Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Technology affects learning
Technology has made us more independent in learning. It make us research on our own about the topics we learn in school such as Math and Science. But it has been a detriment to me. This year, 2011, Secondary twos, including me, was introduced into future school, which made us learn more independently as we are suppose to know and gain knowledge on our own instead of the traditional way when we ask teachers questions we do not understand. In this way, it has made me used up most of my time researching on the stuff that I do not know when I could simply get an answer from a teacher of that particular subject such as Math and Science. Everytime I wanted to ask the teacher something, she would just say, "Research by yourself, you are in the future school now." I have heard that countless of time from different teachers. I mean, what is the point of having a teacher for the sake of having it? Teachers are supposed to guide us through and not let us drown if we could find gain the knowledge. Future school, indeed, can make us much more independently but we, Hwa Chong students, is already in a independent school, the school has now pushed us even further to introduce future school scheme. How on Earth could we survive through the four-years when we are already in a state of confusion of everything that we learn?
Monday, April 25, 2011
In-class lesson 7
Burned and charred debris was left all over the desolated area. Broken woods and bricks were everywhere, it seemed that a gigantic and fiery fire had wiped across the entire land. Leaves of trees were torn down and grasses were ripped off from the ground as the magnificent fire swiped across the land. Tattered houses and bare trees were left as they accompanied the lonely land. Once a place filled with flowers and faunas, houses decorated by blossomed dandelions and breeze of wind could set the scent of flowers flying across the entire neighborhood. But now, ashes and dust was what the gloomy wind carried along with. Total deafness of silence was smashed when heavy but quick footsteps crashed the broken bricks into even smaller pieces. It was three fully-armored and buff soldiers crossed this abandoned land through a white but tarnished gate that was miraculously not burned by the smoking hot flames. The crashing of bricks had let the left-over dust flying into their tanned and black faces.
The scorching, hot sun burned the ground with a vengeance, adding to the heavy burden of these three muscular musketeers. A rushing sensation could be felt around the three bulky soldiers, it is so strong that they went right through the incoming breeze. Suddenly, gunshots was added to the entire atmosphere. Tensed, the three calm soldiers picked up their pace and swift through the neighborhood. Gunshots stopped and pin-dropped silence has returned. Not a moment too soon, gunshots rang through the entire neighborhood and screams were heard clearly even from ten miles away. Stepping sounds were heard once again, this time, louder and clearer. As the sound became more and more distinct, the clinching sound as they hold their rifle became louder when they slowly but alertly walk through the forest. What awaited them was a peaceful and shattered area......
The scorching, hot sun burned the ground with a vengeance, adding to the heavy burden of these three muscular musketeers. A rushing sensation could be felt around the three bulky soldiers, it is so strong that they went right through the incoming breeze. Suddenly, gunshots was added to the entire atmosphere. Tensed, the three calm soldiers picked up their pace and swift through the neighborhood. Gunshots stopped and pin-dropped silence has returned. Not a moment too soon, gunshots rang through the entire neighborhood and screams were heard clearly even from ten miles away. Stepping sounds were heard once again, this time, louder and clearer. As the sound became more and more distinct, the clinching sound as they hold their rifle became louder when they slowly but alertly walk through the forest. What awaited them was a peaceful and shattered area......
Caffeine SEE paragraph
Caffeine has harmful effects on the body, no doubt. Although it can boost our concentration late at night, but it has many side effects coming along with it. Still remember when I was eleven years old, I had to, my very first time, stay up late at night doing my project work that had to be handed in two days later and I had not even started. I was rushing through the entire project, hoping to finish some of it as I would return home late tomorrow night. This is when my mum came in with a scent-smelling beverage, just as I wanted to ask her what it was, she asked me, "Try some of this, it may help you." After I had a sip, I felt refreshed and was totally awakened. She told what I drank was coffee and gave me the entire cup. I drank the whole cup of coffee and made a few more cups of it, thus, I managed to finish up some of my project work. Just as I wanted to sleep, I felt my stomach churning with pain, I immediately rushed to the toilet and had a diarrhea whole night. The next morning, I felt weak and miserable and had to go seek for doctor's help. The doctor told me that I had too much caffeine at one shot that caused many side effects such as headache and diarrhea to happen. After this incident, I find that caffeine materials are bad for my health and I do not dare to take them anymore after seeing how bad I could suffer from caffeine side effects such as diarrhea. Therefore, caffeine is bad for health as it does more harm than good.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Do we still need heroes? (Essay)
Yes, we would still need heroes. Heroes need not to be those that we always see on television. It could take the form of anything such as a leader, an inventor etc. They are important because they can protect us when needed, unlock different talents and learn values from them.
