In-Class Online #6 (Term 2)

Write a letter of encouragement to one of the survivors; you may also wish to write to any other survivor whom you read about in the news over the last several weeks. The letter should be minimum 250 words long, and you must follow the format of an informal letter. Post the letter on your LA blog. To: Sandra Barron Survivor of the Japanese Earthquake Dear Sandra, My heart goes out to all those Japanese people that have died, and it lightenens me to know that you and your boyfriend survived. I read the article you wrote on: "The Internet Kept Me Company", and I found it very interesting. It is indeed amazing that what technology has done to Mankind; if all communication in the world went down, all hell would probably break loose! I understand that when a disaster happens, every normal person would definitely think of their loved ones; if they are alright, if they were affected by it, and you can't blame them. Although I felt that you should have left your house and joined the others in the streets, I know that you did what you felt was right, what you felt was more safe. You chose a path of security and information, rather than what scientist or experts might say. I applaud you for that, and that you also tried your best to inform other people of the disaster and what you knew about it. I am also glad that you made the right decision and decided to help your friend restock with 'a bag of Easter Eggs', as you might have just saved a life. I send my heartiest condolences to these Japanese people, their families and friends who lost their lives in tsunami earthquake in Japan. We can't undo what has happened, and cannot stop mothernature from unleashing her wrath. They are not here with us, but very far at the better place. I hope that you and your loved ones would safely go through such hard times, and emerge from this disaster like the rest of Japan will. Thank you for your time. Warmest Regards, Shaun Wong * Step 3 (optional): Imagine that a similar natural disaster has devastated Singapore; put yourself in the shoes of one of the survivors. Write a narrative of 250-350 words that explores the experience of living through such an event, what you thought and felt both during and afterward, the possible loss of family members and friends, the destruction of property and infrastructure, etc. Post your narrative in your LA blog. "Ahhh, nothing better than a good bath after a long day of school." I said as I enjoyed the feeling of each drop of water cascading down my skin. Bathing was one of my favourite activities, it is a form of exfoliating, of cleaning, of keeping your hygiene in optimal condition. "HURRY UP LAH! YOU BATHE SO..." My sister was interrupted, as I felt the whole Earth shaking. The water felt funny, it was splashing all over the place. The heater 'detached itself' from the wall, and crashed right beside me. I screamed in pain as electricity travelled through the water, to my feet, but never reaching my upper torso, as I hopped out of the water just in time. I heard heavy and rushed footsteps, followed by a ear-piercing, 'hyena-screeching' scream. I whispered to myself, "Oh S***." I immediately went for my clothes, but a portion of the wall broke and landed on my arm. I screamed and yelled, and screamed and yelled, as I saw the blood flowing from my right arm. I thought to myself, "Why God? No no no, my ARM!!!". I could not think of anything else but my family. As much as the pain I was experiencing, I wondered how my family members were doing. Then I heard someone struggling to open the toilet door from the outside. Realisation dawned on me, as I knew that I was trapped in the bathroom, with the toilet door still locked. I broke down, and started crying. I took the pain, stretched as far as I could to the toilet door, no it would not work. I had the remove this limb of mine. "This is it I guess. Like those SAW movies." I lamented. As if God had answered my prayer, my father managed to break down the toilet door with a baseball bat. Te moment my mother saw me, she rushed to hug me and with the rest of my family, we stayed in the toilet. After a few minutes, the shaking stopped. My father called for an ambulance. As I awoke in the hospital ward, I turned my head to look at my right arm. It was not there. I closed my eyes, knowing that this disaster had only brought misery and damage to Singapore, to me.

