VIENNA (AFP) - – They can make fabric resistant to stains, improve the taste of food and help drug research, but nanoparticles could also pose a danger to human health, experts warned Wednesday.

Susanne Stark, of the Consumer Information Association, told a seminar in the Austrian city of Salzburg that companies should be forced to indicate on labels whether a product contains the tiny particles.

"There are more questions than answers on the effects of nanoparticles" on human health, the chemist said.

Cosmetic and food products should indicate whether their products contain nanoparticles by 2012, she said.

Nanoparticles, measuring no more than 100 nanometres (0.00001 centimetre), have helped to revolutionise how everyday products are made.

The particles are used to make stain-resistant paint or creamy cosmetic and food products. They can also change colour to indicate whether a product has expired.

But their risk to humans remains largely unknown.

Nanoparticles can enter the body through the mouth and nose, the digestive system or the skin, and spread inside the body through blood vessels, said Hans Peter Hutter, a doctor specialised in environmental hygiene in Vienna.

"These tiny particles could without a doubt go all the way to the placenta," he said. But he warned that little was known about their behaviour inside human tissue.

M
Here's an article for those who are interested in teaching as a future career ...

ore opportunities for teachers
By Leow Si Wan

FROM January next year, teachers who wish to focus on classroom teaching can move up the professional ladder to the new post of principal master teacher. Equal in standing and salary scale to a school principal, they will be considered national-level experts in their subjects.

Four master teachers - the highest position on the teaching track now - will assume the new positions next year, said Education Minister Ng Eng Hen.

They are science teachers Aw Wai Lin and Nora Teo, both 60, Chinese language teacher Ng Tai Cheen, 58, and English teacher Connie Seng, 61. They each have about 40 years of teaching experience, and will be hoping to share their expertise as they move around schools.

Madam Aw said: 'This new post is an acknowledgement of quality teachers and quality teaching, and will bring more career opportunities for those on the teaching track.'

The move means that teachers can break into the high-end superscale salary grades of the civil service without having to move into management.

The principal master teachers and the master teachers, said Dr Ng, 'will divide their time between teaching in school, leading the professional development of their colleagues and engaging in pedagogical research and innovation'.

He was speaking at the MOE Work Plan Seminar - a yearly meeting that reviews the progress over the past year and looks at key challenges for the profession in the year ahead - at Ngee Ann Polytechnic on Thursday.

The subject of teacher development was a key thrust of his address alongside language skills. He said another post had been created between senior teachers - usually a teacher with at least five years of teaching experience - and master teachers, who work at school cluster levels to guide teaching methods. The lead teacher post corresponds with that of a current head of department, a management post.

The number of senior teacher appointments will also increase to recognise excellent teachers, Dr Ng added.

Since 2001, teachers have been able to choose from three career tracks: a leadership track for management posts such as principal or head of department, a specialist track for specific areas of education, or the teaching track to remain in the classroom.

This is an important read as it affects all of you ...


New emphasis will help shift focus from passing tests to making language relevant to daily life
By Amelia Tan
SCHOOLS would have failed in their jobs if after 10 years of mother tongue language lessons, students are put off from actually using the language.

Their focus will need to shift from teaching students to pass a test, to getting them to use and appreciate the language, suggested Education Minister Ng Eng Hen at Ngee Ann Polytechnic on Thursday, when he addressed teachers at their annual work plan seminar.

'Put simply, we want our students, after all the effort in learning mother tongue languages for 10 years or so, to use it and better still, read the newspapers and books in their mother tongue languages because they have cultivated an interest,' he said.

A change in teaching methods is needed to make this happen because students have limited exposure to their mother tongue languages at home, now that more homes use English.

Mother tongue lessons in primary schools take up about an hour a day, or 20 per cent, of curriculum time. At home, 70 per cent of those aged between seven and 14 spend an average of half an hour to two hours surfing Internet websites which are mostly in English.

