Term 2 - New Term xD

So time flies and here we are landing on Term 2. The holidays were a fun and relaxing one, having little homework to do only. Back in Malaysia, I hung out with my friends and had as much fun as we could :). 1 week and back. 1st day of school was Founder's Day, and no lessons were conducted. We went to some old folks (cant remember what's the name) and thought them how to make cards and fold various stuff. It was quite fun, with us playing games with the old (actually with ourselves) no time wasted. Whilst all the fun, our results was back. I knew that it would be horrible, but still really sad about it. How good a MSG of 3 be? Let's stop crying over split milk. Having failed IH and a awful IS results, i think i need to generally work harder to keep my A1s from running away. So, my target: at least a B3 for all subjects and pass IH. I know its really easy for some of you, but low targets are easier to achieve. I'll stop hanging around at my computer and start mugging.

Term 1 Reflection

After nine weeks of lessons in 2011, I felt that this year would be a very difficult year. It was quite tiring, and even at the start of the year, the workload is increasing and lessons are getting more and more difficult. Even though I did not so well this term, but i felt pleased that my English and many other subjects had a slight improvement. However, I still need to work hard to have better results. Other that that, many more after-school-activities are held, and I had felt tired after school everyday. I hope I can cope with the mass work in Hwa Chong these few years to come.

Racism - Reflection

Racism. There are still many issues about this, especially in the multiracial country, like Malaysia (which is where i stay :D). Before getting on, we need to understand this keyword: racism. Where What When Who How. Many questions. Lets answer each and every one of them.
Where? Everywhere, worst cases in United States.
What? Racism is a discrimination act towards other races, like Negros.
When? from BC till now, serious during the 20th century .
Who? many people has had the mindset that the blacks are slaves, and things like that.
How? from light offences like swearing at them or stereotyping them to as bad as kill or torture.

Racism. Singapore is quite lucky and good to have sure a harmony society. In Malaysia, things are quite different. I shall not talk too much as problems would arise, but i will say this: the Malays are racist against the Chinese and Indians. Racism often occurs when the majority of one's country felt threatened. Just like in the United States.Just like in Indonesia. Just like in England. So many true and life examples for you to choose, and yet people doesn't learn. Feels sad to still have people like this in the world.

Burning Mississippi had just lightened and burned the thought of racism in me again.Again? Yes. Since young, many stories in the Chinese community had been circulating around and children like us had heard so many of the same ones. However, the young mind has not start to think critically yet. Now, as I see this movie, many thoughts of racism came back. Take a look at Malaysia. What a perfect country. No disasters, no war, cooling in all 365 and 1/4 days. However, this teeny problem had just ruin one of the most enjoyable place in the world.

Lets think of it. Why be racist? Just because they have a different culture? They are different from you? Or is it just because other people had did the same thing which is important? I had no suitable reason for one to be racist, other than your personal opinion. Jealousy? Different? Shame? So many questions, but one answer: racism is bad. Let the whites in the 20th century understand: who built your house? who did all the hard work and who slacked there and said that they were unreasonable? Ironic. Think, people. Lets switch places. If you were the Negros and they were the whites, would you like them to do this to you? Any sane mind would not want it. So why do it to others when you dislike it being done on you?

In conclusion, i think that racism can be eliminated if only people start to think for others. Just that easy. Racism can lead to no benefits or win. Look at the Civil War. Both sides lost and United States just got weaker. Therefore, stop racism. Racism is no good value.

