Yet another week...

Sigh, looks like results will only come out next week...hopefully will be before Friday...

Dim Sum Dollies

This was surprisingly funny. There were some pretty clever jokes of the stereotypes and caricatures of Singapore and Singaporeans and the singing was good. Became rather 'nationalistic' at the end, but it's nice to know that we can laugh at ourselves, yet remember that Singaporeans are actually pretty fortunate.

Rumour has it (IV)

My friend's mother's sister's friend apparently has insider news that results will be out on Friday....so shall be seeing you all soon if it's true :)

Planning

Because of band, I've been seeing a number of appeal cases recently. Some students are so keen on entering the school that they'll try anything and any means to get in...and I felt very bad turning them away.

Many couldn't get in because of poor choices of schools, I even met a 12 pointer (raw score) who was posted to a poly because he didn't choose his schools wisely. Others missed our auditions because they thought that they will be able to appeal successfully based on what they had written on the appeal form (certainly not when there are ard 600 appeal applications!). It's quite sad to reject their applications because some of them are genuinely nice students.

So while you are waiting for the A-level results, it might be good to go for all the Open House events you can, read the Scholars' Choice sections that the Straits Times published, and start evaluating the choices you have. Even 8Days had a section on the private universities/distance learning courses available.

The annual Career and Education fair will be held on 28/2 - 2/3 http://www.careerseries.com.sg/default.aspx. This may mean that the results will come out within that period. But in case the results are not out, it may be worth visiting the fair to just get a feel of the local/oversease education options and possible career opportunities. Don't just walk around at the fair, go for the seminar sessions to hear from the professionals as well.

Now's the time to figure out whether JC education has made you more resourceful...plan now, don't wait till the last minute

The power of the Internet

The good...
You might have read this in The New Paper or on the college website, about one of your seniors who couldn't get into top US universities despite a perfect score for the A-levels. He decided to film himself giving Math lectures and post them on Youtube to prove that his worth. Is this guy ingenious or just disgruntled? You decide. But the thing is that with the Internet, you can be anything you want to be...and sometimes it does work in your favour. Check out his lectures if you miss Math/Physics tutorials - http://www.nanyangjc.org/news/view-article.php?y=2008&article=8

The bad...
Teacher mocks ‘poor’ essays by pupils in blog
ESTHER AU YONG & ANDREA SOH/my paper/18/02/08
A teacher has come under fire after his blog entry mocking his Primary 3 pupils was discovered and its URL passed to other netizens. The relief teacher had posted online four excerpts from different compositions written by his pupils and accompanying them, he had commented: “I have three terribly ridiculous compositions... a source of entertainment, I should say... I will type it out... no corrections or whatsoever... enjoy!” He later added a fourth composition.
A primary school teacher who only wanted to be known as Ms Wong, 28, felt the blogger was not professional.
“If he puts it on his blog such that the children can improve, it’s okay. If it’s to amuse himself, then it’s not,” she said.
Parents my paper spoke to also had harsh words for the teacher.
Madam Jearina Champion, a 36-year-old homemaker whose son is in Primary 6, said: “As a teacher, he has forgotten his role. If he thinks the compositions are bad, he should keep it within the boundaries of the classroom. As a teacher, he should care for the emotional well-being of the child.”
If her son had been one of the pupils whose compositions were criticised on the blog, she would “have a word quietly with him”, if she is close to and respects the teacher. If not, she would “write to the teacher and send a copy (the e-mail) to the principal”.
Madam Pee Hian Hwe, a 48-year-old mother of a Primary 5 pupil, agreed.
“It’s not up to me to say whether teachers have a right to do this on their personal blogs, but I guess the school should have rules as to what teachers can or cannot put online," she said.

I believe those of you who are doing relief teaching aren't as naive as this teacher...there are things that you can share with your colleagues in the staff room, or even discuss them with your friends, but do remember that blogs are public, there are people who are free enough to search and read people's blogs. And all these are written in black and white, and easily copied and circulated. Don't put up pictures/posts that may incriminate you in any way. (p.s. I realise that 'my paper' has very interesting stories. Worth reading!)

and the ugly...

Hmm...guess the most discussed 'ugly' side of this issue currently is the Edison Chen scandal. Another reminder that it's seriously not very clever to store private photos/videos of yourself in handphones and computers and hope that nobody discovers them. Of course, it is not very clever to have such photos in the first place...

Okie...lecture on the Internet completed :)

The news....

Hope you all had good angpow collections so far...can always share with a poor teacher if you've got too much ha!

