Home Learning - Poetry

1I323 – Tay Wee Shing Kervin

Title: Touched by An Angel
Author: Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Q1.) How are the figurative language used in this poem?

The phrase “Love arrives and in its train comes ecstasies” is a type of symbolism. The author pictures it in a way that love symoblises happiness in a train.

The phrase “until love leaves its high holy temple” is also another type of symbolism. In my point of view, the “high holy temple” is someone that loves you a lot. Thus, in this, the author symbolises the “high holy temple” as someone that loves you.

Next, the two phrases “old memories of pleasure” and “ancient histories of pain” is a type of simile. The author is referring love to as these two phrases as the poem goes “Love arrives and…”.

The phrase “Yet it is only our love which sets us free” is something that is like a type of metaphor. The author uses love as someone that will be able to set us free.

Q2.) Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

The poem does not drag long and is able to express a greater definition and meaning of the word love that we now know today. In my mind, love is basically something that we ought to treasure. However, in this poem, it has shown us the different meanings of love and also the path of love, in which I refer to how love travels to us and how we should accept it. Besides, it has diverted love to many other meanings, symbolizing many other things.

Q3.) What are the teacher’s impressions of the students in the poem?

The teacher sees the students as bad, ruthless and annoying. The teacher also dislikes the students and thinks they deserved to be taught a lesson.

The teacher’s way of teaching them a lesson is actually effective and bad. Firstly, violence is definitely effective as a way as the students would see it as a punishment in the future and being hit at is a child’s worst dream. However, it is bad as violence is not a great way to start disciplining the students. As many have said even if the teacher shouts, it is considered as unprofessional. Violence is therefore even worse.

Home Learning - Poetry (Comments)

1I323 – Tay Wee Shing Kervin

I am referring to 1I312 – Wei Kiat’s posting. Firstly, I feel that he has answered the questions very well. However, I feel that he could have elaborated more on some questions. I am actually wondering why are there brackets in the poems. In my own point of view, I think it looks like a song to me. Elaboration can be used in him expressing about “No fate” and also “No world” as a symbol of romance or love. He has also done well in managing to cover the whole poem over the two questions. Lastly, I disagree with him on “Whatever a sun will always sing is you”, he says it describes the feelings of the poet. In my point of view, I think is more of describing the scene you are actually in.

Pepsi Commercial Review

Hi friends,

Firstly, in this advertisement, the long shot and establishing shot are used. At the starting of the commercial, it shows the temple and slowly the scene moves down, making the audience curious.

Also, the close-up shot is being used when the main character practices karate, this shot shows the determination of the boy wanting to have good karate skills, this will make the audience feel more curious as there is no product being advertised yet. The close-up shot is also used when everybody opens the Pepsi can. This emphasises that they enjoy drinking Pepsi when it shows the happy expression on their faces at the end.

Due to technical problems, I am unable to upload the video onto my blog. I am sorry. This is the wbsite: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=40DykbPa4Lc

Regards,
Kervin

Random Stuff - 02/03/2010

Hi friends,

It’s the end of Home Learning 2010. How do you feel? In my blog post today, I will be sharing on some random stuff and also my opinion of Home Learning 2010.

Firstly, I would be talking about my favourite soccer clubs. It has been a great season for the clubs that I love and support. Let’s head to the English Premier League first; I support the same club as Ming Fwu, Arsenal. They have been doing well and have improved a lot, being the Premier League’s top scorers at 66 goals, tied with Manchester United. However, they have a great player, Cesc Fabregas, which has claimed 15 assists in the whole of this season and they are just 3 points away from leaders Chelsea. Yeah! Next, to the local league, S-League! Gombak United have not been doing well in the league, winning one and losing two but they have done well in the League Cup, they are now in the semi-finals. Oh yeah, one last thing to bring up regarding soccer, Singapore would be facing Jordan in a do-or-die clash, to proceed to the Asian Cup ever since 1984 when they qualified as hosts. As such, support them by watching the match Live & Exclusive on Channel 5 tomorrow at 11.55 p.m.

Next, the Home Learning, personally, I feel that it does not help me effectively in learning. I get really bored at times staring into the computer; even blogging is much more fun. Well, I believe that it could be further improved. However, I feel that it should be used as a platform for revision, not for learning something new, as I feel that having teachers explaining things to you would be much more effective.

