by | § ¶ | trackbackTo Teach Is To Learn Twice
Teaching is a very noble profession. I am not a teacher. I am also not the best student a teacher would wish for. However I would like to think I know why many students are not interested in learning, especially during the most critical secondary school level. I refuse to believe that it has anything to do with the students' family backgrounds, their characters or interests. I choose to believe that it has a lot to do with how a teacher brings the students into the beautiful world of the subjects, in which the 2 dimensional textbooks fail to do.Take English comprehension for an example. It is not just about reading paragraphs after paragraphs and answering the questions. It is also about appreciating the imaginative talents the writer has shown. If I were a teacher, I would help the weaker students by letting the class act out the storyline to give them a clearer picture of what was really going on. If I were a teacher, I would also make sure that during the exercise, all students are encouraged to pick up all the new words and use them in real life all week long. And for the summary section, I could show them how and why the original 5-hour Lord Of The Rings could be cut into the 3-hour version.
A lot of students hate Math, but some of these people could grow up to become wizards, dealing with 7-digit figures. I guess it is about how a teacher transfers his/her knowledge in solving a technical question. A step-by-step way is not useful unless you explain what the steps are for!
When I was still in school, my Math teacher liked to print lines and lines of solutions on the blackboard. I benefited nothing from it. Oh then again, I probably have become the fastest copy machine in the world since. But is that going to guarantee me an A in my O Levels? Hell not. If I were a teacher, I would ask the floor to tell me the steps to solve the questions first! Put it this way, if you don't instill the "common-sense" way to solve the problem, you are effectively nurturing blind mice. You can't blame the students for not wanting to become blind mice, can you?
Students show no interest in studies when they don’t see a need to. It does make sense, you know? In layman’s term, who needs vitamins when he/she is fit and healthy? Telling a healthy person to eat vitamins now because it is beneficial to their health in the future, I think you would be rewarded with “Cut the crap!”
Being a teacher is very much the same as being a life coach. To effectively promote the advantages of consuming a bottle of multi-vitamins is probably to point out all kinds of diseases one could contract if he/she does not have sufficient Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin C and etc. How these diseases come about could be some interesting areas to discuss with the class as well. Everything is interlinked in life. You want students to be able to relate whatever they are learning now to events and things around them. If you make a subject totally unrelated to the others, students would forget everything after the examinations. Is that why you want to teach in the first place?
Obviously, I hope you noticed that I’m just using vitamins as an example. I can't say that my method is the best because I know nothing about teaching. However I do know that if you teach by showing you are the boss or an I-can-tell-you-are-faking counselor, you are just a pathetic clown the class remembers for life. On the other hand, if you teach by showing you are the one who could inspire them to explore the interesting areas where these boring subjects could eventually bring them to, I respect you from the bottom of my heart.
by | § ¶ | trackbackWandie in BrownTown
Oooo my fan mail to Mr Brown got published! Scroll down abit and look for "Ceausescu". Anyways its Goodbye Leicester and Hello Amsterdam!by | § ¶ | trackbackAnd When I Thought Hanging In the Sky Sounds So Doh
I didn't know ex-Mayflowerians were so "adventurous".http://www.cablecar.com.sg/s-team1.html
by | § ¶ | trackbackDays Of Our Lives
by | § ¶ | trackbackCaravans in the Park
A fleet of caravans park themselves somewhere in the middle of Victoria Park for almost 2 weeks now. At first we thought "Ahh must be some young adventurous travellers". But you don't need 2 weeks to explore Leicester, do you? A classmate of mine thought it could be an experience camp for the modern Gypsies. Well I reckon the city council must have provided these caravans to the local residents whose homes are receiving works like replacement of windows, roofs, re-wiring, chimney repairs and PVC cladding, as well as new kitchens, bathrooms, central heating and boiler replacements.by | § ¶ | trackback
So today's the day when the new rules takes over power in three different european cities. Putin in Moscow, Zapetero in Madrid and Melissa in Leicester. Well ok I lied about Putin being new but it reads better than "an incumbent and two new rulers" doesn't it?While not in the same league as the two gentlemen, Melissa's choices for the new SingSoc committee is nevertheless interesting in its composition.
