Blog Prompt 3
Prompt: The Ministry of Education is reviewing the syllabus of the History subject. Write a 300-word formal letter to the Education Minister to share your opinion about the current History syllabus. Offer at least one suggestion to enhance the syllabus, and persuade the Minister to take up this suggestion.
Letter:
Dexter Kuah
Block 721,
Bukit Timah Avenue 3
#04-1767
Singapore 678111
31 January 2009
Education Minister
Ministry of Education, Singapore
1 North Buona Vista Drive
Singapore 138675
Dear Sir,
Re: Current History Syllabus
------------------------
I am writing to you to express my opinion of the current History syllabus. I feel that the current History syllabus can help us to understand our ancestors and their contributions better. However, I feel that when political history is being taught, the teachers should teach about the oppisition parties too, about their plans and the better people in the parties.
The teachers should talk about the efforts that they put in so that the students will have a better range of ideas if they happen to do anything that concerns the political issues. The teachers should not just focus entirely on the People's Action Party although it is the strongest party among all the parties. The teachers probably can talk about what good points the parties have and what bad points they have as well. By doing so, students can have a comprehensive knowledge of Singapore's political history and also give them a fuller understanding of the different ways wanted to be used to help Singapore develop. If you are able to change the syllabus and implement my idea, there might be even more leaders in the country who are very familiar with the political issues due to the good education being taught when they were schooling. Then, the leaders will be able to make intelligent changes to the country based on those used previously and those not used yet to make Singapore an even better place.
Probably, some concepts can be taught in textbooks too, such as the people, circumstance and event concept. E.g. Jane was trying to reach for the salt when she accidentally knocked the plate and dropped it onto the floor. Therefore, the person is Jane, the circumstance is that the plate was there and the event was that Jane was trying to reach for the salt. This concept leads to the historic event taking place. This concept can be taught when students just started learning History so that they will know how historic events come about. Therefore, teaching these concepts to student are rather important as well as it helps students to understand and learn history better and easier.
Apart from these suggestions, I feel that the syllabus is rather good for students to learn History. Please consider my suggestions and I hope to see some changes being implemented.
Yours faithfully,
Dexter Kuah
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Issues in Flowers for Algernon
Question 4: Intrapersonal: Imagine that you are someone who is mentally challenged. Write a diary entry of a typical day, taking into consideration the discrimination and helplessness they face. Please ensure you have conducted research on this. Cite your sources. It should be no less than 400 words.
Deer Diry,
I had a grate time today. I had a lot of funs with my friends from the factery where I work. When I went to the factery, my friends came to me and asked me if I wanted to go to the disko. I was very exited at that time as my friends never asked me out befor. Duering work, my friend, Ahmad, fall down when walking. Then, my another friend, Josh, used my name when he shouted, “Haha Ahmad, are you trying to pull a Dexter Kuah?” At that time, almost everybody laughed. Seeing them laugh, I followed suit and laughed too. I did not really understood what Josh meant by pull a Dexter Kuah but when we laughed, my friend, Amy, sudenly shouted, “Stop laughing! It is not funny!”
Just then, everybody stopped laughing. I did not understood why. After work, I met up with my best friend from the factery, Andy, and headed streight to the disko to meet with my other friends. At the disko, we played games that I didn’t know how to play. I asked them to teech me how to play but they just said, “Dexter, there is no need for you to learn how to play this game. You just play it by following our instructions.” We played the game and I followed their instructions. I don know whether I win or lose but I just played. I played in almost evry single game and my friends laughed after evry game. I did not know why they laughed, so I just followed them and laughed. We played and played for about two hours and they decided that we should dance. The most elegant lady in the factery asked me to dance and I was socked. I did not expect in a milion years that she would ask me to dance with her. I grabbed her hand and we started dancing.
As we danced, I always seemed to be tripping and my friends always seemed to be laughing. Even the lady who was dancing with me was laughing all the while. I did not know why they laughed and once again, laughed with them. I did not know why I was so clumpsy to trip over the ladys leg all the time while the other people did not. I was embarased. Well, I have nuthing more to rite now so I will close for today.
Source: The Book, “Flowers For Algernon”
Deer Diry,
I had a grate time today. I had a lot of funs with my friends from the factery where I work. When I went to the factery, my friends came to me and asked me if I wanted to go to the disko. I was very exited at that time as my friends never asked me out befor. Duering work, my friend, Ahmad, fall down when walking. Then, my another friend, Josh, used my name when he shouted, “Haha Ahmad, are you trying to pull a Dexter Kuah?” At that time, almost everybody laughed. Seeing them laugh, I followed suit and laughed too. I did not really understood what Josh meant by pull a Dexter Kuah but when we laughed, my friend, Amy, sudenly shouted, “Stop laughing! It is not funny!”
