Reflection (Week 3)

P.s. We all chose week three as that's the only time we had group work and not only some normal lesson, and we all paid 100 percent attention to the teacher!

TAN WEN CONG


During CID, we were asked to describe our school environment in 4 words. I thought for some time and finally decided on the word: dull. I just felt that most of the people were too cliquish and never bothered include everyone in one activity. They were all only willing to stay in their own cliques, not wanting to step out and include more friends in their activities. Many will think that my view is wrong and negative, but this is simply my subjective perception of the school environment. This perception of mine can easily be changed if only they had been more inclusive of everyone. If only. During the lesson, I learnt that when writing blog, we cannot wrote it like a boring narrative story, but add more feelings.




EVELYN ANG XIN RUI


During CID, our teacher gave us a huge piece of majong paper and post it notes for us to discuss on the environment of RV. Personally, I think that RV has a nice and quiet environment and could not understand why some of my group mates said that it was "boring". (WHY??)After listing out a few words, we classified them into two categories, "Negative" and "Positive". After discussing further, we were asked to present to the class. During the lesson, I learnt that when writing blog, we cannot wrote it like a boring narrative story, but an interesting journal, or else the reader will end up giving up reading it.




ANDREW BAE JONG SEONG


During the CID lesson, we discussed as a group about the environment in RV. We came up with two negative and two positive words that best describes the environment in RV. They are cheerful, calm, dull and stressful respectively.
During the lesson, I have learnt that when looking at photographs, we need to have some analyzing skills. Not only it has to depicts facts, but also emotions inside.
My friend, Leonard was foolishly playing with his basketball in class. Our teacher did not really care about him until when our classmate was presenting his words, he accidentally dropped it on the floor. The ball bounces off the floor and our teacher quickly confiscated it. Leonard was very stupid and I could not stop my laughter for a while.




LEONARD SIM BAO HUA


CID was fun. We discussed about the environment of RV. I could only think of very negative words of RV, such as boring, noisy, full 'hatred', tired... However, my group mates didn't wrote all of those down. They are 'goodie goodie' people. Finally, they wrote cheerful, calm, dull and stressful, grouped under positive and negative. I thought that it should be grouped under lies and truth, shouldn't it? During the lesson, I have learnt that when looking at photographs, we need to have some analyzing skills. Not only it has to depicts facts, but also emotions inside.




GRACE DENG ZHEYUN


During the CID lesson, we all discussed about the environment of RV and wrote ouranswer on . To be frank,I don't know how to answer this question. It's too suddenfor me... Interesting? Nah, it's quite dull and boring. Stress-free? Nah (again), it's very very extremely stress-FFFUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLL!! Leonard 'helpfully' suggested noisy, tiring, etc. I wanted to say,"Thank you ah, Leonard, but can you give positive stuffs?" Finally, we decided on cheerful, calm, dull and stressful, grouped under positive and negative. Leonard wanted to group these under truth and lies, he felt that negative was how he truly felt about RV.

During the lesson, I have learnt that when taking photographs, we need to frame the objects in our photo. for example, we will place our subjects at the intersection of the thirds and we will create an interesting composition.

                 “PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOTHING”

This is a quote by Henry Cartier-Bresson we learnt. I thought this might spark some thought. Sometimes, we became so bogged down in 'looking for pictures' that we forget about being in the moment and enjoying life.



          

Chingay reflection

GRACE DENG ZHEYUN (7)

          When we first heard that we have chingay, we were wondering what was chingay... A china gay? Most of us were shocked and not very willing to go since it was on a Saturday when we have a lot of activities planned. Besides, I was so unlucky that day. Lady Luck was not shining at me... :(( I caught a cold that day and had symptoms of running nose and a bit of fever. I still had not finished my homework yet, but since I was so tired, I slept. Now, until here, you guys must have thought that I've overslept and didn't went for chingay and bye, but I only overslept for ten minutes and rushed to school like a bullet train. Even though I was not late, I was the last few people who reached the canteen. 

           We had our early dinner in school which was provided for us. Sad to say, the dinner is very very horrifying! I hate those vegetables and chicken. If you were to think that chicken is delicious, I hate to tell you that those chicken there were not quite delicious. Do you know that a lot of peoples' birthdays were on that day? Wow! A day for full of births from RV? Finally, we headed off for Chingay. 

           When we reached there, we saw a lot of performers in colorful costumes, and there was a reporter there interviewing one of our school mates! One of the costumes that attracted me was like a 'colorful centipede'. It was said to be from Meridian Primary school, I think. The performers came and danced. Although it was not very neat, I must say they danced quite well. 

   (OMG! There is a cute little girl dancing!)

   (Sorry for the unclear picture... My hands seem to shake a little, I suppose)

              My favourite one was the group of ballerinas -- adults and children, males and females, dancing gracefully in their pure white dresses. It makes me feel like learning ballet... 

              There is another performance which made me hard to forget. It was about a young girl singing between two half-naked teenaged men... It was a bit unexpected and unforgettable especially for my friend. Forgive me for not saying her name. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. (Not saying that performance, but the whole chingay performance)

           Near the end of the chingay performance, our school did the RV cheers. I was kind of surprise to hear this, but who cares? We were having fun! This made me felt proud being a RV. Do you know that only our school receives the 'colorful paper firework'. This is actually a burst of small colorful papers along the aisle. 