We need heroes because they could still protect us. Heroes can take many forms, and one of them would be a Policeman. They are still a type of hero that maintain peace in countries. According to the Singapore Police Force, they said: "There are three areas which the Police are concerned about and would see to address this year: Cheating cases involving Rental Scams and Phone Scams, Combating Youth Crime, Outrage of Modesty cases", "Police will continue to monitor the youth crime situation closely, and adopt a multi-prong approach to tackle youth crime" and "In 2010, Police arrested a total of 888 persons for OM , an increase of 169 persons (or +24%) from the 719 persons arrested in 2009". This reflects that the Police has a very important role to maintain the peace and harmony between citizen. Thus, heroes are still very
important to us and they have to be here for as long as they can.
We need heroes because they can unlock talents or they themselves could be a talent. Everyone should have heard before Lee Kuan Yew, our minister mentor. He is the founder father of Singapore and had made much contribution to Singapore, mainly economic contribution. He has developed Singapore from a country that seemed hopeless after the separation with Malaysia, till now, one of the country that has world-class standard in infrastructure. He is one of the great leader hero that has been unlocked when a crisis comes for Singapore. The next hero unlocked was Mr Goh Keng Swee. He, under Lee Kuan Yew, has spearheaded the plan of developing Jurong Island. And he had managed to turn Jurong from a marshland to now, an industrial estate, with people living in that region. He had many contribution in terms of defence, economic and many more. Thus, we would need leader heroes to strive their countries to greater heights, therefore, the importance of them is crucial because they are the future talents that Singapore would need.
We would also need heroes as we can learn values from them. Everyone should have heard before Thomas Edison. he was the founder to the light bulbs we are using now. Before he came up with the fluorescent light bulb, he had been through 1000 times of failure. Many people would have given up when they reached about 50 tries, but he did not give up as he takes all his failures as lessons that would remind him not to make the same mistake. Thus, this is a value we should all learn- resilience. Only when you have resilience, you would be able to pull through any circumstances you would possibly meet. I regard him as a hero, for him creating a light bulb that is used in every house, every location, a hero that gives us comfortable life now. Thus, heroes are there as a role model for people to learn from them and hope that they pass on the values to other people.
In conclusion, heroes are called heroes because they have something that is more unique than others, be it values or intelligence. They stand as a role model for people to learn from them. So, heroes are still needed to educate us, making us a better person.
We need heroes because they could still protect us. Heroes can take many forms, and one of them would be a Policeman. They are still a type of hero that maintain peace in countries. According to the Singapore Police Force, they said: "There are three areas which the Police are concerned about and would see to address this year: Cheating cases involving Rental Scams and Phone Scams, Combating Youth Crime, Outrage of Modesty cases", "Police will continue to monitor the youth crime situation closely, and adopt a multi-prong approach to tackle youth crime" and "In 2010, Police arrested a total of 888 persons for OM , an increase of 169 persons (or +24%) from the 719 persons arrested in 2009". This reflects that the Police has a very important role to maintain the peace and harmony between citizen. Thus, heroes are still very
important to us and they have to be here for as long as they can.
We need heroes because they can unlock talents or they themselves could be a talent. Everyone should have heard before Lee Kuan Yew, our minister mentor. He is the founder father of Singapore and had made much contribution to Singapore, mainly economic contribution. He has developed Singapore from a country that seemed hopeless after the separation with Malaysia, till now, one of the country that has world-class standard in infrastructure. He is one of the great leader hero that has been unlocked when a crisis comes for Singapore. The next hero unlocked was Mr Goh Keng Swee. He, under Lee Kuan Yew, has spearheaded the plan of developing Jurong Island. And he had managed to turn Jurong from a marshland to now, an industrial estate, with people living in that region. He had many contribution in terms of defence, economic and many more. Thus, we would need leader heroes to strive their countries to greater heights, therefore, the importance of them is crucial because they are the future talents that Singapore would need.