President: Melissa Chia
Vice-President: Jonathan Pek
Financial Secretary: Jenny Chew
General Secretary: Lee Shihui
Publicity and Sports: Benjamin Chng
Publicity and Webmaster: Benjamin Beh
Welfare Officer: Geraldine Siew
I shall keep my comments about the choices until the official AGM Vote of Confidence comes along after Easter. A pure formality perhaps but it may turn up a few surprises like election day did. And who knows, we may get to see another haka!
by | § ¶ | trackbackTo All The Girls Out There
Guys’ Lives Don’t Revolve Around Girls
You mean guys don’t think about girls 24/7? Well, yes and no. Guys think about girls a lot! But even if a guy’s interested in a girl, he’ll still have a blast with his male friends. Guys don’t depend on relationships with girls for their identity or fulfillment. They find these in the things they do, such as sports, accomplishments and jobs, and especially from their male friends. During their teen years, guys place a very high value on the camaraderie of other guys. Which brings up another secret. . . .
Guys Like Breathing Room
Guys don’t appreciate it when a girl isolates a friend from them. One young man says, “There’s almost nothing that ticks off guys more than a girl who takes him away from his friends.” He adds that when a guy breaks up with a possessive girl, it can be difficult for him to be accepted in his circle of friends because he “dissed” them for her. As for the girl, the guys “red flag” her; they’ll remember her and keep their distance. A girl with a special interest in a guy would be wise not to occupy all of his time.
Click here to read more.
by | § ¶ | trackbackI can't believe my luck!
I got an email from my department and this is what is says,Dear Students
As we are sure you are aware, following the two days of industrial action in February, from the 1st March the Association of University Teachers (AUT) has maintained a policy of "Action Short of a Strike". This entails AUT members refusing to participate in the preparation, administration and marking of examinations. As a result of this action, we are unable to prepare and administer the semester 2 examination in the format previously described to you. Consequently we propose that the examination be replaced by the following procedure.
On Monday 26th April please collect a case study pack. The pack will include the case study and questions.
Rather than completing the paper under examination conditions, you will be able to 'take away' the exam and complete the questions in your own time. You may write no more than 5000 words in total. You will submit your responses to the questions on Friday 30th April where you will be provided with a receipt for your work.
When marking commences, the word count will be strictly checked and of course, your work will be examined for evidence of collusion and plagiarism.
If any of you object to this arrangement, please contact us by 2pm Monday 15th March. Otherwise, we will assume that you accept the new arrangements as specified above.
An email of Frequently Asked Questions will be sent to you next week. We trust you see this as an expedient and sensible compromise to some of the difficulties presented by the current situation.
Yours faithfully
Management Centre
The University
by | § ¶ | trackbackTomorrow's Leaders Today!
The first contested SingSoc elections in 3 years just happened yesterday. Let me attempt a little political analysis here. First the losers:Adril - As the first to speak. the Ex-VP of the Ex-committee pitched himself as vastly experienced and connected but definitely left us all disappointed by his lack of charisma on stage. Good plans and ideas but poor delivery let him down. Another factor might have been that the voters felt that he's had his fun and the opportunity should go to someone new.
Beh - Came forward with no plan, no professionalism and tipsy from drinking. Citing a motto as his manifesto - "One Big Happy Family", he then proceeded to instill zen-like meaning to each word. Obviously leading by example was never his plan. Ended up becoming cannon fodder for Dingwei during the Q&A.
Bernard - If we were setting up a company instead forming a social committee, he would have won it hands down and we'd all be selling "Singapore Is A Fine City" t-shirts across campus next week. He used cheem words like "synergy" and “brudda” and threw questions back at the voters. I imagine this is how they woo the old folks at an MLM seminar.
