CAMPING TIME

With student from Yishun Sec Sch and BPK GS Tangerang Jakarta.


Bukit Timah Hike
Attended a camp at Dairy Farm MOE Adventure site with 51 students and one of the programmes was a hike to Bukit Timah Hill. Students were taught how to read the GPS to find their checkpoint and location. The hike took four hours and ended at the former quarry site.

BOARD AND NOT BORED GAMES

The 25 Squares Game - Don't be trapped by the barricades!

You need to solve your clues before being declared a winner for this game

Get more culturalised with our game!

Up and Down, Left and Right - Any Way To Win

Move on when you can answer a question

Chee Kiong judging the board games

Students playing the games designed for them

Oral presentation skills required to explain the game to the visitors

One of the games that needed some strategic moves

Everyone had a field day at the game booths

Motivating students to give their best shot for the judging

Differrent races come together for a common goal

Bonding with each other through designing the game

Playing with my ex-student Ravin, who now teaches with me

We learn to resolve conflicts amicably in the process of designing the game

One of the games that drew a large number of audience

Through our research we learnt a lot about the different races
Our creativity and innovativeness are put into coming up of this game

Makan Poly is about the different dishes found in Singapore

Students trying out the game on multi culturalism

Thanks for this project! It brought us closer.

Tightening the social cohesion in Singapore through playing of games

UNITY IN DIVERSITY BOARD GAME

As part of the Racial Harmony Day Commemoration, the Character Education and Pupil Welfare Department organised the Character Development Lesson (CDL) Board game demonstration. Students from Sec 3 classes together with their CDL teachers and friends had a field time playing the games designed by the students for the students.

Students had to apply creative and critical thinking skills as well as foster collaborative learning skills and Social Emotional Learning competencies in coming up with the projects.

The message behind designing the games is for students to realise the importance of preserving racial and religious harmony and through many races, religions, languages and cultures, we will pursue one destiny; for Singapore's prosperity and stability. This is also a topic they do in Sec 3 Social Studies on Bonding.

The 15 board games demonstrated were given creative names like 'Makan Poly', 'Wheel of Harmony', 'Culture Starz', Cultural Devotional Challenge', 'The 25 Squares', 'We're One S'pore', "Footprints of Singapore', 'Top Game', Racial Boo', 'Slopes and Valleys' etc.

Let's hear some comments of the participants and those present:

"I bonded closer with Jie Ming in the process of designing this game."
- Fazira (participant)

"The project allowed us to come together, work together and discover more about each other."
- Yong Sheng (participant)

"We learn about time management and why it is important to prepare early, especially for exams."
- Jia Min (participant)

"By working in group, we learnt how to manage our differences and came up with the best solutions for all."
- Denise (participant)

"We did research work on the internet and interviewed our friends from different races to know more about their culture. It was very useful."
- Cherry (participant)

"My team members had fun together in coming up with the format of the game and the interesting questions on the different customs and traditions." - Hanis (participant)

"Our level of awareness and knowledge of the different races, customs and culture has increased through designing the board game."
- Rachel (participant)

"It was fun playing the games. I learnt more about others by answering the questions posed to me."
- Hidayat (visitor)

"I enjoyed myself playing the games. Some of the games were unique and creative."
- Niresha (visitor)

The teachers also gave the thumbs up for the games demonstrated.

"The games are really interactive and I enjoyed playing them. The students were confident in their presentation skills"
- Mr Ong CK

"I played a very innovative game. The students had applied a high level of creativity into designing the game."
- Ms Amanda Wong

"There are so many good games showcased today. I am amazed."
- Ms Nur Kamilah

As for me, I felt great crafting the lesson and designing the board game requirement and coordinating such a fun-filled, hands-on, values-education activity. The colourful work of the students added colour and vibrancy to the whole atmosphere in the canteen on that Friday. The students took great pride in demonstrating their work. This platform was indeed a great effort to round up the RHD celebrations too.

The support given by the teachers and students for this project was superb!

THE GOLDEN MOMENT

Gold, gold and gold everywhere
See this solid piece of metal
Me and my haul of gold for the boys

CHERISH THE GOLD

Our Takraw boys did us proud by becoming the champions in our zone and emerging runners-up in the national zone. They played their heart out to be at the tops. Congrats boys!

The efforts from Fahmy, Zainal and Umaizy have paid off.

AWESOME CUPCAKE

A is for Awesone Azizah

The team showing off their cakes
Rachel can't wait to chomp off her way thorough the cake
Awesone Azizah is spelt on the cake
I smile like the face on the cake


SUGARY SWEET

Had a personalised cupcake with my name on it. Everyone in the department received one from Faizah. Amidst sharing our personal experiences, we eyed the sugary gift before admitting defeat and sinking our teeth into the chocolate spongy texture. The round-about-table sharing unveiled many things which we do not know of each other though we had been working together for many years. Dark secrets, sweet memories, fears of the unknown and getting face to face with your age were spilled out unashamedly like marbles rolling out from a tin.