We would also need heroes as we can learn values from them. Everyone should have heard before Thomas Edison. he was the founder to the light bulbs we are using now. Before he came up with the fluorescent light bulb, he had been through 1000 times of failure. Many people would have given up when they reached about 50 tries, but he did not give up as he takes all his failures as lessons that would remind him not to make the same mistake. Thus, this is a value we should all learn- resilience. Only when you have resilience, you would be able to pull through any circumstances you would possibly meet. I regard him as a hero, for him creating a light bulb that is used in every house, every location, a hero that gives us comfortable life now. Thus, heroes are there as a role model for people to learn from them and hope that they pass on the values to other people.
In conclusion, heroes are called heroes because they have something that is more unique than others, be it values or intelligence. They stand as a role model for people to learn from them. So, heroes are still needed to educate us, making us a better person.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
My reflections of 21 April 2011 talk
I have just attended the talk on the anthropology of Hwa Chong first literature published book, in collation of every bit and pieces of writing of our seniors two to three years back. They named this book-TowerHill reclaimed but the original title is actually “Parnassus”, which is the hilltop home of Greek Muses, and the home of music, poetry, learning. But it is too difficult for non-poetry readers to understand this abstract meaning of the book. The front cover of the book is only plain black and white as they think that this looks elegant and simple. There is another picture of a person at the front cover of the book, with his upper part of the body having a clock face, resembling from the past to the future. Since this is a collation of works from two to three years ago till now, it would be a clever choice of an abstract art that stands out the entire theme of the book.
The book is split into 2 parts, the first part is talking about things that have more earthen elements such as our cultures and traditions whereas for the second part, it is talking about the natural progression elements for many writers, from a bad piece from the start till a good piece in the end. Remember the clock face that I have stated above? It is also got to do with this special point that I have stated. As a person progresses, they would be times they would look back. They would reflect on their doings? Is it beneficial to others? How can I be better? And many other questions that will come up to our mind. This is when a true learner would go through as we slowly see how naive and "horrible" of ourselves.
I have not known that a literature could have so much meaning after Joel Chang, one of the speaker asking us to flip to a page of 56 and look at that piece of work. It is talking about the culture of Chinese people dying off and I think it had succeed, especially the last sentence, when it speaks about not the clothes of the people, but they themselves. I was astounded by what we could learn, in terms of language, writing and lessons of life! He said that our senior got it from a inspiration after he went to his grandfather urn. Therefore, inspiration could be gotten from the experiences you have been through if you could think out of the box. With creativity and realism, a literature piece could be formed in no time!
There is another thing interesting in this talk. The publishing of the book is the same day as the arrival of the Japanese disaster. Therefore, they took this opportunity by asking us to buy the book at $10 so as to lend a helping hand to Japan and make us have a very deep remembrance of this book. Also, this action also shows an act of kindness that a Hwa Chong boy or any other person should have when there are such situations happening to other countries, and we do what we can to help others when they are in need.
There is one thing that caught my attention when I was flipping the book and saw the back cover. I saw this sentence, "Beauty and significance can too be shown from even the simplest expressions". It was then I was enlightened that a writing full of bombastic words and phrases may not be a very good piece of work. It is when a piece of writing with nothing but simplicity that a reader would really understand the meaning, experience and feelings when they are taking the author's perspective. This is what every writer wanted, bringing the reader for "a ride in the story."
Actually, although everything is ready for publishing, there is one more a writer must possess when they want to publish a book. That is nonetheless courage that one must have. Courage in a sense that you must not be sacred of being mocked at when readers read your piece, instead accept that you are not good enough and how could you improve from your piece that you give. It is when you overcome such fear of being mocked at, when you could truly be a professional writer as you have taken the first step out for success.
