What did you learn today? - Dawn Yiu

I watched the play "What did you learn today?" on the 15th of  January. 

I really like this play a lot after watching it as it was very unique. Instead of the normal plays where the actors just act on stage and just be in role and having a storyline, this play however is actually made up by small sections of the play being joined together to form 1 whole play. Where there is no story line for the whole play but a stimuli, whereas the storyline is being implanted in the small sections of the play to create one drama. The actors interacted and engaged with the audience. In the midst of the play there would be a few seconds or a minute of interval when the actors can take a water break and converse to the audience.

I think the message that this play was trying to tell us today is that whatever we do, wherever, whenever, we can always learn something from it. For every time the characters want to change to another stimuli/act, there would always be this time when we are suppose to meditate on a stimuli which is being given to us, and I thought that that was very meaningful because while we are watching this play, besides learning 'something' from this play, I get to think back about what I have been doing since growing up, and to learned that I have to start learning from my mistakes.

What impacted me the most was actually the part where Neo Swee Lin was talking about her younger times and how she actually misses her mother after her mother passed away. 

As to why, it is actually because while I was watching this segment of the play, I realised the great effort and sleepless night that our mothers have put in to let us study and have a better lifestyle, while we just go home everyday and complain about having too much homeworks, not knowing the efforts our mothers have to put into to let us study. Well, my mother was also the eldest child of the family and similarly to Swee Lin's mother she also had to sacrifice her studies for her younger siblings. Hence when she was talking about her mother, I realised that I actually missed my mother a lot and it actually made me think about 'things' and this was actually (why) that part of the play impacted me the most. 

I think that the little stories formed to make up the phases of life of what Lim Kay Siu, Neo Swee Lin and even some of us  has been through and what they have learned from it.

There was this part of the play where Lim Kay Siu is acting as a small kindergarden boy, and Neo Swee Lin acting as his mother.

Kay Siu was imitating a voice of a young kindergarden's boy whereas Swee Lin was imitating a voice of a stern, motherly voice. Without any props used, the relationship between the two characters can be seen very clearly, through their movement and language. 

As the mother sees her son, she hugged him tightly holding him closed to her as he wraps his around her waist 

I think that what they are trying to achieve for this scene is that they are trying to show the type of relationship the between the mother and son, whether it is close or distant.

What Did You Learn Today? - Nicole C.

The play “What did you learn today?” was very different from all the others plays which I have watched. It is different in the sense that the play was very interactive meaning that the actors literally engaged the audience during the play. This play only consist of various characters played by only two actors, they are; Lim Kay Siu and Neo Swee Lin. I think that both the actors were very expressive and really entertaining.

The whole structure of the play was broken down into smaller stories here and there. Honestly, I was very confused during the play as to what was happening. As for example, at first Lim Kay Siu played a small child and Neo Swee Lin played the mother, and consequently in a few scenes, they showed how they met when they were younger till they got married and grew old. There was also a scene that I liked very much showing a student’s perspective during a lesson in school where Kay Siu was a student and Swee Lin was the teacher. When she was teaching all we could hear was “BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH” I thought it was very funny as it really portrays what some of us hear during our various lessons.

After watching various stories I realized that maybe these little stories portrayed are linked together. For example, the stories are like a summary of Kay Siu’s and Swee Lin’s overall childhood, school life where they had doubts and how they both met and got together. I think it was a rather interesting way of portraying what they wanted to get across to the audience.

From the structure of the play, I learnt that to convey a message across to the audience we could always find other ways to do it other than the conventional ways of acting out from the starting to the end. Also I found it impressive at how both actors were able to change their characters by changing their facial expression, posture, and tone of voice so quickly and most importantly it was very convincing from the audience point of view, which all the more made it very entertaining. This is definitely worth learning.

