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Year 2 Suzhou OELP
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Name
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School
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Class
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Stream
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Period
of Internationalisation Experience
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Country
of Visit
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Ong Xue Ren
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River Valley High
School
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2G
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Integrated
Programme
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20 May to 26 May
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China
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Reflections:
1. To
start it off, basically, Singapore is a very tiny country compared to China,
thus China’s rich history and its many various unique landmarks made me
choose to go on this trip to learn more, of course with the background
information of the places of interests we are visiting, for example how their
names were derived, were they named after a particular person? Thing? Period
of time in ancient China? So generally I wish to have a clearer understanding
of these places.
When I
chose to go on this trip, I decided that the main purpose of this trip is not
for leisure, but for learning purposes. To add on, I decide to compare the
heritage, education, and cost of living (3 themes) between Singapore and
China. Especially education, as it is the aspect that I am able to relate
most with.
Here
are some questions I hope to find the answers for:
- What
are the China students’ aspiration after high school?
- Are
they what we perceive and are our stereotypical view of China students, that
they are very hardworking?
- How
are the lessons carried out in Chinese? How is their learning environment
like, tense?
Hence,
these make me want to experience their way of learning and observe how they
learn even more. I also hope to learn, after the immersion programme, to be
able to develop my Chinese communication skills and be more independent in
interacting in Chinese.
2. A
situation that I came across that I feel strongly about, it would be the boat
ride in Mudu water town. I remember vividly that the person rowing the boat
offered to sing three songs in their local dialect for two RMB per person. I
was taken aback by this act and totally disagree with this. How could they
make their local culture seem so “cheap” by charging foreigners to know more
about their local culture? Although some might say that they are very poor and
has to make a living out of this, but I couldn’t agree more that they are
destroying their local culture. A culture needs time to develop and by doing
this acts, they are very selfish as they care about themselves more than
their culture. They are giving foreigners a bad impression of the Mudu water
town and this is very irresponsible.
The
person is obviously the tour guide. She has shared with us her in-depth
knowledge and history of the places of interest, often with lots of
elaboration and explanation. Furthermore, she talks about how the names of
the places of interest were derived, with the help of stories and rumours. We
were able to easily understand what she was saying as she had simplified the
content. This allowed us to better comprehend the message she was trying to
convey and we were able to learn more about the places of interest.
I think
this fact would be the fact that in the Suzhou Industrial Park Exhibition
hall, there was a speech written by the Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. It
said “Singapore is a well-managed country with very strict rules, therefore
China wants to learn from Singapore and be better than Singapore”
(translated). After looking at this, I felt proud of Singapore that we are
complimented and recognised by China for our contributions, but by focusing
on the last few words of the speech, I am angry because although Singapore
helped China to boost its economy and attract talents in the field of IT, but
maybe it is the phrasing of the speech, it sounds like China wants to take
advantage of Singapore and surpass Singapore. Thus this is one fact that had
impacted me the most.
3. In
this trip, I got to experience the process of sowing. I only found out then
that it was a very tedious job as it may take around one week to even about
twenty years just to complete a product. This surprised me as I found out
that these people, with perseverance and determination, had to devote part of
their lives to sow in order to earn a living. This further deepens my
understanding and empathy to those who had put in a lot of time, effort and
hard work into the product. After this trip, whenever I see any form of
artwork, I will have a greater sense of appreciation for it and would try my
best to help those who had put in tremendous effort to complete it.
I hope
that Singapore will have a high speed train or a maglev train in a few years’
time. Besides the air-conditioning and good hygiene in these trains, they are
also more efficient at getting to its destination on time and there are more
train cabins which means that everyone would have a seat.
After
the immersion programme and an interview with my buddy, I found out that the
students in China have a very close relationship with the teacher, in a sense
that they interact with each other in ease. When I asked what my buddy’s
plans are after secondary school, he replied that he does not know and had
never thought of it before. Through these, I found out that China students
are very hardworking and humble. I hope I will be more proactive like them
and learn from them in the future.