Burning Mississippi

I've watched a movie recently, Burning Mississippi (spelled like that?) and it did a great impact in my life. This movie was about racism in Mississippi, and it was based on a real story. It was during a 60s, when the Ku Klux Klan - KKK (weird name) was formed and it had discriminate many blacks and did awful things to them. Finally, 2 FBI agents went to investigate: Mr. William (not sure) and Mr. Anderson. They had quite a distinct way of dealing with things, and they had encountered many challenges and conflicts in the way.
The blacks were unable to give the FBI agents information because of the fear of the KKK punishing them. Once the KKK had even burned down a church in front of their motel and shot their rooms, to show the FBI that they had the power and even the law could not control them.
When it seem hopeless, Mr. Anderson found a KKK member, however unable to catch him with not enough evidence.Fortunately, his wife can finally give in information after watching the black riots in the streets.Mr. Anderson wanted to use the violent matter to finish this tedious job, but Mr. Williams insisted to follow the normal method.Finally, after proving Williams wrong, Anderson used his way and had thought the KKK a lesson for being discriminating. Most of them were sentenced for years in jail, the mayor committed suicide.
Although there are some gory scenes, i felt that this movie had thought us to be against racism. The whites in the movie are very unfair towards the blacks for no particular reason. I also hope that racism would be lesser as time goes by, as this attitude is very unreasonable.

Response in Chapter 1 - 11 of To Kill A Mockingbird

Personal Response
Scout's experience reminded me of the times when me and my brother played in the neighborhood when we were young.

Analyzing Literature - Recall and Interpret
1. Scout, Jem and Dill at many feelings towards Boo Radley, which is always kept in the house. They are curious of him, and what he does inside, but scared of him hearing rumors about him. When they were bored, they would dare each other to go into Boo's house, and Jem only did it once, touching the wall of the house.
2. Scout and Jem found many antiques in the knothole of the "Radley" tree, which is chewing gum, soap figures of themselves and the 1900s pennies. Theses gifts was from Boo, which was covered up by his brother later, and this shows that Boo may be caring and not violent by giving them such rare gifts.
3. Scout got into a fight with Cecil Jacobs and Francis, because they had said Atticus has a "nigger lover", after the case that Atticus defended Tom Robinson, which is a Negro. This shows that the community in Maycomb is racist against Negros and discriminate them. Scout's response revealed that she does not know the racial differences, with Calpurnia, a Negro taking care of her since young, and is extremely sensitive when someone talks bad about her father.

Analyzing Literature - Evaluate and Connect

4. In both situations when Atticus shot the mad dog and defended Tom, he shows that he has the courage to stand up for one's rights and to shoot the dog, which he has only one chance to do it.
5. Atticus is a very intelligent and brave parent to Scout and Finch. He thought them many aspects of life, letting them do what they want. However, he guides them along the way and protects them with his life.

Cross Country

Finally after 365 days, we had our annual cross country again. Little flags and cones was placed around the running track, tents were also set up for shelter after the run. I wore my old running shoes, took 2 helpings of breakfast, and set off to school.

People were seen in their PE shirts, which is quite rare during school days. Shoes of various colours and patterns are also present, not scared of our disciplinary teacher anymore. No one sang the national anthem properly, and the warm-up was just a stroll around our seats.

We almost got to the track when they announced the sec1 to get ready. Time really flies........ seems like yesterday i got lost in this amazingly ENORMOUS campus. We laughed at ourselves and wait for our turn to run.We waited. And waited. And waited. Looking at other people finishing the race, i felt impatient. After seemingly ages we finally get to run.

PITT! We started running. I ignored my old shoe which was loosening out and tried to find my friend. Almost. My shoe finally ran free, and i had to turn back getting it amid laughters from others. It was a difficult one having to run longer than last year and a loose shoe, which i felt lazy to tie. A big mistake. I couldn't run in the end and got a not-so-good results. Perhaps 30 is okay?

Drenched with sweat, my and my friend went to have a drink at the Milo truck. Bad actions was seen: cutting Q, pushing and filling up bottles. Unfortunately, i did that also (felt a little guilty now :p) with just a few cups as teachers are seen lurking around.......but not understanding how i got 10 cups which filled my belly.

Interesting day got me, even though i was little tired after going back, i hope i could run faster than today (20mins?)

