Chinese Learning (continued)

The difficulty level is not an issue to students turning off Chinese. According to my experience as Primary School students, I suspect the main factor is that the teachers who are teaching the kids are too old-fashioned and cannot appeal to the students at their level.

As I mentioned earlier, I am a very fortunate kid. My teacher back then was a humorous teacher, and he would make a joke out of every word, and strangely because we find his jokes funny, the words have silently clinged themselves to our "sponge minds".

My level was a fortunate one, I should say. The chinese teacher next door played pop songs in class after discovering the students' passion in pop music. He then explained the meanings of words in the songs. I think this is a very creative solution.

The other levels had old-fashioned teachers, I remember, who instructed (forced) the students to memorize and write the words 50 times should they get it wrong in tingxie. Our scores, to my upmost delight, were always much better than them. They have to spend more effort than us yet the result is worse.

This reveals that kids nowadays (sadly including me) are more and more spoilt by their parents and demand more. They will give up easily and turn the language off if the lessons are not interesting, unlike the old days.

In order to help the students in their chinese learning, we have to change our strategy:

• Hire more new and younger teachers who experienced boring lessons in the past. They would understand how the students feel.
• Require them to plan lessons flexibly with the modern trend in a ever-changing world.
• Test out what the students like and have interest in
• Plan the lessons in a flexible way according to majority interest (e.g. pop song) so that the students wold be interested in the lessons.
• Once the students interest is captured, they would enjoy the language and their learning ability would be enhanced during the learning process.
• The students' interest would change every class and level, so teachers selected must be flexible and have at least a sufficient knowledge in modern technology and trend

Compromising on difficult level of chinese is not the long-term solution, but we can be flexible and appeal to the students' interest by engaging them at their level.

Importance of Reading

I am not a chinese advocate, but I have to admit I am hooked on a book most think would be boring - shediaoyingxiongzhuan, a chinese martial arts novel. That may prove a new point: yes, I am a martial arts fan.

It is understandable that many find reading boring. Of course, doing something in real-life is much more realistic and fun than just reading about someone else doing it, but just like how food is what gives us life, reading is the bread and butter of learning a language.

When reading, your brain's reading circuit will be activated and trained, the more you read, the deeper understanding you have of the language. In the exciting midst of reading your intriguing mystery adventure, your brain would automatically remember and process new vocabulary, as well as how already-known vocabulary can be used in new ways of sentence structure.

This year's top student in the Primary School Leaving Examinations could barely speak any English when she moved here from China in 2006 with here family. She was already Primary 3 by then.

Biqing said she improved her English by reading a lot. She now has direct school admission place in Raffles Girls Secondary School. From somebody who cannot even speak English, she can now scored an A* in her English exams because she reads.

PSLE is a local Primary School exam to test local students' ability in the various subjects. Why don't Singaporeans find it embarrassing that a foreigner tops their own local exam? Is it because while she was putting all her effort reading, the rest are still playing away on the computer?

Reading can be easy, if one is willing to put in the effort. I heartily agree with the chinese proverb: There is nothing difficult in the world, it is only a matter of whether you are willing to put in the effort to do it. It seems to reflect the spirit of this year's top PSLE scholar, as well as previous years' top PSLE scholars too, may I guess.

Reading can be interesting too. Whether you are a soccer fan, baseball fan, martial arts or mystery, books all over the world by different authors can cater to your interest.

Reading is convenient, I am sure there are community libraries located at shopping malls near your home. And they are free! - its just the matter of whether you have the heart to improve your yourself.

It is no wonder why the government puts so much emphasis on reading in Primary School syllabus. I hope the new syllabus MM Lee mentioned would continue to put reading as an important component of chinese learning.

The Long-term strategy to Chinese Learning

After weeks of MM Lee's new strategy to chinese learning, the argument still lingers on. Many support MM Lee's opinion, saying it will benefit them because chinese learning would be much more fun and interesting.

I beg to differ. Compromising on the learning standards is not a long-term solutions. It is age-old wisdom that a good disciple is only trained by a strict teacher. Similarly, only high standards of chinese learning can season a bunch of students with high standards of chinese.

By lowering the standards because MM Lee thinks old chinese learning is too "difficult", the students' standard will also decline, and slowly it will be a vicious circle where the students will even find the newly lowered standards increasingly difficult.

Creating a vicious circle is definitely not the long-term solutions; compromising has never been. Instead, the government should constantly seek to improve and raise the difficulty level of chinese learning especially amidst the rising of China.

MM Lee has expressed his regret that chinese standards were too "difficult", and in the old times, they had to memorize words without even knowing the meanings of the words.

