Tuesday, August 17, 2010

National Day =)

How did you spend your national day? Did you go round Singapore feeling proud to be a Singaporean? Or did you just stay at home playing computer games? This was how I spent that important day of mine!

On the national day itself, I felt extremely excited! Do you know why? Well, it was because my cousin would be on television, opening the door for Sir S.R. Nathan! Last time, when my brother was on the National Day Parade(NDP), it wasn't this excited as he wouldn't be on television, however, my cousin would be on it!!! Even though it would be just a short 1 or 2 minutes, he would still be seen on the television. Wouldn't it be exciting to see your family members on the television? That's why I am super duper interested about this NDP.

Okay, now let me tell you more about what I did before he appeared on the television. In the morning, I felt the need to tattoo my face with the NDP tattoo given by my teacher(I didn't use it on the National Day celebration). Then, I walked around, outside my house with the tattoo on my face. Actually, it wasn't on purpose, I went to buy some chips for NDP. =) When I reached home, it was just nice the start of the NDP. At about 8:54pm, my cousin appeared! Woah, he looked serious, with a red hat(or either a cap), standing beside the President's car. As for the timing, his brother had posted the photo of him, with the time, on facebook! Letting us have a closer look of him, although it was only the side view.

This was how I spent my day on that very important National Day!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Book review on Charlotte's Web

Title: Charlotte's Web
Author: E.B White

This book is practically about a pig, named Wilbur. However, the title of this story is Charlotte's Web, Charlotte who is a spider. This is because most parts of the story is talking about how Charlotte is able to help Wilbur in his life with Fern and her family.

At first, Fern's father wanted to kill Wilbur and end his life, however, with the help of Charlotte, who came up with an incredible plan, she helped Wilbur escape death. Slowly, when time goes past, Charlotte felt Wilbur's need for a friend and showed her dedication to him and saved his life repeatedly.

As Charlotte was much more wiser than Wilbur, she cared for him like she was showing him maternal love. She would tell Wilbur bedtime stories and sing lullabies to him, teach him a lot of manners and even tell him to chew his food properly, also, she encourages him when he feels down, she supports him and build up his confidence. Without this love showed by Charlotte, Wilbur must definitely stand on his own feet.

Charlotte always gives repeated thought on how she will fulfill her promise she made to Wilbur. With her wise guidance, Charlotte always give Wilbur as much as he could understand and never give more than that. Whenever he meets situations that he must make his own decisions, Charlotte would try her best to guide him to the point.

Lastly, at the end of the story, Charlotte was unfortunately aged, and she could hardly moved after giving birth to an egg sack containing 514 eggs in it. She told Wilbur that they are strong and waterproof, and they would be born in the next spring. When Wilbur knew that Charlotte was unable to go back to the barn, he became extremely sad as he had lost his friendship with Charlotte, who took extreme care for him. And when Charlotte's babies came to the barn during spring, Charlotte was overjoyed, feeling that he could took care of them to repay Charlotte, however, the babies 'flew' away and made Wilbur extremely heartbroken.

From this story, I admire Charlotte as she showed loyalty and friendship towards her friend, Wilbur. I feel that this story is very suitable for young children as the easy reading and the animals will captivate them. Also I think that this book is extremely good for first time readers.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Book review on Gulliver's Travels

Title: Gulliver's Travels
Author: Jonathan Swift

Lemuel Gulliver is an educated and trained surgeon. The first time he left, he met a horrible weather and was stuck on an island called Lilliput. When he woke up, he was tied down to the ground by thousands of tiny people called Lilliputians. After being asked many questions, Gulliver was commended and named as an honorable man at Lilliput. However, after several years there, he was forced to flee the land, thus he returned to England.

Soon after his wife and children had seen him, Gulliver set sail again. This time, he is shipwrecked on the big land of Brobdingnag, an opposite world from Lilliput. In this country, Gulliver is like the Lilliputian and everyone is a giant to him.

After travelling to these 2 countries, Gulliver discovers the wonderful nature of human beings, both physically and spiritually. Returning to England once again, nobody believes his stories until Gulliver presents souvenirs from the land, they believed him and commended him on his journeys. And so on, he travelled to other countries.

For the last time, he leaves his home to explore the world. This time, he was all on his own. He eventually found land and saw nothing but the footsteps of some humans, cows, and many horses. He met the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. The Houyhnhnm were the superior ruling class species of the land and are the splitting images of horses, while the Yahoos are the inferior brutal servants to the horses and bear the image of a human. The Houyhnhnms see Gulliver as just another Yahoo, until one of them took Gulliver under his tutelage and learnt about his culture. However, the Assembly of Houyhnhnms soon wanted Gulliver off the land, for he was too similar to a Yahoo to continue living as an equal. Gulliver is heartbroken, but abides by their rules and regulations.

After four years with the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver returned to England. His family assumed he was dead and was shocked to see him. Gulliver has since picked up the gait of a horse and finds all humans detestable beings, especially his family. His time at Houyhnhnm altered his perspective of society forever, leaving him unhappy in Europe. He eventually re-accustoms himself to life in England, but buys two horses to keep as companions.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Book Review on The Lord of the Flies

Title: The Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding

A group of boys had dropped on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean, their plane was shot down. A nuclear war had taken place and civilisation had been destroyed.