I think the most impactful thing in this play was the meditation segment where people are to voice their thoughts out loud on a topic like “what I would like to learn”. Many people responded during this meditation period. During this period it really allows us to think and reflect on ourselves of what we want to do in life and more. Also it allows us to hear what others think which sometimes are topics that are also true about ourselves and we can relate to them. They had the meditation segment 3 times throughout the whole play.

Lastly, Lim Kay Siew and Neo Swee Lin started to share their own childhood stories. I think it was nice that they were able to share their childhood stories with the audience so openly.

What did you learn today- Gillian

What did you learn today?

               I felt that the play had a variation of scenes that at first seem to have no link to the scene before or after it. However, after i thought about it, i discovered that they were actually inter-linked. I felt that the whole play was about Swee Lin and Kay Siu’s characters. I felt that the freeze frames were about the story the characters were about to tell.  These characters are somewhat based on their dating experience. It progressed to show them getting ready to be husband and wife, later them growing old together and eventually one of them dying. It seemed like a fairytale. Until, they start bringing us into their past and showing us their early part of their experiences – where the struggle to achieve the fairytale began.

              The play was not the typical play in which i would have expected. A typical play for me would be a play in which the audience would not participate actively but would only watch as a third party. The play was part of a typical play and part of an untypical play which is the engaging the audience type. This i feel got me to understand the play better as it made me reflect and ask myself what the play was about and what it had to do with me.

            The play is potrays a variety of perspectives of learning. Learning from our past mistakes is an example. I realised when we were meditating and the questions asked about our past experiences made us reflect on our mistakes and faults. The meditation process was one that of a audience participation. After reflecting on my mistakes and learning from them, i decided to participate actively in the meditation questions that were up for grabs. This made me bolder and ask questions because in life, we need to ask questions as well. The meditating process made us reflect our mistakes because if we are in denial, we will never learn what was wrong with us in the first place.

             I learnt that we do not always need a lot of props or costume changes to portray the scene or character. It is the acting substance that counts instead. If you have a variety of props but standard of acting is not good, the props and costumes will not do any good. You can have the least amount of props but still pull off the performance because of the acting. In the play’s context, watching the scene where Swee Lin was a student and Kay Siu the teacher, all they needed was a pointer, a pair of glasses and a stool. The rest was up to the actors to paint the picture for us through their acting.

What did you learn today?-Nicole R.

This play had a big impact on me because this was the first ever play that i've gone to that actually puts in meditation intervals and in those quiet periods, i felt the audience and actors became one in mind and actually shared each others thoughts without having to express themselves vocally. It gave me time to properly reflect on the message the actors were trying to portray through the different scenes. I discovered that the audience were all thinking on the same wavelength through the thoughts of people that shared and the replies of "me too" after they shared their thoughts.

I also felt a connection to the actors as they were actually comfortable with sharing their private life such as how Neo Swee Lin shared about her mother and when Lim Kay Siew sang her a song after which i felt so touched as  they were sharing their close husband and wife relationship with us when usually actors tend to keep things very proffessional, so this was also a first for me. It let me sympathise with their feelings and it kept me attentive and reflective instead of having a fixed storyline.

I felt the play was about the ups and downs of life and how school life could be like for both students and teachers and how learning could be hard sometimes, with both teachers and students learning from each other. It taught me that life was a journey of learning which we caThe scene that impacted me most was when the student's voice was portrayed by Kay Siew playing the violin in high, squeaky tones and the teacher not understanding and getting agitated, screaming at the violin to "sit down and shut up!". I thought at that point, that to truly learn and understand what is being taught at school, both teacher and student must be able to communicate and understand each other. If not, it will just end badly with the teacher getting angry and uptight and the student being confused.

The structure of the play was one scene showing the positive side of life then a meditation period followed by the negative side of life. Overall this play was different in a good way and i would love to see more of Neo Swee Lin and Lim Kay Siew's acting. It was really in-depth and helped me to reflect.

MELISSA: What Did You Learn Today?

