west days

karen close

2006-10-19T03:17:00.000-07:00

Synopsis of the Modern Karen
Article by Spencer Zan
During the days of British ......... in Burma the British government used Karen soldiers to ......... rebellion and contain mutiny by nationalistic elements among the Burmese. The British ......... on the Karen for their loyalty and honesty and used Karen soldiers and police forces extensively on many occasions to keep ......... and order.The Karens were thought to be one of the ......... settlers in Burma traveling down from the North, many authors believed, from Mongolia or the Gobi desert, and settled down in the Deltas of the Irrawaddy. Later ......... like the Burmese and the Talaings drove many Karens into the hills of the Pegu Yoma and many others migrated down ......... to the Tenasserim while others crossed into Thailand. After the British occupied lower Burma they ......... Karens into the British colonial army and later used these ......... to help conquer upper Burma. This undoubtedly is one reason the Burmese in general do not ......... the Karen

Karen People

2006-10-19T02:55:00.000-07:00

Synopsis of the Modern Karen
Article by Spencer Zan
During the days of British rule in Burma the British government used Karen soldiers to quell rebellion and contain mutiny by nationalistic elements among the Burmese. The British depended on the Karen for their loyalty and honesty and used Karen soldiers and police forces extensively on many occasions to keep law and order.
The Karens were thought to be one of the earliest settlers in Burma traveling down from the North, many authors believed, from Mongolia or the Gobi desert, and settled down in the Deltas of the Irrawaddy. Later migrants like the Burmese and the Talaings drove many Karens into the hills of the Pegu Yoma and many others migrated down south to the Tenasserim while others crossed into Thailand. After the British occupied lower Burma they recruited Karens into the British colonial army and later used these soldiers to help conquer upper Burma. This undoubtedly is one reason the Burmese in general do not trust the Karen.
During WW II, the Karen army serving in the Burma Rifles remained loyal and retreated with the British army to India. But karen population in large tracts, villages and towns and suffered loss of life and property at the hands of Burmese riffraff's recruited by the Japanese into a national army named the Burmese Independent Army (BIA) along their march into Burma. The BIA bombed churches in the Tavoy area while service was still in progress. Karen communities in other villages and towns were attacked by the BIA which committed indiscriminate killings of Karen civilians including women and children. Many prominent Karen civic and church leaders were brutally murdered. This started a general communal clash between the Burmese and the Karens all because the BIA started the killings and looting which was retaliated by Karens who lost their loved ones and properties. The BIA cited their reason for the killing to the loyalty of the Karens to the British. True, the Karen as a whole remained loyal to the British and many villages were raised to the ground by the Japanese because the Karens harbored British spies and agents during the occupation. But rebel against the Japanese they did not.
The Karen soldiers who retreated with the British now returned to Burma with the allies and fought shoulder to shoulder with other ethnic soldiers like the Kachins and the Chins to drive out the japanese Imperial Army. At this point those responsible for bringing the Japanese into Burma also revolted against the Japanese and joined forces with the allies.
The Karens were highly spoken of and praised for their bravery and loyalty and it was no wonder that after all that happened during the war, the Karens were looking forward to being rewarded with a state of their own because Burma was demanding independence from the British and the Karens certainly did not wish to be ruled by the Burmese. It must be noted at this point that although the Karens do not trust Burmese politicians, they have no animosity against the general Burmese population. Even those who have been victimized or have had abhorring experiences at the hands of the Burmese are forgiving.
The Karens felt the utmost unbelief and let down by the British when Burma was granted independence without any consideration for the future of the Karen people. The ensuing demonstration and political in fight by the Karens finally led to incidents and clashes led to the Karen insurrection. It is however odd that the Karen uprising started without the Karen firing the first shot. The first shot and many more shots thereafter were fired by the Burmese levies, a private army of the then Prime Minister U Nu, Is it not obvious therefore that the Karens were forced by the hand of the Burmese premier to defend themselves to be named rebels?
The Burmese people are not the enemies of the Karen people. Politicians and the military dictators are the enemies of the Karen people.
Article by Spencer Zan

Friends of the Karen People of Burma organization is solely responsible for the content of this site.

ESL EXERCISES

2006-10-19T02:43:00.000-07:00

SITES FOR ESL EXERCISES ON GERUNDSOR DIGRAPHS

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa090999.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa090999.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/blprepgerund1.htm

animals

2006-10-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

quokkas are
cute
and
robins are
colourful

Last Post

2006-10-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Philip,
Sorry I had to miss the second last session. It was good to see some rainforest again though.
the web stuff has me a bit confused still.
My provider is westnet.
see you all thursday.

Almost there

2006-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Well we are almost finished and I am just stating to get a taste for this process. The webpage or blog page will be a useful way to share ideas. Hot Potatoes has been a good reference to pass on to other people.
Hands up everyone else who has been on snooze control while Philip was ill. Time to find those notes again.

LEARNING

2006-08-24T00:45:00.000-07:00

Well it has taken a while but I can now put a comment on another persons blog. I know that I can't upload pictures with text from a word file and it is hard to upload crosswords--at least hard for me. The uses and limitatins of blogs are becoming clearer. I still don't have the picture text thing sorted but I will get there.