Ralph, a strong and likable blond, was delighted in the fact that there are "no grown ups" around to supervise them. Piggy, is fat, asthmatic, and without his glasses, he would be nearly blind, trails behind as Ralph explores the island. When they found a white conch shell, Piggy encourages Ralph to blow it. From then, Ralph used the conch shell to call the other boys. Among them was Jack Merridew, marching the boys' choir, military style, in the hot sun. There are also the twins, Sam and Eric, and Simon.

Ralph was elected as their person-in-charge. Then, Ralph, Jack and Simon went to explore the island. Jack decided to go hunting and provide food, however, his first attempt at killing a piglet failed.

When Henry was alone at the water's edge, Roger hid behind a palm tree. Some large nuts fell from the tree. He picked up a stone and threw it at Henry, aiming to miss, and he missds. He repeats this several times, making sure that Henry doesn't see him. There was something holding him back, so he did not hit Henry. He stopped when Jack called him away to hunt.

I greatly enjoyed this book. The story without the symbolism was emotional. Golding does a good job showing the emotional states of Ralph and Jack. We can see Ralph gradually losing hope and understanding the evil, and we can see Jack become power hungry and savage. The murders add a nice touch to the story since they are both dramatic and moving.

Book Review on The Punisher

Title: The Punisher
Author: D.A. Stern

Firstly, the punisher in this book is FBI agent Frank Castle. He led a peaceful life, with a loving family and an adventurous job. However, his life was ruined by a ruthless criminal, Howard Saint, the powerful Florida tycoon whose hot-spot nightclub made him famous and whose multimillion dollar money-laundering business made him as rich.

Frank Castle retired after an undercover operation where Bobby Saint, son of that corrupt businessman Howard Saint, was killed. Howard Saint held Frank Castle responsible for the death of his son. Thus, Howard Saint murdered Frank Castle's family.

Burnt out and taunted by memories of his murdered family, Frank sets out to avenge his family, and he becomes a judge, jury and executioner known as "The Punisher", as Castle sets out to punish Howard Saint and his associates in a one man war, as Castle is not willing to give up until those responsible are all dead and until he has had his revenge.


I think that this book is rather interesting and exciting. It makes you want to continue to read on and never stop reading until the very last word. If you can, try to buy this book and read it!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Term 2 home learning class poem

School is a daily routine for us,
but in the morning I always make a fuss.
My school days awaited the holidays,
but not everyday is a Sunday.

Laughing was always heard,
not by the birds,
but by my fellow friends,
which always make me want to pee on my pants.

Class was like a group of bulls,
especially with Mrs Anu.
David would tend to shout,
sadly the class would outshout.

Soccer for PE is fantastic,
with William's kick.
Kevyn and I laughing our heads,
then the ball flying straight to my forehead.

Hwa Chong Institution is the school for me,
without the beauty,
there are still Jack and Zi Han,
who are always ready to be part of the fun.

Term 2 home learning class

Q1) You are to write an analysis of the poem given above and put it up in your blog. The analysis should include: What were the poet’s thought/ feelings as he thought about his school days?

A1) The poem is about the poems school days. Firstly, the poet's is trying to convey the annual life of his school days. For the 1st stanza, he's trying to say that his uniform comes with a badge and his school logo has a latin motto on it. For the 2nd stanza, he's telling us that in his school days, there was a need to sing the National Anthem. For the 3rd stanza, he meant that he had P.E. on Wednesdays as his shoes tends to get dirty on Wednesdays. For the 4th stanza, it tells us that the poet admire the scouts a lot. For the 5th stanza, the malay chauffeurs are the bus drivers which meant that his school has bus services for the school. For the 6th stanza, is most likely to mean that the poet is not very good in maths. For the 7th stanza, during chinese new year, the poet's teacher would dress a malay costume, dancing and singing happily. For the 9th stanza, it meant that his best friend did badly for his chinese paper multiple-choice paper. For the 10th stanza, the poet is always proud to be inside the annual yearbook. For the 11th stanza, the poet meant that when he first came to the school, he had no friends but soon he met his friends and helped him prevent the loneliness. For the last stanza, the poet became so happy that everytime he smiled he would close his eyes.

Sabbatical WEEK!!

Hi everybody,

Today, I'm gonna talk about my Sabbatical Week! It is the nineth week of term 2 and I'm going to share the great fun I had last week. Try to make a guess of what my sabbatical is, I will tell you at the end of my post!

Day 1, it was an introduction of the rules of my sabbatical as we sat in the relaxing air-conditioned room. It was quite boring at the start but who knew, after the student trainers had done finish their speaking, their coach, 70-80+, nicknamed "demon" in chinese, was one of the funniest person I had ever met! If you don't believe you can ask the other people who joined this sabbatical. He taught us some of the skills he learned from real life experience! He was known to be the master of this sabbatical, amazing right? After the recess, he continued his lesson and at the end of the day we played game with each other.