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Pre-trip Reflection
As always mentioned, this OELP is a learning trip. So, what exactly do I want to learn from this trip? With the background information of the places of interests we are visiting, I hope to know more about their history and how their name were derived, were they named after a particular person? Thing? Period of time in ancient China? So generally I wish to have a clearer understanding of these places, namely Suzhou Lida School which can be achieved through communication with our buddies in the full day immersion Programme. I wish after going to our buddies's home, we would be able to develop communication skills in Chinese as we, alone will have to manage ourselves. I would also, as stated the 3 themes (education, heritage, standard of living), want to learn more about education as it concerns me the most at the moment.
Some questions about their system of education, are they what we perceive and are our styreotypical view of China students, that they are very hardworking? How are the lessons carried out in Chinese? How is their learning environment like, tense? Therefore, these make me want to experience their way of learning and observe how they learn even more. Additionally, I would want to see them doing their co-curriculum activities (CCA) if possible.
As a class, I hope that we would be able to experience their culture and relate to them more easily, through which I also hope it will be fun to forge a closer bond between my classmates.
Ok, so I can't wait for it to start!
I would be looking into the issue of the Starbucks built in the forbidden city through the point of view of the overall owner of the forbidden city. Firstly, the forbidden city itself is a world heritage site and thus it receives a massive number of tourists coming to visit this site. The owner would hence earn a lot of money through the sales of the entrance tickets. From the perspective of the owner, he might have two ways of thinking on the building of Starbucks in the forbidden city.
Starbucks is popular, and the owner can take advantage of the massive crowd to gather a huge sum of income through the sales of food or drink products, especially when the tourists want to take a rest at somewhere and are thirsty or hungry. Which owner would reject more income for himself?
If the owner thinks differently, such that building Starbucks is ruining the originality of the forbidden city and feel that this would serve as a disturbance to some tourists and therefore not visiting the forbidden city, the owner would be at a greater loss.
Future Singapore
To me, the future of Singapore is unpredictable, anything can happen in the years to come and thus I strongly believe that there is no right or wrong. Firstly, Singapore might develop on its infrastructure and developments such as roads or buildings. The roads that I have drawn show that the roads are wider in the future, and has lanes for bicycles and pedestrians to utilise. I also think that there might be an underwater ride close to the Merlion. Speaking of the Merlion, given the fast development of science and technology, the Merlion may be just a hologram and it will be placed maybe in the national museum for preservation. Design is also advancing very rapidly, hence I have drawn a building with unique architecture. Singapore also aims to being a clean and green city, therefore there was an initiative to have trees planted on the roofs of buildings.
Singapore should not and must not be complacent in her achievements. To start off, massive efforts were put into making Singapore into a clean and green city in the past, thus, if we could litter at our own will at anywhere and at anytime, Singapore would be in a mess today and all the efforts put in over the past few years would be wasted. This is one of the reasons why Singapore must not be complacent in her achievements.
Furthermore, many developing countries are developing very rapidly, especially China, and would surpass Singapore in the near future unless Singaporeans works hard to improve Singapore. In the case of Shanghai, Shanghai have retained the title as the World's busiest container port and, at the same time, widening the gap between its closest rivals, Singapore. This shows that Singapore is already beginning to lose out to China with a larger margin, in this area. Moreover, China have sent communist leaders in the recent years to visit Singapore to learn about how our past leaders develop our economy in the past, and would apply it onto China. With China's swift advancements, it is a cruel fact that Singapore's role is fading gradually. If we chose to be complacent at this point in time, we will become irrelevant to China and China might not wish to work with Singapore anymore. As the second largest economy in the world, losing our cooperation with China would be a great loss to Singapore. In addition, if Singapore were to be complacent,we will not be able to stand out in the South East Asia region and many opportunities would be lost and instead be given to rapid developing countries such as India.