Just then, everybody stopped laughing. I did not understood why. After work, I met up with my best friend from the factery, Andy, and headed streight to the disko to meet with my other friends. At the disko, we played games that I didn’t know how to play. I asked them to teech me how to play but they just said, “Dexter, there is no need for you to learn how to play this game. You just play it by following our instructions.” We played the game and I followed their instructions. I don know whether I win or lose but I just played. I played in almost evry single game and my friends laughed after evry game. I did not know why they laughed, so I just followed them and laughed. We played and played for about two hours and they decided that we should dance. The most elegant lady in the factery asked me to dance and I was socked. I did not expect in a milion years that she would ask me to dance with her. I grabbed her hand and we started dancing.
As we danced, I always seemed to be tripping and my friends always seemed to be laughing. Even the lady who was dancing with me was laughing all the while. I did not know why they laughed and once again, laughed with them. I did not know why I was so clumpsy to trip over the ladys leg all the time while the other people did not. I was embarased. Well, I have nuthing more to rite now so I will close for today.
Source: The Book, “Flowers For Algernon”
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Information on Dr William Tan
Hi everybody, I admire Dr William Tan and want to share more information about him with all of you. Here is the place where you can get more information of him! Enjoy!
Things In Class!
Hi everybody, this is going to be my second entry of the day! As you all might know, the Lunar New Year is actually tomorrow! If you go around Singapore, you can see that many places are decorated beautifully to increase the new year mood.
However, the main thing is in Hwa Chong Institution. My form teacher, Ms Ng, had told us to make lanterns last time to decorate the class as there will be a competition in which class is the best in the decoration. However, on Wednesday, 21/1/09, when Ms Ng asked who has done the lantern, she found out that nobody did and was furious and disappointed. Therefore, some people, including me, went back home that day and completed the lantern. We brought them to school and hung them outside the classroom. On the notice board at the back of our class, there are also some decorations made for the new year. The other classes are actually also decorated beautifully for the new year too. The results of the competition are coming out soon and I cannot wait to see which class will emerge victorious. It will definitely be a tight competition. May the best class win!
However, the main thing is in Hwa Chong Institution. My form teacher, Ms Ng, had told us to make lanterns last time to decorate the class as there will be a competition in which class is the best in the decoration. However, on Wednesday, 21/1/09, when Ms Ng asked who has done the lantern, she found out that nobody did and was furious and disappointed. Therefore, some people, including me, went back home that day and completed the lantern. We brought them to school and hung them outside the classroom. On the notice board at the back of our class, there are also some decorations made for the new year. The other classes are actually also decorated beautifully for the new year too. The results of the competition are coming out soon and I cannot wait to see which class will emerge victorious. It will definitely be a tight competition. May the best class win!
Blog Prompt from News Clip #2
Blog Prompt 1
Prompt: Imagine that you are Dr Tan and that you have been invited to make an article contribution to a youth magazine to encourage young people to set worthwhile goals and work towards them. This article should be 200-250 words long.
Article: Have you'll ever thought of setting worthwhile goals for yourselves and working towards them? Well, because of this thought, I always succeed in everything I do, such as doing marathons and other things to help raise funds for patients who are poor.
Although I am disabled, I have the heart to accomplish the goal I set for myself. If I can do it, you young people can do it too. I am disabled while all of you are strong and healthy, so there is no reason you'll cannot accomplish the goals you'll set for yourselves. If you all set worthwhile goals and put in your heart and soul to try to achieve it, you'll definitely excel. It's just a matter of whether you want to do it or not. If you do not want to do it, of course you will not do it well. However if you want to do it, you might have a chance of succeeding.
If you are motivated by something, it will be much better as it gives you the extra energy to accomplish your goal. Try to find something you want to do and work towards it. You will succeed one day. However, you have to have the fighting spirit and patience. As the saying goes, "Patience is the key to success". Patience is the key thing that you need to succeed in everything you do.
You must be able to withstand long hours of agony to succeed too. Of course, no pain equals to no gain. You cannot possibly expect to succeed without putting in effort. Therefore, I encourage all of you to set worthwhile goals for yourself and try to accomplish them. Who knows, what you do might actually benefit people.
Prompt: Imagine that you are Dr Tan and that you have been invited to make an article contribution to a youth magazine to encourage young people to set worthwhile goals and work towards them. This article should be 200-250 words long.
Article: Have you'll ever thought of setting worthwhile goals for yourselves and working towards them? Well, because of this thought, I always succeed in everything I do, such as doing marathons and other things to help raise funds for patients who are poor.