This is a very fruitful talk that I have been to and I am not regretting of having 30-40 mins on such a wonderful talk. It would be always stuck in my memory as I awaits for the next collection of TowerHill to be out. Stay tuned!
The book is split into 2 parts, the first part is talking about things that have more earthen elements such as our cultures and traditions whereas for the second part, it is talking about the natural progression elements for many writers, from a bad piece from the start till a good piece in the end. Remember the clock face that I have stated above? It is also got to do with this special point that I have stated. As a person progresses, they would be times they would look back. They would reflect on their doings? Is it beneficial to others? How can I be better? And many other questions that will come up to our mind. This is when a true learner would go through as we slowly see how naive and "horrible" of ourselves.
I have not known that a literature could have so much meaning after Joel Chang, one of the speaker asking us to flip to a page of 56 and look at that piece of work. It is talking about the culture of Chinese people dying off and I think it had succeed, especially the last sentence, when it speaks about not the clothes of the people, but they themselves. I was astounded by what we could learn, in terms of language, writing and lessons of life! He said that our senior got it from a inspiration after he went to his grandfather urn. Therefore, inspiration could be gotten from the experiences you have been through if you could think out of the box. With creativity and realism, a literature piece could be formed in no time!
There is another thing interesting in this talk. The publishing of the book is the same day as the arrival of the Japanese disaster. Therefore, they took this opportunity by asking us to buy the book at $10 so as to lend a helping hand to Japan and make us have a very deep remembrance of this book. Also, this action also shows an act of kindness that a Hwa Chong boy or any other person should have when there are such situations happening to other countries, and we do what we can to help others when they are in need.
There is one thing that caught my attention when I was flipping the book and saw the back cover. I saw this sentence, "Beauty and significance can too be shown from even the simplest expressions". It was then I was enlightened that a writing full of bombastic words and phrases may not be a very good piece of work. It is when a piece of writing with nothing but simplicity that a reader would really understand the meaning, experience and feelings when they are taking the author's perspective. This is what every writer wanted, bringing the reader for "a ride in the story."
Actually, although everything is ready for publishing, there is one more a writer must possess when they want to publish a book. That is nonetheless courage that one must have. Courage in a sense that you must not be sacred of being mocked at when readers read your piece, instead accept that you are not good enough and how could you improve from your piece that you give. It is when you overcome such fear of being mocked at, when you could truly be a professional writer as you have taken the first step out for success.
This is a very fruitful talk that I have been to and I am not regretting of having 30-40 mins on such a wonderful talk. It would be always stuck in my memory as I awaits for the next collection of TowerHill to be out. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Do we still need heroes
We need heroes because they could still protect us. Heroes can take many forms, and one of them would be a Policeman. They are still a type of hero that maintain peace in countries. According to the Singapore Police Force, they said: "There are three areas which the Police are concerned about and would see to address this year: Cheating cases involving Rental Scams and Phone Scams, Combating Youth Crime, Outrage of Modesty cases", "Police will continue to monitor the youth crime situation closely, and adopt a multi-prong approach to tackle youth crime" and "In 2010, Police arrested a total of 888 persons for OM , an increase of 169 persons (or +24%) from the 719 persons arrested in 2009". This reflects that the Police has a very important role to maintain the peace and harmony between citizens. Thus, heroes are still very important to us and they have to be here for as long as they can.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Manga book
Well, I have read a manga book recently, and the title of the book is called Pokemon! Since young, I am a big fan of Pokemon and I have been watching, reading and playing everything regarding to Pokemon. There are a few scenes that led me laugh out loud when they draw the different expressions on the book. It looks so real to me! As this book is written in Japanese, I could not understand some of the sentences written there but over all, that book is perfectly fine with me. This book coincidentally was writing on a challenge match between a powerful trainer named Ash Ketchum and a gym leader named Claire. The scenes of the different attacks each of their Pokemon used used written and drawn so vividly. It was totally awesome.
As I am learning Japanese now, I read their comic to gain a greater variety of vocabulary and also be fantasied by the art drawn on the book. I would recommend this book to people that loves art and those who are currently learning Japanese or both. This would be a book that can enhance their skills of art and Japanese. Enjoy....!!