In the play 'What Did You Learn Today?', I found it really interactive, funny and dramatic at the same time. I also liked the fact that Neo Swee Lin and Lim Kay Siu were the actors in this play, and the fact that they are married. 
The play started out with them singing a song. Kay Siu played the guitar and they took turns singing the song. Halfway through the song, they got all of us to clap along with them and sing the chorus with them. As I've said before, it was an interactive play. After the song, they started talking to us and I found them really funny. Whatever they said was true. They also started the play by telling us that if they forgot their lines, if they got a wardrobe malfunction, we would see it. They also said this at the end of the play, only with a darker tone. 
When they started the play, I was clueless about what was going to happen in this play. I didn't know what to expect. I was very impressed by the way they performed. They were so expressive in whatever the did. For example, in one scene of the play, Kay Siu played the student who had to present something for speech and drama. Swee Lin played the ignorant teacher. When Kay Siu's character finished talking about his parent's getting a new house, Swee Lin's character started critisizing him. Kay Siu's character then went on saying how much he hated his teacher. He then strangled her till she was lying on the floor, barely conscious. He scolded her a "cunt" and started shouting vulgarites at her. I found that so impressive as they are married in real life and she actually allowed him to say those things to her.
I liked the meditation part of the play. The sound and lighting crew would dim the lights and they would play this relaxing sound with a powerpoint slide saying what they wanted us to reflect on. I found it very effective as we, the audience got to say what we reflected on and people would listen to us. I wanted to say some things but I was too shy at that time. I liked it because it was calm and quite. It was relaxing.
This play also made me tear up. It was the scene when Swee Lin's character passed away and Kay Siu's character was still speaking to her, pouring his emotions out. I was so touched as this showed that they loved each other till the very end. It made me realize that even when you're old, you can still love and not take your partner for granted. 

Model Citizens Letter-Nicole R.

Question: (to MP's wife)Are there any things you would change if you had the oppurtunity to go back in time?-Ms C (or something like that, i lost the paper)

Answer letter:

Of course! I would never have let my husband go into politics. Because of that now I have to suffer although people think its so easy to be an MP's wife, they assume that I get everything I wish for because I have power. They don't know that Everyday, I have a set routine. Once every week, meet the people. Do you know how boring it is? And why meet the people if I'm not going to help them? Everything is all 'disapproved'. In fact, I wish I had not left China at all, that I had not listened to my mother. In China, there is more excitement, more fun! Over here? My whole life is planned out for me. I wish I had never married my husband and that he had never gone into politics. Who needs power if you are going to live like this? I hope this answers your question.

MELISSA: Model Citizens Letter

Wendy, Why couldn't you let go? 
- Lauren


Dear Lauren,
I couldn't let go because he was my one and only son. How could I let go? Could you let go if you lost your son? 
He was the only joy in my life and now he's gone. A mother is not supposed to outlive her child. His death made me realize just how much I needed him in my life. Without him in my life, I always feel like something is missing. I needed to know what caused him to commit suicide. That's why I went online almost everyday to talk to Tony. I felt a need to talk to him so that I would get answers to why, just why, he would want to end his life.
Every night I go to bed, I cry myself to sleep. I think to myself, how did that even happen? How could he have died? What did I do? Was it my fault? I miss him terribly, my heart aches just thinking about him. I couldn't let go, how could I? I cry whenever I go through his things. I cry whenever I see the photos we took together. I cry whenever somebody mentions him. I'm still not over it. 
I hope that in the years to come, I will try my best to overcome it.
Your's Sincerely,
Wendy.

What did you learn today? - Lauren(:

Lauren <3

What did you learn today?

This play was different from others that I’ve seen. It is different in a way such that it is very much more interactive. At first when they started the show, I was a little uncertain about what was going to happen. I was afraid that they might come up and ask people from the audience to come out into the centre and assist them. I’m actually not sure whether I was happy that it did not happen.