I am sure Ting Xie nowadays are much better. At least, when I was in Primary School, my teacher explained to us the meanings of the vocabulary very thoroughly, and this helped us understand and remember the words easily. In addition, his lively examples were interesting and this made the lesson fun and engaging. This can be one of solutions to this problems.

Some argue that times are different - according to statistics, more and more students come from english-speaking families, and they lack chinese speaking with the parents before going to Primary School - which is the foundation to the learning of a language - and cannot immediately skip the speaking part to learn the next level of writing.

I heartily agree with them that learning a language requires speaking mastery first, and students nowadays have no exposure to chinese speaking, that is why schools need to settle it for them and have not enough time to do more difficult things like writing, thus lowering the standards.

I was a fortunate one - my father speaks english, while my mother speaks chinese to me. For those who have english-speaking families, I think the chinese-speaking part should be done in the nursery and kindergarden stage from peer influence (those who have chinese-speaking families) and teacher. Learning this foundation during Primary School would be a little too late.

For the matter of making the lessons more fun and engaging so that the children would not turn off the language at a young age, I think there are alternative solutions to lowering the standards.

We can engage them at their level. Kids nowadays enjoy computer games tremendously - why don't create a interesting computer game like Freddie Fish in chinese learning edition, where they can learn vocabulary through the fun process of playing.

At the end of the day, the learn what a normal boring lesson offers them, yet brings back a simple message: Chinese Learning is fun, I am looking forward to the next Chinese lesson.

Child Raising is Difficult

Child-raising is no doubt, a difficult task to accomplish. Chinese proverbs and sayings have already, since 5000 years ago, praised parents for the love and care they show for their children. But what is really the cost of raising a child?

I heartily agree with a study by Salary.com, which calculated that house wives should be paid a high salary of $162,000 for everything they do for their children.

Everyday, my mother takes on the world with the same zest.

From 6am in the morning, my mother has to sacrifice their sleep, rub her weary eyes to start preparing breakfast for me, and when I leave for school, she has to immediately do tedious housework – mopping the floor, cleaning the windows, drying the clothes, washing the bed sheets, preparing lunch – then be my mentor, teacher, disciplinarian, and chef – perpetual succor rolled into one, before retiring for the day.

My mother had given up and threw everything she held dear – her job, her leisure, her sleep, to take care of her most precious dear. She often jokingly comment that she has already become the house maid! Whenever I call “Mum!”, she would come to my service – a glass of water, a plate of fruit, a piece of chocolate or even just some company – she has to do it.

It is especially difficult to imagine happy smiley moments the government advertise on TV or newspaper when young kids are so demanding and unreasonable, when youths are so rebellious, and when teenagers want so much freedom. It requires a great deal of patience and tolerance – EVERYDAY for a long period of time!!!

We should really appreciate whatever our parents have done for us. It is not wrong to say it is impossible to repay for life the difficult period of child-raising our parents have gone through. I do hope I can give back even more than the annual $162,000 as recommended by the website study – this is what she deserves. Until then, I can only give a heart-felt thanks.

Gambling - boon or bane?

With the two IRs expecting to open in one or two years time, some welcomed its opening as a effective way of boosting our tourism industry, while many argued it's negative social impacts should be carefully taken into consideration.

It is foregone conclusion that casinos are "tourist-magnets". Normally, developed cities would have one or two casionos that would greatly boost their tourism industry. Singapore, being no exception, is alread half-way through its construction.

Many support the IRs because it would help alleviate the problem of unemployment, amidst a pressing unemployment problem. But statistics seem to show that more than half of the workers planned to be employed are actually foreigners, who are well-perceived for having high global standards.

With the IR just at our doorstep, what social consequences would it cause. Not only does it seem to be unable to alleviate problems of unemployment, it also brings a troublesome lot of problems with it.

This year sees a great jump in suicide cases, according to statistics, and most of the suicide cases are related to huge debts brought by gambling addiction.

It is clear that gambling is against the long-standing moral teachings of earning money the honest and modest way. It is also common knowledge amongst the more experienced visitors that out of ten games in a casino, you would lose nine games.

We have seen newspaper reportings almost daily, showing casees of people jumping to their death, couples getting a divorce, and many more... all because of gambling debts.

Many have the common psychological mindset that one day, they would earn it big. But history has already revealed to us the truth - it is impossible to win in a casino, people just keep losing until they accumulate a huge debt, and when they are unable to repay the debts, they usually jump and escape from it all. Yet people are just the way they are - stubborn and unable to learn from history mistakes.

Today, without the Integrated Resorts, the world is a chaotic place, and life is a nightmare for compulsive gamblers. In two years time, I cannot imagine what Singapore would become.

