thevibrantreaders

We have a new licensee from Taman Lipsin, Penang: STEP UP LEARNING CENTRE

Give it up to our new licensee, STEP UP LEARNING CENTRE which operates in Taman Lipsin, Penang.

Our new family member Teacher Judy Lee is a dynamic and well-experienced educator for young and adults as described in this biodata page.

We at The Vibrant Readers would like to welcome her to our happy family. May The Vibrant Readers learning system bring a great change of benefits and values to her wonderful kids there.

Check out www.thevibrantreaders.com to find out more about Step Up Learning Centre, or other licensees nearby your house.

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May 23, 2012

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Mandarin Speech & Drama Class with Teacher Sylvia

We are very happy to announce the arrival of another new and exciting class for your children.

It has been said since the days of yore that public speaking trumps death as the number one fear for many people. To be able to present a speech in front of an audience is also the main factor for the success of an individual. So the earlier you eliminate the fear of public speaking the better your kids will turn out when they grow up.

It is with great honour that we have Teacher Sylvia Kwan as our new member of The Vibrant Readers family. Highly vivacious and energetic, Teacher Sylvia is a famous Mandarin Speech & Drama educator who changed the lives of many kids. Many parents are amazed at the scale of improvement they see of their children after only several months under the tutelage this teacher.

This once-a-week class will provide public speaking opportunity for your kids, in addition to help them master the skill of speaking accurate and clear mandarin. A class of up to 10 students from diverse range of age between 4 and 18, students will be given assignments based on their competency levels to prepare for their future stage performance. The kids will eventually have to perform their works in front a crowd of parents during organized gatherings which will be held every six months. You can imagine how much tears of pride the parents will shed during those gatherings.

We have another good news for you. Teacher Sylvia has been so kind to open a FREE TRIAL to help you familiarize with the class. Just bring your children and experience the energy, and learn more about the benefits of this Speech and Drama: Mandarin class by referring to the details below.

The free trial will be held at

The Vibrant Readers Bandar Puteri Branch

March 10, 2012 (Saturday)

12.00noon to 1.00pm.

DON’T MISS OUT!!

Call Teacher Sylvia (012-3087393) for more information.

More information can be found at thevibrantreaders.com

Speech and Drama: Mandarin, TVR Update

Drama, Free Trial, Mandarin, Speech, Sylvia Kwan

February 24, 2012

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Happy Birthday to Alfred Koh

It was a great day for The Vibrant Readers. Our founder Mr Alfred Koh is celebrating his anniversary, and the kids were with us to merry the day. Check out the photos below for the actions.

We at The Vibrant Readers wish Mr Alfred Koh a very happy birthday! May all your wishes come true.

TVR Update, Wishes

Alfred KOh, Birthday

February 20, 2012

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Varrying Your Words Uses

Here we are in our another installment of Varying your Words Uses. Here we help you to become a little more interesting, by using alternative, yet un-bombastic words, by articulating and empathizing with your words while conversing with people.

Astounding: Astounding is similar to overwhelming. However there’s a slight difference.

You went to office yesterday and the load of work waiting for you was overwhelming. The masterpiece sung by Adele in Someone Like You (the pop ballad which drew her records amount of accolades) was emotionally overwhelming. Astounding however adds another element into the meaning of overwhelm; the amazement factor. A positive factor which gives thumbs up to the subject matter. Overwhelm does not necessarily provide the positive factor, as in the case of work load in the prior example. When you use ‘astound’, you have a wonderful and amazing feeling alongside your feeling. You are astounded by the straight ‘A’s achieved by your son in his PMR. The fireworks program performed by the organizer in conjunction with 2012 New Year’s celebration was astounding, we were hypnotized.

Bona fide; bona fide has two meanings, one means ‘honest’ (Your contract of agreement between the two has to be a bona fide statement), and another refers to anything that is ‘true and authentic’ (I believe in dug up ceramic is a bona fide 13th century antique). However I prefer to use the simpler words like honest and authentic instead than bona fide because really there’s no significant difference between the respective ones.