What a way to bond and get to know one another beyond our professional scope as a warm individual person.

CLOSER TO HOME

PAST & PRESENT OF SINGAPORE RIVER








SHANGHAI X'PERIENCE

This scrapbook generated with Smilebox

THE MAGNIFICENT MAGLEV

At the end of the whooshing ride

Speed indicator at every car of the train

With my group on the train

At the platform before boarding

Synergy at work - The Shanghai Knights Team

The gate to the underground platform

Marvelling at the train

The scene from the train

Recording the record ride

Just can't wait to be on the Maglev

With our guide

A signboard at the station

A VIP cabin compartment

Longyang Station

Maglev train coming out from Pudong Airport

MAGLEV TRAIN REDEFINES TRAVELLING

It is sleek, fast, has a hyper speed and moves silently through the tunnel and past the scenery outside its windows. It whooshes to 300km per hour in two minutes flat, is pollution-free and has no exhaust fumes. How's that for speed faster than almost any mode of any speeding locomotive around the region here or the world and for green technology? I saw a documentary once on this Shanghai Maglev Train and my throat almost immediately went dry when the red LED screen inside the train indicated its record-breaking speed of 431kph.

I also learnt that at full speed, a journey on the train could take just 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete a distance of 30 km, although some trains in the early morning and late afternoon might take about 50 seconds longer. I was blown away by the 3-digit number I saw on the red light LED screen shown during the documentary. In a split-second, I made a mental connection of my new-found discovery to a geography topic I had taught about the shrinking world and how modern technology had brought benefits to the world of travelling.

This magnificent Maglev machine which man has created has no wings, wheels or engine either. It was developed by Transrapid, a German firm. The company describes the Maglev as "the first fundamental innovation in the field of railway technology since the invention of the railway." Shanghai was chosen as the site for this super fast train construction site after studies made found that Beijing and Shenzhen were not so suitable for its running and operation.

Works began in 2001 and within two and a half years the levitation line was completed to join Pudong Airport to the outskirts in Shanghai. The line is 30.5 km long, has two stations and has a further separate track leading to a maintenance facility.

So what propels and pushes this train to such a speed? Magnets is the answer. First, powerful magnets lift the entire train about 10 millimeters above the special track, called a guideway, since it mainly directs the passage of the train. Other magnets provide propulsion, and braking, and the speeds - up to 500 kph in test runs; a good 60 percent faster than the renowned Bullet Trains - are attained largely due to the reduction of friction. Some Physics here! And for Maths and Economics - the cost to build this rail infrastructure was a whopping $US 1.2 billion. And talking about 'Innovative in Our Ways,' the Germans patented the basic system of this train way before World War II.

I was just as excited as the young Shanghai Knights for their maiden ride on the train. I felt the rush of being transported to the world of futuristic fervour mixed with the feeling of being carried away by Marvel comic-hero Superman whom I idolised during my childhood days.

But wait...China has just built another superfast trainline from Beijing to Shanghai. It hopes to connect the two cities in just five hours. The train capable of speeding at 486km/h would be in operation in June 2011.

CHOLESTEROL-FILLED WEEK

THRILL, KRILL & GRILL


The first catch of the wet day

Another catch by the Lobster Queen

Those that did not get away ended up in my cooking pot


Another one.....and another one....

Bringing home to cook for the rest of the gang

Quite a reasonably-sized prawn for an amateur like me

Glee to kill and thrill to krill

Look Ma, What I have for you!

More like longkang fishing during my younger days

CALORIE AND CHOLESTEROL

Within a week I had three department lunches. Not your usual canteen food but good food which is not too good for the heart and waist. But who cares when we got to bond with colleagues over oily, deep fried, sweet, lemak and sinful food after a year of working hard and not seeing each other much. We even celebrated a colleague's birthday in beween the three lunches. Straits, Thai-Chinese, Japanese and Malay cuisine and dishes fought for space in my digestive system.

The climax of the week I must say is the Prawning session we had. Yeh! When you fish we say fishing so what do say when one goes to catch prawn? I simply termed it as 'Prawning'. A group of us went to Sembawang Bottle Tree Park and just soaked in the rain to prawn. I started the opening ceremony by catcing the the first prawn among the nine of us in the group. My total haul was six prawns in two hours. Not so productive but the thrill to see your sinker go below the water level and to feel the tug of the rascal at the end of the chicken-liver-bait hook was enough to justify the long arduous wait. We hooked up 26 'udang galah' or little lobsters. They in turn ended up in my pot together with some chilly padi, curry powder and oyster sauce. They were grilled to kill the tastebuds.

The next time I have some hours to spare, you will know where to find me.