We used sonia's blog as a way of putting some useful email addresses in our newsletter for Home tutor. We can create a new blog and use it regularly for that purpose. I think that this course is making me gradually a bit more confident.

CLOSE ACTIVITY

2006-08-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

JIMA’S BUSY DAY

One Wednesday Jima and his brother Aliyb .....................to English class with their mother. First, their mother ..................... them to childcare. They .....................hello to the childcare ladies Juta and Teresa. Then the boys .....................out some toys and began to play. Their friends Paul and John ..................... Paul...................... Teresa .....................Paul his bottle. Soon Paul .....................happy again. The children .....................some beautiful pictures together. The mothers ..................... hard in their class.

BEN AND YOLANDA Lightening the picture

2006-08-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

crossword

2006-08-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

SIGNS
Across1. YOU CAN BUY COFFEE HERE2. THE CAR STOPS AT THIS SIGN3. YOU CAN BUY MEAT HERE4. OPEN THE DOOR5. GO OUTSIDE
Down1. THIS IS A GOVERNMENT OFFICE3. YOU CAN CATCH A BUS HERE
7 of 7 words were placed into the puzzle.

Created by Puzzlemaker at DiscoverySchool.com

beaches

2006-08-17T01:14:00.000-07:00

this picture that I took last year reminded me of Philip's pictures--but it is not as clear.

news story

2006-08-10T02:12:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4778575.stm
UK police foil terrorist plot
By Stephanie Kennedy in London and wires
British police say a major terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight has been disrupted.
Police have arrested more than a dozen people after a major counter-terrorist operation.
It is thought the plan to detonate explosive devices smuggled onto aircraft in hand luggage targeted flights from the United Kingdom to the United States.
Security at all airports in Britain has been tightened and major delays are expected.
Passengers will not be allowed to take hand luggage on to any flights, only the bare essentials including passports and wallets will be allowed to be taken on board in transparent plastic bags.
Australia's Foreign Affairs Department is warning Australians in the United Kingdom to be careful, in light of the thwarted terrorism plot.
An updated travel advisory has been issued urging people to pay close attention to personal security and monitor local media.
Britain has immediately gone on its highest alert for terrorist attacks, raising the level issued by the domestic intelligence service MI5 to "critical" from "severe", where it has been for several weeks.
The plan was uncovered in a joint operation by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch and security service that lasted several months, the Metropolitan Police says.
British Home Secretary John Reid says that Britain faces "the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of World War II."
He says that while the security services would deliver 100 per cent effort and dedication, they could not guarantee a 100 per cent success rate in fighting terrorism.
"Our security forces and the apparatus of the state provide a very necessary condition for defeating terrorism but can never be sufficient to do so on their own," he said.
Hand luggage ban
British Airways has announced it will not allow any hand baggage on any of its planes leaving UK airports.
"British Airways, acting on instruction from the UK Government, wishes to advise passengers that no items of hand baggage can be carried on board any aircraft departing any UK airport," the airline said in an e-mailed statement.
"The UK Government has advised that this instruction will apply to all airlines operating from UK airports."
BA says no electrical or battery-powered items, such as laptops and mobile phones, will be allowed in its cabins.

USEFUL WEBSITES FOR HOME TUTORS

2006-08-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

USEFUL SITES FOR HOME TUTORS

http://www.eslcafe.com/

Dave’s ESL Café is an established site with a wide variety of worksheets which can be copied. Most of the material on the site is more suitable for post beginner and intermediate level students. There are plenty of grammar quizzes and a long list of English idioms with explanations provided.

http://esl.about.com/od/beginningenglish/

This is a US site which contains a lot of advertising. However it does contain a lot of beginner level dialogues that can be copied and modified.

www.learnenglish.org.uk

The British Council host this site which contains lots of advice for teachers. If you want worksheets go to www.learnenglish.org.uk/download/quizzes.shtml

http://www.mhcs.health.nsw.gov.au/mhcs/topics/Pregnancy_and_Post_Natal.html

This is part of the NSW Health department site which contains information about pregnancy and bith in several languages.

internet site list

2006-08-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Norwegian_Prime_Ministers

this has nothing to do with my work but it is interesting to read so i am saving it.

HOW WILL I USE MY BLOG

2006-08-03T01:27:00.000-07:00

I WILL USE BLOGING TO POST MATERIAL THAT WILL BE USEFUL FOR HOME TUTORS.

journal one vicki

2006-08-02T00:25:00.000-07:00

I hope that I can rember how to do this.
Week one was good. I got a bit confused towards the end though. Now that my little booklet is stapled together I feel more confident. Note to teacher-- low slows need to put their booklets in order at the start of the class.

blog one

2006-07-27T02:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone welcome to my blog. We are learning how to use blogs to post things for our friends and students. It is Thursday and we have had huge storms all day. I am sweaty at the end of the day and looking forward to going home and reading trashy detective fiction. I hope that I will lwearn some useful tricks.

This is my workmate