Day 2, well at the start of the day it was pratically the same too. However, we got to play with the student trainers after recess. Guess what? I won! Not. They were just too good for me and I didn't had a chance against them. However, there were 3 people in total who won them! Okay, now let's go to day 3...

Day 3, as usual, the start of the day was the same. So, let's carry on with the end of the day. We got to play with the 70-80+ International Chinese Chess Master. He only played with 9 pieces instead of the usual 16 pieces! Do you think any of us won? Well, you got it right! None of us won...The title he has isn't called for nothing.

Day 4, again let's go to the end of the day. We were divided into 2 teams, red and black. In our groups, we took turns to go up to the big board to move the 'pieces'. The overall score was 1-1. Due to the shortage of time, we only got to play 2 games..

Day 5, the last day, also the competition day! The whole day was used to have the competition day! We played 7 games in total, with a total of 27 participants. Who do you think are the winners?! ORTUS, cool! Haha, okay, for 3rd we had 1o1, 2nd was 1o2 and 1st 1o4. The 1o3 me came in...18th!!! Oh wells, at least I didn't came in 27th.

Okay that's all, now can you guess my sabbatical? Actually I already told you, depends on whether you read it or not. My sabbatical is Chinese Chess!

Byes,
Jie Han

Monday, March 1, 2010

E-learning LA homework - interpersonal

Interpersonal

"What are your opinions about crimes and punishment or the nessity to communicate in a relationship?"

I conducted an interview with my brother and he said:

"I feel that all criminals should be punished for their misdeeds. This acts as a preventive measure so that other people would not commit crimes! They should be punished according to the intensity of their misdeeds. Example when a person commits a murder or a kidnap, he should be sentenced to death and for other crimes like theft and damaging public properties, they should be put behind bars for a longer period."

Friday, February 26, 2010

Differences and similarities between Lamb to the Slaughter and Way up to Heaven

Firstly, the difference of the two stories, lamb to the slaughter and way up to heaven, is of course the way the wifes in the stories killed their husbands. In lamb to the slaughter, Mary Maloney used a frozen lamb leg. It was indeed a special and unique weapon to use. In the way up to heaven, Mrs Foster had used the broken lift in her house to kill her husband. Although she knew that the lift in her house was broken, she did not tell her husband delibrately and went overseas, causing the death of Mr Foster. For lamb to the slaughter, Mary could not take the blow that Patrick Maloney wanted a divorce but for the way up to heaven, Mrs Foster was very angry at Mr Foster for causing her anxiety and made him trap in the broken lift for 6 weeks, which would definitely cause his death.

Secondly, the similarities between both stories is that both the wifes, Mary Maloney and Mrs Foster, were very faithful and loved their husbands a lot. However, they were delibrate to kill their husbands due to some matters that they could not take. They were both mentally prepared of the outcome and planned out the procedure carefully and did not leave any evidence. Overall, they were satisfied with the outcome and even giggled a little.

Personally, I think that both stories are very interesting, I'm sure that many of you would like the story too if you had read it! Although the ending was quite sad, the whole plot and the procedure of the killing are very exciting.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Hwa Chong Chinese New Year Celebration!

Yesterday, I celebrated my first Chinese New Year celebration in Hwa Chong! I expected it to be longer, but who knew, it ended quite early! There were many exciting events, example the lion dance and the orange peeling contest! However, I already heard the MCs rehearsing the day before during the badminton training. After the celebration, I went back to Henry Park with my ex Henry Park friends. I had the laksa there which I miss a lot! I always eat it in my primary school days. =P I guess everyone should have try of it, haha.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Happy Chinese New Year!

I wish everybody a prosperous and a happy chinese new year! Hope you all will have a fun chinese new year celebration with your family. Don't lose the money too! XD Cheers!!

Badminton Team

Today, the badminton team ( B and C division ) had a gathering at poolside after training! We sort of celebrated chinese new year. =P This year, the C division team is very strong. There are two very good twins, called Jonathan and Joshua. From 1o3, there are 4 badminton players, including me. According to our coach, other badminton teams have been saying that our team is very strong! However, the B division team has lost to Nan Hua and Kranji. Therefore, they were unfortunately not able to reach top 4 in the west zone. Next friday, the C division badminton team is going to play against Kranji. To help our seniors, the C division team shall beat Kranji!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Week 5 in Hwa Chong

It has been the fifth week in Hwa Chong Institution. I like Thursday most!! I have PE, music, art and Infocomm Studies (IS)! =) However, my first two periods are chinese. My chinese teacher is called Mrs Ng, Huang Lao Shi. We had to do two newspaper cuttings last week...Well, it wasn't as difficult as I thought. Okay, besides that, Thursday is GREAT!! For Language Arts (LA), my teacher is Mrs Anu, she's awesome =) haha.

Friday, January 15, 2010

New School, New Life

Hello, I have been great in Hwa Chong so far. The compound is so BIG! But I think I know where most parts of the school are now, excluding JC! Please comment more =) I just started to know how to blog!! It took me a few hours to figure out how to put the chat box and the music...Okay, I guess that's all!