As I am learning Japanese now, I read their comic to gain a greater variety of vocabulary and also be fantasied by the art drawn on the book. I would recommend this book to people that loves art and those who are currently learning Japanese or both. This would be a book that can enhance their skills of art and Japanese. Enjoy....!!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
English-language fiction book
Well, I have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows recently and I find it very interesting and exciting after reading about the different scenes when Harry Potter and Voldemort fight against each other with their magic spells. The fighting was described so vividly that would hold you at the edge of your chair. I will not talk more about it as it would spoil the mood if you know all the scenes even before reading. Although it is really quite boring to read from the start as the front part does not talk much about things related to the back part of the story, but you would need patience, if not, you would miss such an exciting book! I would definitely recommend this book to teenagers who have not read it as they would be fantasied after exploring the entire book. I will leave you here in suspense, make sure you read that book and you would be AMAZED!
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136251.Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136251.Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
How can prejudice lead to war
A racial prejudice has the greatest potential in letting people to go into a war. "During the Spanish American war - blacks and whites fought alongside each other in American uniform - it was the first time that a little racial prejudice had been shown by American leaders. As the war started, large massacres of Jews took place" and "Pogroms (racial riots) were also encouraged by the Nazis, especially early in the war before the larger mass killings began"shows that racial prejudice can lead to having a civil in that country just like to Spanish-American and the Jews. Thus, racial prejudice had the greatest potential in causing any war.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Online lesson #6
Dear 田中さん (Mr. Tanaka),
I sent you my greatest condolences about the event that happened to you lately during the recent tsunamis attack on Japan as you lost some of your very loved ones. I know that it is a pain for you to go through such a disaster, looking at your homes and loved ones leave you one by one due to a tsunamis, but you would still need to live your life on throughout the years later, right? I am sure that your loved ones that had passed away would definitely want to see you standing up again and not seeing you losing all your hope for life for the rest of years. Although it may be very lonely for a while, but you would get used to it when days go by. It may be struggle for you to survive through these "dark days", but think of your loved ones, you would not want them to sacrifice for nothing, right?
Let them be a motivation of you pulling through the treacherous life ahead of you. Let them give you the power for you to keep going, they will be why you are working so hard for. Once you succeeded living through these days, what you have lost in terms of economic such as houses, television, computers, will gradually come back to you as the country slowly recover from the damage done by the natural disasters. Always be optimistic and you will find that your way to success is much easier. がんばてください (Strive harder)！
From: Shie Yu Hao
Class: 2p4
I sent you my greatest condolences about the event that happened to you lately during the recent tsunamis attack on Japan as you lost some of your very loved ones. I know that it is a pain for you to go through such a disaster, looking at your homes and loved ones leave you one by one due to a tsunamis, but you would still need to live your life on throughout the years later, right? I am sure that your loved ones that had passed away would definitely want to see you standing up again and not seeing you losing all your hope for life for the rest of years. Although it may be very lonely for a while, but you would get used to it when days go by. It may be struggle for you to survive through these "dark days", but think of your loved ones, you would not want them to sacrifice for nothing, right?
Let them be a motivation of you pulling through the treacherous life ahead of you. Let them give you the power for you to keep going, they will be why you are working so hard for. Once you succeeded living through these days, what you have lost in terms of economic such as houses, television, computers, will gradually come back to you as the country slowly recover from the damage done by the natural disasters. Always be optimistic and you will find that your way to success is much easier. がんばてください (Strive harder)！
From: Shie Yu Hao
Class: 2p4
Projects day
It was a "breeze" through the entire presentation, as I had been "readily armed" with all the different "sauces" to calm myself down. I was shivering when I went up to present, partly because the chilly cold from the air-con. It was my group leader, Patrick, starting up with his speech. Hopefully, he could have gotten some of my "sauces" as he had been very nervous throughout the whole day! As he got a sore throat on that day, making his voice even softer than before, this is when I start "eating up my sauces", slowly going back to my original state of nervousness.
