In-Class Online Lesson #4

Look at the 10-12 photographs that you recently took of your neighborhood and posted on your blog. Choose your ONE favorite photo.

2a) This is a picture of a mostly white bungolow, the clean, fresh coat of paint shows that this house is new.
b) The angular, black roof gives this building a unique feel.
c) An abundance of trees and plants, the rustle of the tree leaves can be heard.
d) The many transparent windows and opaque shelters make the owners of the house seem well-to-do.

3)Passage A: from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

"Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole..." - alliteration
"Perfectly round door like a porthole..." - simile
"tube-shaped hall like a tunnel..." - simile

Passage D: from Distances by Vandana Singh

"The narrow stone passageways seemed to press in closer..." - personification
"crawling across a two-d floor like a little desert roll-bug..." - simile
"caught her breath, quickened her footsteps, passed under the frieze..." repetition

4) This is a picture of a mostly white bungolow, clean and new, like the building had just received a fresh coat of paint.
b) The angular, black roof gives this building a unique feel as if curves don't exist.

6) The angular, black roof gives this building a unique feel, as if one was in Cubeland - where curves don't exist.

7) Staring at the large and magnificent building before me, I was dragged into a virtual reality. The building before me was angular in shape, and had a edgy roof. It stood out from the rest of the houses, as if it had been taken from another land.

"This definitely must be a building from Cubeland!" I thought to myself. It must have been lifted from there, and planted right here, along with the trees and plants. The sound of trees leaves rustling reached my year soon after. The building stood out from the others, and the "moderness" and "newness" of the building probably contributed to that, like it had just received a fresh coat of paint.

The numerous transparent windows and opaque shelters were smooth to the touch, almost as if it was just cleaned and oiled. It did not seem right, which dragged me further into my virtual reality, where the buildings were perfect; smooth, angular and pixelated.

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #12 (Term 1)

"I'm tired..."

Today's Blog Writing Prompt is rather open, so what I'm going to do is take the lyrics of a song, Spose - I'm Awesome, and make a parody of it with I'm tired!

You'll find the original lyrics here: http://www.sweetslyrics.com/737769.Spose%20-%20I%5C

Here's my version of it:

Tired, tired, tired, tired...
I don't necessarily need to wake up today...
I'm gonna hug the pillows though...
Mother nagger I'm tired!
No you're not, dude wake up
I'm tired!
I'm shufflin around in my pajamas
I'm tired!
A quarter of my life gone by
And I met all my friends shut eye
Mother nagger I'm tired!
I will sleep during a brawl
I'm tired!
There's no voicemail, nobody called
I'm tired!
I can't afford to sleep till eight
And I talk to myself till the sun is bright.

So this is only part of the song, and I realised that it was pretty hard for me to continue due to the sexual connotations and abundance of vulgarities in the rest of the song. So i would guess this would have to do!

Photos of My Neighbourhood - Kembangan

My Poem about Calpurnia

Poetry about Calpurnia:

Calpurnia, she was something else,
She was all angles and bones, near-sighted;
She squinted, and her hand was as wide as a bed slat,
And twice as hard.

Our battles were epic and one sided.
Calpurnia always won, mainly because
Atticus always took her side.

She had been with us
ever since Jem had been born,
And I had felt her tyrannical presence
For as long as I could remember.

When she was furious, her
Grammar became erratic.
Atticus once mentioned that she
Had received more education than
Most coloured folks.

She yelled, “Don’t matter who they are,
Anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny!”
Just you wait, I’d fix you:
One of these days, I’ll drown myself in Barker’s Eddy.

However, my first year of school had wrought
An unexpected change in our relationship.
Her tyranny, unfairness, and meddling in my business,
Had faded to gentle grumblings of disapproval.
I went to much trouble,
Sometimes, not to provoke her.

