Green Tea    

      

A cup of hot green tea with fresh whole green tea leaves. Drinking a cup of green tea can help you lose weight.  (Kraft, Sheryl (2015, June 29) “How to Drink Green Tea for Weight Loss”  Retrieved from http://www.healthywomen.org)

Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves or commonly known as “tea plant”, “tea shrub”, and “tea tree”. Green tea originated from China and is very popular to many countries in Asia.

Tea consumption has its legendary origins in China during the reign of Emperor Shennong. A book written by Lu Yu in 600-900 AD (Tang Dynasty), “Tea Classic” (simplified Chinese: 茶经; traditional Chinese: 茶經; pinyin: chájīng), is considered important in green tea history. The Kissa Yojoki (喫茶養生記 Book of Tea), written by Zen priest Eisai in 1191, describes how drinking green tea may affect five vital organs, the shapes of tea plants, flowers and leaves, and how to grow and process tea leaves. (Wikipedia (2017, Feb. 4) “Green Tea” Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org)

Green tea has been used as a medicine for thousands of years, that’s why it is called the healthiest beverage on the planet. It is filled with antioxidants and nutrients that have a very powerful effects on our body. This beverage has multitude of uses from lowering blood pressure to preventing cancer. Green tea also improves brain functions, fat loss, lowers cancer risk and many other incredible benefits.

The reason that green tea has more health benefits attached to it than black tea is (apparently) due to the processing. Black tea is processed in a way that allows for fermentation whereas green tea’s processing avoids the fermentation process. As a result, green tea retains maximum amount of antioxidants and poly-phenols the substances that give green tea its many benefits. (Conlon, Ciara 11 Benefits of Green Tea that you didn’t know About. Retrieved from: http://www.lifehack.org)

Matcha or “Powdered tea”. Blended and powdered nicely in a bowl. The rich green color is very vibrant and appetizing to drink. (Dr. Weil, Andrew “Discover Matcha Tea” Retrieved from: http://www.drweil.com)

The finely ground powder and processed form of Green tea is called “Matcha”. Matcha tea is whisked with hot water in a bowl to make a frothy beverage of the same name. It is the only form of tea in which the whole leaf is consumed. These high quality leaves are treated with great care that’s why it gives more of the healthful elements of the green tea than other forms.

A long standing tradition of Japanese culture, Matcha Green Tea is the highest quality powdered green tea available. Made from the nutrient-rich young leaves picked from the tips of shade-grown Camellia sinensis plants, Matcha Green Tea is steamed, stemmed, and de-vined before being stone-ground into very fine powder. Matcha Green Tea powder is then stored away from light and oxygen in order to preserve its brilliant green color and antioxidant properties. This miracle elixir has been consumed for over a millennium in the Far East, and is now considered to be one of the most powerful super foods on the market today. (Admin (2013, Aug. 20) “10 Amazing Benefits of Matcha GreenTea” Retrived from: http://www.naturallivingideas.com)

To enjoy drinking Matcha or Green tea more here are the other types of preparing it. You prepare its leaves in whole form, grounded or powdered. Its color varies from the way you blend it as well. (culinary.explorer “What Are The Different Types Of Japanese Green Tea?”
Retrieved from: http://ifood.tv)

The healthful benefits of drinking Matcha includes: Strengthens immune system, High in Antioxidant, Enhances Calm, Boosts memory & concentration, Increses Energy levels and endurance and many more.

Matcha has superior potential health benefits as compared to other green teas. According to a popular adage, there is special etiquette which is followed in Japan while drinking this tea .i.e. ‘if you drink matcha with your back straight, the pleasure of the experience would double’.   Matcha is the only tea in which the entire tea leaf is dissolved in the water providing the maximum benefits of natural components present in the matcha tea. Chlorophyll present in matcha assists in wound-healing and also exerts anti-inflammatory actions. Apart from these, matcha possesses anti-aging properties, helps in keeping the blood pressure low, provides relief from constipation, stimulates the mood and helps create a feeling of overall wellbeing.  (“Health Benefits of Matcha Tea” Retrieved from: https://www.organicfacts.net)

 

December 5-10 week two for this semester.