Typing :D

65 words

free online typing test

LOL not bad eh? :DD

Descriptive Essay

This is my draft on my descriptive essay. My English isn't that strong, so help me by giving me feedbacks. Thanks!



Sounds of gunshots are heard everywhere. Civilians are running in every direction, babies crying and women gathering their basic belongings in top speed. Chaos is in the air as the Japanese troops marched in, shooting remorselessly any humans alive and the British troops are scattered like ants everywhere. In the midst of chaos, a little foreign boy, John sits in a corner and watched this live movie with great interest.
The British had surrendered to the Japanese after various attempts to defend in desperation, but the Japanese had cut through the British defenses like a blade through paper. Somehow John managed to escape the strong Japanese, even with the soldiers raiding his magnificent house and all his family members taken. Once he thought his country’s people as highly, powerful men are actually hopeless people just like the locals. Everything was changed in a few days after the gory event: bodies everywhere, rubble could be found in every corner, and reproachful looks could be seen on the people’s face. John did not dare stroll around the streets anymore, as reality started creeping to him with his live movie coming to an end.
The Japanese took over, and changed the people’s was of living completely. Shops that were very familiar to John changed into Japanese shops, while learning Japanese was compulsory and no one was allowed to use other languages. Food supplies were awful and inedible, but there was no choice. John felt life getting more difficult, and now a teenager, his appetite is starting to give him trouble. Once he asked for more food, but a cold, powerful slap was the reply to him. A stray orphan down the post-war street is not a nice scene for anyone. The Japanese people acted like God in the street, people were tortured for no right reason, and girls were taken away by them. Every corner was searched, and many innocent people were taken to jail. With the helping hand of God and sheer luck, John escaped once again from the Japanese, undetected.
John was giving up his hopes, as he now has difficulties with his survival. Finally, one sunny day, John saw an unlucky family being caught by the Japanese. As they were beaten up and took away, he thought of his family and got really emotional. He stood on the banks of the still Singapore River and let all the emotions flow into him. He got ready to do his first and last dive, and closed his eyes. Just at the moment, loud shouting could be heard everywhere. John stopped in a moment and saw people everywhere. Many people were, rejoicing in the streets! This is weird, thought John. He forgot what he was going to do, and walked into the crowd and talked to the people, asking them what happened.
The story was told like a legend: the little atomic bomb was dropped. It touched the ground swiftly, but the effects were devastating. This made the Japanese surrender, with thousands of people killed brutally in the process. Now, cheerful voices filled the streets and smiles are seen everywhere. But problems are arising. Everything was ruined and people are poor. The British are back, however people started to detest them for their failed attempts to save them. They took John, now a strong young man, to their office for a nice offer, as John’s father was one of them before he got caught. However, he declined the offer, and had just requested a little house for himself. With the help of the British, John got a job easily and his income steady.

When Singapore had a merger with Malaysia, John, who is able to speak in many languages, was invited by the government to be their translator. By now, John had a family and a lovely son. Relations were quite strong and things went well in the early years, but with various heated arguments with the two countries, John was sacked, just like Singapore. Having a family to support, and being unemployed, suddenly, John felt that he had gone back into time, with a difficult life. Now, Singapore is independent, which encounters many important issues to deal with, just like John.
Finally, after months of job-finding, John got a job as a clerk. Gradually, he went higher, from a normal clerk to the company’s boss. Now a leader of a big company, John traveled everywhere to deal with business, with an income flowing in like a waterfall. Once a poor, skinny boy whom faced death many times, is one of the wealthiest man in Singapore during those times. Just like Singapore, once a little island became a mega city, having amazing technologies and sophisticated systems.
John reached his 70’s, retired from work with the company passed down to his son. A wealthy old man, John enjoys his life as much as he could. One day, his grandson asked him: “How was life during the war?” John sighed, gave his little grandson a sad smile, and said: “Sounds of gunshots are heard everywhere. Civilians are running in every direction...........”