        

           This year's theme is : COLOURS OF FABRIC, ONE PEOPLE 布海同心! I learnt that although we are of different races, we all are one people, one nation, one Singapore! I really loved Chingay and hope to have it again. 

EVELYN ANG XIN RUI (2)

          That day was a meaningful event as all of us went to watch the Chingay Parade with the whole cohort. All of us were delighted to find a goodie bag on our seats as we settled down. The goodie bag includes stuff like: A pom pom, a scarf, a bun, a bottle of water, a protein bar, a memo pad and a wristband. We were captivated once the parade started. Flowing fabrics, loud music and graceful dances enticed us as we snapped photos again and again. At the near end of the concert, all of us were so pumped up that we stood up and waved our pom poms in air in the beat of the music. I learnt to live in harmony, as we are one Singapore! It was definitely a night to remember. 

ANDREW BAE JONG SEONG (22) 

           Overall it was fine. As the parade goes on, I can that different rAces of people. when it comes to Chinese traditional dance, I saw the Malays and the Indians too. The last part where all of us throw at each other the colored papers and pong pongs, it was childish yet quite fun. The only thing I found unpleasant is that the parade was making me dizzy. Different colours of light beams shining on me and that made my head spin. I wish I can go and watch the Chingay parade again next time. 

            From this chingay, I learnt to unite and live in harmony.

TAN WEN CONG (31)

I didn't really like parades. I still wonder, why are parades so liked by many? All we do is sit there and watch others perform and we don't really get to do much. The same goes for chingay. The part where I didn't like most was after the parade. Almost everyone was like wild animals, throwing the pong pongs everywhere. It was seriously annoying. Overall, I think the parade wasn't too bad. Just that I'm not the type of person who likes parades. I learnt that we Singaporeans need to unite.

LEONARD SIM BAO HUA (30)

          Chingay was fun overall.The boys had fun throwing pong pongs and drooling over the beautiful performers.Just kidding.It was nice to see people from different races coming together to put a show(chingay).Chingay can be seen as a Singaporean way to express unity and harmony among the races in Singapore. I learnt that we have to live in unity and harmony.

         However,I was getting tired coming towards the end as we had no breaks in between the chingay and had to wait for a long time for the bus. It was very late in the bus, so I had a 'ghost time story' with my friends...

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Chinese New Year (CNY 2014)

GRACE DENG ZHEYUN (7)

Colour: red

Red is the colour of good luck so like the red packets given during Chinese New Year every year, it symbolises good luck. (And never ever wear red during a funeral...you know why). 

    

Symbol: firecracker? 

Well, in the past,  there was a monster called nián 年. Every Spring, during New Years Eve, nián would come out to eat villagers, destroy their homes and farms. One year, the villagers were burning bamboo to keep themselves warm. nián approached a village and was frightened by the cracking noise of the burning bamboo. The villagers then discovered a way to drive away nián and keep themselves safe. As time passed and technology advanced, firecrackers were invented and replaced the burning of bamboo. Today, lighting firecrackers is a major custom performed to scare off evil spirits and celebrate the coming of the New Year. Interestingly, nián, the name of the monster is also the word for year in Chinese.

                

                                        

Image: 2K's classroom. There was a competition between each class of decorating their classroom to New Year's festive. In the end, 2K got the first in classroom decoration! Although it's not my class, I can honestly say that their decoration is superb! 

    

EVELYN ANG XIN RUI (2)

Colour: Gold 

Gold cause it stands for wealth and prosperity which is what chinese new year is all about.

Symbol: Lion 舞狮

It is awesome although it is not included in the zodiac. I like the lion dance my school does every CNY celebration. 

                                

Image: 捞鱼生

It is a very auspicious and is a main thing do to during CNY. 

Tan Wen Cong (31) 

Colour: orange 

Everywhere I go, I see oranges... ~.~ The elders always give me oranges. I have so much oranges that my refrigerator is full!

Symbol: Money

I received a lot of angbao this year! $$ Kaching! Kaching!

Image: the scenario below... 

After a long year, my relatives visits me. They bring lots if joy different from the usual boring days. Ang Bao too! ^^

ANDREW BAE JONG SEONG (22)

Colour: Red 

It symbolizes good luck. If not why do people wear red for Chinese New Year? 

Symbol: money ($$)

I want to use my ang bao money to buy headphones!! (Excited)

Image: excited about getting money

LEONARD SIM BAO HUA (30)

Colour: Red

It signifies good luck and it is believed to bless you 

Symbol: 福“倒”

I believe it will bring good luck for my family. 

Image: A new headphone set!

I bought it during New Year Festive season as I like it so much! It practically cost me my whole angbao money!

4 Word Challenge

        

Dull : We are always studying in RV. Maybe that's one or two interesting events like School Anniversary and Chinese New Year, but these are too little for us. RV is like a school that is colorless for us... Going to the same place at the same time with the same teacher.

Stressful: Maybe people can argue about RV being dull,  but I guess everyone could agree that RV is stressful! There are tests every week, graded assignments, NAPFA, examinations... Even people from Nanyang Girls' High School pity us... 😭 

Calm : Finally, something positive! Calm... It's not like some other school where students get into fights and have bullies. Our school is calm in this way... 

Cheerful : We always chit-chat with our friends during recess about our school life in the canteen. Although this adds to the noise level, it makes us feel, Ah... This is school life... I'm blissful!