home learning 2 task1

I am working on the poem 'Rainbow Death', so here is the background information I am supposed to find. I actually went to Vietnam last week for an exchange program, and I visited a Vietnam War Site. The tour guide there told us that Agent Orange, the main theme in the poem, was a chemical defoliant used to clear trees. Why did they need to clear trees? This is because the Viet Cong guerrilla used jungle warfare to attack the Americans. Their fighting spirit was so strong that their tactics were very effective against the Americans although they were seriously outnumbered. To prevent this from happening further, the Americans decided to use this Agent Orange to clear trees so that the Viet Cong had no place to hide. However, in the process of spraying this chemical defoliant, it also affected the villagers there. The chemical substance caused serious disabilities in children and many people died because of this.

Below is a diary entry written by the poet, Hubert Wilson

Rumors persist of still another more toxic color coded herbicide at the end of this deadly rainbow!

I am a Vietnam War veteran (as are my four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service. I, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeat Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of us were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a MORE contaminated environment than Da Nang!
My health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago my central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance! My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during my year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Since my brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), I have turned to writing just like my late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash.

Okay, this is all for the background information.

References:

1. "War Poetry 2010." THE WAR POETRY WEB SITE - The First World War and Contemporary War Poetry. Web. 26 May 2010. .
2. "Agent Orange." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25 May 2010. .

chinese language

MM LEE recently said that his bilingual policy many years ago does not work. He mentions that it has caused generations of students to be put off by the Chinese language. He said that traditional methods like 'ting xie' or 'mo xie' have caused distaste in students. Also, a large number of children nowadays come from English-speaking families, hence finding Chinese language a language that is difficult to cope with. Hence, the Ministry of Education is promoting new ways of teaching and changing the Chinese Language syllabus easier for the primary school students to learn the language. The Ministry also encourages teachers to use new teaching methods like more online lessons and not giving students so much Chinese homework. However, how effective would this be in future?

Firstly, i would like to give an example, my sister. She is now currently studying in Primary Two and is affected by this change of syllabus. Comparing my past workload and hers, she now has significantly less Chinese work than me. Last time there was 'xi zi' for me, but now she doesn't even have to practise writing Chinese characters. How has this affected her? Her handwriting in Chinese is not as good as a result of lack of practice, and she doesn't remember words that easily. Secondly, now her test papers does not require her to construct sentences of her own; but look at pictures and form relevant sentences(helping words given). This causes her to have less Chinese vocabulary and hence speak more English. So, is the making of an easier Chinese syllabus that effective? I do not think so.

Some parents say that this language is too difficult to learn and appreciate and some even suggest teaching Chinese in English! Personally, I do not think that this idea is very feasible. If the first year is taught in English, I can still understand(provided I learnt French in English), but I think for the subsequent years the language should be taught Chinese. This is because the first year is to let them be adapted to the language, but later on stop this as a lot of things in Chinese cannot be taught in English. Take sentence structure for example, the two languages have directly opposite structures. Hence you can see why so many pupils(including myself) use the English sentence structure in Chinese compositions. If you write a complicated English sentence in Chinese sentence structure, then I am sure that it does not make any sense in English. The appreciation of the culture is also affected. For example, Chinese literature and history is impossible to be taught in English. When studied in Chinese, only then can you understand the formation of Chinese characters etc.

Hence I think the best way to learn the language is to start young. Since so many parents say that their children is born in an English-speaking family, then why not speak to them in both languages in equal balance from young? This would help solve half the problem instead of putting the blame on the education system. We should make an effort before complaining.

ris low

LAST year, there was a controversy on whether Miss Ris Low should represent Singapore in the Miss Universe Competition. Some Singaporeans say that because of her poor English standard, she should not represent Singapore. However, others say that she is a good example to show the world how Singaporean culture is like.

For me, I feel that what matters most is what the organisers want to portray about a country. If the objective of the competition is to find a person from every country to see who is the most eloquent and intelligent, then I think the group of people with the first view should win. No country wants to send a person who has low education standards and one that does not have global perspective to represent itself. Every country wants their representative to be outstanding and prove to others that they are the best. Hence, I feel that in these circumstances, Miss Low may not be that suitable for this competition.

