Library Service

I was alone for today's library service. Grade 12s didn't show up, but anyway, I was doing my given work, as usual. I was told to arrange the books in order on the bookshelf. This was my second time. The last time I did this was when I was in the Primary Library, but at that time I was sitting on a chair, so it was ok. However, this time, the bookshelf had quite a height, therefore my arms got tired. Well, it's obvious I'm short and the rest of the Library service members are way taller than me... :( Anyway, I couldn't finish a lot.
Next time when I'm told to do this again, I will try to do it with speed.

Singhala Lesson

I haven't started working on the new book today, since my brother had to cancel the lesson, so I wrote down the Singhala alphabet. They are actually hard to write, because of the balance, style, and the writing changes with different pronounceation. Unlike Japanese letters, Singhalese use the same letter for one particular sound, and combine small bits with the first letter. a, e, i, o, u are the same, but the writing will be different. For example, a K sound. They write Ka, and then Kaa, which is the long sound. In the first Ka, they put a curve line right next to the letter. What they put are different depend on the letters, so it was still difficult for me to write. It's easy for me to read the letter, but not the writing part, so I must practice on that. I still have to improve!

Library Service

I worked on the posters with May today, because we have to hand in the poster to Ms Shamira tomorrow. We had to come up with;

• Our aims
• What we do during the Library Service
• What we gain from Library Service

To be honest, I never thought of gaining something from this CAS, so at first it took time for me to come up with ideas of these three. Today was the day I realized that from working in the library, I can find new things and find other side of myself. I guess I should try to notice things around while I'm doing the CAS. We also took pictures of the group and us working in the library. I should have taken more pictures before... Anyway, the poster will be handed in tomorrow. Hopefully we will have a good one, gain more knowledge and continue to work on our CAS.

Elective

We divided the class into two today and one group did Origami, and anoher group continued beads work where they left off last time. Origami group started making elephant, which is going to be on the front page of the Year Book for 2009 to 2010. Ms. Lilani has kindly found a tutorial video on YouTube, and I downloaded it last night, and we have watched the video and made the elephant todayl. Elephant is a high level origami. For some students it was too hard and we had to play the video again and again. I have tried to make it previous night, but when I got half way through, I could not move my hands. We still have got to make geckoes, too, but when I watched another tutorial video of "how to make lizzard", it was extremely complecated and difficult. I am not sure if we can actually make it.
We went half way through with elephant, so we are not finished yet. I'm hoping to finish it off for next lesson and move on to another topic, which we are still not sure if we are doing beads work or oriagami.

Singhala Lesson

Today, I finished my first Singhala book. I'm so glad, but I still have to read from the beginning to be able to read perfectly. Well, I'll be starting the new book from the next lesson, which is going to be grade 2 level. What I've been working on is the grade 1 level book. Well, I think it was harder than that.
The next level is going to be more about writing. It's just same as English and Japanese, writing will be different from speaking, so I bet it is going to be extremely difficult.
This is just exactly the same feeling as when I learned English for the first time. I'm struggling and sometimes I get irritated because I don't get some of them. I think I mentioned it before, but I'm moving without knowing many words. I wonder if I can do it and I don't know how I'm going to learn Singhala literature, because the only thing I can do is reading and writing, but I don't understand the meaning of those words. Will I really be ok with moving on like this?

Singhala Lesson

I am now on page 53, and I've got three more pages to read to finish the book, yahoo! My tutor is sure that I can finish this book for the next lesson. Well, if that is going to happen, then it means one of my goal is achieved, which is: finish the book before December break.
My reading skills are improving. I haven't done quite a lot of writing lately, so maybe I should work on that as well. I finished three stories for reading, and I have confident now, in reading. I still have to learn how to write a bit quickly, just like when I first learned English. I was always trying to write every letters neatly. That was one of the reason why I was so slow with note taking at that time but...
Nowadays I'm trying to read whatever they are saying on the signboard on the way to school or back to home. Sometimes the dirver drives too fast that I can't read a word on it, but when the school bus stops for a while, I try to read. And my tutor is happy that I'm trying.

Library Service

Today I worked in the primary library, putting the books in order with the right numbers and putting the "what-kind-of-this-book-is" paper on the new Japanese books just came in. Well, basically I have to write PL/JAP on top and then FIC in the middle and the authors first name in three capital letters. PL, obviously stands for Primary Library, and JAP, how can you not guess, it's Japanese. FIC stands for fiction, well, so far that's the only right words I came up with.
I'm getting used to these kinds of works, and I quite like the works too. I bet I can do this for the second semester or next year. Anyway, there's not much BIG work coming up now, so I think I'm doing good here.
Oh, there's something surprise here today. While I was organizing the new Japanese books, I found the books that I really wanted to read for all these years! It's really amazing. The last time I read was when I was in 6th grade in elementary school in Japan. Well, this story has got up to 7 or 8 chapters, but I never had a chance to finish them all. And all the sudden they're here, with all the chapters! I was so happy, well, I still am. I wish these books were on the list of my Self Taught. I've got to read these! But it's a sad thing, I can't borrow them right away, because these books have to have a cover on them. I can't wait, but I still have time and they won't run away, will they?

Singala Lesson

I've finished reading up to page 50. Now I have got 6 more pages to read. My tutor has bought me a new book to learn, but it looks quite difficult and I'm not sure if I can do it.
It's not for the first time I noticed, but while I was learning "B" letter, baby in Singhala is "Baba", but in Japanese it's a impolite way of saying "old waman", or a "hag". I think it's good to learn the differences of using words in different languages, so that I will be careful of using them when I'm with people from different nationalities.

Library Service

Today's work in library was quite simple, but still hard. I had to put the Time Magazines in order from year 2007 to 2009. Seems like people have been putting the magazines in any different order, so it was difficult to find the right dates, months and years. It took all my after-school-time to finish it. While I was doing the work, I have found few magazines that might help me with geography and other subjects. Not only the subjects, but some of them had articles that I am interested in. When I have a time during the lunch time or wherever, I would surely like to go and read few articles. If I find any articles that I might need for something, I can always photo copy them.
Oh yeah, I didn't see any 12th graders coming in today. I wonder where they were....