2O4 Online Lesson: 6 April 2011

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2O4 Online Lesson: 4 April 2011

In order for racial harmony to be achieved in a country, racial slurs should be made illegal. Racial slurs more often than not causes misunderstanding, hatred and tension among races in a country. Taking into account that Singapore is a multi-racial society, misunderstandings could worsen and evolve into something worse. hatred between races could cause inefficiency and unwillingness to work or study with each other, which would affect Singapore's productivity and economy. Rising racial tension among races, if left unbothered, would lead to racial riots or prejudice among court cases. However, all these can be avoided should racial slurs be made illegal, and controlled in a country, which would definitely lead to racial harmony. Reflection I have had a personal experience with racial slurs as a slurer. Come to think of it now, I really feel what I did then was unecessary. That was when I was primary 3, and there was this student from china in my class. He was an outcast, ostracised by all his peers. I kind of felt pity for him, but if I ever tried to get close to him, people would address me as the 'guy with the outcast'. So what happened was that one day, he shat on his pants. Yes, I had to be direct. We were all queueing up to let our teacher mark our homework scripts, and he was queueing beside me, and all of sudden blocks of brown 'ice-cream' dropped just beside my legs. I was horrified, and I immediately screamed, "EVERYBODY THE CHEENA CHINKI DOG SHIT ON THE FLOOR COME AND SEEEEE!!!!!". Before I knew it, everyone was laughing at him, and he sat down crying. I was not scolded or reprimanded by my teacher, but when I shouted that sentence, I really did not think or meant for him to be hurt by it. As I grew up, I was disgusted by my own insensitivity towards other races, and that at that point of time, there was no need for me to say that of him. That is also a main reason why till this day I disgust people who use racial slurs, but I too understand that it is just a part of the human mind to do such horrid things!

In-Class Blog-Writing Prompt #1 (Term 2)

Reflect on your recent CIP experience helping out the aged and underprivileged. What was the biggest thing you gained from this experience.

For this year, my class, 2O4, went to St. Andrews Cathedral Home for the Aged.

My impression of elderly is actually rather contrasting, being the type of family I come from. I did have visits to old folk's home before this year, but everytime I step into the home, I have his feeling of sadness and boredom, and when I look at the faces of the old folks, usually I just see men and women waiting for their time to come. My grandfather is actually the opposite of that, he used to be a pastor in a church, and now that he is retired, he spends his time playing computer games EVERYDAY.My grandmother however, had a stroke just last year when she was in her 60s, and is starting to become senile.My point here is that, just looking at my grandparents, I can see how two types of old people live their lifes. Many of the elderly in the old folks home are there, most probably because of family issues or problems, and most are just
waiting to die! After my visit on Founders' Day, and talking to some of the elderly, is that they don't really expect much from life anymore, they are just living on, "stuck in a hole" as quoted from one of them, without knowing what is really going on in their families or the world.

I think what really made them happy would be that they had someone to talk to. Being in the old folks' home, they would have been seeing the same people for years, and having students to lend a listening ear to them really brought something to look forward in their lives. Also during the performance, I was touched when I saw how happy the old folks' were, how contented they were, with just my class' simple performance.

I think there is a need to be more open, for me and everybody else in my class. Some of my classmates were rather hostile at first, but everyone managed to find an elderly to interact with at the end. What I strongly feel is that we should have some sessions on basic conversational hokkien or teochew before the CIP itself, as there was a serious communication breakdown during the CIP.

To be frank, there wasn't much that I gained from this experience, as I have been through this "experience" a few times. I was simply reminded about another side of the world, that not everyone is actually happy-go-lucky or stressing out with their busy schedules, that there are people, the aged and elderly, just waiting for their time to come.

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.

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 #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.

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.

HBL Blog ACE - Cartoon Strip

Below is my cartoon strip:

By swbest View this Toon at ToonDoo Create your own Toon

By swbest View this Toon at ToonDoo Create your own Toon

By swbest View this Toon at ToonDoo Create your own Toon

I know I exceeded the number of cartoon strips, but I felt the need to really do so.

Firstly, I would like to elaborate on what this story is about. Basically this entire comic strip is about how starhucks(starbucks), is severely overpriced, and how time-consuming the process of buying just a simple cup of coffee becomes. I did exaggerate that part a little, but it was only to add on to the effect. However though, I would not say the "time-consuming" part for Singapore, as most of the times the Starbucks in Singapore do give very quick service.

Where I experienced this was actually in UK, when I was there for a holiday. Basically what happens is that the person serving us would always ask questions regarding vouchers, discount and whatnot. Fine, that's actually alright, since it's their interest that we get our coffee with the best price. Then when you take a look at your receipt, BOOM. $6.50 for a cup of coffee, for a cup of "Starbucks" coffee.