RE: Chinese Standards Should Not Be Dropped

To the Straits Times:

Dear Sir / Mdm,

I am writing to express my opinion on the issue of Chinese Learning. I understand that MM Lee Kuan Yew has recently expressed his regreat regarding the issue of Chinese Learning, that he did not take note to make Chinese Learning fun and as a result, many have totally turned off the language.

MM Lee feels that the learning of Chinese should start with speaking and hearing the language, instead of the old way of memorizing words without understanding them. His opinion seemed to have triggered a series of comment calling for chinese marks to hold a lesser percentage in PSLE examinations.

Chinese learning standards should not compromised. It seems that the people are avoiding the issue that their children are weak in the subject, and are compromising on the problem by lowering the mark percentage, rather than find a way to tackle the problem.

The government and people's "solution" to the problem is to lower the standards of Chinese. But is we constantly compromise and lower the standard of Chinese, wouldn't the next generation chinese standards constantly drop. Every generation would then see a great gap in chinese standards. By then, the students with lower standards would even find the easy syllabus difficult and turn off the language.

Chinese language is the same as English language. Every language has to be put in sufficient effort to master it. Vocabulary is difficult, but necessary. The students would find the vocabulary they learn in Primary School extremely handy when they need to use them in future essays, reports, especially when China, as we all know, is a global market of rising dominance.

Why does the government leave out the compromising of standard on the English part? As I know, may are also struggling with English.

If the reason is because more and more students are from English-speaking family backgrounds, then maybe the first stage of speaking for the Chinese part that the parents did not do should be done in Pre-school learning, like nursery and kindergarden. The government should make sure pre-school education includes the basic foundation of the speaking of Chinese language. It would be too late to do it in Primary School.

The current module, I think, is already very simple and insufficient, it is would be too simple and severely insufficient if we do the basic speaking foundation in Primary School. In Primary 1, we just have to learn hanyupinying, and in Primary 2, just a few simple words.

What the government, I think, needs to do is not compromise on the difficult vocabulary learning part, and change the module to a more oral speaking learning, if the main concern is rather that students turn off the language. Teachers can make the students understand the meaning of the vocabulary before requiring them to memorize, so the students would know when and where to use the particular word. This is different from plain, boring memorizing without understanding the meaning.

Apart from making lesson interesting by cutting away the most essential vocabulary learning, I feel that there are probably other ways to make the lessons interesting. Many teachers are adopting online E-learning as a more interesting and appealing alternative to teach vocabulary. They design fun games they would attract the students to play, but the content of the game is learning, for example, some new vocabulary or sentence structure.

At the end of the day, the students learn the same things they would learn in a boring lesson, and at the same time, they bring back a simple message - learning chinese is fun, I like chinese, I am looking forward to the next, fun chinese lesson. In addition, because the learning process is fun and interesting for the children, they can also not only memorise but also learn the meanings behind the words better and faster.

At the same time, I hope the government would also not leave out the oral speaking part because this, no doubt, would be a inevitable part of the students life in teh future as they grow up, but it is best to have a healthy balance of oral and vocabulary. Vocabulary should, I think, should still be the top priority, like in other any languages. I hope alternative solution to make lessons interesting to the students can be adopted. Thank you.

Yours Faithfully,
Jonah Heng

Repeat after me... lah, lor, aiyah!

Foreigners who wish to obtain Singapore citizenship may have to go through a pre-citizenship test in the near future before gaining approval.

The government is now considering setting a pre-citizenship test that includes general knowledge on Singapore. It is following the footsteps of England, where foreigners there have to pass a test should they want to gain citizenship.

This new measure is effective in helping the foreigners integrate better. Instead of helping them, the foreigners themselves have to grasp as much knowledge about Singapore as possible in preparation for the test. This helps them better understand and integrate into our multi-racial society in a short time should they gain citizenship.

This suggestion by a MP is timely amidst pressing problems of low birth rate in our country. Foreign talent is needed and a way to test for talent and ability would be the pre-citizenship test.

The test, if approved, would most likely cover the areas of multi-racialism, housing, history, and other general knowledges.

Here are some possible questions:

• Expand the acronyms - ERP, CPF, GRC, AYE, PIE, HDB...
• What is the percentage of population living in HDB flats?
• What are the public holidays of Singapore?
• Who founded colonial Singapore
• What is the most common place of food in Singapore?

In America, Thailand and some other countries, they are taking up the method of naturalization, which I think is very effective way of integration. Permanent Residents woul have to stay in the country for a fix numbers of year - 3 to 5 years - to "naturally" obtain their citizenship.

In the years of waiting they would have already mix into the society and be part of it, understand the country very well, and when they obtain citizenship, they would very easily integrate into the society.

But Singapore cannot afford to lose so much time in this slow process of naturalization so it has to adopt the pre-citizenship test faster alternative - to "force" Permanent Residents to learn about the country in a short period of time of test preparation.

