Scraping Examination for Pri 1 and Pri 2.....??

Statement taken by Ministry of Education Website...
At lower primary (Primary 1 and 2), when students are just beginning school, a key focus should be placed on building pupils’ confidence and desire to learn. In these early years, too much emphasis on formal semestral examinations may not be the optimal way to achieve these outcomes. A better approach would be to use assessment to support and improve learning. As such, the Committee recommends that MOE consider using “bite-sized” modes of assessment, such as topical tests, to provide regular feedback on pupils’ learning to parents. MOE should also train teachers to use a range of appropriate assessment techniques and tools to provide parents and pupils with better feedback on their progress.

Well taking exam away should be less stress for lower primary students (Primary 1 & 2).. But when they reach Primary 3.. some students will finds it too stressful when exam are being introduce to them.. These are some of the worries for some parents..

I personally think that for primary 1, do away with the exam and use topical tests.. then Primary, use topical tests and introduce Exam on only 1 subject (preferably English).. then Primary 3, use topical tests and Exam on English, Maths and Science.. By slowly introducing the exam.. it gives students time to gradually adapt.. But most of it all, schools should be more innovative to make learning more interesting.. and parents also plays a very important partner to the school.. Both are equally important in a child's education...

Daughter scared of Recess...

Yesterday my daughter Primary 1 form teacher called my wife and inform her about my child has been crying before recess time.. Before that my daughter has been complaining to my wife that she don't want to go to school because she is afraid of recess time.. She worried that she could not finish her meal in time, during recess time of 30 mins..

But according the her form teacher.. my daughter always the first to finish her food and always the first few who assemble at the school hall... Her form teacher did partner the class monitor to buddy my daughter, but it did not work out because my daughter complaint that her class monitor eats very slow..

My wife gave my daughter a watch and tells her not to rush, as she has plenty of time to eat.. and it still did not solve the problem.. My daughter still scared of recess time.. Now both her form teacher and my wife don't know what to do.. I think it is a psychology problem...

Last night had a discussion with my wife.. My wife suggest her to skip recess.. and i said no.. from the time she wake up at 6am.. drank a bottle of milk and breakfast (sometime she don't even have the appetite for breakfast) till recess (10am) till end of school at 1.30pm.. It was a long period to endure if she don't eats anything during recess.... Food is essential for child during their learning... without food, they are sure unable to concentrate in class... it will affect her study..

So we decide to pack food for her recess.. To pack sandwich in small bits size.. (easy to eat) and also to pack in a pack of nutritious drink (Milo, Horlick, soya milk or milk).. and lets hope this will solved the problem.. because in February, there will not have any catered recess meals.. every Primary 1 students must learn to buy their own food...

If still unable to work out.. then we might get the form teacher to engage the school's counsellor help.... Till now we still unable to figure out what is the main problem..

CNY River HongBao 2009.. more Pics..

Here are some more pics of the Chinese Lunar New Year River HongBao 2009.. at Marina Floating Platform...

Chinese Opera Characters and Legendary Heroes

Chinese Opera Figuring

'Pig' one of the Chinese Zodiac Animal

Tangerine Lanterns, in mandarin tangerine are call "Ji"

The Year of Golden OX

Wishing Well - throw a coin at the bell to make your wishes comes true...

Chess City

Chinese Zodiac Animal - The Fearless Tiger

Chinese Zodiac Animal - The Hard Working OX

Chinese Zodiac - The Clever Snake

Chinese Zodiac Animal - The Majestic Dragon

Chinese Zodiac Animal - The Graceful Rabbit

Plum Blossoms

The God of Fortune

The Golden Ox join the queue into the Marina Floating platform..

River HongBao 2009...

Yesterday, 27 Jan 09... was the second day of Chinese Lunar New year... I bring my family down to the River HongBao 2009 at the Marina Floating Stage...

We reach there at about 4.30pm.. but it was not open yet, i was taken by surprise.. I suppose to be open to public at 6pm till 11pm... How could such event not open to public during the day.. and was only restrict to 5 hours a day in the evening? Anyway. we go shopping and return at 6.30pm..

The entrance, was taken at 4.30pm..

It was so crowded.. everyone have to queue to get onto the Marina Floating Stage (This is where our National Day Parade was held...) It was so crowded because of the short opening time.. and the Marina Floating Stage has it capacity limit also.. There is a big stage on the Marina Floating Stage where you can watch cultural performance... I wipe out my LG KU990 Viewty and took all these pics...

There is also a local delicacy area (50 stalls selling food), packed with so many hungry customers.. We tried the Fried Duran (taste artificial, looks like they add in favouring) and Chicken Kebabs (nice and spicy)..

Huge Chinese Chess Figure, these are cool

Great Wall of China

Chinese Opera Characters and Chinese Historic Heroes...
You can see the Marina Sands Resort (Casino) under construction in the background...


"Horse", one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals

Plum Blossom

God of Wealth, standing tall above all... But this God of Wealth looks fierce to me.. (he look evil)

I love this beautiful rows of lanterns at the entrance...

