Congratulations!

...to our Dance and Concert Band for clinching the Silver medal in the SYF competition!

The awards show that we are really improving in our skills through the years, and it's good to know that we are developing ourselves as better dancers/musicians as we become better students too through our CCAs.

I got a silver in the SYF too when I was in the concert band during secondary school. It was a let down considering that my seniors managed that too, but somehow in my heart I knew that perhaps a year is not enough to go from silver to gold. Even I could tell that technically, my band is not able to pull off this difficult piece that our conductor choose for us then.

Nonetheless, I really treasure my experiences with the band, and my secondary school life memory revolves around my CCA's activities mostly. In the years to come after you leave PHSS, I hope you have great memories of being in your CCA too.

Love your CCA! My biggest regret is that I didn't carry on playing the trombone when I was in NYJC; that will have changed my life a lot.

(You can hear my band's choice piece Canto Forma from TRN music.com)

Poetry

I really hope you guys will end up loving poetry as much as I enjoy them!

Truth to tell, poetry is often hard to 'understand' but it will bring rewards to the patient reader who reads it over and over again. Like most good art pieces, it takes a while to learn to appreciate them - after all, there's nothing interesting about something if we 'get' it completely the first time! Simple poetry have a message, good poetry simply reflects on things, so there's really nothing much to 'understand'.

Think of poetry as verbal painting - let the words suggest different pictures to you, and put these pictures together, and let your imagination wander through all these images. Daydream with the words, think of the place, the time, the events described. That's what good poetry do, help you dream and imagine.

Just an example of a poem that I like, the kind that makes me think and dream...

Gift - Czeslaw Milosz

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on Earth that I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forget.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening, I see the blue sea and sails.

Hello again, world!

Sorry for the silence due to the recent lack of posts here - I'm at the same time heartened by the attention that this blog receives, and apologetic for not writing more here. Truth to tell, I'm undergoing a lot of changes in my personal life this period of time, and trying to juggle all the things I have to do really sucks up my waking hours.

In fact, I haven't been

• watching tv for months (was never a TV addict my whole life, and before I got SCV I go months without watching any TV)
• playing much sports - there used to be a time I would play badminton twice a week, play canoe polo twice also, and do rock climbing on Saturdays. Now I only stick to badminton, and hardly ever get to go paddling much
• on Facebook still, after all this hype. In fact, I never was on Friendster too, and this is my one and only blog still. I'm quite an IT dinosaur, but only because I don't have time for these.
• playing any computer games since secondary school - I never had any Sega/Nintendo/Playstation/Xbox etc...
• able to watch the movies I want to catch, like Slumdog millionaire, Watchman, Suspect X, Gran Torino...and Wolverine's coming soon!

In short, I'm a teacher with not much of a life, just trying to get by the days trying to finish the work I need to do. Sadly, most teachers are like this. Cheer us up by being better students in school!

Wrapping up Drama module

These few weeks doing the drama presentation have been a period of ups and downs for me.

Truth to tell, I didn't know how much commitment I'm going to get from everyone, because many a times I don't see a seriousness in the planning stages of the project. Maybe some are uncomfortable with the idea, don't know what exactly needs to be planned, or the fact that it's CA marks up for grabs just didn't make an impact.

Then I see panic when the performance date draws near. People start to come up to me to ask sensible and relevant questions. I start to see props being brought along for rehearsal sessions. After the first round of performances (after which I'll do a Simon Cowell like I'm on American Idol), many of you finally realised how particular I am regarding the use of scripts, costumes, props, positioning and movements etc.

In the end, I am really heartened to see so much effort from many of you, the creative ideas you have, the colourful props you used. I am really glad to know that most of you appreciated Shakespeare more after the experience, and that you find it fulfilling after all!

Most of all, treasure this memory of your performance, for many of you, this might be the first and last time you will ever try to do a performance. You'll no doubt look back fondly on this memory, after you leave Pei Hwa...

Is the internet making us stupid?

Seems that besides myself, there are also experts who believe that that is the case. BBC news website have this news article where people (including you!) can contribute and say what they think about the subject.

I notice that many students in the school has quite an active life online, and at this moment there is no evidence that spending time on the internet can make people smarter. Yes, you get little bits of information here and there, but that certainly will not make you an expert! One can argue that it is also possible to read enough information on the internet to make yourself an expert in any subject, but then again, that is unlikely. We all tend to have very short concentration span when we read webpages.

The reality is, the best stories and the most informative articles are still found in books. It takes a lot of money to print books, and no publisher will print them unless they think it is of a certain quality, whereas anyone can publish any type of information they like online. You will need to start doing research in libraries after secondary school, and the information you find there will probably not be available online too.

My life today has been very largely shaped by the books that I read - read on for a good future!

Marks and heartache

Like many of you, I am disappointed by the marks that I have to scrawl on your common test papers. I had to mark with honesty and integrity, but all the same, it is rather heartbreaking to have to give out scripts with dismal scores. I am really convinced that most of you know the two plays really really well, just that you need to really focus and remind yourself to answer the question in every paragraph.

I really think I am a reasonable marker - I am equally predisposed to giving 21+ marks for essays with clear arguments as I am to giving failing marks to scripts which does everything but address the question. What do I mean by "clear arguments"? It simply means this - a structured essay which have good arguments in each every paragraph that clearly answers the question.

Structured essay - written in the proper format, with a introduction and conclusion that answers the question and summarises all main points.

Good arguments - valid and logical points that are supported by evidence or examples.

Paragraphs that answer question - End of each paragraph show explain why the point in the particular paragraph answers the question.

I do have to admit that what I'm teaching you is not easy at all - I definitely never recalled any teacher teaching me how to write essays (for literature or other subjects) during my school days, and I was just lucky to know how to write properly without guidance.

Never hesitate to ask me if you want to find out how you can improve your grades! It is all up to you!

Hello again...

Hi guys, sorry I've been away for quite a while. The teachers are busy with marking and other admin stuff, and there's lots happening with my personal life as well.

So, just a short update - Next week I'll be away from Monday to Wednesday because of the Sec 3 camp, and so will let you guys do something on Poetry for one of the day, while you can plan for your drama the other day, and when I'm back on Thursday. Please please settle the scripts and start proper rehearsals to make sure everything will run good on performance day!

Performance week will be in Week 1 of Term 2 after the March holidays.

I'll miss teaching you guys Ultimate in PE then!