Then there are the times where you are in a rush and just want to order a cup of coffee, no particular size, and you get the question, "What size would you like to have? Venti?(Which is the biggest size)"

Now when I chose the background, I was looking for an indoor background and one with a clock. This is to emphasis on the "time" effect, though I regret I couldn't actually change the time. When I was choosing the characters, I made sure the waitress was always smiling, giving the effect that she has been serving customers this way for years.

When I was choosing the guy buying the coffee, I wanted someone who looked like a standard office guy, to give the effect that he just wants his coffee, and go to work, like most office people. Finally, I added the old man so that I could put some humour into my comic strip. The reason is obvious of course, an old man has all the time in the world to buy his coffee.

Alright, I hope that you would enjoy my comic strip that I spend quite some time doing!

In-Class Online Lesson #1 (Part 2 - ACE)

These were the two senarios that we were presented with, and we only had to choose one.

1. Have you ever been in the company of a group of which you were clearly not a member? What was the circumstance? How did you act? How were you treated?

2. Have you ever been part of a group of people who were unkind to one or some individuals? What was the circumstance? How did you act? What did you feel?

Well in my case I would choose number 2, as I have a particular experience that I would like to share.

Firstly before I write anything, I just would like to say that this story might be insulting to some people, and that I really mean no offense or whatsoever. So basically my experience takes place in primary school, when I was primary 3. During that time I was required to join the "TAF" club(Trim and Fit club) as I was overweight. I remember being one of the first ones there, so what we had to do was exercise during recess period.

Gradually when I primary 5, I lost quite a bit of weight and was only slightly overweight, so I could leave the TAF club the next year. During that time though, a lot of new people came in, and most of them were much, much more overweight than me. I remember there this particular primary 3 student(youngest among all of us), who was severely overweight. As a primary 3 student, he was already bigger than most of the primary 5 students. My first thought was, "How does somebody get so fat?" Of course that was me telling the truth, but after that I wiped that thought out and said to myself that, I was once fat too, and I had to help this primary 3 student.

Everytime during the TAF club sessions, this student would always be the last to finish his running laps, and at the end of it he would always be the laughing stock for everyone else. As I looked at his face then, what I saw was despair, anger and embarrassment. From that though, I could imagine myself being him, putting myself in his shoes, and I was like, nobody ever deserves to be treated like that. The fact that he is willing to keep on running and carrying on in the TAF club shows that he actually wants to lose weight, that he actually wanted to stop being picked on by everyone else. And typing this now as a sec 1, I all the more found out that it really wasn't his fault, as his body type was most likely an endomorph!

(A characteristic of an endomorph body type would be that they have difficulty in weight loss. For more information on endomorphs and other body types, check: http://www.bodybuildingpro.com/bodytypeinformation.html )

So after that I decided to first talk to that primary 3 student, and give him some advice on weight managment and loss. I also encouraged him to ignore what the others said, but just concentrate on doing what he thought was best for himself. At that point of time I could see that he was truly grateful to me, and I am glad I indeed went up to him and told him that.

A lot of times, I must say, children are suffering insults and humillation because of their traits. These traits are usually a result of their parent's traits. For example, eyesight problems, body weight problems and looks and appearance problems. A child that has parents that both wear spectacles is most likely to be wearing one soon too. A child with parents who are endomorphs(naturally fatter bodies), is likely to be overweight. Ugly parents never have good-looking children. The point here is to not to blame the parents, but I really wish to just wake up the society of students, of the teenages and children, that how someone looks and his outer appearance, do not determine his inner character. I used to get this question a lot in primary 3, " Eh Shaun, how do you become so fat? I eat and eat and eat but I still cannot become fat." When I hear that, in my heart all I feel is that it's not my fault that I was fat, but my parent's. Well of course a person who was born naturally fat could still exercise to lose weight and keep fit, which was exactly what I did, but some people simply don't and still get the same results!

Okay, looks like I am straying from the point. I hope that any person that reads this will realise that before you be judgemental, know that you are putting yourself in a superior position at the expense of others. This is extremely distasteful to me, and I detest(pardon my use of strong words) people who judge books by their covers. So I would like to end off saying that after all we are all equal and deserve to be treated the same, regardless of race, language, or religion, AND appearance!