Here are some of the details

Event Dates : 24th Jan 2009 to 1st Feb 2009
Time of Event : 24 Jan till 1 Feb (except 25 Jan)

: 6pm to 11pm 25 Jan (Lunar New Year Eve) : 6pm to 1230am
Venue: Marina Bay Floating Stage

FREE ADMISSION

Kumudra Meditation Centre, Open Ceremony...

Invited by my boss, this morning i went down to Kumudra Meditation Centre Open Ceremony at Sago street.. We did some chanting.. and wait for our VIP Guest - Venerable Shi Fa Zhao from The Buddha's Tooth Relics Temple, to arrive.. Kumudra Meditation Centre was founded by Venerable Sawadaw, from Mynamar.. Thus The Buddha's Tooth Relics Temple has a good relationship with Venerable Sawadaw.. It was one of the Mynamar's top venerable who pass on the Buddha's Tooth Relics to Venerable Shi Fa Zhao.. thus the Buddha's Tooth relics Temple was built to house that Buddha's Tooth Relics..

I was very happy to attend this occasion where 9 venerable from Mynamar and Singapore come together.. And was glad to able to witness both Singapore and Mynamar most highly Venerable - Venerable Shi Fa Zhao and Venerable Sawadaw..

Kumudra Meditation Centre have about 100 members from all over the region, like Mynamars, Singaporeans, Malaysians, Thais, Koreans etc...

Daughter missed School Bus....

Last night my wife was telling me that she is on leave from 23 Jan 09.. Therefore she said the morning chores of getting my daughter ready for school.. she will take care.. Well good news to me.. i can sleep late..
This morning i was woke by a phone call... It was the school bus attendant who called... asking why our daughter is not present to take the school bus.?? OOH SHIT.. we realised that we have over slept.. Damn.. my wife got so excited.. and start rushing our girl... I still keep my cool... anyway.. now we have to send our child to school to via public bus.. Luckily we manage to reach the school on time.. then we realised that our daughter forget to bring 2 oranges (left on the table)....

Civil Servant spluring on cooking holiday...

I read this from ChennelNewsAsia...

A senior Singaporean civil servant has been reprimanded for publicising his family’s vacation at a top French cooking school when his country is suffering from a recession, a minister said Monday.
"It struck a discordant note during the current difficult economic circumstances when it is especially important to show solidarity and empathy for Singaporeans who are facing uncertainties and hardship," Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said in parliament.
The civil servant, Tan Yong Soon, wrote early this month in a local newspaper about his family’s experience learning to cook at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.
He said he attended with his wife and son. Tan, permanent secretary at the ministry of environment and water resources, showed "a lack of sensitivity" and poor judgement, the minister said.
The online community did not pull any punches describing Mr Tan Yong Soon’s article on his family vacation as insensitive. Some even labelled him arrogant.
Mr Tan is believed to have spent at least S$45,000 on his holiday in Paris where his family attended a cooking course.

So many people in Singapore are blogging about this issue.. some were saying he should not have publish about his splurging S$45,000 cooking holiday.. Some were saying his S$45,000 could be put in a better use during this recession period... A minister said it was insensitive for him to wrote such article during this period.. wrong timing...

Well my point of view is that... The money is his hard earn.. civil servant are humans too and they too need a break from work to rejuvenate and be with their family.. He spend his own money from his own pocket.. NOT from the the public.. Even Presidents and Prime Ministers around the world deserved a break once in a while... Why people would want to comment about his holiday?..

The article he wrote in the newspaper was just an holiday ideas for family.. I believe he is not trying to brat about how much he is spending on his holiday, but his intention is to tell public that cooking holiday is also another way for family bonding.. There are so many holiday destinations offering cooking lesson.. for example the "Boat House" in Phuket, Kimchi making lesson in Korea.. etc... Some people even go for wine tasting in Australia and France..

Let give them a break and stop criticising about civil servant's holiday.. Must civil servant always be on a pilgrimage trip or volunteer overseas community trip? Can't civil servant indulge in their favourite interests and activities during their holidays??

Company Dinner on 18 Jan 09

Sunday, 18 Jan 09.. was our company dinner... The dinner was at 6.30pm and we finish work at 6pm.. thus we all gather at our office and walk over to Spring Court Restaurant..

Established in 1929, Spring Court Restaurant remains a family-run restaurant and is the oldest Chinese restaurant in Singapore specialised in Cantonese dishes. We occupied the VIP room on the 5th storey with Karaoke facilities.

We had a 10 course dinner:
Lucky Raw Fish Salad
Braised Superior Shark's Fin
Braised Abalone with Dried Mushroom
Quick- Boiled Live Prawns
Deep -Fried Soon Hock Fish
Roasted Peking Duck - Signature dish
Dried Oysters with Black Moss
Dried Scallop with Vegetables
Pan-fried Noodles
Fresh Water Chestnut Paste with /Coconut Milk

I love the Roasted Peking Duck.. crispy on the outside.. and i was so surprise that the meat was so tender and not at all oily.. I have never tasted any duck meat that is so tender in my life before.. i got myself a few helping on that dish.. Then i realise this is their signature dish and it need to order it 3 days in advance...