I felt that the actors did really well. The way they switched from one character to another was tremendously well done. For example, when they were happy in one scene and immediately after that the following scene was a fight scene and the way their mood changed so quickly is something I believe we can learn.

I really liked the way that both Neo Swee Lin and her husband Lim Kay Siew both acted together in this piece. They were not afraid to share with us their personal experience and all about their lives. When they were talking about themselves, I felt that they were really brave and open. To be able to share one’s personal feelings so openly, it takes a lot of courage. Therefore I admire them for this.

From my understanding, I don’t think that the play was focused entirely long one story line. The playwright wrote it such that it told a story about life but from different aspects. The first part of the play, the couple sang a lovely song that got the audience to interact and sing-a-long. Then they proceeded to explain what it was like being a child and not knowing much. As a child, there were many things that they did not understand and it showed really clearly in their acting. They then moved on to what it was like in school, as a teenager. They portrayed that growing up was not easy and that there will be ups and downs in life. They also thought me that when I’m young and still probably naïve, I will make mistakes, and it’s all right because people makes mistakes and its only natural. From these mistakes, I will learn and improve. Then they moved on to when they were married and they showed how couples fight. Then they showed how even when they are old, their love is still as strong as ever! When Swee Lin “passed away”, I was really sad and even teared a little. The scene was so touching and the way all of Kay Siew’s emotions poured out was just so touching and I could feel the sincerity and love that he had for her.

I felt that the meditation parts of the play was really good as it allowed the audience to be a part of the play and voice out what they truly feel. Sometimes people are to shy to actually admit these feelings but i think it really helped to gain more self-confidence. I was actually really amazed at myself, as I could not believe that I had to courage to say something. The meditation parts made me reflect on life and think back about all the things I’ve done. It also however, made me realize that I actually have nothing good against my name… 

What Did You Learn Today? -Vera (:

I liked the fact that Neo Swee Lin (a former KC-ian) and her husband both participated in this play. It really was a display of their teamwork and close relationship. It was heart-warming to watch them open with song which they were singing so passionately and the atmosphere just hauled us to join in with them. I wasn’t looking forward to it at first because I thought the play was just pure engagement and zero performance. However, I was proved wrong when the lights dimmed and the couple got into positions. I waited in anticipation.

The structure of the play was basically many different scenarios broken down and separated by meditation periods. I thought that the meditation was a good way for the audience to voice out their thoughts and opinions and also feel connected with the actors. Thanks to the wonderful hosting skills of the pair, we were all put at ease and managed to answer the questions naturally. I think that the playwright’s intention of breaking up the scenes with the meditation was to remind us to stop and think, or reflect at any one point of our life, especially when we are moving on to the next phase of life. That is why Kay siew shared on his experience of the second phase of his life, which was boarding school. The playwright wanted us to reflect on what life has taught us, to make sure that we are actually uncovering “Life” layer by layer every passing day, and that we actually mature and learn from life’s everyday experiences. During the meditation session, someone said something that struck me hard. “I want to know what life is all about.” So, what IS life all about actually?

The playwright tried to illustrate what life was using mini scenarios between 2 people and I thought that pretty much summed up what life was ABOUT. But what life really is, as of I had learnt today, is doing ordinary routines in an ordinary way with an extraordinary heart and mind. We must always think before we speak or act, that is why Swee Lin had been repeating the same lines, “think before you speak” in multiple scenes. Life is about thinking, not acting. Life is about learning, and thus, the title, “What Did You Learn Today? So, I think this is what I’d learnt today. Today, I learnt life isn’t just about living, existing, being here, or breathing. Life is profound and is meant for young people like me to figure out what it is. Life is a mystery.

I shared twice during the meditation period. At first, I was hesitant but the secondary 4 seniors lead the way and were the first ones from our school to share. Subsequently, I also shared twice, saying;

1)      Why can’t I learn to be more focused?