Thirdly, on how I feel in Hwa Chong Institution, well, I feel that I have fully adapted into Hwa Chong. However, I still feel that primary life is much more stressful than the life now. I don’t know why, but I guess it’s because that I have a better learning attitude and timetable. Good news is I have done well in my Mathematics and Chinese tests but I am not realyy confident about the Science test, which is my weakest subject.

Lastly, i-League, it’s bad news. Almost our whole first team has been wiped out. Conditions:

a.) Yan Zhe : Cut in eyebrow, could be sidelined for a few weeks.
b.) Cheng Tat : Fell in school but recovering soon, should be back by end of week.
c.) Fu Yuan : Sick, should be fine by this week.
d.) Justin : Knee problem, should be back by this week.
e.) Kervin : Recovered fully after hand injury.
f.) Reserve Team : Everything’s perfectly fine.

Our next match should be against Sec 2 opponents. We would need your support.

Regards,
Kervin

Intrapersonal Assignment

Hi friends,

It’s my second post in a day. This time, it is also related to Home Learning. The assignment is to write an article out pertaining to my best intelligence, which is Intrapersonal. Attached below are the assignments.

Intrapersonal [select one]

a. Write a journal entry from the point of view of one of the characters in Flowers for
Algernon.The title of your journal is Journal according to…
b. Who would you want to be friends with in the Flowers for Algernon. Explain your choice.
I have chosen to do assignment B.

I would like to make friends with Miss Kinnian.

Firstly, Miss Kinnian is a supportive teacher. Miss Kinnian is supportive in a way that she encourages Charlie by telling him he was the best pupil in her class. The evidence used to support this is this quote, “They said Miss Kinnian told that I was her best pupil in the adult night school because I tried the hardest and I really wanted to learn.” Having a supportive friend would always support you in good decisions that you make, and help to change your opinion on changing your mind. Besides, a supportive friend would always try to encourage you when you have weaknesses to make you feel better or when you are feeling down. The encouragement from a supportive friend could lift your feelings and could also motivate you to do something better or out of the blue.

Besides, she is a dedicated teacher as she teaches Charlie most of the stuff whenever. She still taught him after the operation although he would become clever. Having a dedicated friend would never lie to you and be “loyal” to you in a way that the friend would not tease you, joke about you behind your back. Besides, in an example scenario, when doing a project and you are beginning to drift away from the topic, having a dedicated friend who will always concentrate on the task will remind you to get back on the topic.

Miss Kinnian is also outspoken and strong-willed as she stands up for what is right and not what is always the easy way out. When the doctors want to continue experimentation on Charlie, she stands up for him by saying that he is not an animal and deserves to be treated like a human being. Having an outspoken and strong-willed friend would speak up for me in any circumstances when you are treated unfairly or being bullied or in any other scenario. Having a strong-willed friend would help you in an example scenario, like when you and your friend are doing a project and there are problems, a strong-willed friend would never give up and would also encourage you to do the same as him/her.

Lastly, Miss Kinnian is a caring and kind teacher. She went to the laboratory at times to visit Charlie ad continued to teach him even after the operation although he was clever. Having a caring and kind friend would never leave you in the lurch when you are in times of help. Besides, a kind friend would try their best in all circumstances to assist you in any problems that you encounter. A caring friend would encourage you when you are feeling down, trying their best to lift your feelings. In an example scenario, a caring friend would also call you when you are sick.

That’s for the day!

Cheers,
Kervin

Multiple Intelligences Test

Hi friends,

This would be my first blog post for Term 2 although it is still Term 1. The topic would be on the Multiple Intelligences Test that I just t
ook.
According to the test, I am intrapersonal. Well, I don’t think it is really accurate. During Primary 5, we also went through a course to find out our preferred learning style, not on what multiple intelligences. From the test, I found out that my preferred learning style was Bodily-Kinaesthetic, as such, I was expecting the same result from the multiple intelligences test. Of course, this test may be inaccurate, but it will always help you in your learning in the future. Knowing you best part of intelligence would mean you would use it to help you in other prospects such as when revising for the test, you should do something that your intelligence would be most productive to. Besides, it also lets you know on what your worst intelligences are, allowing you to know that you should improve on it.

I still have lots of E-Learning to be done, I need to go now.