But when it is the time for me to talk, I speak at the top of my voice, trying to hide away some of my nervousness. I started to take in deep breaths and started to stammer gradually. Luckily, I ended my speech with a loud and clear sentence. I thought I can start to relax a little when I realised that we are running out of time, my "sauces" drained rapidly and my legs starts to get wobbly. Fortunately, we managed to cover till our fundamental problem before the judges asked us to stop (although there are many parts not cover).
In the end, my group stepped down with everybody worrying that we could not get through finals.......
But when it is the time for me to talk, I speak at the top of my voice, trying to hide away some of my nervousness. I started to take in deep breaths and started to stammer gradually. Luckily, I ended my speech with a loud and clear sentence. I thought I can start to relax a little when I realised that we are running out of time, my "sauces" drained rapidly and my legs starts to get wobbly. Fortunately, we managed to cover till our fundamental problem before the judges asked us to stop (although there are many parts not cover).
In the end, my group stepped down with everybody worrying that we could not get through finals.......
Friday, April 8, 2011
Badminton
From Wikipedia, I clicked on website, http://web.archive.org/web/20070126195758/http://www.badmintonplanet.com/cgi-bin/playbetter/strategies.html, regarding on the strategies and tactics for the novice and recreational players. It gives us tips on how to observe your opponent and which tactics should you used against that person after studying the normally used steps by the person. It also gives up the tips and things to look out when we are playing either singles, doubles or mixed doubles such as the court itself. It teaches us how to use the court as a advantage to ourselves so that we can win eventually.
Independently, I chose a website link, http://www.badminton-information.com/badminton-strategies.html, that talks about how should we use strategies and tactics to win the opponent in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. For every section, it gives us a brief summary how do we start such as high serve and low serve depending on your opponents' strength and the usage of badminton court to defeat your opponent.
After comparison, I find that the source from Wikipedia is quite accurate and consistent as both sources are talking about the similar tactics to be used when playing the different matches with people and both sources are addressing the novice and recreational players, and mostly tactics suggested were effective enough to defeat your opponent.
Independently, I chose a website link, http://www.badminton-information.com/badminton-strategies.html, that talks about how should we use strategies and tactics to win the opponent in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. For every section, it gives us a brief summary how do we start such as high serve and low serve depending on your opponents' strength and the usage of badminton court to defeat your opponent.
After comparison, I find that the source from Wikipedia is quite accurate and consistent as both sources are talking about the similar tactics to be used when playing the different matches with people and both sources are addressing the novice and recreational players, and mostly tactics suggested were effective enough to defeat your opponent.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
UBIQ- The Mysterious Magical Aerosol Spray
All of you should have heard before Aerosol Spray, how much flaws it have such as harming the Earth's Ozone layer. NOW, there is a BETTER product, newer, cooler and MORE efficient! It is what UBIQ, my Company, had come up with, a BRAND NEW Mysterious Magical Aerosol Spray. It has overcome ALL the flaws of what a normal aerosol spray had. It is very environmentally friendly, NO CFCs and most importantly, it is has twice the effect on Malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It WILL KILL any Malaria-Carrying mosquitoes when it comes near any of your tents... SO BUY IT! It is at half-price now, which is very cheap of S$10.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Racial Slur should be illegal
Racial Slur should be illegal
Racial Slurs should be illegal as it insults the ethnicity, causes the upcoming of many racial riots and it also reflects on your manners taught by your parents and teachers. Offending words such as 9–iron and A.I were given to specific ethnic group to insult them just because they are of different skin colours. This would bring up the possibility of racial riots if an ethnic group could not tolerate anymore and “fight” with the other ethnic group. Insulting people shows that you have no manners and that your parents and teachers did not educate you well. Racial Slurs comes about when there is discrimination among ethnic groups and not being able to tolerate such insults.
Reflections:
Personally, I have seen and heard racial slurs before when I am in Primary School but they are unintentional as they are unaware of what they are saying. But after I enter Secondary School, I see many of my friends deliberately insulting other races on their bad points as my school is only a single race. It is very unpleasant when I heard them saying such stuffs but they could still laugh at what their saying. This is not what I should see in such a good school like Hwa Chong.
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