2)      Why can’t I learn to appreciate those around me more?

To me, the most memorable part of the play was the part when Swee Lin shared her childhood life with us. (We were planning to go “WHOO!” when she mentioned KC but she didn’t even. L ) Anyway, when she had mentioned that her mother who had passed away for 5 years but still thinks of her every day, I couldn’t control my tears. This brings us back to the point of appreciating those around us. It depicts a scenario where a loved one is lost, and how a family member reacts to it. Here, you can clearly tell, life is also about coping with huge losses and to learn to handle situations like these. Kay Siew did a monologue and it mirrored how self-centered people nowadays are. They are so preoccupied with themselves, they never actually spend the time well with their loved us, they never actually lived life to its fullest, and as a result, end up wallowing in regret.  This serves as a reminder to all of us not to live for the sake of living, only concerned about materialistic rewards and most of all, ourselves. Also, when Swee Lin “died” and Kay Siew was standing up, it sort of formed levels between them. Similarly, it also made Kay Siew seem more superior as he was higher in level and this illustrated the “all about me” mindset.

I was disturbed by the vulgar language involved and it made me feel awkward, but it also set me thinking. If this play was supposed to be educational and inspiring, were they trying to educate us on how to use vulgarities? Certainly not. Again, this is a reenactment of everyday lives and it only reflects how thoughtless and rash people nowadays are, to use vulgarities on one another. This also created much impact on the already heated argument and it helped to increase the tension. We often forget to be civilized citizens. And life should be dedicated to being the best you can be, thus, we often forget what life really is about.

 

Primary One- Vera (:

At the “classroom setting” exhibit, we learnt about baby sign language, which I thought was very interesting because now I know what my baby sister, now 5-ish, was trying to tell us in the earlier stages of her life.

I

The setting is in a classroom and I think this is so as it talks about early childhood education and it applies to children. The white woman just conveyed what she was trying to say through her expression and body language. I think the producer did this because he wanted the message to be seen and read instead of heard. This would make the content more obvious and also, there would not be a need for sound, which brings us to the point of the silent video. This increased the tension in air as we tried to watch the video closely. This makes us feel as if we are really communicating with a baby as young babies are not able to talk. I think that they got a child to sign the language as the age gap between she a baby is smaller and the parents are able to get a feel of what it is like having a young child communicate with them in sign language.
II
The background music is lively and cheerful when describing children and lightens the atmosphere. I think that the mother is teaching her daughter these words form the newspaper as she would like to expand her daughter these words from the newspaper as she would like to expand her daughter’s vocabulary at a young age so that her foundation is already built up. She also uses facial expressions when teaching different words to her baby to convey different meanings. It helps the child to learn better when there are emotions involved.

The Tables
Though the pictures on the desks flashed so fast, I could make out multiple pictures on the table I was sitting at about natural disasters, injury and death. The vandalism on the tables also speaks of topics along similar lines. What I feel is so significant is that the pictures of the tragedy flash and change so fast right in front of us, just like how the world is in tragedy and in a devastating state and deaths and wars are occurring in so many different places, just like how there are so many different pictures. Similar to how the pictures flash before us quickly, the world is changing right before our very eyes ever so quickly, with wars and natural disasters happening so often and frequent, and like how the pictures change all the time.

At every table, there is a different theme (eg. War, food, globalisation) and I think each table represented a different aspect of the world and they situated it in a classroom to show how the issues of the world boil down to the classroom and how the teachings in the classroom matter and that’s why the video was talking about early childhood. It shows how the foundation in a child is very important and it could even determine the fate of the world. Our babies are our future of the world.

Similarly, the babies on the tables were holding crosses and ticks to show the link between education and early childhood. Some tables are stacked higher than the others and this shows the relation to some aspects in the world being more significant than the others.