However you use of bona fide when you want to describe something that is the combination of the two meaning, honest but may not look like one in the eye of many. Robin Hood is described as a bona fide savior to the poor because he gave loots stolen from the greedy rich to the oppressed poor . The rich did not see him as a savior but the poor did. Massage has yet to have scientific evidence to help overall health. Medical fraternity does not see it as one of the modality to treat a patient, but many patients swear by its curing and pain relieving help, hence its a bona fide solution for muscle pain in medical term.

Rankle; you can use rankle in replacement of angry. Rankle is a combination of irritation and resentment. You feel rankled if you are irritated by your noisy neighbor and whom you resented for reporting to police about your own noisy firecracker display during Chap Goh Meh. Angry is a rather universal word to communicate your feeling might or might not involve deeper psychological agenda. Rankle in essence shows your inner feeling and deeper agenda. Recent article by Time on how to avoid regrets, study found out that your are more rankled by the regret of you not putting love first in your life than regret of you not putting extra hours for your work.

“I don’t care whether in the future people will trade 3D lion tamer for the real one. If such is the case, I will become a bona fide lion tamer, astounding my audience with my overwhelmingly cute face”

English Language

astounding, Bona fide, rankle

February 16, 2012

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Teacher Laorhe (Larry) has done it again!

Teacher Laorhe has done it again. In the just-concluded Area W2 International Toastmasters Speech Contest, Teacher Laorhe (Larry) who represents Speakers Dream Toastmasters Club, and garnered a 1st runner-up place in club level has emerged champion instead this time! His speech, The Ground Beneath Your Feet, touched the hearts and souls of the judges and audience in Great Eastern Mall last Saturday Feb 11, 2012 at exactly 1.50pm to beat 5 other contestants representing Tunku Abdul Rahman Toastmasters Club and Great Eastern Toastmasters Club. He will represent Area W2 for the Division level on March 17, 2012 at Kelab Sukan and Rekreasi Goldhill, Bandar Manjalara, Kuala Lumpur. Please find below for the map of the location. Interested parties who like to watch this preeminent contest among the titans of public speaking in the Klang Valley please contact 012-2999425 for more information. Tickets currently sell at RM10 per seat.

TVR Update

Champion, Division W2, Great Eastern, Speakers Dream, TARC, Toastmasters

February 16, 2012

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Happy Valentine’s Day

We at the The Vibrant Readers would like to wish all the parents a Happy Valentine’s Day. May you make time for your loved ones, whom somewhat little attention was paid for throughout the years due to daily chores, to rekindle love and affection and rediscover new passion for each other.

Here are some words you can use in your wishes to your loved ones.

Appreciation

Enchantment

Yearning

Rapture

Fondness

Embrace

Wishes

Valentine

February 14, 2012

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Varying Your Words Uses

Have you ever wanted to expand your vocabulary because you repeat the same words too many times that your children are beginning to call you a broken record?

The thesaurus is probably the most handy utility to help one to expand one’s word power but carrying it around would be a work in futile, before you flip open the intended page, your intended attention fro your children has disappeared.

No worry, we at The Vibrant Readers is here to help you. We will begin to post words that are underused to help you occasionally replace words that you have used too often. The reason why these words are rarely used is because the words used too often are simpler, or maybe because your own parents had been using them on you. These words below in thesaurus terms are similar to the common words yet have a slight difference in terms of the nuance you might like o express in the future.

1. Elucidate: this word can be used in replacement of “clarify”, or “commentary”. If a person has confusion about an insurance policy, you clarify to take away the confusion off them. If the person has no knowledge about one particular paragraph of an insurance policy, you elucidate with examples and easy-to-understand words to make him understand. See the difference?