Book References:
Pg 40 Paragraph 1

State the lines that will be included in the poem:
1. “my first year of school had wrought a great change in our relationship”
2. Calpurnia’s tyranny, unfairness, and meddling in my business had faded to gentle grumblings of general disapporval.”
3. “I went to much trouble, sometimes, not to provoke her”
Pg 30


State the lines that will be included in the poem:

1. “She was furious, and when she was furious Calpurnia’s grammar became erratic”
2. “Atticus said Calpurnia had more education than most coloured folks.”
3. “Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny”
4. “I told Calpurnia to just wait, I’d fix her: one of these days when she wasn’t looking I’d go off and drown myself in Barker’s Eddy and then she’d be sorry”
Pg 11 & 12

State the lines that will be included in the poem:
1. “Calpurnia was something else again.”
2. “She was all angles and bones; she was near-sighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.”
3. “Our battles were epic and one-sided.”
4. “Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side.”
5. “She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I had felt her tyrannical presence as long as I could remember.”

Character sketch on Atticus's tolerance

A description based on facts of how tolerant Atticus is:

What is it to be tolerant? The word tolerant is defined as “able to withstand or endure an adverse environmental condition”. The importance of tolerance is still relevant today. Without tolerance segregation would still be legal, minorities would still be oppressed and taken advantage of, and most of all it would make racism and bigotry acceptable, which by today’s standards, it is not. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” the author Harper Lee uses and teaches the theme of tolerance by using an array of colorful characters. First of all would be Scout Finch, the daughter of Atticus Finch, and the narrator of the novel. Next would be Mrs. Dubose, a seemingly nasty and horrible old woman afflicted by a horribly painful disease. Lastly would be Atticus Finch, father of Jem and Scout Finch, and a lawyer. These three characters convey the theme of tolerance the best of any characters in the novel.

However, Atticus Finch could quite possibly be the most critical character that conveyed tolerance and acceptance in the novel. As a respected lawyer in a small county, Atticus spoke with a voice of both authority and dignity. His decision to represent Tom Robinson infuriated the bigots and tyrants, and with good reason; Atticus is a man of high caliber and an excellent attorney who had a genuine interest in upholding justice. The mere thought of that would be enough to chill the bones of anyone who advocated hatred and prejudice. Even though Atticus loses the case and Tom Robinson is found guilty, he is still given an intense moment of respect for his fight for justice, tolerance, and acceptance. This is illustrated after court when he receives a standing ovation and Reverend Syke's says to Scout, "Miss Jean Louise, Stand up. You're father's passin'" ( Pg 211). This is why our group decided to do on Atticus.

Character: Atticus

“Let us leave it at this,” said Atticus dryly. “You, Miss Scout Finch, are of the common folk. You must obey the law.” He said that the Ewells were members of an exclusive society made up of Ewells. In certain circumstances the common folk judiciously allowed them certain privileges by the simple method of become blind to some of the Ewell’s activities

Taken from: Chapter 3 Pg 36
Shows: Atticus teaching Scout about tolerance, hence showing the fact that he has it in him.

Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said, “My Father--”

Taken from: Chpater 10 Pg 95
Shows: Though Atticus was asked about “age”, which to some is a sensitive
topic, he still kind of joked about it and it shows he can tolerate such questions
and not feel hurt.

Atticus said to Jem one day, I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird...

Taken from: Chapter 10 Pg 96
Shows: Even though Atticus did not like guns, he knew that Jem did and could
tolerate that and not disallow him from shooting birds.

… “She’s a faithful member of this family and you’ll simply have to accept things the way they are. Besides, sister, I don’t want you working your head off for us - you’ve no reason to do that. We still need Cal as much as we ever did”

Taken from: Chapter 14 Pg 142
Shows: Atticus understood that he had to accept things the way they were,
which shows tolerance to other people and things etc.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--” … “--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Taken from: Chapter 3 Pg 35
Shows: Atticus was tolerant of others’ behaviour, as he always tried to see things from their perspective. He was never judgmental without good reason, and would always see things from different perspectives before coming to a conclusion.