In the earlier half of 2015, there was the longest dry spell ever. These resulted in many environmental problems. Fortunately, our lives were not disrupted and water rations did not have to be carried out because we had prepared for these kind of situations beforehand with the help of desalination plants and NEWater plants, hence the draught did not harm Singaporeans and was soon over before Singapore went back to normal again. But the fact is that the climate is changing drastically, if we were to be complacent of our four national taps and do nothing more to improve it, we might not be able to cope with heavier floods or longer droughts that might occur in the future and this puts Singapore in danger.
Therefore, Singapore must not be complacent in her achievements.
3 things I found out:
-China have implemented a one child policy in the 1970s in order to save resources, money and basic necessities in general.
-There was a two child policy in Singapore in the past but have changed to a have three or more policy in order to support the large ageing population.
-The have three or more policy in Singapore is not really currently working as the standard of living is very high in Singapore and hence it would cost a lot to raise a baby, which Singaporeans find it expensive and choose not to give birth.
2 perceptions I have gained:
- If I were a parent, I would be very angry at China's government in the past as it restricts me to having one child only and it should be my right to decide how many children I want to have.
-But if I were the government of China in the past, I would be struggling to create a policy that both benefits the country as a whole and at the same time not disappointing the residents of China.
I question I may have:
-Since currently the three or more policy is not really currently working in Singapore, would maybe a policy that states residents need to at least have 2 children be a more successful policy?
Self-introduction
My name is Xue Ren. In primary school, my friends will usually call me snowman, the direct translation of my name, but I soon got used to it. I am 13 years old. I am born on Boxing Day, 26 December 2002, so I am considered the youngest in the class. I have two elder brothers who are from River Valley High School also. My eldest brother is now in National Service(NS) and my second Brother is currently in year four. My co-curriculum activity(CCA) is wushu. I myself believe that academics should be the TOP priority in my secondary school life, therefore I do not like to miss out on lessons or not go to school and I want to become a doctor when I grow up.
My house have many gaming devices(Xbox, ipad, etc.) Although many say that we should study under an environment with little distractions, and the study room should be apart from the "gaming/ relaxing area", my studying table is just beside my bed, with all kinds of distractions(bed, computer, etc.) I rather do holiday homework late at night than in the afternoon as it is very quiet and peaceful, a very conducive learning environment.
I usually play Ipad games. Although I find them very time consuming, it helps me distress.(even though some times it make me more angry at the game) I also occasionally play with my brothers, for example during my eldest brother's first book-out last week, where I got to play with him immediately after I went home on Friday, after CCA.
Finally, I find that I am an anti-social(quiet), sensitive(to people's comments) and choosy(selective in choosing friends) person.
Extraordinary in the ordinary
The extraordinary in our ordinary school is of course, the RV spirit. Unlike other schools, we possess values such as being appreciative and virtuous, innovative and distinctive, humble and respectful and confident, lead for progress, hand in hand, and finally, having a lifelong learning. As the saying goes," actions speak louder than words", River Valley High School students do what they say, to prove the school spirit.
Many programmes have been implemented to instill these values into Rvians. An example of these is the Construct, Integrate and Differentiate (CID) programme, where students get to come up with their own information through their thinking and apply it in their real life. In this process, students get to display their creativity, teamwork, confidence. Generally, many values are incorporated in this programme.
Also, there are many examples that allow students to showcase the RV spirit, such as the Year 1 orientation. There were many new year 1s that look lost on the first day of school, but the facilitators had to each lead a class and guide them although the facilitators are merely year 2s. Although I was not involved, I could see that throughout the orientation, the facilitators had displayed confidence and leadership through cheers, and many more.
As seen from the picture, it is evident that these two boys are working hand in hand, learning together and at the same time, being humble as to continue studying for the examinations. Therefore, I can proudly say that the most extraordinary thing in River Valley High School is its RV spirit.
With reference to the happiness index, although Singapore is a richer country than Indonesia, Indonesians are happier than Singaporeans. In conclusion, I can say that poverty and happiness can be related to each other but being rich does not determine one's happiness.
