You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2006.
Year 2007 is now rushing towards us. I had spent the last two days in school attending meetings to prepare for the new academic year. The classes which I will be teaching in 2007 are: 3D (Math, Science), 3G (English) and 3J (Science). I will also the form teacher of 3D.
There will be some new teachers joining the school next year and you get to see them soon. Everyone is excited to meet their new class, including me. I have a long list of things to do and my school laptop had broken down, affecting my efficiency to some extent. I am expecting a very, very hectic first week of school. I am sure all of you are also waiting eagerly to come back to school. 
You would expect to see your teachers a little stressed out during the first week. Please cooperate with them, by putting on your best behaviour, and I am sure the circumstances will be much more pleasant for everyone. So till we meet again, enjoy every last drop of your holidays!
Hi guys,
If you want to read more about my recent trip to Desaru, please visit this link.
I was shopping at Causeway Point for some Christmas presents when I came across a long queue outside the Popular Bookshop. At first, I had thought that there were some free gifts being given out there. When I went into the shop, I saw a man, in black mask, sitting at a table signing autographs. He was also dressed in black, from head to toes, which adds to the mystery around him. The promoter who was standing behind him explained that the mysterious person was Russell Lee, the author of the successful series of books, “True Singapore Ghost Stories”.
I was intrigued by the scene as I wondered who was under the mask. Was it really Russell Lee or was it some stand-in? I also wondered whether the people in the queue asked the same question to themselves. Could it be possible that they have waited in vain and had their books be signed by a fake? However, one thing was certain though, the “True Singapore Ghost Stories” is a very popular book.
Some of you would have recognised the title of this entry to be the title of a movie currently showing at the cinemas. I was reading a book on Chinese history when I came across the origins of the verse. The full poem reads:
待得秋来九月八,我花开时百花杀;
冲天香阵透长安, 满城尽戴黄金甲.
The poem was written by Huang Chao (黄巢) during the Tang dynasty (唐朝) slightly more than one thousand years from now. Huang Chao (黄巢) was a capable person and he wanted to be a government official to work for the emperor. However, he was later disgusted by the corruption in the imperial palace and became a rebel instead. He wrote the above poem to express his determination to topple the Tang emperor. The poem roughly means when autumn came he would conquer the capitol of the Tang dynasty, Chang An (长安).
In the end he did succeed in conquering Chang An (长安) and he promptly proclaimed himself to be the new emperor. Unfortunately for him, he was only emperor for 4 months before Chang An (长安) was recaptured. Rather than being captured by the enemies, Huang Chao (黄巢) committed suicide.
So now we know where the director of the movie, Zhang Yimou (张艺谋), got his inspiration for the movie.
I was having lunch at a coffee shop when a little girl, who was about ten years old, approached asking me to buy a copy of an obscure looking newspaper. Instinctively, I had wanted to reject her, but after a looking into her pleading eyes I bought a copy from her. She thanked me with a barely audible, “Thank you, uncle.” and went off to the next table peddling her ware.
I watched her as she moved from table to table making the same pitch to all the patrons. She did not manage to sell another copy and she left with a dejected look. Watching her reminded me of my childhood. As my parents were not well off, I too started selling newspapers at around the age of ten. I remember carrying a stack of papers in my arms and shouting “Mah Pew Poh!” to attract customers.
It was hard work but I didn’t feel bad because most of the kids I knew were also doing some work then. Some of them helped out in hawker stalls while others collect cardboards to be sold. In fact, I found working quite fun because I got to hang out with all the boys from the neighbourhood.
It was when my mother started to worry about me mixing with the wrong company that I had to put my newspaper career to an end. Since then, society has become more affluent and young children rarely have to work anymore. Therefore, I was mildly surprised to meet that little girl in the coffee shop.
As we celebrate the good news that our 2006 Asian Games squad has garnered 8 gold medals, the name Tan Howe Liang propped up in the Today newspaper. It was about 46 years ago when Tan Howe Liang won the Olympics gold medal in weightlifting. This was during a time when Singapore was a young and poor nation. He won despite having little support from the authorities. You can read more about Tan Howe Liang at this link.
Almost 50 years have passed and no other Singaporean athlete can win a second medal for the nation at the Olympics. I suppose this makes Tan’s achievement even more remarkable. Therefore it saddens me to know that, at the frail old age of 73 now, he stills has too eke out a living working as a gym supervisor.
