Mother’s Day                    

Mother's Day is officially celebrated in over 140 countries around the world on differing days throughout the year. In Australia, people celebrate it on the second Sunday in May every year.

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honour of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honour Mary, the mother of Christ. By a religious order the holiday was later expanded to include all mothers, and named as the Mothering Sunday. Now, Mother’s day has become a very popular holiday in the World.

People of Australia take Mother’s Day as an opportunity to express gratitude to their mother. Children show love to their moms by gifting flowers and cards to them. There is a tradition to buy carnations for their mothers on Mother’s Day. A colored carnation signifies that a person's mother is living while a white carnation is used to honor a deceased mother. Besides their own mothers, children give presents to their grand mothers and other women who love and care for them .

Mother's Day in China is similar to how and other countries celebrate the day. Husbands and children make mothers feel special by bringing gifts, making greeting cards. Flowers, particularly carnations, are represented as the flower of mothers. Besides flowers and gifts, adults usually take the whole family to a restaurant to celebrate Mother’s Day. In Beijing, 10 distinguished mothers are awarded every year on the eve of Mother’s Day.

So, if you have the chance, take your mother out to celebrate Mother’s Day. Give her a nice bouquet of fresh carnations,  make her day special and let her know how much you love her by treating her as the most important person in the world.

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on May 31. It is meant to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe. The member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987.

Tobacco use is very harmful to people’s health, but it is not easy to quit. Mostly, people cannot succeed the first time. Doctors and professional specialists can give some advice for people who want to quit tobacco.

The Australian government’s decisions on tax, plain packaging and the media ‘QUIT’ campaign represent our best hope ever for a smoke free future. You can access the website http://www.quitnow.gov.au/ to get more information about this activity.

There is a lecture “Introducing the new smoking policy” on Ultimo TAFE campus this year on World No Tobacco Day and St. George College will have a BBQ on June 7 to introduce its new anti-smoking policy.

Easter Holiday

My family went to Easter Show this year. My son was very excited about it and we had a good time in Easter show.

Maggie and Max

Do you like this cute monkey?

Mom, can I eat cotton candy with little chick?

Alpacas- I never saw the alpacas before I came Australia. It is very lovely, isn't it?

This snake is a prize that My won.

We enjoyed the Easter Show !

News about terrible parents

Today I saw the news from the newspaper about the extreme punishment of children by some parents. Their acts are not only unfair but also very cruel. A three-year-old girl from Alaska died and her younger sister suffered hypothermia after their mother and the mother's boyfriend left them in a locked bedroom with an open window where the temperature was minus 34 degrees Celsius. The window was left open to air out the room because the girls had wet their beds. And the same things happened on Johnathan James, a 10-year-old Dallas-area boy who died of dehydration after his father and stepmother kept water from him, because he was being punished for wetting the bed.

I cannot believe these terrible things happened to children. These parents who are very cruel should be accused and thrown the prison. I hope the same things do not happened ever again. Furthermore parents should give more attention, patience and love to their children.

Harmony Day

Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 March each year in Australia. In this day Australians celebrate the country’s diversity of culture. Harmony Day is managed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) and gives people who have different backgrounda a chance to share their culture and history. This event is helpful in making Australia a great place to live.

Many schools, community groups and organisations in Australia have events on 21 March to celebrate Harmony Day. Everyone can involve in the Harmony Day’s events, regardless of their backgrounds. On 21 March people are encouraged to wear an orange coloured item to support this event, as orange is the Harmony Day colour.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Harmony Day in St George TAFE. The students who came from different countries brought their local speciality food. The food is very delicious and various.  We tasted the wonderful food and at the same time we had a chance to know about other country’s cultures and customs. I had a good time at this event.

ANZAC DAY

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. On Anzac Day,25th April each year, we remember the brave men and women who have served our country in times of war.Australian soldiers are called 'Diggers'. A hero, named Simpson, put wounded soldiers on his donkey's back and helped them to the dressing station. He called his donkey 'Duffy'. Every Anzac Day we lay flowers and wreaths at the bottom of war memorials to remeber those people who have fought for our country. The ode is part of a special poem that is said during the Anzac Day service.We will remeber them forever.

About My AEFS Course

I have been studying English in the AEFS course for 6 weeks. I have learned a lot from the teachers who are very professional and very nice. They have given us a lot of information and new knowledge. Sometimes I cannot totally understand and I feel it is a little bit hard, but I feel my English is better than before. How to organise a complete and accurate sentence is one of my problems. Most of the time I cannot express what I want to say in English. I know I should read more articles, but I do not know which level of articles suit me, becase sometimes when I read an article I cannot get the the autor’s meaning. So if the teachers can give us some advice about that, I think it would be helpful. Anyway, I will try my best to keep up with my teachers.