I hope the test will not include Singlish Fluency Criteria...!

No maid would be better?

Many hesitate over the question - would having a maid be a better-off decision?

Many choose to hire a maid because having a maid at home would help them focus on their career. While they are out at work, their children back at home would be taken care of in safe hands.

The maid can also help them cook dinner when they come back from work, so the wife does not need to worry about setting aside time for cooking. She will help do all the housework, and all these weighs surprisingly lightly on one's pockets, considering the work she has to juggle - a mere salary of $500 to $600.

The greatest benefit is having somebody experienced to take care of the children. But many have argued that is exactly the greatest adverse effect too.

It is common knowledge that relationship requires time to develop. With the children spending most of their time with the maid, would they drift apart from their busy parents whom they should rightfully be closest with?

The parents risk their child being spoilt - especially with the child taken care by a paid maid who is most likely compromising to the wants of the child as he grows up.

Personally, I wouldn't want to leave my children to the care of a maid. First, I would not want to risk finding the wrong maid; the newspaper has been constantly reporting cases of maid abusing children while their parents are away. What if that happens to my child? I do not want to imagine.

I also personally feel that it is more important to teach my child the right moral values and precious life experience than focus so much on work.

I also hope my wife would be capable and willing to stay at home with my children instead of working, to guide them in their learning journey, and like my mother did, help me prepare for exams, and take care of me when I am sick.

When parents personally take care of their children, it is probably easier to control him, train him to be more independent, and teach him how to prioritize his wants and needs.

These, no doubt, a maid cannot achieve.

Seniors to Get Wired

Ah Peks sipping from their coffee cups, gathering around the old round table, talking about Mousehunt?

It may seem like an impossible scene to achieve, but we might soon be proven wrong.

Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Mr Lui Tuck Yew had recently released information about a government plan to help the elderly keep up with technology - by helping making it even easier for them to be computer-savvy.

Assisting the seniors to be tech-savvy is extremely important to keep them connected with the society in a constantly evolving world of information and technology. It is a foregone conclusion that the internet will be the future medium of information.

The minister praised retiree KW Chan who set up a facebook account to share some vacation photos with his friends.

The 66-year old spent a week mastering the online social networking site, and he nows updates his account daily. Mr Chan's example has proven that it not a 'Mission Impossible' for the elderly to master the computer and internet.

The government has decided to set up hotspots around Singapore that would provide sufficient computers for free at places such as community centres and places that provide elderly care services. This is a terrific platform for the elderly living nearby to learn computer-usage conveniently.

To make learning even easier and more convenient for the elderly, the government is planning also to send volunteers ad workers to the hotspots to teach the seniors basic knowledge on computers.

This plan is timely, especially when Singapore is facing an aging population problem. Demographics show that the majority of people are slowly shifting towards the higher end of the age population. Coupled with the good healthcare our country has, there would no doubt, be increasing numbers of elderly roughly between the ages of 50 and 60.

The new plan would aid the seniors greatly in keeping connected to the society and probably contributing to the society for those who are still working, especially when the government is slowly pushing back the retirement for senior workers.

Is the Internet Affecting Our Ability to Read?

Many have argued that it is the same, I am of no exception. But is it really the same? After reading an article that provided scientific research and insights, I begin to doubt so.

It is a foregone conclusion that internet reading is a much preferred medium of reading compared to print. It is also a much convenient for multi-tasking.

Many ( including me ), thought that reading is just reading. Whether reading on a phone, newspaper, book, or the internet, it is just the same language and words.

Some argue that reading on a computer via the internet would affect our eyesight. The harmful rays and waves emitted from the screen that cannot be seen, are extremely harmful to our eyes.

Putting the matter of eyesight damage aside, will it affect reading? Internet has become the preferred medium of reading, since it is much more convenient to do research on the internet. Finding certain things by rummaging through books, is equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack.

But recent scientific research has proved that our mind reading circuit is susceptible to whatever the medium - internet or print emphasizes.

It has proven that while reading on print, our brain can train and develop our reading ability / circuit, from the first level of processing a word, to the even higher level of connecting words together and their meanings, analyse the word, make an inference out of the word and adding in contextual knowledge, and finally the apex of reading, where we can instantenously add in our own personal thoughts.

This is how effective print-reading can develop and train our reading ability. That is why it takes time, sometimes even years to develop our reading abilities fully.

On the other hand, internet reading will never give us sufficient time to learn and go deeper into the text after the first decoding, because young brains would be pulled by the medium to ever more distracting information, sidebars and even videos on the webpage.

That is the main concern of neuro-scientists, that kids nowadays are engaged in online reading at too early a age, before their print-reading can fully develop their reading circuit. Once they are stuck to online reading, they would most probably be stuck in the early stages of reading development for life.