Before I enter the class I prepared myself and mind for our first quiz. Our first quiz was all about Reading Process. It was a 50 item quiz with enumeration, identification and true or false items. The whole quiz was given orally that’s why we have to listen attentively; some haven’t had the chance to take the quiz because they were late comers. I was not 100% confident while taking the exam because I had a hard time remembering some information on my notes. But in the end it was fun because now I know that I should prepare more for the next quiz.

We had a new topic discussed. It was all about Reading Difficulties and Reading Strategies. On the topic about Reading Difficulties I learned that there are 3 different Reading Difficulties. These are Decoding Difficulties, Comprehension Difficulties and Retention Difficulties; it was all connected with each other. One cannot understand what he or she is reading if he or she had a hard time recognizing its content, which is the Decoding Difficulty. You can say that you have a Comprehension Difficulty if you cannot understand the meaning of the words and sentences you are reading. While in Retention Difficulty if you are having a hard time remembering what you have read.

Our second topic was all about Reading Strategies. I learned that scanning is different from skimming. I also learned that in each Reading stages has their own Reading Strategies. Pre-Reading has three strategies. Reading has four strategies. And After Reading has two strategies. Having information about this topic gives you tricks and tips as to how you can maximize your time reading articles and stories and can help you remember the main idea and knowledge that can help you answering its comprehension questions.

We also had our first group activity about Reading Comprehension. Each group comprises of four members.  Our first activity was all about the story of Jacob the Great. Jacob gets fed up with a lot of things immediately that’s why he never sticks to any of them. But at the end of the story for me it was just that Jacob is exploring himself as to what he really wants in life. The second activity was entitled “Click!”, it was all about the importance of using seat belt whenever you are riding in a vehicle. The third activity was making a graph about a news article. And lastly the fourth activity was creating a cause and effect drawing about the story “Click!”.

And that concludes all of our activity for this week.

My best reading experience is when I read story “Click!” . It was so good for me because to be honest I was also one of the people who doesn’t like wearing seat belts. It makes me feel uncomfortable and I also hate it when it crumples my clothes. This story reminds me that using seat belt is a lot safer and comfortable in real life situations. That I should sacrifice a little for my own safety.

 

My most frustrating reading experience is when I read the news article. I was frustrated because I need to focus on looking for a topic or sentence with a convenient datum listed and good explanation about it. It was also frustrating because there are a lot of good articles listed with fewer data and information specified, I had a hard time choosing one. With the short amount of time left I also haven’t had the chance to read the entire article and compare each articles with one another.

 

Significance of reading and writing to Engineering & Technology students and connection between reading & writing

(photo credits: University Maine)

Reading and writing for engineering and technology students is significant because it is important for everyday activities. Students are expected to be familiar with various engineering and technological terms for effective performance on their field, also for them to help non-technical individuals to understand easily each technical terms.

Each individual should have the right knowledge on how to right good reports, researches, proposals and advertisements to further discuss the objective of their program to everyone. Engineering and technology students must present their selves properly and read and write clear sentences with correct grammar. Having the right knowledge and self confidence about your field will give you the advantage to gain the trust of your audience. Gaining technical writing skills will help the student pass or succeed both academically and professionally.

Reading, which builds the knowledge base of written texts, helps language 2 learners acquire necessary language constructs such as grammatical structures and discourse rules for writing, and facilitates the process of language acquisition (Krashen’s (1984)). Both reading and writing are acts of communicative purposes and are inseparable (Internet TESL Journal).

Through reading, students gain the knowledge on how to write sentence properly, gain knowledge in vocabulary and reading grammar correctly. One cannot  write something correctly  if he/she doesn’t know how to read the text in front of him or her. Reading something involves a lot of texts that are written, that’s why both reading and writing are connected with each other.