‘ "Atticus says cheatin’ a coloured man is ten times worse than cheatin’ a white man,” I muttered. “Says it’s the worst thing you can do.” ‘

Taken from : Chapter 20 Pg 207
Shows: Atticus’ intolerance for white people’s prejudice on blacks or other coloured people. A person must not be judged based on their appearances or skin colour. He feels that it is ten times worse to cheat someone who is already at a disadvantage.


In conclusion, Atticus is a man who respects every person was he would respect himself no matter if they were black, white, female, male etc. A good example of that would be that he respects his own children so highly that he has them refer to him by his first name(whole book) , because when you use a name like “Father” it gives the sense that he is above you, and Atticus doesn’t believe above anyone or anyone is above him.

The courtroom is not the only environment that Atticus contributed tolerance and acceptance to. In fact, the courtroom is only a small microcosm of his life where he was a just human being striving to instill tolerance and acceptance, among other qualities, into his children. As a single father, Atticus's efforts to teach his children the right way to live is extremely prevalent. Scout, as a young and rebellious as she is, seems to be very hesitant to really learn or accept anything from her father but proves that she actually does listen to her father when she recites one of his teachings "Atticus says cheating a colored man is ten times worse than cheating a white man".

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #11 (Term 1)

Using specific sensory details, describe accurately the neighbourhood where you live.

One word to my neighbourhood – awesome. I live in Kembangan; I would say it’s a rather small neighbourhood, located at the far east of Singapore. I would say that I am particularly familiar of the entire area around my neighbourhood, as countless times when I was chased out of my house for being naughty by my parents, I would walk around the entire area, taking in the nature and atmosphere. Now I shall attempt to bring you along with me!

Sight:

As you enter my neighbourhood, first thing that would catch your eyes, other than the MRT station, would be this large field with a track around it. Every day without fail, people would usually go to the field to play soccer(mostly Malays), and run around the track. Just ahead is the Kembangan community centre, where neighbourhood activities are held. Every Friday night, taekwondo lessons are held here. I know this as I used to be in the taekwondo class in Primary 3, but left at Primary 5 with a brown belt. The houses in my neighbourhood are most private property, terraces and semi-detacheds. There is also 3 condominiums around. The bus stops are conveniently placed around the entire neighbourhood, and various coffee shops selling Malay cuisine, Chinese cuisine and others are all around.

Sound:

My neighbourhood, as I would describe it, is peaceful and quiet. Neighbours do interact, but most of the time everyone is minding their own business! The only sounds you might here would be from construction sites and car tires screeching as they make sharp turns in the “maze” in my neighbourhood.

Smell:

Well, what I would say that is the air is rather fresh in my neighbourhood, as there are trees and plants EVERYWHERE. Other than that, what I usually would smell is the cooking from other neighbours.

I think that is about all, as I don’t think there is much to touch or taste in my neighbourhood. There is one thing though, occasionally, my neighbour would ring the doorbell and offer some of her home cooked mee siam for us to eat!

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #10 (Term 1)

Write about a vivid childhood memory of an event that helped to influence the person you are today.

I want to adapt this post as a LA-ACE blog post:

Vivid childhood memories, yes I have many of them. Few are filled with joy and happiness, most are unpleasant. I would basically say my childhood sucked.

Much of my suffering actually came from my parents. They say that parents love their children unconditionally, I can say for truth that there is no such thing as unconditional love. Everybody loves someone with a reason, with conditions. Yes, the love of parents for their children is amazing and stronger than any other love, but it is never unconditional. What if the child hates his parents, curses them, beats them, does not acknowledge them, basically causing suffering to them, and yet they still have to love him? The love is never unconditional, the condition always being that would be that they would want him to love back.

From the day I was born, I was a naive, innocent, and stupid boy. Yes stupid, I was never intelligent. I did many stupid things, spill my milk, spoil computers and television, throw away unfinished food. Even then, I always listened to my parents, always hearing them say, "What we do is for your own good, listen to us!" and I believed them. Of course, all this changed when I was in primary 3.