Poem for characters in To Kill a Mockingbird

After reading the literature book assigned to us, we did a poem to familiarize with the characters in the story. We did Miss Maudie, Scout's lovely neighbour which had affected her quite a lot in the story.

Miss Maudie

Miss Maudie hated her house,

Time spent indoors

was time wasted.

She was a widow,

A chameloen lady who worked,

in her flower beds.

She loved everything that grew

On God's earth,

even the weeds.

She made the best cakes in the neighbourhood,

She would call across the street :

"Jem Finch! Scott Finch! Charles Baker Harris! Come here!"

Our promptness was always rewarded.

When her house caught fire,

She stared at the smoking

Black hole in the yard,

She deed not seem to want to talk.

But the shadow of her old grin crossed her face.

"You ain't grieving, Miss Maudie?" I asked.

"Grieving, child? I hated that old cow barn"

"Thought of setting fire to it a hundred times to myself."

Jem said he didn't know what was the matter with her,

that was just Miss Maudie.

Done by Akira and me of course

Seaside Description

It is a windy sunset, with lots of coconut tree growing sideways with the tree. The sky is like a painting, from the dark blue to purplish-red, and no sun can be seen. Many coconut trees are to be seen along the shore, tall, short, straight, sideways and many various sizes. It was a calm seashore and there is a hut built near the sea, with a long wooden bridge connecting it to the shore. A few more of these hut are also found further away down the seashore.

Home Learning

By raywen | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

The first comic background is a typical place with a busy road, to make it look like reality. The old woman hopeless expression shows that she couldn't cross the road by herself. This creates a suspense to attract readers.
It continous in the second strip when a little passerby kid saw the situation. This extends the story by making the readers wonder the cabability of the kid in helping the old woman.
In the third comic, both of them crossed the road. with difficulty. This is the climax at no one knows what happened to them and this is one of hte interests.
In the last comic, they had finally crossed the road safely and the old woman thanked the little boy. This is the ending and the whole meaning of the comic is to promote helpfulness in helping the needy.

Summary and Rounding up of "Prejudice"

So after brainstorming and every means of understanding this "chim" word is done, i did a summary and concept map with my group:

1，Prejudice defines people being biased and judging others whom they do not know unfairly.

2，Prejudice is caused by the discrimination of people with different status and race. Prejudice causes misunderstanding among people, forming misconceptions of certain people, like the Europeans towards the ‘black people’, which lead to poor treatment of these people by the people who prejudiced against them. Prejudice leads to discrimination.

3，Prejudice may lead to racial tensions and even cause some undesirable events to happen such as civil wars, riots like the one in Singapore in the 1950s.

4，Prejudgment still occurs in current society, but it is not as serious during the 19th and early 20th century in Europe, possibly because there a clear distinction between people with higher status and commoners or with laws implemented like that in the USA against all the discrimination.

5，Examples of historical happenings and dictation of prejudice include speeches given by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., and also books like ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’. These examples have described the prejudgment in the society during their times.



Done by Houyu, Boshen, Jerry and me!

Prejudice

Time flies and here we go with another assignment to post on this blog. The Question: What is prejudice? Oh no. My vocabulary is the my WORST thing in english. Prejudice? heard VAGUELY in 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. Lucky for my helpful friends, i somewhat think i know what is it.

What do you KNOW about prejudice:
unfair judgement?
pre - before , judice - justice, prejudice - justice beforehand?
racism?
bias?

What do you WANT to know about prejudice:
everything?
what forms of prejudice are there
able to understand what is the true meaning and how to idntify it
understand how to use it effectively as the theme for essays

After various of brainstorming and teaching, i finally understood what is prejudice
What have I LEARN about prejudice:
an unfair treatment to others, no matter different or not
racism - a form of prejudice
fight, war are consequences for being prejudice

New Year - 2011!

