Friday, September 28, 2007

Essay Prelim Papers from other JCs

Here are the prelim questions from other JCs. I'll put up some of the outlines later. If you have friends from other JCs who have outlines for their prelim papers, and will like to share them with us, pls let me know...
P1 prelim questions

If you are doing essays for me every week, pls do the MJC paper for Wk 4. I'll tell you what to do for the rest of the weeks by tomorrow.

Pls note that although Q7 of the MJC paper sounds like the S&T question for our prelims, it is different. If you want to try the question, you need to note the key words of the question.

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Important - Compre Practices are on WED/THURS!

Pls note that the compre practices are on Wed or Thurs depending on the week, but they are definitely NOT on Saturdays...we are nice enough to let you sleep in a little...

You have to print out the passages and questions for yourself. They will be posted up on litespeed.

Pls note that the session for Week 3 will be on 18/10 instead of the 17th. So the finalised dates are as follows:

3/10 (Wed) - LT2 2pm
11/10 (Thurs) - LT2 1pm
18/10 (Thurs) - LT2 1pm
24/10 (Wed) - LT2 1pm

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Post-prelim....get the engine started again

Now that you've seen your results...it's time to get ready for the real time, the last lap!

Congrats to those who did well, and for those who are disappointed by their results, don't be discouraged... now is the time to answer the 'why like that?' question, see where the problems lie and think about how we can improve.

Don't mope over the results, don't get complacent either, many things can happen over the next 4 weeks. If you learn from your mistakes and keep reading and practising, I'm confident that you can make it! Yes, this is sincere.

A few things to do during this 4 weeks:

1) Learn from the prelims - consultation slots are up already. Book a time with me to go through your paper and find out what went wrong. Prelim papers are important because we usually pitch it at A-level standards

2) Compre Practice - to make sure that you don't forget how to do a compre, especially within the 1.5hrs, you are highly encouraged to attend the compre practices. This time it's really highly encouraged 'cos I won't be taking attendance but if you don't come and you don't have the discipline to practise on your own, I can guarantee that it will be difficult to remember the skills and regain the momentum during the exam.
The timings of the practices are as follows:
3/10 (Wed) - 2pm LT2
11/10 (Thurs) - 1pm LT2
17/10 (Wed) - 1pm LT2
24/10 (Wed) - 1pm LT2

3) Essay Practice - this is the one that I'm highly concerned about because I don't have structured practices planned for you. But if you think that you need to practise an essay every week, I'll be more than happy to make you come and do a 1.5hr essay every week. Other than that, pls practice doing outlines and full essays on your own - look at the other schools' prelim papers (will be put up soon) or the A-level questions

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

How teachers de-stress during marking period...

...by watching Ms Teen USA videos and feeling reassured that incomprehensible AQs and out-of-this-world paraphrasing are not limited to Singaporean students because even American beauty queens will find it difficult to pass GP....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII

...by consoling ourselves that there are people with jobs that are as 'exciting' as ours
http://sg.video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=904564

...by watching super irritating monkeys...there is some sadistic joy in doing so, especially during marking period
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVD6kxge8M8

Monday, September 03, 2007

'Happy' Holidays...

Here's my customary post to give you some cause for cheer during the hols. I know this isn't much of a hols but do press on 'cos it's going to be over soon (hmm...I'm not sure whether this is much of a comfort but I'm trying to be encouraging...).



Work hard and don't waste the hols...but do take time to relax, exercise and read the newspapers :) Keep yourself healthy too...drink water, take your vitamins etc etc...starting to sound naggy again.



Anyway, here are some ways to relax:
http://stickgal.blogspot.com/: This blog is quite cute...the writer documents her life through drawings of stick figures
Click on this (you need to save it then open it, otherwise it's not very effective) : A nice soothing face to look at haha


Take a trip to Japan: Here are some interesting photos I took when I went to Japan in June. Wanted to show you all some of these but had no time...

1 2 3

1. The legendary Japanese toilets...If you press the musical note, there will be a flushing sound that will hide any 'interesting' noise that you emit while doing your important business
2. You can be injured sometimes but not all the time....
3. Recognise this man? Wonder whether our PM will allow his image to be used to sell cookies
4 5 6

4. Yes, I've a fondness for toilet pics. I'm no Hello Kitty fan but was amazed to see all the details in Hello Kitty world...everything was Hello Kitty and friends...down to the toilet signs and doors!
5. And S'poreans complain about uniforms...wait till we make you wear the same hat and carry the same school bag!
6. Another sign of Japanese efficiency...neat queues outside the lift door
7 8 9 10
7. Cosplayers in Harajuku. Got quite a shock when I saw this cosplayer...it's a HE...with stubble on his chin and all. Too bad I was too 'paiseh' to take a pic of his face
8. The usual 'self-obsessed' youth of this generation, tsk tsk...
9. The anomaly of cosplayers...dressed up as scary looking characters (see pic 10) with 'kawaii' Lilo and Stich bags...

11 12 13
11. 'Women only' cabin on their trains to protect women from molestation on their super crowded subway trains
12. Can't help but take this photo. See the resemblance? They were having some kind of baby dedication ceremony
13. The Japanese are still very religious (mainly Shintoism and Buddhism) although many of their shrines and temples are rather touristy and commercialised. This is one of those wooden blocks that people write their wishes on

Anyway, if all else fails, watch Ratatouille...it comes highly recommended by, erm, Sebastian, haha... anyway, I heard it's really pretty good. But only do this if you've finished your revision ok.

Till we meet again...when I return your prelim papers :)