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GT English

English Teaching Blog

Whole Moon Howlings...

9/27/2015

13 Comments

 
Writing on this Mid-Autumn Festival evening, I'm more aware than usual of the importance of being together as a family. The fullness of the moon tonight symbolizes  the ideal hope in Chinese culture, that all members of the family will gather at this time to enjoy the fruits of harvest in joy, completeness and love.

I left the celebratory dinner table early tonight, though, with a pain in my belly and a mild ache in my heart. To be sure, there was much love and laughter around the table - more than enough brightness to compensate for the shadows that threatened from the darker side of my mind. And it is really my choice whether to see my moon as being half empty or half full. With a cancer death only one day ago on my wife's side of the family and with my own mother so many thousands of kilometers away, my moon is definitely feeling a little jagged around the edges. The craters are showing.

Tonight, Hung Shing Yeh Beach will be resplendent with rainbow glow-sticks, candle nebulae melting into the sand, paper lanterns recycling tinny unintelligible mandarin children's' ditties, and most importantly, the laughter of children playing as they chase and dodge through and around cheerful constellations of family and friends. All appears well at this mid autumn reverie. Still, I can't possible be entirely alone in my hesitation to enjoy. As the waves ebb and flow, pulling down candle castles, we all are caught up in the highs and lows of this life. Perhaps this is what drives some of us to write. Weaving this happy confusion of laughter and tears into some sort of interesting story helps to make meaning of it all, even if it is somewhat imposed. For even when our lips hang low, we have to pick it all up in the morning and get on with the creativity and affairs of life.

Writing and reading well are great ways to make meaning out of the vagaries of life. A survivor of the holocaust, Viktor Frankl , learned a key to living well from his terrible experiences and wrote, "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."  It is my sincere hope that I may teach my students well enough that their interest in reading/writing will be truly kindled and that they, too will have at their lifelong disposal, this powerful tool for making sense of it all. For finding their own 'why to live!"
13 Comments
jeffrey
9/29/2015 09:30:03 pm

nice

Reply
Mr. du Preez
10/1/2015 05:29:44 am

Thanks Jeffrey!! (sounds familiar :-)

Reply
Knife
9/30/2015 04:49:21 am

That's so good

Reply
Mr. du Preez
10/1/2015 05:28:41 am

Thanks Knife, I appreciate the feedback. But, if you were a student in my class, and you were commenting on a piece we had just read, I would ask you to back it up with a reason or two :-)

Reply
Hubert
10/5/2015 04:59:02 am

Good website-but why does the 'useful links and resources' page not work?

Reply
Mr. du Preez
10/5/2015 07:20:19 pm

Hi Hubert,
Thanks for your comment.
It's a 'work in progress', which means it is not complete - still under construction. Useful links have not yet been put up. I'll let you know when they are.

Reply
Jacy
10/6/2015 10:20:25 pm

Nice work!! hope that your moon is no longer jagged now!your mother might be peering across the moon, thinking what a fabulous teacher u are......

Reply
Tavis du Preez
10/7/2015 10:24:40 pm

Thanks for you lovely comment, Jacy. These last few days my moon has been glowing a lustrous silver, smoothing, and soothing all of life's discomforts.
As we said yesterday, the sun is ALWAYS shining - clouds come and go - it's really up to me to let go of any sadness that clouds my heart.
I'm doing much better, thank you! :-)

Reply
Iris the lovely student in 5B
12/22/2015 05:38:01 am

I think beening together as a family is very important that we couldn't lost any one of them.We need love and warm,in a family,love and warm is more important than anything in the world.

Reply
Tavis du Preez
2/25/2016 07:52:10 pm

Dear Iris,
Thank you so much for your insightful comment. Love is, indeed, the most important part of life!!!

Reply
PEARL in 5B
2/26/2016 03:10:05 am

It is a good website that I can learn more new things,Thank you,Mr Du Preez!!!!!

Reply
Nicky in 6A
2/12/2020 12:31:01 am

Thankyou Mr.Du Preez

Reply
Emery Duncan link
12/27/2020 12:53:34 am

I liked your blog, thanks for sharing this

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Tavis du Preez

    Married with 3 children, I live on Lamma Island, HK and teach English Literature to upper primary kids.

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