As we shower the younger breed of athletes with handsome cash rewards and bask them in glory, I wonder if more could be done for our Olympic hero from the past.
I stumbled across a blog written by a women in Lebanon and saw a series of though provoking photographs. You may be aware that Lebanon is in a war zone and its citizens die on a daily basis due to violence. The photographs depicted an severely wounded mother giving her son a final embrace before giving out her last breathe. The link is available here. (Warning: the pictures may be gruesome to some of you.)
We seldom think about the human angle when we read about war in other countries. Maybe we should do it more frequently from now onwards. If we start to factor the suffering of innocent civilians caught in a war, it should not be difficult to realise that violence can never be the solution.
May peace prevails.
I found an article by an American singing praises about Singapore’s Mathematics education. You can read all about it here.
Having tutored a student from the American School, what struck me most is the difference in attitude, towards learning of Mathematics, in the American school and the local schools. While drill and practice is readily accepted in the local schools, my charge from the American school absolutely resisted it. What mattered most to her was comprehension of the concept involved. She was relentless when she was trying to understand a new topic. However, once she had understood it, she found it meaningless to practice problem solving on similar questions for the umpteen times.
As a result, her efficiency in solving problems will be weaker, when compared to pupils who had already practice on all variety of the problem thrice. But I would definitely not label her as a bad student, in fact I find her attitude towards learning remarkable.
Just some food for thoughts for all of you. Happy learning!
Hi guys,
Sorry to start the day with a sad news but I feel that it is worth sharing this with you guys. A man drown while trying to save his son from drowning at the East Coast Park. The full story is available here.
The boy, age 10, decided to go back into the sea without informing anyone. His decision resulted in a tragedy. I think the learning point is that we somethings do things solely for our pleasure only, without realising that it may aversely affect others. It is only after diaster strikes us then we regret our actions.
Let us use this unfortunate incident as a reminder that we should always act in a responsible manner. At the same time, may our prayers be with the bereaved family.
Tao Li wins a gold medal for Singapore. Hurray! You can read more at this article.
I am sure some purist will be quick to point out that she was not bornt in Singapore and try to pour cold water on the celebrations. I say it does matter where she is bornt. If we embrace her as one of us, her roots will definitely be here. So let us celebrate this rare achievement. I hope we get to hear more good news from Team Singapore.
Hi guys,
I came across an interesting news article about a Hindu man buried as a Muslim. You can read more about the news at here. I am not going to pass judgment on who is right who is wrong here. Instead, I would urge you to think about the religious freedom we usually take for granted in our country. How would you feel if you were the one caught in a situation like this? Is possible for a similar incident to happen in our country? How would you deal with the matte if you were a decision maker? I hope to hear all your views.
Finally, Singapore gets a gold medal in the Asian Games and makes a leap up the medal table. You can read more about it in the following link http://news.asiaone.com/a1news/20061206_story2_1.html
What struck me more is that the two young ladies who won the gold medal gets to $200,000 each under the Singapore National Olympic Council’s Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme. This immediately reminded me of a news article which I had come across sometimes back. The story was about a retired weight lifter from China. After retiring, she had to sell her Olympics gold medal to make ends meet. When the reporters found her, she was working in a bathhouse scrubbing backs for customers. She could not find any other work due to her limited education and her injury problems.
Let us hope that no other athletes have to suffer such indignity.
I went to a gathering of some of my friends. We had a good time of catching up and talking about the good old days. The photograph which you see was taken in the Thai Accent restaurant in Vivo City. I had a plate of Thai fried rice and some chicken curry. The curry was great but the fried rice was bland. The meal was rather expensive too at $17.50 but the restaurant did have a good ambience.
From where we sat we had a very nice view of the Sentosa causeway, the sea and the cable cars. The restaurant was also not very crowded considering that we were there at lunch time. After a while ours became the noisiest table. As for Vivo city, it is huge but not as big was the shopping centres I had visited in KL, Malaysia. The mix of shop outlets was also disappointingly similar to most of the big shopping mall in Singapore. I would say that the whole place had been over rated. I was also surprised that the place was so crowded on a weekday afternoon. It made me wonder why are Singaporeans so free, don’t they have to work?
Have you been to Vivo City? What were you feelings and experience like? Do let me know.
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