This could mean that the next generation of young people could have weaker reading abilities. Luckily I used print to read until I was around 12, hope that is enough time to develop my reading circuit! :)

In addition, as I mentioned earlier, multi-tasking may be more of a con than a pro. According to research , people who habitually multi-tasked were worse at focusing, remembering things and moving from one task to another than those who focuses on task at a time.

Qualities an Entrepreneur Should Have.

Hi all, this time is about some of my thoughts on what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur, but not a employee. I was intrigued to pick out the special qualities entrepreneurs have but employees did not have, and I think some of my discoveries are worth sharing.

The first thing I recognized was that employees working in a company normally have a stable income, and secure and comfortable life. Although most of them might not earn as much as entrepreneurs, the stable, consistent and regular income they receive every month gives them a deep sense of security.

Entrepreneurs are totally different! They first step they decide to start their own business, they were forced to consider if their business will fail, if they had enough capital to develop their business, if their product can survive amidst strong competition and a thousand and one other risks and uncertainties they will run if they started a business.

Starting a business is equivalent to stepping into murky waters, and being a new player of a game where experienced players with much more starting advantages have already been around for decades. Without doubt, entrepreneurs should be people who enjoy adventures and risk. They are risk-takers.

In a world full of opportunities, an employees may not have the foresight to see how what the company's direction should be. He must be flexible and change the company's direction and focuses anytime based on the trend and opportunity then.

A good entrepreneur must be always smelling new opportunities that can aid the company in its overall growth and development towards its goal. He must carry more long-term plans and directions that can bring long-term benefits to the company, than focus more on short-term fufillments just because of public disapproval or immediate gains.

Because most human beings will support whatever popular vote goes to, and fail to have the determination to carry out what he thinks is best for the company. An entrepreneur will whatever he thinks will benefits the company the best (long-term plans), no matter how others think, he will do it because he knows its good.

After all, it is his company. Of course, he is the one most concerned about it. Employees who disapprove or put pressure on him to do what seem most pressing at the moment (short-term fufillments) may after all just be fighting for their own personal selfish benefits and comforts.

Determination must be present in this kind of situations. In addition, a good entrepreneur NEVER SAY DIE! He will pick himself up from where he had fallen. And because his resilience, he would learn something new everytime he fails, and along the way, he will become increasingly less bound to fail. Success is the opposite of failure, that is why determination = success.

Normal human beings (employees) would probably just give up.

As you would have guessed, my aspiration is to be a business man. I believe being a business man not only earn you a lot of money, but along the way as you encounter small failures, each time you pick yourself up, you would learn a new life philosophy from it. (For example, not to be too greedy, prioritize your needs and wants etc.) That, I think is the best thing I can tap from entrepreneurship.

Making a Pitch for Older Workers

When we enter a electronic store, do we approach the younger sales assistant, or the older and more experienced sales assistant?

Mr De Payva, president of the NTUC, and Mr Ong, its assistant secretary general were making a pitch to 20 managers to retain older workers as they have valuable experience.

This pitch was timely, amidst difficult times of unemployment. According to a research, most employers would rather hire younger employees then older ones. Many even fired older workers in order to find younger ones to replace them.

Yes, younger employees may seem more energetic and hardworking, but experience is definitely important because one effective worker can be better than three inexperienced workers. Keeping older workers can actually save money and improve overall performance, compared to hiring new younger staff.

It is actually quite ridiculous to fire someone just because he is old. It just like throwing time and hard work away training the staff. They have been groomed from young to old in the company and just when they have reached their prime age where they have the richest experience, are trained fully and can achieve maximum performance, they are being fired. Then , what is the use of staff training and grooming?

Age is not a factor. That was the main message the NTUC president tried to convey.

A new scheme was released three days ago, calling for companies to offer workers turning 62 continued employment. If they have no job to offer, they should offer a one-off-payment to help workers while they find a new job.

The guidelines will form the core of a law to be passed by 2010 for re-employment up to the age of 65 and later 67.

The pushing of retiring age to a later age seemed to be strongly prompted by Singapore's ageing population. Should workers retire at an early age, it would weigh heavy on the working population to support the increasing non-working aged.

However, a major problem Mr De Payva spotted was that employers would try to find all kinds of ways and excuses to "get rid" of the aging employees before they turn 62, so that they do not have to offer the one-off-payment.''

It seems that there are always loopholes in schemes the government releases, so it is vitally important for the government to explain why employees should follow with their plans ( in this case, because older workers have more experience ) This pitch by NTUC three days after the guidelines were released, is therefore definitely timely.

Jump, die... again?