Even the profile of mother tongue language teachers has evolved as more come from bilingual backgrounds. Currently, 70 per cent of local Chinese-language teachers learnt English as a first language, up from 27 per cent in 2000, noted Dr Ng.

He related a conversation with a parent to illustrate the impact of Singapore's evolving language environment. The 40-year-old man told Dr Ng that he grew up in a Mandarin-speaking environment and studied in a school where his own father was a Chinese-language teacher.

As a result, he continues using Mandarin daily in conversations with his wife and reads Chinese-language newspapers, books and the classics. But somehow his interest in the Chinese language has not been passed on to his five-year-old son, who does not like using the language.

The father suggested to Dr Ng that mother tongue languages be taught in a way that is both fun and relevant to daily life, in order to interest youngsters.

Dr Ng asked if such an approach would upset his son's grandfather. 'He replied honestly, that what mattered to him was that his son would learn to use the language and like it,' said Dr Ng.

Here's another interesting article ...

MORE young people here have become mediums in the last decade, veteran temple administrators said. Believers say that mediums serve as messengers for deities.

About seven in 10 practising mediums here are in their 20s and are often blue-collar workers, said Taoist Federation (Singapore) chairman Tan Thiam Lye.

Prior to the year 2000, he had not seen a single medium, known as dang kee in Hokkien, belonging to this age group.

Practitioners are growing younger as more youths are getting involved in temple activities, Mr Tan explained.

He added: 'Ten years ago, there'd be just over 10 old folk tending a temple. These days, there can be over a hundred youngsters organising a single temple event.'

This is a result of efforts by Taoist temples to get more young people involved in their activities in recent years, he said.

Mr Tay Boon Ho, 68, temple keeper of Chwee Hean Keng in Zion Road, agreed. He said: 'I see a lot more young dang kee these days taking part in temple processions.'

But mediums aged below 19 are very rare, said Mr Tan. This is because parents would usually plead with the deity to let their children grow up first.

Believers said that, typically, mediums are 'picked' by deities to represent them through repeated supernatural encounters.

Their status is sealed once another medium confirms the mandate, and they receive a 'decree' - a triangular satin flag - from the Jade Emperor or the Emperor of Tai Shan, said Taoist master Jave Wu, 30.

Young mediums have come under the spotlight recently as a coroner's inquiry found that self-styled medium Ku Witaya and his friend, both aged 16, had killed themselves in the belief that they were going to save the world. -- MY PAPER

Here's an interesting article ...

TOKYO (AFP) - – A bear was shot dead Saturday after it attacked nine people, including tourists, at a bus station in a mountainous area of central Japan, Kyodo news agency reported.

Four men were seriously injured in the attack in Takayama, Gifu prefecture, Kyodo said, quoting local police. Injuries included facial bite marks but none were life-threatening.

After the afternoon attack, the 1.3-metre (four-foot) male black bear fled into the bus terminal building, where it was trapped in a souvenir shop by employees.

It was later shot dead by hunters, Kyodo said.

An expert on Asian black bears told the agency it was unusual for them to attack humans and suggested it may have panicked.

The bus station is at the end of a scenic road where buses take tourists through the spectacular mountain scenery between May and October.

A company that manages the terminal for the Takayama city government said it had received reports of bear sightings in the area this year, but had not taken countermeasures such as setting up a fence around the facility.

Yes, Sharvin and Qarteeqa, here's the topic for your online blogs this week.

Please revisit the article that I have given you this week (re: Speaking Good English).

List the reasons as to why the standard of the language has deteriorated over the years.

Write down the advice as given by the 'experts'.

You may wish to add your own reasons and advice.


Reflection: Do you think we have a right to criticise other's poor grasp of the English Language? What can we do to help them?

Word count? 200 to 300 words.

Please use proper English in your respective blogs.

The deadline for this journal entry has been extended until Monday, 21 September 2009.

Here's wishing all muslim pupils, a SELAMAT HARI RAYA!

Regards,
Ms Chin