OPSL Movie Nite

This event was held primarily for the secondary ones of Ortus, and I had to attend it was felt that this was a very meaningful way to get to bond with the Sec ones through this movie. The duration of this event was 3 hours, from 5.30pm to 8.30pm. Due to some preparations, the movie did not start screening until 6. During the movie, snacks were provided and the lights were out.

The point of showing the movie is to promote teamwork, as we believe that teamwork is a key factor to completing a project. This was shown when a group of thieves were challenging another thief who was working alone, in stealing a golden 'egg', and that the group of thieves eventually won, despite the odds. I particularly enjoyed the part where some of members of the group were arrested and while the rest of the team were still fixed on trying to complete the task, and used a very innovative idea to try and pull the job off. Overall, I enjoyed watching the movie and spending time with Sec 1s and I hope such an event would be organised again.

One more week the end of term 1

Hooray!!! The end of term 1 is near! After two months or so of blood, sweat and tears, I could finally initiate my 'sleeping marathon'! However, there are some things in my holiday schedule which causes me to have mixed feelings for the coming long-awaited March holidays.

Firstly, I will talk about why I'm looking forward to this one week of holiday. During this period of time, I would be able to reflect on the mistakes I made during the first term and brainstorm of solutions to solve or improve on them. For example, in the case of my studies, I could meditate on what went wrong before or during the test, and come up with a timetable to better manage my time and draft out a revision checklist to guide me as to what to revise during the second term.

Secondly, I could also use this time to catch up with my friends and break the ice together. After graduating from Primary school in 2008, we did not have as much time as we had during primary school to hang out due to studies, CCA commitments etc. Also, because we were all in different schools. The March holidays would be a good time to catch up with them by going to movies, eating together or just spend a day at one of my friend's houses, doing nothing but playing and eating.

Now, I will be talking about why I dread the coming March holidays. Well, firstly, I have CCA trainings the whole week except for Wednesday and the weekend, and it starts at 8 in the morning. The thing is, I do not dislike going for trainings, it's the travelling that irks me. To make it in time for training, I have to wake up at 6.30 in the morning, and catch the bus at 7. Why? Well, that's because I live considerably far away from the school and secondly, at 7, that's when the morning rush hour commences, and traffic jams are rife at this time. I would also have to squeeze with the morning rush hour crowd in the bus for about 1 hour or so. Another reason why I dread the coming holidays is also because of certain activities that I need to attend during the one week, which might stretch the whole afternoon.

With all this activities during the holidays, some of you might even consider this as a normal schooling week. But I guess this is normal for a secondary school student, and we must all learn how to adapt to this kind of life.

Happy 78th Birthday Grandma!

Today was one of the best times I had in my life!!! I think it is the first time I celebrated my grandma's birthday as I cannot recall another like this in the past.

Well, the celebration was scheduled to begin at 6.30 in the evening at my cousins' semi-detached house, with dinner kicking off this memorable event. But it began at 7 instead as some of my relatives arrived late or were catching up with one another. For me, I spent the half an hour hitting ladies' fingers off from a tree using a long wooden pole along with one of cousins. Sounds weird right? My cousin happen to have a ladies' fingers tree growing in their backyard, and since we was bored, we decided to do this to past the time. All the ladies' fingers that we acquired were given to my aunt.

After wolfing down the scrumptious dinner, we gathered to have our family photo taken. We had a few formal shots before having a couple 'funny' shots. I recounted myself trying to 'decorate' my cousins that I nearly fell off the stairs! When this was done, the kids went to play with their game consoles while the adults just spend their time talking to one another.

Then, here comes my favourite part of all - the singing of the birthday song! Seeing the smile on my Grandma's face really touched me as I have not seen her smile like that before and I knew she was really ecstatic to see her children gathering together to celebrate her birthday. Then, the cutting of the cake followed before the eating of it. Somehow while eating my share of the cake, I unknowingly spilled some cream on my shirt, but I think no one noticed it. Then, after downing cups of water and seeing my younger cousins playing with fire, it was time to say goodbye.

During this event, it really made me appreciate having such an amazing grandmother. Whenever my father announced that we are paying a visit to her, I would sigh and start whining about how boring it would be, and start coming up with excuses to avoid going out to visit. But this event made me realized that this little visit could really brighten up my grandma's day and would go a long way for her. I have since decided to change my mindset and stop taking my grandmother for granted.