Another suicide incident reveals yet again the selfishness of human nature.

A 36-year-old threw away half of his human life, and whole of his only son's future, when he fell to his death at the foot of Block 287 Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 on April 24, bringing his sole child with him.

Mr Farook came to Singapore to seek employment shortly after his marriage i India in February 2001. Hist wife joined him about a month later. After giving birth in India in 2002, she and her child came to Singapore and became permanent residents in 2003.

Naheem, their only child, had a problem of delay development, and underwent therapies from as early as the age of five. Teachers in school discovered that he was unable to concentrate during lessons, and was an attention-seeker.

Doctors warned the parents that the child is probably highly autistic, and may display frequent behaviours of severe violence.

The parents received a complaint from the teachers that the child was unsuitable for normal school curriculum. The complaint seemed to be prompted by an incident whereby Naheem used a pair of scissors to snip his classmate's uniform while attending a Tamil language lesson. This deeply troubled his parents, who were afraid of his potential violence in the future.

On the April 12, Mr Farook told his wife he is bringing his child to a temple to pray, but never returned.

It was definitely a quick way to escape from all the frustrations and troubles he faced, but maybe Mr Farook should give a considerate thought to his widow:

How would his wife survive on her own? If I jump, I would make her broken-hearted for life, is it just a matter of money? How would she feel in front of her friends in future? Who knows what my son can achieve when he grows up?

If everyone considers these questions before jumping, and have some sense of responsibility, maybe this world would be a better place.

Chinese Learning

Learn to listen and speak, not just memorise and write. Make chinese learning fun and interesting.

Those were the basic outline of his speech at the opening of the new Chinese Learning Centre that provided a totally new module from the usual vocab memorizing and chinese word tests we are so used to in Primary School.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew emphasized the need to engage the student's interest at a young age. He quipped that learning a language starts from hearing, listening then speaking, the writing part comes at the later stage.

He is resolute to change the current module to fit in this teaching method. It will also be extremely handy in future conversations with Chinese especially in times of China's emergence as a market giant.

The minister mentor expressed his regret that in the old days, students were forced to read and write, and memorize many words without knowing why. This, he said, totally turned off the students at a very young age, causing them to lose their interest when learning Chinese in Secondary school and junior college. Some even turned off the language for life.

He was confident that the basic to learning a language is to first have interest in it. Only with interest, the students can be more actively involved and enthusiastic about learning the language.

On the other hand, will this new module affect the student's writing abilities?

Besides speaking, the government must make sure there is a healthy balance of lessons aimed to improve the students' writing and reading ability. The future trend of information transmission is no doubt, the internet, and emails will most likely hold an extremely important position in the students' lives in the future.

Chinese is just like English. Learning and memorizing new vocabulary is an inevitable process so that the students have enough word-bank to use when suitable as they grow up and work.

Reading is equally important, contracts, letters of request, reports, proposals etc. might turn out to actually be an significant part of the students' lives in the future.

The government's main concern is that writing and reading and learning new vocabulary is too difficult for the mediocre batch of students, resulting in total turn-off in the subject. This is a correct issue to tackle, but the government must take note not to cripple those not so verbally well-versed, but extremely talented in writing group of student's platform to further develop their talent.

It may be more difficult for the students to adapt from oral-speaking Primary School Module to a totally different secondary school module, where tests, memorizing and learning new vocabulary dominate the spotlight. If the government wishes to change the Primary School module, it must take note to smooth the transition between Primary School to secondary school.

There are also other ways to make lessons more interesting. For example, teachers can create fun and interactive flash games like the Freddie Fish game I enjoy tremendously when I was young, but include a academic content related to the syllabus where after the game, they learn a ten new words + a new sentence structure. At the end of the day, they learn what normal lessons can offer them yet have fun and find lessons interesting. Why not?

Slim Treatment Case

In a modern world full of deceit and where gullible people are so desperate for miraculous results, it is not surprising to read regularly of cases like the one below.

A woman, with a hope to cut off excess body fats as prompted by her children's mockery; almost did not make it out of the slimming center alive after a horrifying 1 hour treatment process. Throughout the treatment, the staffs had assured her the whole procedure was safe and effective.

The 35-year-old had gone for a slimming treatment at the Geneva Face Body Spa Outlet in Ang Mo Kio Central on the 28th of October. The service, which involved the igniting an alcohol-soaked towel on her abdomen, costed a shocking $250.

Mdm Lee laid faced down with the towel on the abdomen, and was alarmed only until the employee started whipping out a lighter.

She stayed calm only when one of the employees asssured her that this was one of the professional preocedures they had mastered in order to help her to cut off her fats.

Her trust was nonetheless betrayed - the fire spread across the alcohol rapidly, leaving a long and severe burn welt injury on her abdomen. Instead of taking any apologetic actions, the employees could even remark: "Is it that painful?"