During that year, I failed my first examination paper. I think I dare say that I am the only child in Singapore that actually attended a proper education and failed a subject in Primary 3. All this because? I heeded my parent's advice, more specifically my mother's. I do not want to dwell on the details of what she said, but throughout my whole year in Primary 3, I listened to her on how to study, how to answer questions, how to manage my time in the examination paper itself. Sadly, much of what she said was wrong. At that point of time, I was wrought with sadness, caught up in the fifth circle of Hell(Anger), hating my parents to the core. Since then, I decided that hating them wasn't going to solve anything, I decided to do things MY own way, to study the way I felt best for myself, to solve issues in my life without their help.

Since then, I got into the best class in Primary 5, after much hard work in Primary 4. I went further on to the best class in my primary school in Primary 6, and after PSLE, I barely managed to get into Hwa Chong Institution. "You will never survive it pass PSLE, never pass O levels, never pass A levels, and never pass National Service," was what my father told me when I was in Primary 4. Looks like I proved him wrong. Maybe some would say that my father did it on purpose to allow me to be motivated by myself, to be independent, and do well in life.

So basically, that failure in primary school, made me who I am today. I still do things myself, and I once told my parents, "Other students have parents, I don't. I have sponsors." As much as I would really like that things can still go on this way, with me settling my own issues, and having them backing me up financially, whilst still continue to improve our relationship.

In chinese there is a saying that failure is the mother of success(direct translation), this is so, so true for me.

A Singaporean Short Story - Becoming

Below is the 2nd draft - the revised version of my short story for summative assessment:

Name: Shaun Wong (29)
Class: 2O4
Date: 23 January 2011

A Singaporean Short Story – Becoming

“Hey Kumar! Pass the ball over! Quickly!” I exclaimed. I steadied myself as I was preparing to receive the soccer ball, and as soon as I got it, I dribbled my way pass my two other friends from the opponent’s team. Then opportunity presented itself, my opportunity. The goal post was just metres away from me, and the only thing between us was the goal keeper. “The goal keeper,” I whispered to myself. “You’re not going to stop me this time!” I felt adrenaline rush through my veins as I took my aim and prepared to score the ball. When I felt I was ready, I summoned all my strength and kicked. Realisation soon dawned on me when moments later I heard a scream, followed by cries of surprise coming from all around me. “Ahhhhh! My leg!” Luke cried out in pain. He had tried to tackle me just before I kicked the ball and unfortunately coincidental, I had kicked him instead.

The rest of my friends and I lifted Luke up and carried him to the yi shen (doctor). As we arrived at the public clinic, we were dismayed by the sight that greeted us. Crowds and crowds, rows and rows, men and women both waiting for their turn to be examined by the yi shen. Some were patient enough, and still stood in queue, while others tried to squeeze through the unorderly mob, but to no avail, and yet our dear friend Luke was still suffering in pain while these people were oblivious to that fact. “It’s okay guys. Just carry me home and let me rest, I think i’ll manage. No hard feelings about today!” Luke said, bearing his teeth and barely managing a smile as he did so. At that moment I felt guilt, but decided not to dwell on it, but took joy in knowing that I had such a great brotherhood, and carried my ‘brother’, Luke, home.

“Why can’t you be more sensible? Your Pa (father) is out there risking his life for the country and his son goes about kicking other people’s sons? Why can’t you just understand?” my mother screamed at the top of her voice. I could tell from her eyes the anger and disappointment. “No Ma (mother), it was an accident, I swear!” I tried to reason with her, that it was not my fault. She shook her head, let out a sigh, and walked off, leaving me feeling wronged and accused. I treaded back to my room, with my head lower than ever before. Then I saw a picture of my Pa and me, and I could not hold back my tears anymore. My father was a soldier in the Malay Regiment, and all I was, was just a little boy who causes nothing but pain and suffering to my family and friends. He was always upright and held his head high; patriotic unlike any other men I had ever seen before. He was a perfect image to me, and I have always wanted to become like him, but here I am, with no accomplishments or potential whatsoever.