Wow.... time flies and one year of secondary life is gone. Yeah. GONE D: anyways Sec 2 must be better than before, having almost failed English (Phew!) otherwise OK. Now now, almost everything is new, teachers and homework and learning system and everything else which I'm lazy to point out :P We have a new english teacher, Miss Huang. She's quite strict,but not too much which i like because we won't slack and wouldn't hate those teachers that are TOO strict. Hope my english won't fail this time, and i hope everything will be better than 2010!(btw 2012 is next year)

Cross Country

Lucky not another week of dull school again! There was a cross country held by my school and there was NO SCHOOL that day! How cool was that! Anyway, everyone must go to school to do the running......so there is no much difference than a normal day.
On that day, everyone wore the school PE shirts, so it totally looks like everyone is coming for some fun in school. There was tents on the terraces, so it was comfortable sitting there with some wind blowing at us.
After we did the daily routine, the cross country opening ceremony started by celebrating the Youth Olympics which is held in Singapore this year for the first time. The representatives from the 4 consortiums, Aphelion, iSpark, ProEd and Ortus, which organized this ceremony passed a fire torch just like the Olympics around the field then to the principal, which lighted up the light at the stage(the fire was distinguished once, haha).
Before the "big thing", we did some warm ups. Then, we Sec 1s run first as we are the slowest. We need to run 3km. Not very long, but it's really tiring. There is also 6 pupils from each class to run the competitive run(I was one of them...), while the others run the mass run. After the horn was blown, the pupils in the competitive race run first. I was the front few in the starting, but my low stamina made me got slower than other competitors.
Along the way, there are some Cadet Corps standing there to see if we didn't cheat. There are volunteers who also stand along the road to give out water. Some of us took it, some of us didn't. At the end, I sprinted to overtake the few people ahead of me, but I almost vomited. They told me I was the 20+th place, and they gave me a keychain printing "Top 100 Sec 1".
After the run, me and my friends went to the terraces to rest while watching other people finishing the race. Then, the Sec 2,3,4 and the teachers run after us. We can see how fast they run and how slow some run. Then, we went to the Milo stop to get Milo drinks for FREE. There was lots of students, of course, and queue-cutting is so common if son't cut, you don't get to drink. I was a little greedy and took 3 cups at a go but spilled half of them.
The last, but not least, is the prize giving ceremony. The top 10 of all secondaries get a individual prize and the 6 competitors get a team prize of they fun fast overall. At half past ten, we was dismissed. We went back to the hostel to rest.
Although I didn't get a prize, but the keychain and the Milo was worth it. Now I know my stamina is quite low, I need to train more.....

Total Defence Day

Total Defense Day. Not the dull "First, Second or Third week in school" anymore. What is Total Defense Day? Oh, that is the day when Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in the World War II. What did we do that day.
On the 9th of February, my class (actually the whole consortium) went to this place called Singapore Discovery Center, SDC for short. After lunch, we went to SDC by bus. Although it was a long journey, we didn't mind it as we were looking forward to go to the SDC.
After half an hour in the continuous-rocking and noisy bus, we reached there. It was quite big so we had to walk a long way to reach the center. When all of the classes came, we were brought to a LITTLE auditorium (too small to call a auditorium...). There was a "tour guide" there. She introduced the SDC and told us all about Total Defense Day. Before that, i don't even know what that is, and I bet that almost everyone in my class don't know what is that also. Then, she told us about the 5 Defenses (I forgot). She gave us a worksheet(?)to do and a paper fan. Seriously, but that isn't wierd...
After that "lecture", we went for a break in the canteen. The food was a little pricey, so I didn't buy any food. Then, we went do the activity area beside the SDC to do a quiz. And there was PRIZES! All of us started working after hearing that word. The quiz is just all about the Total Defense Day and there are hints all around the activity area. After finishing the quiz, I went to redeem the prize. I got a file. Then, I did the quiz again and got the same thing. After that, I found out that we can actually do it once. Oops. Nevermind, since they didn't find out.
At 5, we went back and reached the hostel half and hour later. We learn about the Total Defense Day, and what is the meaning and history of it. And i got 2 files!! Hehe...