This incident should serve as a warning to those thinking about turning to artificial methods to slim down. It is age-old wisdom that one should do things the natural way, or pay a huge price. It is definitely a costly lesson for Mdm Lee never to trust artificial methods and services ever again, but a free lesson to us.

Suicide Incident 8/11/09 Ang Mo Kio

Suicide has became so common nowadays that it seems no longer a foreign occurance to us anymore.

Just a day ago, Mr Ng Chee Kiang was being spotted sitting down and repeatedly lying down on the roof of his Ang Mo Kio Avenue Block 543. Despite numerous attempts to warn and advise him to abstain from foolish acts, the father of two fell to his death.

It was suspected that it was the thirty-nine-year old that brought along with him his two children - Cheryl, three, and Xavier, five. Evidence showed man-made facial and neck injuries on the children who were lying dead in his bedroom. The time he jumped to his death, the house was also in flames.

According to Mdm Tang, a 56-year-old neighbour of Mr Ng, hours before he committed suicide, he was being seen walking to a shop to buy lottery. His wife and maid were out while the tragic events were taking place.

Mr Abdul, a neighbour living directly above their apartment recalled how the couple were having a heated argument last Monday.

Mr Ng's colleagues also said the couples already having problems since a year ago. He claimed that Mr Ng often confided in him about marital problems.

Other neighbours recounted hearing screams coming from their apartment last Sunday.

Loan Sharks had appparently scribbled their notorious signature, O$P$, a warning to debtors to pay up, on the stairway wall right beside his apartment.

Mr Ng's suicide could have been triggered by marital woes over massive gambling debts accumulated over the year. Mr Ng might have pangs of guilts hauting him, as well as hopelessness over a bleak and foreboding future unfolded in front of him. Suicide is easily a quick and convenient way to escape from it all.

With the new IR project that is bound to open to public in just one or two years time, will gambling addiction problems be even worse, leading to more broken families, despair and suicide? By focusing so much on the IR's economic benefits, it seems that the government has to brace itself for another mammoth challenge of curbing gambling addiction.

PSC Scholarship

You may score A1s for all your test in secondary school, A* for all your exams in primary, and graduate with first class honours from Cambridge University, but you may not qualify for the PSC Scholarship.

In a speech by Public Service Commission Chairman Eddie Two addresing core issues about scholarship system in the civil service, he stated that scholarship holders must not only have good academic results, they must be also be able to think and do.

Scholarship holders must identify with the ground, have a realistic view of circumstances, and most importantly have to ability to empathize and mix well with others of different backgrounds, culture and callibre.

This came after many concerns that scholarship system risked breeding an isolent group of people that bore little correct moral values and communication abilities.

The concerns seemed to be sparkled by the recent incident of a PSC scholar repeatedly abusing his wife, with sentences like "Why are you so stupid?", "Can't you even understand a simple instruction?", finally resulting in a divorce.

Many Other PSC scholarship holders have also committed atrocious acts that have repeatedly embarassed Singapore in front of other countries, especially when these scholars are regarded as future leaders of Singapore as well as role models. In fact, upper management in public service is mainly staffed by them.

Why is this happening, it could be due to the overlooking of communication and empathy (EQ) or the neglecting of basic moral cultivation in past PSC scholarship qualification criteria.

The government would most likely start taking action in altering scholarship selection criteria as well as procedures to make sure that future leaders not only possess IQ, but also the ability to communicate and socialize, and have correct moral values. Only then would Singapore's future be in good hands.

Pregnant? YOU'RE FIRED

Amdist this tough economic times, greater maternity benefits aimed to encourage more birth seem only to prove counter-effective.

There were 119 pregnancy-related complains lodged with the Ministry of Manpower in the first nine months, a shocking jump from 72 in 2007 and 95 last year.

Most of the woman complained that they were sacked under the pretence of poor performance, but actually just because they were pregnant. Others were simply underpaid or denied maternity benefits.

In fact, maternity benefits can be a burden and liability rather taxing on the company. Mothers-to-be are given 4 months of maternity leave, of which they can received their full pay without working.

During their leave, companies would need to hire stand-bys to fill in their positions. When the mothers come back to work, these stand-bys normally stay on, resulting in redundant manpower. This weighs heavy on the company's resources, especially during bad times.

Should the company opt not to hire additional staff, the existing manpower would have to take on extra workload. Not only will it be demoralizing for the staff, productivity and performance would most likely be affected too.

While it may be understandable for companies to want to maximise productivity and output, in the longer run, the company can promote itself as a good employer that values human resources assets, thereby command loyalty from its existing employees who knows that their welfare is being fully taken care of. At the same time, this aids in attracting more talents.