Cheers,
Kervin

23/02/2010 - A Day to Remember

Hi fellows,

This is my third post in two days. 23/02/2010. Was it a special or strange day for you? Well, for me and Clarence, it was.

Fine, first thing in the morning, the cross country meet, nothing much to write about. I-Spark took up 4 of the top 10 positions for Sec 1. Hooray! Besides, Mr Low got second in the teacher’s race! Yeah! This was not the special part.

Clarance and me had decided to go to Macdonald’s for lunch at Jurong Point. Since the McValue lunch was only available at 12 noon, we decide to sit 154, which was a waste of time, to Boon Lay, where Jurong Point is located. Once we got onto the bus, the bus captain was speaking to someone else through the microphone.

“I put Off Service!” the bus captain said. Throughout the journey, the bus captain pulled over to adjust the mirror. Since he said that sentence, no one else came on, only passengers alighted. Along Boon Lay Way, many commuters were angry as the bus did not stop although they flagged it down. Nothing wrong. 154 was the only bus passing by there, and our bus was Off Service. What a great experience to sit on an Off Service bus! On the bus, Clarance and me were discussing on this issue to be placed on our blog. We also took some photos.

Upon reaching Boon Lay Interchange, Clarance had to top up his card. In front of him, there was a man that only knew how to speak Chinese. With the lady at the counter only able to speak in English, Clarance was ropped in to help with the translation. That’s about all, I believe.

Bye!

My CCA -Library

Hi all,

This is my second blog post today to beat the deadline of five blog posts by this weekend. Just for this blog post, I would be talking about my CCA.

My CCA is library. For the new Sec 1 batch of new librarians, there are only five, 2 from 1I3 and 3 from 1I4. Yeah! Why did I put library as my first choice? I hope to serve the school directly and besides, there are no competitions for this CCA, making it a non-stressful CCA.

Now, I would try to change your viewpoint on library. I believe most of you have the assumption that library is a slacking CCA. In fact, it is not at all. Every week, 2.30p.m.-5.30p.m. on Friday, which includes a half an hour meeting, half an hour to one hour sports and the rest of the time shelving books. Maybe to you, you would tell me you could also shelve books but can you do it in the proper way? Just imagine every person in the school borrows one book, we have only less than 30 members in the club. How would you be able to finish it in 1.5 hours. That is where it comes in, speed. We serve the school directly. Without us, will the teachers have resources? Besides, there will be a project assigned to each group every month. Every week, we also have to come back for one hour to shelve books. Tiring? Yes, in my point of view. We would also have to wrap books and work at the counter.

The paragraph above has indicated that library is NOT a slacking CCA. If this has changed your view, I have used P.E.E successfully. If not, I may have missed out the part on elaboration.

Conclusion of blog post : Library is not a slacking CCA.

I-League

Hi fellows,
It sure has been two weeks since I have posted. For this post, I would be talking about random issues.

Firstly, the i-League. We lost 1-0 to 1I4 just today (22/02/2010). A match report would be we conceded on 19 mins, the whole match is 20 mins. Despite this loss, the team is still confident we would win and the team would appreciate if all of you could come down to the soccer court near the JC to give us Despite this loss, the team is still confident we would win and the team would appreciate if all of you could come down to the soccer court near the JC to give us your support every Monday. ( I would try my best to post match reports after every match.)

Match Report:
1I3 0
1I4 1 ( Casper,19 )
1I3 – Yan Zhe, Justin, Kervin, Tianle, Ban Siang ( Ivan,10 )
1I4 – Kay Han, Danyon, Joshua, Jerry ( I’m not sure about the rest )

1I4 starts the ball with Danyon passing to Jerry, which almost results in a goal but the post denies them an early goal. 2 mins later, 1I4 could have scored but it hit the post again. 1I3 changes position, with Yan Zhe and Kervin changing positions. That’s the main stuff about the 1st half. There is one substitution made in every team. 2nd half gets 1I3 kicking with Yan Zhe taking a direct shot from the centre line. It floats just above the crossbar. Good try. 1I4 dominate play in the first five minutes but 1I3 great defence hold out, not conceding any goals. The breakthrough’s here. 1I4’s Caspar is 1 on 2 and shoots past Kervin into the back of the net, on the left. 1min 27 sec left for 1I3 to get back into the game. 1I3 dominate play for most of the last two mins but 1I4’s defence does well. Refree “blows the whistle”. Final score : 1I3 0 1I4 1

Next, would be my trip back to my old school, Nanyang Primary School, during Chinese New Year. Not much to talk about but I was sure happy to see our teachers being glad to see us. We played soccer for quite a long while before leaving. That’s about all, I think.