2. Aptitude: aptitude is very similar to ability. Ability/aptitude to repair a car, ability/aptitude to perform a magic show, or ability/aptitude to score “A” in English in exam. However aptitude is more specific than ability. You can use the word “ability” to describe skills, but you can use aptitude to describe a special talents; She has a special aptitude for mathematics. In addition to that, aptitude can also mean the readiness or quickness in learning new skills. If someone is said to have a high aptitude, this someone can learn things very quickly.

3. Prerogative: Remember the hit by Bobby Brown, My Prerogative? In the lyrics, Bobby says “Everybody’s talking all this stuff about me, why don’t they just let me live? Tell me why I don’t need commission make my own decisions, that’s my prerogative” Bobby Brown wrote this song at the height of his popularity frustrated by the flood of paparazzi and gossips surrounded his life. If Bobby had used “My Privilege” instead of “My Prerogative” it would probably be less of a hit.
Privilege is used when you are accorded a special treatment, prerogative is used when you are accorded treatment that is entitled to you, examples are like freedom of speech as entitled to you by the national constitution.
I am given a special massage when I go to an expensive hair saloon, that’s a privilege accorded by the expensive hair saloon. At cheaper hair saloons they can’t wait to pull your hair to the washer.
I have the money to spend on an expensive haircut, that’s my prerogative. I can do whatever I want with my money.

“It is our prerogative to enjoy our time because we are kids!”

Stay tune for more words that you will love to use.

English Language

aptitude, Elucidate, PRerogative, thesaurus

February 10, 2012

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Learning English with MisterDuncan

What better way to learn English than to have a personal teacher at the comfort of your own home anytime you want? Mister Duncan, a teacher from England who currently resides in China has build quite a name for himself in the cyberworld. Teaching elementary English in a fun and enjoyable way, interspersing with jokes and stuffed animals, never shy from making fun of himself. Not onlu that he is equipped with moviemaking technology by an advanced amateur (close to professional, but not quite, yet ). He has been garnering views that many aspiring Youtube video posters would envy at.

Even for you who are in need of a laugh with an educational twist, make your way to this site and find interesting learnings about your favorite language (English that is) at the comfort of your home. Just don’t laugh out too loud if you’re in a class.

Below is only one of the many lessons he posts.

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February 3, 2012

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Utilizing Oh!

Oh, did I interrupt your morning with my insignificant blabber? I might have, but if you read on you might just find something interesting to light up your day.

Perhaps the least explored commonly used word in English language, “Oh” is frequently used in conversation whether informal or formal. It’s an important element in a conversation that provides nuance for you to understand better what one is trying to convey. Without it one could miss out the most important cue in a message.

Consider this, “I think it was blue or red. Oh I am wrong. It’s red.” If you omit “oh” in this conversation you might end up sounding either too robotic or less humble. The risk of not using “oh” is that the meaning of your gesture would be greatly misunderstood, and may even sound argumentative. Yes it might be a speech crutch to a toastmasters member, but having “oh’s” in your conversation, like your mother used to say, would give you much character.

Let me list down the various functions of “oh” in our day-to-day conversation.

1. Correcting someone else : A said “Well that was a beautiful fish” B correcting A “oh that was actually a mammal”

2. Requesting clarification: A said “Is there anyone you would like to talk about?” B replied “oh you mean now?”

3. Suddenly remembered question “Oh listen I forgot to ask you….”

4. Knowledge re-orientation: A said “How can I get an appointment to go down there to bring my son on a tour?” B replied “Oh I didn’t even know they gave tours”

5. Unanticipated Information: “Oh I didn’t know that!”

6. Display of recognition: A said “We ate at the Shanty Seafood” B replied “Oh yeah, I’ve heard that’s good”

7. Receiving new information: A said “Hey Henry, your girlfriend’s here” B answered “Oh yeh?”

8. Make an intense reaction: A said “SM Kepong still has a reputation” B responded “But like it did?”, A instantly interjected “Oh yes, SM Kepong is still rated higher than SM Taman Ehsan”.