E-Learning Assignment- Multiple Intelligence Learning Profile

Hey guys! Here is my multiple intelligence learning profile results:

Linguistic -17

Logical -16

Interpersonal -18

Intrapersonal -17

Musical -17

Visual/Spatial -16

Naturalistic -17

Alright, first of all, what I feel about my intelligence test results. Well, when I saw my results, I was quite surprise. For me personally, I think I am more of a intrapersonal and naturalistic person. I did not expect myself to be a linguistic and musical person. Want to know why?

First of all, for linguistic, I'm not really good at languages, both English and Chinese. Whenever I communicate in Chinese, my pronunciation would sometimes sound really awkward and would frequently have many pauses in between. As for English, sometimes I would stammer or just get tongue-tied for no apparent reason. Secondly, musical. I cannot play any instruments, though I tried learning the piano about six years ago but gave up due to the lack of commitment. Furthermore, I cannot compose a song or a poem. On the other hand, I love music as it is one way I can just relax and clear my mind from all my troubles, other than playing sports and sleeping.

Now, what I feel about the test. For the cons, I find the questions of the test are a little inaccurate and unreliable, though I cannot point out why specifically. Maybe it is because I did not expect certain results to turn out the way I wanted, or it is just a gut feeling. As for the pros, the test results might provide us with some encouragement, by giving us a little 'surprise'. For example, in my case, I did not expect myself to be a musical and linguistic person, but it might tell me that I have potential in these areas that I have yet to discover, which might give me some encouragement to leave my comfort zone to explore and unlock the potential that I might hold in these areas.

Overall, I am quite satisfied with the test and my results as it has given me a more or less idea of what I am gifted in, which I have been dying to find out. Though I am still not quite convinced.

E-Learning Task - Interpersonal

Conduct an interview on your friends or family member. Ask them about their point of view about prejudice and discrimination.

I conducted an interview on my father and this transcript of it.

ME: What do you think prejudice and discrimination is about?

Prejudice is a mindset or a belief that is factually wrong of a certain person.

Discrimination would be unfair or unequal treatment towards a group of people or a particular person.

ME: Can you state some examples of prejudice?

Well, for example, farmers are uneducated and teachers are more upright than the man on the street. And in school, passive students might be deemed as proud or just plain problematic and people who have a certain hairstyle or are dressed in a certain way are flirtatious or 'nerdy'.

ME: Can you state some examples of discrimination?

For example, the school admission is based on the social standing of the parents, and certain exclusive clubs permit membership based on the social status of people, whereby they have to be holding on to prestigious positions in society such as a chief executive officer, lawyer, surgeons and financial controllers, which are mostly high-salaried jobs, are allowed such privileges.

ME: Have you ever experienced discrimination?

Fortunately, I have not experienced any form of discrimination yet, or probably I have but I just could not recall.

E-Learning Task - Intrapersonal

Write a diary entry for a major character of the novel.

Dear Diary,

Last night was a really exhilarating experience. That fateful night, after suppertime, Atticus came into the living room with a long electrical extension cord with a light bulb attached at the end. He told us he would be going out for a while and left in his car, which was rather awkward as Atticus rarely takes the car out other than leaving for a business trip, and I wonder where would he go at such a late time. So Jem, Dill and I decided to go downtown. We searched Atticus’ office before moving on to ‘The Maycomb Tribune Office’. Along the way, we realized a strange thing – a solitary light burning in a distance. As we knew that the jail did not have an outside light, we went there to investigate, and saw Atticus sitting propped against the front door reading. I wanted to run to him but Jem held me back and said that we would be going home.

Just then, four dusty cars zipped by in a line and stopped in front of the jail. The three of us rushed to Tyndal’s Hardware door to get a closer look. Some men spilled out of the car in ones and twos while Atticus remained where he was. The men then talked in near whispers and I broke of Jem and began running towards Atticus. It thought he would have a fine surprise but it turned out the other way. When Jem and Dill came running towards us too, Atticus asked Jem to take Dill and I home but he refused. At about that time, I saw a Mr Cunningham and began talking about entailments and Walter, his son. Soon, I realized that the men and Atticus were looking at me with their mouths half-open. I was slowly drying as I realized what idiocy I had committed, when Mr Cunningham squatted down, took me by both shoulders and said,” I’ll tell him you said hey, little lady”. With that, he and the rest of the men got into their ramshackle cars and left.

Till now, I can’t understand why Atticus had to wait outside the jail, and why those men were there too. It was like Atticus expected them to come. Were they going to hurt him, or were they trying to hurt someone in jail and Atticus was there to protect that someone from harm? And was it my idiotic speech that eventually made the men leave? In times like this, I wish I have someone really smart, someone who could answer all my questions and clarify my doubts, no matter how bizarre they may seem.

Regards,

Jean Louise Finch