However, on the other hand, if the competition is to showcase the unique culture of every country, then some thought may be given to consider Miss Low to represent Singapore. Her English is an apt representation of most Singaporeans. Most people here speak their so-called 'singlish', which actually in a sense 'broken' English. Hence, if Miss Low speaks like that in front of an international audience, then people around the world would understand Singaporean culture more and learn to appreciate it. So when they come to Singapore, they would not get a shock when they see the language and how we live.

After weighing the pros and cons, I think that for Miss Universe competition, Miss Low, may not be too suitable as it is an international competition and Singapore cannot afford to tarnish its image.

online learning

SO this is the obituary for the online learning assignment. Sorry for the misspelled word 'OBITUARY'. I will update this post later for the second part.

For those who cannot see the words, here is the transcript:

wake is held at Maycomb Funeral Parlour on 1st March at 10am. Please be punctual. Cortege will leave on 3rd March at 4pm for Maycomb Crematorium for cremation at 5pm.

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Since there is no task for logical intelligence, I shall do my third highest smart, myself smart. I shall do a diary entry of Scout of her first day of school. Here goes:

Dear Diary,

Today was my first day in school! It was so exciting. This morning, Cal waked me up early in the morning. It was tiring, but being the first day of school, I was nevertheless hyped up! However, Cal forced me to wear a dress. It was so uncomfortable. I have never worn a dress before. It makes me look like a sissy. It totally doesn't match my personality. Hmph.

Jem took me to school today although it is usually a parent's job. Jem told me not to bother him nor approach him when in school. I am so not used to this. I really miss the days when Jem and I do not need to go to school and we can play all day long. Never mind, I shall put that aside. Our teacher is called Miss Caroline Fisher. She has golden hair and pink cheeks: she is beautiful. I wish I can be like her when I grow up -- in the boyish way. She began the day by telling us a story about cats. In the story, cats could talk! So interesting! However, I think most of my other classmates doesn't know what she is talking about: they just lack imagination.

Then disaster struck. She told me to read THE FIRST READER and MOBILE REGISTER. Miss Caroline realised that I could read and told me to tell Atticus to stop teaching me. However, I told her that he did not teach me, he only read to me. I tried to defend Atticus, but she told me to stop reading altogether. She is so irritating. I love the times when Atticus reads to me. She just doesn't realise that this is a part of family bonding. Later Jem explained that Miss Caroline introduced a new teaching method. Sigh... I think I would try to forget these unhappy things that happen in school.

Then there was this was this Cunningham controversy. Miss Caroline asked everyone of us to put our lunch on top of our desks. When she walked past Walter, she asked him where was his lunch bucket. Walter ignored her but she continued interrogate him. Then she gave him a quarter and asked him to go downtown to have his lunch. Walter refused and Miss Caroline became annoyed. At this moment, everyone was looking at me. They expected me to explain to her. Hence I explained the background of the Cunninghams to her. I just said, "Miss Caroline, he's a Cunningham." She didn't understand this statement and used a ruler to beat my hand. This world is so unfair. I think that is enough for today. I shall go sleep now.

Love,

Jean Louise Scout

my learning profile

ACCORDING to the Birmingham Grid for Learning, it says that I am logically and visually intelligent while I am not very body nor nature smart. So how accurate is this profile? Well, I think that it is quite accurate, given that I have a bit of photographic memory and logical in doing things. I am also not a very active nor do I love nature, which therefore proves that the source is in a way reliable. What are the implications? I think that this would most probably affect jobs that we are going to choose(?) or maybe it's just an indication of what we are more capable in. To what extent it is helpful to us I am not sure, but I am sure that it gives us a better understanding of who we are.

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The Multiple Intelligence test also tells one about his weaknesses. This may also help them to work to become a more holistic. For example, my nature smart is quite low hence I am reminded not to ignore an important aspect of life. Nature is everywhere around us and affects our life greatly. This may also give others a better understanding of ourselves so that they would know what to expect when around with us. Tolerance is learnt through this channel. Hence we become better people with higher moral standards and would know how to live with other people.