CID Assessment 1
Chingay is the largest street performance and
float parade in Asia. This street extravaganza epitomises the dynamism of
Singapore's vibrant and multicultural society. The word Chingay is equivalent
to the Mandarin zhuang yi (妆艺), which means "the art of costume
and masquerade"
In my own opinion, the purpose of this year's
Chingay is to not only celebrate Singapore's vibrant and multicultural society,
but to also honour the people who have helped built Singapore until what it is
today, who are our founding fathers. For example, Mr Lee Kwan Yew who had
contributed greatly to the development of Singapore and Singapore would not
have become a first world country without his leadership. It is also evident that
Chingay celebrates Singapore's vibrant and multicultural society as on the
rehearsal itself, many races, including the Chinese, Malay, Indian and
Eurasians came together to put up the spectacular performance. The Chinese
showcased their dragon dance and stilt walkers, the Malays showed their
traditional drumming and many more, including the Malay and Indian
cultural floats that went across the street. Given Chingay 2016's theme
"Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore", I also believe that the
purpose is to mark the start of Singapore's first fifty years and Singaporeans
would have to learn from the core values displayed by our founding fathers and
pledge our support to live by it, so that we can have a common goal which is to
move forward together as one Singapore towards a brighter future.
On 4 February 1973, the first Singapore Chingay
parade was held partly as a result of the ban on firecrackers a year
earlier in 1972 as a result of fire hazards. This ban was viewed unfavourably
despite the safety issues involved. Some people felt that the ban would result
in a much dampened festival mood for the Chinese New Year period. To address
this issue, the People's Association and the Singapore National
Pugilistic Association jointly organised a street parade from Jalan
Besar to Outram Park featuring the signature floats, acrobatic acts, lion
and dragon dances, stilt walkers, to bring back some cheer to the general
public and to allow its noise and gaiety to compensate for the
ban on firecrackers and to drive away evil spirits, a customary New Year
practice. The largely Chinese parade became a multi-cultural one from 1977
when Malay and Indian groups started joining in the performances,
which was to mark a major precedent in the overall flavour of the parade into
one which has become largely multi-cultural in character, despite the continued
presence of traditional Chinese acts such as lion dances and stilt walkers to
this day. In my opinion, I think that Malay and Indian groups joined to allow
the different races of Singapore to unite as one and cheer for their respective
races together, creating relationships between them, developing trust and
causing less misunderstandings between different races. In 1987, Chingay
featured its first foreign group when
the city's main English newspaper, The Straits Times, sponsored four pop
singers from Tokyo. Since then, this signature event had extended invitations
to international artistes and troupes. From my perspective, this is to add
variety to the parade to attract attention and try to get residents from
all corners of Singapore to witness the Chingay parade and spread awareness to their other fellow Singaporeans. The purpose of the Chingay parade have also changed drastically, the first few Chingay parades were organised to celebrate only Chinese New Year, but currently the purpose is to celebrate Singapore's vibrant and multicultural society, honour the people who have helped built Singapore until what it has become today and motivate people to strive together to create a bright future for Singapore. Personally, I feel that it was because the organisers felt a need to change the purpose of Chingay parades, this was to make use of such a big event to educate the public not to take the efforts of our founding fathers and what we have now for granted, and instead cherish what we have and learn the core values from our founding fathers and apply them in our daily lives, so that we, Singaporeans can progress and strive together for a brighter future as one Singapore.
In my opinion, the organisers have already fulfilled the purpose of having a vibrant and multicultural society as they have managed to put together people, regardless of race and language, together to put up such a spectacular Chingay parade. During the Chingay parade, the crowd was cheering loudly and the atmosphere was electrifying. The organisers had to cater to eight thousand performers' unique, colourful costumes and design the magnificent floats, these shows the Singapore "Can Do" spirit and also show the unity of Singaporeans as one people, therefore the organisers have successfully fulfilled the purpose.
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