Primary One- Melissa

Overview of the Exhibition: 

The first art piece that caught my attention were the plastic babies placed on every table. Some tables were higher than the others. Every plastic doll seemed to have a very grim expression on their face and were also carrying a cardboard cut out that either had a green tick on it or a red cross. At first, I thought that ticks and crosses illustrates if the baby was accepted in society, if they were, there would be a tick next to them. But after watching the video, I had an impression that the plastic dolls with the ticks and crosses were associated to the video that we'd watch. I felt that the ticks and crosses showed if the baby was disabled or not. I think that if they had a cross in front of them meant that they had a disability; such as they were deaf or blind. 

At the very end of the exhibit, there were many chairs and tables that were facing a huge screen. The tables had a small screen where there were flashing images and graffiti on it. Every table had different images and writings and each table had a different topic. The topics on the table had to do with the video that was played on the big screen.  Although there was no audio, I understood what was happening, as there were subtitles. In the first video clip, there was an Asian women and a blonde haired women. The Asian women did sign language whereas the blonde haired women did very vague hand gestures. I think that the video showed how much difference there was of someone who knows sign language and someone who only makes gestures and movement of someone speaking. The next video clip showed another women who was doing sign language to a baby. There were a few negative words such as, 'unemployment' and 'domestic violence'. I then realised that the words that words had a relation to the writings and pictures on the tables. There was a table, which had flashing image of heading that said broken marriage and also, a picture of actors and actresses who had divorced. The table writings also had words like, violence, tears, unhappy conflict and anti love affair. Walking around the exhibit, I had also saw a picture of a girl who was skipping alone in the basketball court. I felt that the picture showed social isolation. This picture reminded me of when I had started Primary School. When I was Primary One, my classmates and I would be on different ends of the courtyard and we would play by ourselves. 

Discuss one photo in depth:

One of the many images that I found very interesting was the one, which looked like a class photo. In the photo, no one was smiling. Instead, many of them had a very uncomfortable expression on their face and some just had a blank look. The class consist of many races. I think that the picture showed that there was racism in the class. 

Education in Singapore

I feel very blessed to be able to study in Singapore. I think that the education in Singapore has many benefits and has many opportunities for us to do well. Moreover, I think that the education in Singapore is very all rounded, as it has both physical education and academics.

Idealism vs. realism

Idealism is when you envision or see things in an ideal or perfect manner. Whereas Realism is to have an actual view of a situation. I think that being an idealist is causes us to see things in a very hopeful manner. I feel that there must be a balance in the two and we cannot be too idealist or realist. Being too idealist would make us over confident and may have lofty ambitions, but lack the clarity and focus to put them into action in an achievable way.

Globalisation and Nationalism

Globalisation affects people and states all around the world. It characterises a world that becomes more and more interdependent, not only economically, but politically and culturally as well. Nationalism is the belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals.

Model Citizen - Letter to Character (Nicole Cheah)

Melly,

Why get a job in Singapore?

-ili

Hey ili,

Why get a job in Singapore? I looked for a job here because Singapore is one of the countries, which is nearest to Indonesia. This allows me to save on the cost of my air ticket for when I wish to visit home since I am only earning $300 a month. Furthermore, Singapore is a multiracial country and since my main language is Bahasa Melayu and English, I am able to converse with the people here easier. Rather than going to other countries to work like China or Hong Kong where I am unable to speak their languages which are Chinese or some dialect.

Also, as you know there is a low crime rate in Singapore. It is much safer than compared to the other countries. In Singapore there is also a political stability. These factors make me feel very relaxed and comforted. Singapore is also one of the well-developed countries.

One of the most important points is that I wish for my family in Indonesia to have a better life. Which is why I would want to work here and eventually get them to come to Singapore too if possible. The schools in Indonesia aren’t exactly safe and may be dangerous especially for my younger sister. Anything could happen so I want to ensure that she is safe and protected so that my mother will not worry so much.

- Melly 

Ili Yasmin - Overview + Model Citizens letter.