This was how I went on for the rest of my days, and would have so if not for the coming of the Japanese. The arrival of the Japanese on the shores of Temasek had forever changed my life. A week before their arrival, my Pa was still with us. He had told us that he had to go protect this country, and that he will come back to us after the war was over. I was not a single bit worried for him, knowing that being the perfect man; nothing could stop him from doing the right thing. My Ma however, was crying her heart out, begging my Pa not to go, but I simply could not understand why. “It’s okay Ma, Pa will surely come back! I will take care of you while he is gone!” I consoled my Ma, or at least tried to.

“I won’t be too sure about that, but thank you.” My Ma replied in between sobs. At that point of time, my heart skipped a beat. When I heard my Ma, and saw her tears, I actually believed that she was telling the truth. I wiped that thought out of my head, and decided to have faith in my Pa.

The Japanese were ruthless, not caring a single bit about the people of Temasek. Yes, the worst of my nightmares had come true, the Japanese had conquered us. Their soldiers were set free to pillage and burn, leaving the locals to their own fate. Then the front door of our house fell. “Hands up, don’t move!” A Japanese soldier commanded in English, with a Japanese accent. This was it. It was time to prove that I was like my father, that I could protect my own family. I charged towards the Japanese with a pair of wooden chopsticks and stuck it in his eyes. Then before I could flee, I felt a sting of pain on the side of my head, and darkness overwhelmed my sight.

“Ugh, my head...” I lamented to myself. As I slowly cleared my head, I spotted my Ma crying at the corner of the house, naked and full of bruises. “No...no!” I screamed in denial. Tears cascaded down my cheeks with each passing step towards my Ma. I stood beside her, and she handed me a crushed up letter. All my fears rushed to my head, but I mustered all courage and opened the letter. Then my fears came true, it was a letter of condolences, a letter of condolences to my dead Pa. Grief overwhelmed me, and so did anger. It was at that moment that I told myself to never let such a thing happen to my Ma again, it was that moment when I decided to become like my Pa, my father, a true Singaporean.

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #9 (Term 1)

Pick a scene from your favourite movie and describe the setting in detail. Use specific sensory details to capture the mood and atmosphere of the scene.

Firstly, my favourite movie has got to be the entire series of Saw. The scene that I would like to blog about today would be a scene from Saw 6. Now before I start with anything, I would like to say that what really intrigues me about this movie is how creative the directors and producers of the movie are. The same says for the other movie series of Final Destination. The way Saw sets the traps, how many ways a person can die, and all in a matter of minutes to decide your life or death.

So this setting in this scene in Saw 6 is actually set in a desolate factory, in a room with bright red lights and colourful doors, and in the middle is a spinning carousel. The whole atmosphere; carnival and playground-like. Blood stains the air and the sound of 6 office workers screaming for help deafens the ear. A shotgun is placed in front of the spinning carousel, waiting to unload its first shell or be lifted up by pressing two buttons in a machine, which will drive a spike into the person's hand. The entire setting is such that death and fear and horror is going on, but yet the carnival music and funfair atmosphere contradicts it.

To me, this is by far the longest, most interesting and perverted trap in Saw. I do not really want to dwell on the storyline itself, but watching the whole movie, seeing how the manager is given the chance to sacrifice his hand each time to save one of his assistants and all because of a flawed and baised policy that they were working on that indirectly decides whether a person lives or dies. In such a situation, while watching the movie, one would be really excited to find out which assistants would the manager decide to save, but to see the assistants start lying and cursing each other in order to save each other's life, and to see the manager just ignore some of the assistants, is really, just perverted.

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #8 (Term 1)

Who is your favourite character in To Kill a Mockingbird and why? What makes him or her appealing to you?