Conclusion of this blog post : We need our class support to win the next match. Please come.

Flowers for Algernon Assignment

Hi all,
This post is on my homework for Flowers for Algernon. I would be doing No.5.

Oral: In HCI, we place emphasis on different types of intelligences. Your Director of Consortium has asked you to do research on the different intelligences and present it to the consortium. You are also to explain which intelligence is the most important to you. You will present it to your own class mates first.
Instead of presenting the normal seven types of intelligence, I will go through it by using nine types of intelligence.

1.) Musical Intelligence
People with musical intelligence have the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone which enable them to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music. Those that possess musical intelligence are usually singing or drumming to themselves in their daily life and are usually quite aware of sounds others may miss.

2.) Interpersonal Intelligence
People with interpersonal intelligence have the ability to understand and interact effectively with others which involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions among others, sensitivity to the moods and temperaments of others, and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives. Those that possess interpersonal intelligence are leaders among their peers, are good at communicating, and seem to understand others’ feelings and motives.

3.) Linguistic Intelligence
People with linguistic intelligence have the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. Linguistic intelligence allows us to understand the order and meaning of words and to apply meta-linguistic skills to reflect on our use of language. People that possess linguistic intelligence enjoy writing, reading, telling stories or doing crossword puzzles.

4.) Intrapersonal Intelligence
People with intra-personal intelligence have the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings, and to use such knowledge in planning and directioning one’s life. Intra-personal intelligence involves not only an appreciation of the self, but also of the human condition. Those that possess intrapersonal intelligence are very aware of their own feelings and are self-motivated.

5.) Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
People with bodily kinesthetic intelligence have the capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills. This intelligence also involves a sense of timing and the perfection of skills through mind–body union.

6.) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
People with logical-mathematical intelligence have the ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations which enables them to perceive relationships and connections and to use abstract, symbolic thought; sequential reasoning skills and inductive and deductive thinking patterns. People that possess logical-mathematical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories, and relationships and are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games and experiments.

7.) Naturalist Intelligence
People with naturalist intelligence designate the human ability to discriminate among living things as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world.

8.) Spatial Intelligence
People with spatial intelligence have the ability to think in three dimensions. Core capacities include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination. People that possess spatial intelligence may be fascinated with mazes or jigsaw puzzles, or spend free time drawing or daydreaming.

9.) Existential Intelligence
Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here.

I am not really sure about 7 & 9 but for reference, this is the website :
skyview.vansd.org/.../The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm -

Introduction

Hi friends,
My full name is Tay Wee Shing Kervin. My previous school is Nanyang Primary School (NYPS).
I support Arsenal, Birmingham and Totthenham. I love players like Joe Hart, Jermain Defoe and ultimately the best player of the season so far in my point of view, Cesc Fabregas.
In S-League, I support Gombak United, who finished third last season and will kick off the campaign against Tampanies Rovers, who finished second last season. I hope you will be at Jalan Besar stadium to watch the match. I can’t go coz I have dreadful tuition.
I am blessed to be in 1I3, we have a great batch of teachers for our class.
Firstly, let me introduce Mr. Low Swee Xiang, who is our form teacher and also our LSS teacher. He is extremely nice to us.
Next, our I.H. teacher, Mr. Eugene Chua. He is extremely nice to us and does not like late homework at all.
Then, Mr Tan Boon Beng, the very funny music teacher.
Mrs. Chang, who is our Mathematics teacher. I love her lessons a lot coz it is interesting.
Mdm Lim, our Language Arts teacher, who is kind coz she does not scold us for handing in late homework.
Ms. Yin, our Chinese teacher, who is pretty OK, like an average teacher.
Finally, Ms. Soh, our AAP teacher, who is rather strict.
I have a favour to ask for you. Please do the survey on the right whether I should join Track and Field as my CCA. I am just a little overweight but I run fast in short distances and Track & Field is a CCA that I have to go three times a week and there is one more below for soccer fans.
Four weeks have passes and the Hwa Chong spirit is boiling in my heart.
Cheers!