Although I am disabled, I have the heart to accomplish the goal I set for myself. If I can do it, you young people can do it too. I am disabled while all of you are strong and healthy, so there is no reason you'll cannot accomplish the goals you'll set for yourselves. If you all set worthwhile goals and put in your heart and soul to try to achieve it, you'll definitely excel. It's just a matter of whether you want to do it or not. If you do not want to do it, of course you will not do it well. However if you want to do it, you might have a chance of succeeding.
If you are motivated by something, it will be much better as it gives you the extra energy to accomplish your goal. Try to find something you want to do and work towards it. You will succeed one day. However, you have to have the fighting spirit and patience. As the saying goes, "Patience is the key to success". Patience is the key thing that you need to succeed in everything you do.
You must be able to withstand long hours of agony to succeed too. Of course, no pain equals to no gain. You cannot possibly expect to succeed without putting in effort. Therefore, I encourage all of you to set worthwhile goals for yourself and try to accomplish them. Who knows, what you do might actually benefit people.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Current Affairs in the America
Hey everybody. It is me once again. As most of you should know, America has a new President! It is Mr Barack Obama. He is the first African-American President in America out of the 44 presidents. The Inauguration Day was two days ago by the way.
Mr Barack Obama promises changes he will do when he becomes President of America. Everybody now depends on him to save the world from the financial crisis which has been continuing from last year. I, a Singaporean citizen, also hope that he will solve the problem so that the market will not be so bad and not so many people will get retrenched.
The financial crisis has certainly affected many people in the world in their businesses. Some are affected minorly while some are affected majorly. I hope that the people will earn as much as they earned last time so that their lives will not be affected drastically.
I believe that Mr Barack Obama was elected as people trusted him to do this well. I also believe that he can solve this problem too. Many people will be pinning their hopes on him for a change in the financial market.
Anyway, for more information about Mr Barack Obama, you can visit this website:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Here are some pictures of Mr Barack Obama:
Courtesy of www.obeygiant.com and www.jewsonfirst.org
Well, this is all I can say about the new America's president, Mr Barack Obama. Bye.
Mr Barack Obama promises changes he will do when he becomes President of America. Everybody now depends on him to save the world from the financial crisis which has been continuing from last year. I, a Singaporean citizen, also hope that he will solve the problem so that the market will not be so bad and not so many people will get retrenched.
The financial crisis has certainly affected many people in the world in their businesses. Some are affected minorly while some are affected majorly. I hope that the people will earn as much as they earned last time so that their lives will not be affected drastically.
I believe that Mr Barack Obama was elected as people trusted him to do this well. I also believe that he can solve this problem too. Many people will be pinning their hopes on him for a change in the financial market.
Anyway, for more information about Mr Barack Obama, you can visit this website:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Here are some pictures of Mr Barack Obama:
Courtesy of www.obeygiant.com and www.jewsonfirst.org
Well, this is all I can say about the new America's president, Mr Barack Obama. Bye.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Principal's Dialogue Session 1
Hi everybody, I will be writing about the first Principal's Dialogue Session we had today in the auditorium hall during assembly. First, my school principal, Dr Hon, discussed with us on the main events in the world in the year 2008. He talked about the Sichuan Earthquake, the Beijing Olympics, the financial crisis and many more.
After he finished his speech, there were three people from iSpark classes who were the panelists for the Dialogue Session. They discussed about the Anglo-Chinese School incident, which they linked to our school morals. The school morals they talked about are joy, teamwork, integrity, global perspective, excellence, resilience and respect. Hwa Chong Institution has also created a short form for it, J-TIGERR. I felt that the panelists did a rather good job. They answered the questions asked pretty well. On the whole, I felt that today Principal's Dialogue Session was rather productive.
I personally feel that schools should be like Hwa Chong Institution and maybe some other schools and hold Principal's Dialogue Sessions so that we can discuss about the current affairs and other stuff.
Well, I got to go now. Bye!
After he finished his speech, there were three people from iSpark classes who were the panelists for the Dialogue Session. They discussed about the Anglo-Chinese School incident, which they linked to our school morals. The school morals they talked about are joy, teamwork, integrity, global perspective, excellence, resilience and respect. Hwa Chong Institution has also created a short form for it, J-TIGERR. I felt that the panelists did a rather good job. They answered the questions asked pretty well. On the whole, I felt that today Principal's Dialogue Session was rather productive.
I personally feel that schools should be like Hwa Chong Institution and maybe some other schools and hold Principal's Dialogue Sessions so that we can discuss about the current affairs and other stuff.
Well, I got to go now. Bye!
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