At first everyone was very quiet.. and i took my initiative to break the ice by being the first to kick start the karaoke.. Then everyone was enjoying themselves singing and eating.. Some of my colleagues are very good singers...

Finally a new Mobile Phone...

After enduring my "Auto Switch Off" Sony Ericsson K610i for a few months.. Finally i decide to buy a new mobile phone.. Initially i was eyeing Sony Ericsson W595 Walkman slide phone.. but after browsing through SingTel Shop web site.. something caught my eye.. the LG KU990 Viewty - touch screen phone...

I love the white colour version... very cool, modern and trendy.. But unfortunately the last piece of the white one was grab up.. so i got no choice but to take the black one.. It cost me $98 for a 2 yrs contract...

This is the black version... The main feature of this phone is it's 5 Mega pixel camera with 4x digital zoom, photo-light and flash.. 290hrs of standby time (not very impressive on this)... Support Chinese character (you can use the stylus to write Chinese characters)... Display resolution: 240 X 400 pixels, 3inches... Input: touch screen... Internal Memory: 60MB... Expendable memory up to 2 Gig... Tri-band (GSM 900/1800/1900).... FM Radio, GPRS, HSDPA, Blue tooth, Java, Games, Video Recording, MP3 Player, Media player, SMS, EMS, MMS, Email....

The rear view looks like a digit camera....

Naruto Anime...

Recently i have been hooked on the Jap Anime "Naruto". It was my daughter who introduce this anime to me.. and we watch it together from Monday to Friday night...

It is about the story of a boy orphan name Naruto Uzamaki.. is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all.

Naruto Uzumaki is a young boy who has the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him after he was born. Twelve years before the start of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konohagakure, slaughtering many people. In response, the leader of Konohagakure – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside Naruto when he was a newborn.

Many people however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the Third Hokage forbade anyone mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone although Naruto soon realized about this. Years later, Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy by using his Shadow Clone Technique, a technique from a forbidden scroll that he was tricked into stealing, to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninja Mizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the demon fox.

Naruto was then team with Sakura and Sasuske under the guidance of Kakashi, a great ninja.

Here is the link to the online comic of Naruto

http://manga.gamestotal.com/?/en/read/Naruto/1

I brought the Ninja headband for my daughter as her Christmas present and she loves it.. Then i got one for myself.. Men will be boys...

India Pilgrimage Tour Seminar....

Recently i just attended a "How to Sell it Right" Seminar organise by the India Tourism Office. This seminar is about Spiritual Tours or Pilgrimage Tour in India...

Ven (Dr) K. Gunaratana give a brief introduction to Buddhist Pilgrimage Tour in India

India is the birth place and scared site of many religions.. like:

Hindu - The most popular and oldest religion in India

Buddhist - Buddha got Enlightenment in Budhgaya

Christianity - I'm surprise of the many historical churches in India

Sikhism - Their famous Golden Temple in Amritsar

Islam - The second most popular religion in India

Judaism - Jewish

Jainism - Sky Clan and White Clan

Zoroastrian - They worship fire

We were given some sample of itinerary of different religion's pilgrimage tour. I learn about the places of the scared places where pilgrimages will be interested to visit.. and it inspire me to work on a 9D tour package for Buddhist pilgrimage, covering places like Lumbini, Budhgaya, Kushinaggar etc... I spoke to Ven (Dr) K. Gunaratana during tea break, to have a better understand of the Buddhist pilgrimage's tour.

It is an eye opener for me and i do learn a lot from this seminar.

MagMyPic - F1 Driver of the Year

Do i look nice in the Magazine Cover? It is fun. You may like to check out the link...

http://www.magmypic.com/

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

CNY09 Bazaar in Chinatown..

On Monday night, me and my family went down to Chinatown to feel the atmosphere of Chinese New Year (CNY).. As i blog in my previous posting.. this year CNY lighting were not fantastic, due to economy downturn, the budget was low... So, the decorations and lightnings were fewer then last year..

Here are some of the pics i took on the CNY bazaar in Chinatown.. I use my mobile phone to take these pics so not very good quality pics....

CNY cookies and goodies

'年糕' a tradition Chinese New Year sweet & sticky cake

Some traditional Chinese New Year sweets

"步步高生" Lucky Bamboo, a symbol of progress

Stalls selling CNY goodies

The busy CNY Chinatown bazaar

Stalls selling Taiwan's CNY goodies

Chinatown Bazaar

Hong Kong's Red Bean Cake

Hong Kong's Red Bean Cake

Chinatown CNY bazaar

Kids Chinese Cheongsam

Stall selling CNY decorations

Stall selling CNY hanging ornament

Turing the windmill symbolise changing from bad luck to good luck

Stall selling fruits

Stall selling sweets and Taiwan's goodies

Busy street in Chinatown

Colourful artificial flowers for CNY

More CNY sweets and goodies...

The Chinatown's CNY bazaar will end on the eve of Chinese New Year (CNY)... Thus thing will sell very cheaply with great discount during the eve of CNY...