Crap. My GC just spoiled on me. I wanted to do some calculations so I pressed the "on" button and the whole thing just went off. And now every time I press the "on" button, the main screen will appear but when I release the button, the screen blanks out. And good try, but you cannot press other buttons when you are holding on to the "on" button. So my calculator is officially spoilt :(

Luckily I still have my other Silver Edition that I won last time at some competition. But it sucks not having 2 workable calculators when you actually had them.

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Oops, I just swopped the batteries of the 2 calculators and the spoilt calculator worked while the other remains spoilt. Haha. I thought that the batteries were rather new actually, plus I thought they would give me a warning saying "Battery low, recommend change of batteries". Never mind.

Anyway yah, I was using my GC to do some calculations because I was studying Physics... study? Yeah, I think I will have to do some mugging during these holidays, contrary to what I have been doing for the past 12 years of school holidays. If I don't start now, I guess I will never be able to catch up on my work next year. JC work is really too much to handle within a short amount of time. Plus I have to cope with H3 Maths which is currently still very boring because they have not even finished one module yet (Plane Geometry).

Folks, better start studying now. One month is going to be over soon. You only have one and a half more months and it will pass by faster than you can imagine.

Wow yesterday was my first caroling session in my life. Went to Tangs to sing for 2 sessions of half an hour each. Ok I did not actually sing, but conducted one of the groups. And the guy was very funny because he Tangs us for coming on behalf of Tangs.

The first session was quite bad actually. But I suppose it was because of the acoustics. The place was quite dry and I think everyone sang until very tired. But the ground floor (2nd session) was quite good because we performed near the entrance, and the acoustics was quite wow. Like the first chord came out from my group and I got shocked by its fullness. My group made some minor mistakes here and there but I guess it's ok, because caroling is meant to have fun! So we can all work on our mistakes and prevent ourselves from embarrassment next time.

You know I love reading people's blog. I seldom know who to talk to online because the conversations may just end up stagnant after a while. So when I read people's blog, it's like me asking them, "Hey, how are you doing?" and they will give their replies through their blogs.

Going to crash VSchoir's camp tomorrow...

Brought Northlight school kids to the Zoo on Tuesday!

Ok maybe if I were to write my true reflections here, I'll be ranting from beginning to end. So let's be more optimistic, shall we?

My group was initially group 3, but I doubt they even named the groups anyway. But this teacher told us that she needed 2 guys, so Leo and I took charge of 2 different groups of 5 people each. The teacher (her name is Miss Soh) told me that my group has 1 mischievous kid and it is very evident from the way he behaves anyway. Frankly speaking, I have never heard of anyone who swears as much as him, rattling some vulgar words every 10 seconds. Once in a while, his mouth utters some word which I have never heard before in my entire life. I bet if there's a subject called "Profanity" taught in school, they will get full marks for that.

Ok but other than him, there's another one who is really small and weighs 28kg. He refused to move towards the end so I had to carry him. Whoof! There's another one who is quite a follower, rather quiet guy. And the last 2 kids are a pair of twins who were really very very quiet throughout the whole journey.

It was really very hard taking care of them, even though they were just 5 kids. Imagine one of them who always wants to take the lead, and swears if we did not obey him, one of them lagging behind, refusing to move with the group, and me supposedly in charge of their attendance wherever they go. Luckily there was a lunch break (I brought them to the opposite end of the Zoo - oops!), and after lunch I had reinforcements - Boon Yi - who had no group initially so she helped to take care of my group.

We took them to the entrance around 1 hour before the scheduled meeting time because they were all tired. Thank goodness. I guess I was beat too. I would say that I did not really do very well introducing them to the animals in the Zoo because I didn't know how to react to the kids. Hope they enjoyed themselves anyway.

On the way back, I talked to one of the kids in my group. He seemed very mature, or at least more matured than the kids his age. Considering that Northlight school is a school which accepts PSLE dropouts, I was quite surprised when we could share much with each other. He told me that he could speak and listen but cannot read and write. And his Maths is very good. What a pity! He should be deserved into a better school anyway, if not for his written English.

I thought that Northlight students should treasure their school actually, because my impression of the school is that they are very patient with the kids. Although they may be academically-challenged, the school still provides many opportunities for the students to learn as much as they can.

Did you know that crocodile penises are used in traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac?

- Dedicated to those who don't care about their PW and are thinking of copying someone's I&R.
- Dedicated to my batchmates who have just finished their PW (and to those who haven't, don't worry! Your turn will come soon!)
- Also dedicated to all secondary 4s who are thinking of studying in a junior college next year.


Project Work - Insights and Reflections (I&R)

The purpose of Project Work is to provide an opportunity for us to learn how to engage with issues, and process information that is presented in a manner that is less structured, not subject-specific and open-ended.

Project Work starts off with the distribution of the Question Paper, which consists of two questions. This will hone our decision-making skills because we can only choose one of the questions to work on for our Preliminary Ideas. This gives us a chance to consider the advantages and disadvantages of doing either question. Although we may have many ideas, the 500-word limit will train us to be succinct in our report.

After submission of the Preliminary Ideas, grouping will be released. Its purpose is to test on our abilities to accept our group mates. The Group Project Proposal focuses on teamwork, as the whole group will have to decide and accept on one project task to undertake throughout the whole year.

The Evaluation of Material teaches the moral behind "the early bird catches the worm". We have to get hold of a good article as early as possible before our group mates can. The component builds on the skills learnt in Social Studies during our secondary education. We will need to critically analyse a source by questioning its reliability through cross-referencing and its usefulness to our project.

We are able to acquire collaboration and communication skills through the Written Report, because we will need to work with the whole group in order to produce a final report. The Written Report teaches us to acknowledge sources which we use for references. This is important because plagiarism is taken very seriously both inside and outside of school. We learn that plagiarism is similar to intellectual theft and is seen as an act of dishonesty. For example, this Insights and Reflections is done by me, so references made to this should be acknowledged.

After the submission of the Written Report, an Oral Presentation has to be given. This will enhance teamwork between the group members as various parts of the presentation have to be linked together. Furthermore, it will test us on our abilities to speak clearly and confidently in front of an audience. The Question and Answer segment allows us to explain and elaborate on our answer to the question supplied to test our bullshitting skills.

Finally, the Insights and Reflections is the most integral part of this whole Project Work because it will allow us to reflect on what we have learnt throughout the whole journey. We will then be able to realise our own strengths and weaknesses as a person and will strive to work towards excellence.

In conclusion, Project Work provides us with the opportunity to synthesise knowledge from various areas of learning, and critically and creatively apply it to real life situations. Project Work should continue to be included into the syllabus of the next batches of JC1 students as it will prepare them for lifelong learning and the challenges ahead.

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