Third Week in School............

One week has passed. So it's the third week now, hope everyone has settled down in their respective school..Wait a minute...You don't know my school. Guess....Ok, I'm in Hwa Chong Institution. Nothing much to be in that school, but i stay in the boarding school. Fun??? Hmm...that will be a topic later, ok?
Third week...so, settled down, had nothing much, just got to familiarize with the surroundings around me. So after some intros we get into the real lesson and OH GOSH! The amount of the homework almost kill me (usual sentence) but eventually I managed it and ok now, secondary school is REALLY different from the primary school and we need do adapt into it fast. So the LA lesson which made us have this blog. LA for Language Arts, its not about English, but more to literature. So i have this literature called "Flowers For Algernon" (you know it though my last post)it's about a mentally challenged guy, and blah blah. And then I landed on this blog. History? No, just telling you, for your information. So the classes were normal (if not?!), there was not a lot of subjects to learn, but some peculiar ones, like Arts and Acts of Persuasion (AAP) and Research Studies for this Projects Day Competition.
So, after school, I go back to the boarding school to rest and do my work there. Quite busy,seriously. Nothing weird going on, but later there may be some.Be right back.....

Flowers for Algernon

3. You are a reporter covering scientific news Conduct an interview about the outcome of the Algeron-Gordon experiment with Miss Kinnian. Your transcript should capture the essence of the character and her motivations. (What is that?) This is my homework for this book called "Flowers for Algernon".



Ray(Me!=)): Good morning Miss Kinnian.

Miss Kinnian: Hello, may I help you?

Ray: I want to interview you about the Algernon-Gordon experiment.

Miss Kinnian: OK, go on.

Ray: Why was Gordon chosen to do the experiment?

Miss Kinnian: Oh, he was chosen because he was a good motivation.

Ray: What does Charlie see the first time he is given the Rorschach Test?

Miss Kinnian: He sees nothing but the inkblot only.

Ray: How does Charlie feel about Algernon before the operation?

Miss Kinnian: He feels that Algernon is very clever because of the operation.

Ray: Is that why he wanted to have the operation?

Miss Kinnian: Yes......

Ray: Are there any signs of Charlie getting smarter after the operation?

Miss Kinnian: It is not obvious but he can learn things faster when the time goes by.

Ray: Ok, then how did he lose his job?

Miss Kinnian: Oh, I'm not quite sure, but his progress report said that it is because he is too clever and his coworkers cannot make fun of him anymore.

Ray: After the death of Algernon, what happened to Charlie?

Miss Kinnian: He must have found out that it will be the same on him later

Ray: Did he take any action?

Miss Kinnian: Erm... yes, he tried to remember things around him out no avail.

Ray: How do you react when you saw him coming back to school?

Miss Kinnian: I was suprised when he came back but shock *sniff*after knowing this happening.

Ray: Ok, I hope I didn't offend you, but I think i better go now.

Miss Kinnian: Oh, it's ok. But if you want to go, I can bring you out.

Ray: Goodbye, and thanks for the interview.

MissKinnian: Welcome.

And this concludes my 'interview" and my homework. I hope that you're not bored to death, and thanks for reading.........

Second week in the school...

So....my second week in school. What happened to the first week? You ate it?(Actually our school started one week later, so hehe...)What so great in the first week of school? Nothing great..... Now that I am in the secondary school, it would be different with the primary school. Just the orientation blah blah, then learn more things about the school, then....... Now in the first week, we freshies don't really know about the school. The teacher did introduction about the lesson because it's reallly different from the primary school, this this that that...... but the recess is great! It's easy to get lost now, you know, and fortunately, I didn't get lost, but my friend went to the carpark, and it ended really great! Other than that, I also know more people here, some cool ones, but some not really good ones. Ok, the first(I mean second) week has nothing much, so don't expect me to write so much.