Anyway, in case you are bored...here's some interesting local news that you might/not have read...definitely more educational than the latest Jack Neo/Stephen Chow/Jay Chou shows :) (sigh, for want of good movies to watch this CNY) :

Should teachers have a dress code? - Was rather amused and pretty indignant after reading this article...especially when I read how this whole issue came about. Btw, we do have a generic dresscode

We need to build up our adversity quotient - This Forum letter was written by some of your juniors, in response to the hullaballoo over the incident where a school principal told some of the N(A) students to go to ITE if they cannot pass their O-levels.

Chinese New Year!!!

Yayy! Chinese New Year tomorrow!!! Pardon my over-enthusiasm, but have been waiting for a holiday for a loooong time and it's finally here!!! A super long weekend!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Complain...complain...

The Complaints Choir (http://www.complaintschoir.org/news.html) is a pretty interesting project started in Helsinki. People come together to discuss the complaints they have about their country and put it to song. It is now a universal phenomenon with a number of Complaints Choirs around the world.

Singapore's Complaints Choir was supposed to perform for the M1 fringe festival but it became a private performance because the MDA said that the choir will be singing about local domestic affairs so foreigners should not be allowed to perform with the choir.

Response from the founders of the choir? They were 'disappointed that our prejudices against Singapore have been affirmed...We see the symptoms of a neurotic society. We find it irritating that foreigners - people that built this city, nurse Singaporean kids and bring in their knowledge - are not allowed to complain.'

Anyway, it seems that Singaporeans are really rather good at complaining, because the participants produced about 1000 complaints in 10min - a world record!

You can watch the video of the choir here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ZY4Bn6q2s
Here are the lyrics, the sound quality is not very good so you have to read the lyrics to understand what they are singing about. As you watch the video, try to identify the typical Singaporean - very obviously rigid and slightly uncomfortable!:

We get fined for almost everything
Drivers won’t ‘give chance’ when you want to ‘change lane’
The indoors are cold, the outdoors are hot;
And the humid air, it wrecks my hair
Those answering machines always make you hold
Only to hang up on you
When a pregnant lady gets on the train
Everyone pretends to be asleep
I’m stuck with my parents till I’m 35
Cause I can’t apply for HDB
We don’t recycle any plastic bags
But we purify our pee
*chorus:
What’s wrong with Singapore?
Losing always makes me feel so sore
Cause if you’re not the best
Then you’re just one of the rest
My oh my Singapore
What exactly are we voting for?
What’s not expressly permitted is prohibited
“Ooh”
When I’m hungry at the food court, I see
People ‘chope’ seats with their tissue paper
To the aunty staying upstairs:
Your laundry’s dripping on my bed sheets
Please don’t squat on the toilet seats
And don’t clip your nails on MRT
Stray cats get into noisy affairs
At night my neighbor makes weird animal sounds
People put on fake accents to sound posh
And queue up 3 hours for donuts
Will I ever live till eighty fiveto collect my CPF?
*chorus
Singaporeans too kiasu! (so scared to lose)
Singaporeans too kiasi! (so scared o die)
Singaporeans too kiabor!(scared of their wives)
Maybe we’re just too stressed out! (even the kids)
“Ooh”
Old National Library was replaced by an ugly tunnel
Singaporean men can’t take independent women
People blow their nose into the swimming pool
And fall asleep on my shoulder in the train
Singapore’s national bird is the crane (the one with yellow steel girders)
Real estate agents’ leaflets clogging up my mailbox (en bloc, en bloc; en bloc, en bloc)
Why can’t we be buried when we die?
No one wants to climb Bukit Timah with me
*chorus
"Ooh”
There are not enough public holidays
My neighbor sings KTV all night
Wedding dinners never start on time
My hair is always cut shorter than I want
Channel 5 commercials are way too long
Why do men turn bad?
*At first it was to speak more mandarin
Then it was to speak proper English
What’s wrong with my powderful Singlish?
People sit down during rock concerts
We have to pay for tap water at restaurants
ERP gantries are everywhere
But I can still see traffic jams on the road
All the bus stops have tilted benches to keep you off balance
*chorus

Do you agree with these complaints?

You can also watch Complaints Choir of other countries. The ones from non-English speaking countries have subtitles so you can understand what they are complaining about. It's a pretty interesting way to understand the cultures of these countries. Listen to the one from Helsinki, it's pretty funny when they sing about annoying ringtones to the tune of the all familiar Nokia ringtone (Nokia comes from Finland, whose capital is Helsinki) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATXV3DzKv68

Rumour has it (III)...

This one comes from Meng How, and his source seems pretty reliable...so here it is:
Results will only come out in early March.
Long time to go....