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CHILDREN
Be proud of your mother tongue
Hi children,
Hope you are doing fine and enjoyed Uncle Sachi's column last week
which had a very good lesson for you all; no competition survives on
this earth without cooperation!
 Do you know that International mother language day fell on February
21st? It is an observance held annually to promote awareness of
linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The theme for
this year was "Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education."
Though more than one week has passed since the celebration, its
significance cannot be limited only to one day. Here in Sri Lanka the
mother tongue of most of you is Sinhala. For others it is Tamil.
Whatever the mother language you speak, you should be proud of it in
much the same way you should be proud of your country and heritage.
English is an international language which all of us should learn, it
is obviously the key to explore the world. As you all know most of the
masterpieces of world literature have been translated in to English. It
is the most powerful language which links the world. However knowing or
learning English should by no means make you pay less attention to your
mother tongue. You all may know that English language is referred to as
‘Kaduwa’ (the sword) as people generally believe that power and prestige
are synonymous with it.
Unfortunately there are a set of people in this country who are
ashamed of speaking in their mother tongue. I am sure you are not among
them. Feel free to talk in English, pursue your higher studies in
English, and work in English, but do remember that your mother tongue
should always be given its due place.
Bye for now.
Sanju - [email protected]
Sunny Stories :
The big secret
Last Saturday mother got up early in the morning and prepared lunch
for father, Sithara and Sandun. “I am going to visit your great
grandmother today,” she told the children.
“Father will look after you till I come back.”
 “We will be looking after father” laughed Sithara. “Don’t worry
mother. We will be as good as gold” she promised.
At seven in the morning they walked with mother to the railway
station. They waved her good bye when the train started to leave the
station. They had ten hours on their own till mother returned in the
evening express.
As they walked back home father suddenly slapped his forehead and
exclaimed “Children, I almost forgot. Tomorrow is your mother’s
birthday.”
“Father, what are we going to give her on her birthday?” asked
Sithara.
“Let us buy her a sari” suggested Sandun.
“But mother hardly ever wears Saris.” said Sithara. “Father bought
her so many new saris last month from India, mother said she doesn’t
know what to do with them.”
“I know what we can do,” said Father. “We will make a cake for her.”
“That is a great idea. Let us make a cake” said Sandun jumping with
joy.
“Yes” agreed Sithara. “Mother always makes cakes for us on our
birthdays. She would love to have a cake on her birthday too.”
“But we must keep it a secret,” said Father. “We will make the cake
today and hide it till tomorrow.”
When they got home they looked at mother’s recipe books to find out
how to make a butter cake. Father flicked through the pages and said
“The cakes here are very difficult to make. We must find a simple
recipe.”
“Shall I run next door and ask grandma Rita?” said Sandun.
But father didn’t like this suggestion. “Let us find a recipe on the
internet,” he said walking towards his computer. “Here it is, Sithara
please write down the list of ingredients and the instructions.”
They decided they would make the cake in the afternoon. After lunch
the children watched as father measured the right amounts of flour and
sugar. Sithara washed the eggs and kept them in a bowl on the table.
Father started to mix the sugar and butter together with a wooden spoon.
The children watched as the spoon went round and round the bowl.
After about ten minutes of stirring, father looked at the contents in
the bowl.
“That doesn’t look right,” said Sandun. “When mother does it, it
looks different.”
“The mixture looks too lumpy” observed Sithara.
“I don’t know what went wrong” father shook his head in bewilderment.
“Let me ask grandma Rita,” said Sandun and ran out of the backdoor to
fetch their neighbour before father could stop him.
“Let me see what is wrong,” said grandma Rita as she walked into the
kitchen with Sandun. She looked at the cake mixture in the bowl and said
the lumps were there because the butter was too cold. “You must take the
butter out of the fridge about two hours before you start to make the
cake,” said grandma Rita. She sent Sandun back to her house to fetch the
cake beater. Within fifteen minutes she had got everything ready and
placed the cake tray in the oven. Grandma Rita showed them how to put
icing on the cake after it had cooled. Before she left she told them to
take the cake out of the oven in forty minutes. She was happy they were
making a cake for mother. She promised to keep it a secret.
By the time they heard mother’s footsteps in the front parlour,
father, Sithara and Sandun had finished icing the cake. They had cleaned
up the kitchen and hidden the cake in the cupboard in the spare bedroom.
“What have you been up to?” mother asked Sandun.
“We made...” Sandun started to tell mother about the cake quite
forgetting it is a secret.
“We did this and that” interjected Sithara and quickly changed the
subject. “How was great grandma?”
“She is fine,” said mother and started to describe how she had spent
her day with her grandma.
On Sunday morning while mother was making their morning tea the
children came to the kitchen singing happy birthday. When father kept
the cake in the middle of the table mother looked surprised. “Who made
it?” she asked.
“We did,” said Sandun and Sithara. “With grandma Rita’s help” added
father. “I learnt a lesson yesterday. We must always be humble and ask
for advice from those who know more about something than we do,” he
said.
Mother smiled happily. “It has been a long time since someone made a
cake for me.”
“Do cut the cake mother,” said Sandun. “I am hungry.” Mother laughed
and said this was the happiest birthday she had ever known.
-Aditha
[email protected]
Saving the youth from drugs
Drug menace has become a burning problem today!
According to the newspaper reports the number of drug addicts in our
country is increasing day-by-day. It is reported that most of the drug
addicts are youth.
This is a very sad state of affairs. During their young age the youth
move out of the shelter of their parents and homes seeking new friends.
Once a person gets into the drug habit, it is not an easy task to get
rid of it.
After taking drugs anyone can become insane abruptly. He or she does
not know where he or she is and what he or she is doing. The addicted
son cannot identify even his own father and mother.
They think only of the temporary satisfaction and never think of its
harmful effects.
Saving the youth from drugs is a duty of everyone, because the future
of our country entirely depends on them.
Alcohol in liquor and nicotine in cigarettes are also harmful. Some
of the drugs are cannabis, heroin, brown sugar, cocaine, LSD and
marijuana. It appears that the most widely used drug is heroin.
According to a recent survey conducted by a voluntary organization,
it has been revealed that young boys fall victim to this, quite unaware
of its bad effects.
Drug business has become a lucrative trade today. The legal actions
taken by the government to stop the trafficking of drugs have been
unsuccessful.
According to the intellectuals, the drug addiction among the youth
can be stopped only by educating them through awareness programmes.
Anti-drug campaigns should be organized on village level. Youth should
be guided and advised as much as possible.
Let us take every possible step to save our youth from drugs.
Sithy Aneesah | Sailan International School | Grade: 5B
Red deer
There are many kinds of deer in this world. But the deer which I am
going to introduce to you is the red deer.
These deer live in Europe, North Africa and Asia. Most of them are
found in woodlands while others are found in large parks close to towns
or on vast, grass covered plains.
The male deer are stags and the females hinds. The young are fawns.
The stags and hinds live apart for ten months of an year.
The male herds begins to break up at the rutting season. Each stag
searches for its own mate. When it finds its’ mate, it bellows a deep
laud roar to warn other stags. Some stags even mates with a whole herd
of females.
The red deer are careful not to knock their antlers when they are
growing. This is because they are very sensitive. When the antlers
reaches and grows to its full size, it hardens and becomes bones.
Although there are different types of deer, they are only slightly
different from each other. Some of them are in danger of dying out. This
includes the Kashmir deer from India, Bactrian deer from Asia and
Barbarus deer from Africa.
Therefore, it is our duty to try and protect these animals or else
they too, will be extinct like the dinosaurs.
Name: Maryam Sarah Jinnah Grade: 7B
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