, teamwork, orienteering, camp hygiene, cooking, fire making and recreational activities such as forest walks and swimming. The kids loved the camps. It took them well away from their comfort zones and they had to adapt to their new environments quickly. They always came back from the camps with additional life skills that they could not learn in school or at home. Only once did we encounter a major problem. A child was bitten by a spider. We always had a vehicle available for emergencies. The bite was treat by the first aid person, then the student was rushed to the hospital for treatment. After the treatment the student's parents were notified and with their permission the student returned to the camp.

    I had this business for 4 years, then one day the Education Department advised that no further field trips were to be conducted as they could not get insurance for the trips from the insurance companies. Insurance companies said the risk was too great for insuring. So who missed out? The kids. The kids nowadays are not allowed independence, they are not allowed to think for themselves. Just imagine what these kids will be like as employees. The bosses will have to make all the decisions for them, they will not be able to work in a team. the boss will spend most of his/her time handling complaints. Like, He took my pencil, or this is too hard for me. It is getting harder and harder to prepare kids for the future. Parents and Government departments are becoming to overprotective. I believe we can still protect our kids, but allow them opportunities to think and learn for themselves. The best learning tool is to learn from mistakes, don't pamper the kids, let them or make them work things out for themselves like we had to.

    • Upvote 7
  14. #27 Trevor thank you for the information sometimes when I am posting I wonder if I only dreamt some of the details, as I am not sure how reliable my memory is from the 50s and 60s. That is why I will always state I am not sure about the accuracy if I have doubt. Also could you tell me what PTP is? I am seeing it often in posts and do not know what it means.

    Glad to hear you will go back to the UK soon, if you get to the Ferry Inn have a drink for me. I hope you enjoy the trip. One day I will go back but not too sure when it will be.

    Babs thank you for your info too. I thought they may have stopped using hemp by now. Wow the maggots are expensive. The fish must now be having Al-a-carte meals.

  15. #39 Trevor you are right the partitions were only about waist high with an opening for entry. They had tables and benches, I can remember I had to cock my leg over the bench to squeeze in and sit down. The cobs and tea was great.

    #42 Yes Poohbear I do remember Markins too.

    #44 Clif Ton. Thank you very much for all the pics. Even though they may have been before my time. It looked as though the place did not change over the years. And the last pic of the outside of the market in 1968 really brings back memories as I left Nottingham in March 1969.

    In Taiwan we have what are called traditional markets, these are very similar to what the Central Market used to be like. But they sell only meat, fish, fruit and veges. But they are all individual vendors. The traditional market really does bring back the memories of Central market with the smells and displays. No refrigeration everything just out on display, so you just walk and choose what you want. Everything fresh daily. And it is only 4 minutes walk from where I live.