Singapore is facing ageing population problems. Government solution to this problem is greater maternity benefits. There are many working mothers who are driven by career, and this maternity benefits is targeted at this group of woman to encourage them to bear more children without sacrifing their career.

Companies do have a social responsibility towards its employees and as such, obliged to support the government in this policy. It is a long term win-win situation for both parties as compared to if they were to just try to maximise profit in the short-term.

The EQ Difference

Just read an interesting book called the "The EQ Difference". I think the concepts and tips inside on how to socialise and manage personal emotions to boost performance is really terrific. Please try it after reading this post.

Many times we believe in order to achieve high performance, we have to set the correct goal, apply our skills, coupled with our life experiences, environment and personality. Thats probably why old people with more life experience are regarding by people as wise and the most capable.

In fact, there is a important factor called emotion that can override everything and make you betray the values you believe in the whole of your life. This emotion hijacking can change your views and perceptions of a certain matter, and can even cause you to confuse facts! Therefore, it is vitally important to have emotional intelligence. With EQ, you can not only prevent emotional hijakcings, but also make use of it as a effective partner to boost your performance greatly.

There are basically five areas of emotional intelligence - Self awareness, empathy, social expertness, personal influence and mastery of purpose and vision.

To gain emotional intelligence, we have to first start off with self-awareness. You have to identify your intentions and personality, as well as observe personal internal conflict situations you face everyday in your life. Scan what is happening around you too, and how humans behave and react to things happening. Only through this can you better understand human nature. Try to get the two sides of the story (the full picture) when you meet with things so emotions will not hijack you.

Find what you want, or else you don't know what to work towards. Before persuading others to follow you as leader, you have to convince yourself first and make sure that is what you want to work towards. Think of how to achieve that goal.

Always remember to question yourself. Listen to yourself talk, which are actions you do with extreme confidence? What things you feel unsure/uncertain of? Why are some people so confident and some so unsure? Only by learning from oneself and others, can you improve.

Once you understand yourself better, try putting yourself in other's shoes and understand what others are thinking. Try to find reasons for why people behave and act in certain ways, and how they are driven by their emotions. The best way to understand others is by listening.

Once you are able to fully understand how someone feels or thinks when he does something, try to develop relationships with others. Make an effort to keep in touch with people you meet to further develop that relationship, converse on a common topic both of you enjoy, and most importantly, identify which are friends worth making that can help you achieve your goal/vision. Seek quality friends, not quantity.

Happy emoing! :)

ProEd Council Winter Retreat 2010

Hi all this time it will be about our school's combined consortium council retreat to Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. I definitely had great fun there and I think some of the experiences are worth sharing with you all.

Most of the time spent were actually on the bus. The bus ride there was surprsingly long and we spent our time by playing cards or just talking. Some even slept throughout the whole journey!

Our first stop was the High 5 Bread Town. High 5 bread is actually quite remarkable because from a small bread company, they can evolve into one of the dominant players in the bread industry despite facing fierce competition. At the factory, we gained much insights on the history of bread, as well as High 5 bread making technology. It was definitely a rewarding visit.

On the way back to the hotel, we visited the Prime Minister's office and the King's Palace to take a few shots of the magnificent architectures. The tour guide then briefly explained Malaysian political structure. The King was not, as I previously imagined, the dictator of the country. In contrary, he was merely the religious leader of the country and only had the power of pardon.

The next day was mostly spent on a nature trail at the Malaysian nature conservation organization headquarters. We learnt a lot about the floral and fauna that flourished there. There were really many things I have never heard of before, like the umbrella tree and the giant ant species that carried a shell. We walked in the cool jungles for about an hour, learning about the different types of trees and insects before heading to the Twin Towers.

The Petronas Twin Towers were really high. I kept wondering how the modern day spiderman could climb all the way to the top. Besides taking pictures of that wonderful building, we also shopped at the KLCC mall for an hour before retiring for the day.

I think the last night was the most meaningful. Our consortium organized a council tribute to the secondary 3 students who would be leaving the council next year. We all sang songs as well as gave tokens of appreciation to the secondary 3s. After that, the Executive Commitee announced the Organization Teams for the following year. I was the Organizing Secretary for our consortium night! Looks like I'll have to work harder for the council next year :)

Looking back, the trip was definitely a rewarding experience. I had two takeaways from it - Firstly, I gained many precious insights into Malaysia's culture, from politics and forest conservation to 5cent things like bread making. Secondly, I made many new friends as well as strengthened bonds greatly with existing friends.

Any other thing I realised during the departure from Malaysia was that almost everyone bought chewing gum back to Singapore!!!

Last takeaway: "Things tend to flourished when you ban them"