Atticus. My favourite character in To Kill a Mockingbird has got to be Atticus. In the book, Atticus is a lawyer and resident of the Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch and Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. He is also a central character in the novel!

So what makes him so appealing to me? Firstly, he is a lawyer! I have always respected lawyers for what they do, the ones that actually care about justice that is. Also, law would be a career path that I might consider in the future, so Atticus serves as a role model.

His occupation aside, Atticus is perhaps the most honest and upright character in To Kill a Mockingbird. As I read the book and watched the movie, my feelings for him were almost alike; he was the ideal lawyer that trys to uphold justice even if it might cause commotion for defending a black man, the understanding father who time and again teaches his children values and sets an example for them, he is an expert marksman, but still choses to keep this fact hidden from his children so that they would not in any way think of him as a man of violence. He is highly moral, something many of us struggle to be and does not prejudge anyone, regardless of race or language.

So basically Atticus is a almost perfect man that many people look up to for advice, to see what a man of high moral truly is.

IN-CLASS ONLINE LESSON #2

Re-read Ray Bradbury's story "All Summer in a Day." In your blog, identify who should be held responsible for Margot's treatment, and why.

I feel that William should be held responsible for Margot's treatment. William was the one to have always gone against Margot, from when he refused to believe that Margot wrote her own poem about the Sun, to the fact that they would ever see the Sun again. When the teacher was not around, William took the chance to sort of bully Margot, pushing her around and finally leading everyone to put Margot in the closet.

When the Sun really came out in the end, no one ever thought of Margot, little did William know that while him and the other schoolchildren were enjoying the once-in-seven-years Sun, Margot was rotting away in the closet.

Then (in the same entry) imagine yourself as one of the schoolchildren; what might you have chosen to do which would have led to a positive outcome?

Of course the easiest thing I could have done was to just release Margot from the closet or prevent her from being put into it by William in the first place, but then comes the question if I am able to stand against the other schoolchildren myself.

Even then, there are many things that I could have done for Margot such that there would be a positive outcome. I could be the one to tell the teacher when she arrives so that she might release Margot just in time for everyone to see the Sun. Then after thinking through this again, I thought that this would not really be a positive outcome, as William and the others might bear a grudge against me and Margot, and this might lead to some nasty concequences in the future.

Then I could also wait for everyone to run out to enjoy the Sun to release Margot, but then I would be missing some of it myself, and the Sun would only be out for two hours!

Alternatively, I could do what happened in the short film version of this short story; I could pick some flowers and give it to Margot after the Sun sets, and tell her what it was like, but then Margot would not be able to see the Sun herself.

So basically what I am trying to say here is that there would be no outcome that is certainly positive, although the three outcomes that I stated above are all much more "positive" then what actually happens in the short story, where Margot did not get to experience any part of the Sun at all.

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #7 (Term 1)

Who is your favourite fictional character, and why? What makes him or her memorable for you? This character can be from a book, short story, play, movie, comic book, manga, anime series, etc., as long as it is fictional.


I would say that I don't really have a fictional character that I like best, but it really depends on my mood as to what type of fiction I feel like immersing in. For example, most of the time I would be interested in fiction that contains some action. Then my favourite thing to go to would be X-Men. My favourite character in X-Men, is none other than Wolverine. I have read the comics, watch the movie, and even have the game that was made specially to tell the origins of wolverine. What makes him so memorable to me is actually his immortality, being able to heal wounds almost instantly, and the fact that his bones have been reinforced with adamantium to such a stage where they are almost unbreakable.

I like how he is such a serious person, or rather beast, with so much bloody action going on with his life, and yet when he meets some other mutants(Jean Grey, Beast, Cyclops etc.), he's able to
maintain a certain sense of humour. The story only gets more interesting when he fathers a son that only wishes to kill him, and the battle of immortals begin.

Other favourite characters of mine would be mainly Princess Peach from Super Mario and Gandalf from Lord of The Rings.