Ching Li - She brought along her entire entourage of supporters with banners and even male 'dancers'. So this is what being a pop star must feel like! That probably was the worst political decision one can make by bringing in foreign talent. You know how Singaporeans feel about that! The next boo boo was the shocking Hakka they did as an opener to her speech. Maybe she was proposing a merger with the NZSoc? Or that we can all get free Maori styled tattoos if we voted for her? It didn’t matter what it was suppose to symbolise because when it ended, I felt like Johnny Wilkinson (albeit a fat one) and ready to mow through her for a try. Oh and did I mention that her proposed committee had as many posts as there are members?
Another barrier that blocked Bernard and Ching Li was the fact that both of them more or less stepped into SingSoc just for this election, I believe they will simply disappear and never be heard again . Until the next election that is
And a little about the winner: Melissa She came across as the kind of girl you’re not afraid to bring home to meet your parents. Friendly, polite and eloquent in her delivery. She was the face that everyone recognized and trusted. Little wonder she won the vote by an overwhelming majority.
Thoughts from the ex-President and accompanying photos can be found here.
by | § ¶ | trackbackStonehenge / Bath: Special Interest Photos
Since I'm still waiting for someone to wake up (12.14pm), I thought I should post some photos from my Stonehenge / Bath trip. Most of them can already be found here. But here are a few Arman missed out.
| 'Sardining' it up between two vehicles in a futile attempt to keep out of the wind and cold while the drivers went off to look for parking space. |
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| Queuing up for tickets into Stonehenge. The rocks may be ancient but the prices at the 'Stonehenge Kitchen' were definately modern! |
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| This is the result of ~18th century English attempts at recreating a 'Roman' atmostphere at the Roman Bath. Real Romans wouldn't have had sculptures placed above their sacred bath in a pose that looked like they were taking a wee. |
by | § ¶ | trackbackI always wanted to be experimented on..
So I went and took part in an controlled psychological experiement today. *mentally crosses out an item on my Things To Do Before I Die list*. The School of Psychology was looking for willing volunteers (oh yes we've all been unwilling volunteers before haven't we?) to take part in an experiment on decision making with the possibility of making some quick cash. Briefly put, each of us total strangers were paired off and given 2 identical sets of 12 matrices like so:
With our backs turned, each of us had to pick either 'C' or 'D' on each matrix to determine the amount of cash we would earn at the end. So in the above example, I would get 80p if I (in blue) picked 'D' and my partner (in red) chose 'C'. In the end, I managed to haul in a respectabled £5.20 out of a maximum of $9.20 while my mysterious partner-in-crime got £5.60. Not bad for 30 mins of scheming and plotting eh?
by | § ¶ | trackbackDefine Romantic
A close friend of mine was telling me about the romantic things he has done for the ladies in his life. There are 3 inches to 3 feet tall teddies, expensive flowers and chocolates, fancy dinners and exotic holidays abroad, and many many more. Is that what it takes to make a girl happy?I have received some expensive comestic products and chocolates from my guy. No doubt I felt pampered and spoilt rotten. However I was equally thrilled when he packed me some homemade sushi for lunch. I would hide away in a corner in the library during lunchtime because I was too selfish to share them with anybody. They are mine, all mine! But I like it best when my irate guy pinches my fat cheeks, trying very hard not to yell "You are as childish as a baby leh!".
Boys and girls, how do you define romantic? And what is the most amazing gift (or gesture) you have received / hope to receive?
by | § ¶ | trackbackYou Char Kueh in Leicester
My cutey little boy had a sudden crave for You Char Kueh. The urge to savour one big fat oily chunk of flour was so irresistable that we decided to fry some for supper. The kitchen was so smokey that the smoke alarm went off. Our maiden attempt was pretty okay, but we hope to do better when we get hold of the missing ingredient, alum, from the chemist this weekend.