PRIMARY 1 EXHIBITION

When I was at the exhibition, I felt very confused at first. I was thinking of what to expect. It was my first time experiencing material to use for devising a play. It affected me in a way because many things I saw there was familiar to me. Like the school tables, the baby dolls, the ticks and crosses. On the ways there were pictures of girls from an IJ which was familiar to me because I am currently an IJ girl.  I could relate to it because seeing things that are very familiar made me feel comfortable.  I thought the exhibition for Primary 1 was trying to prove things that we learn like racial harmony(the cheongsam, sari  and baju kurung put together.) , being active (picture of a girl in the basketball court using a skipping rope.), social studies ( the girl standing in the way of the visualization of Singapore ) and math ( girls carrying Barbie dolls but one girl has none.) These were the things that we learnt in class. It all meant that these were the things that we were taught in Primary 1. They were trying to put across what is right and what is wrong. For example, Math is good. It makes us think.

Write a note to someone in a photo.

Dear students in the class,

Why are you just sitting there? What are you doing? In the picture you look like you’re staring into space. What exactly are you doing? Who is teaching you? What are you learning? Everyone looks so bored. Are you trying to show me the perspective of students in a classroom? What are you waiting for? You could be doing something else more fun. So what is it exactly is making you behave this way?

DISCUSS A PHOTO IN DEPTH

The picture of the of the cake uniquely Singaporean struck me the most because it was made of things that made me feel at home with. Things like Durians, Gem biscuits, agar strips and rambutans. It struck me because I grew up around these things that made me a Singaporean. It also makes me feel like I could relate to this because if it were presented to foreigners, only I could recognize and decipher it. It also showed me that different things can make up something Singaporean. Like Noodles didn’t originate from Singapore but yet it has made its impact to be considered Singaporean.

SOMETHING ABOUT EDUCATION BUT NOT EXACTLY EXHIBITION

When we moved on to the Something About Education But Not Exactly exhibition, I felt shocked at the sight of school chairs and tables with a small screen embedded in the table flashing pictures repetitively.  Upon sitting down, I watched a video.  The first part was of two ladies called Laisarn. They were introducing to us Baby Signing. The asian Laisarn was very expressive with her signing when she was giving her talk. The Caucasian Laisarn kept nodding and just gave reassuring nods.  The both of them gave me different impacts because due to their reactions. The Caucasian Laisarn made me annoyed because all she did was nod and made gestures with her hands. The Asian Laisarn made me happier because she kept enforcing signing enthusiastically.  When they had to interact with a girl who has learned signing since young, it showed me the contrast between the two Laisarns. The Asian one did a lot so that the child could follow along with ease but the Caucasian Laisarn’s teaching method in  a way forces the child into self learning.  It showed me the two different types of learning and teaching techniques. I didn’t know what exactly to conclude from the video. Was it Asian teachers give more when it comes to teaching and Caucasian teachers don’t really care? Or was it Caucasian teachers use self learning exercises or how Asian teachers teach and lead you through? I want to know whether in the end, do Caucasians want to live with how they’ve learnt independently or how Asians live with the fact that they will forever depend on someone teaching them things.

The second video was of a mother and a child in a cheery atmosphere probably in their backyard. So while cheerful music is played in the background, the mother begins to sign the following words.

·         Happy Baby

·         Beautiful Girl

·         School Exam

·         Tuition Fee

·         Child Abuse

·         Social Isolation

·         Discrimination

·         Extra Marital Affair

·         GST

·         Unemployment

·         Domestic Violence

·         Mortgage

·         Superannuation

·         Stock Market

·         Freedom

·         Global Capitalism

·         Illegal Immegration

·         Post Imperial Nostalgia

·         Avian Flu

·         Global Warming

·         Intelligence Agencies

·         Humanitarian Disaster

·         Relief Operation

·         Radicalism

·         Terrorist Attack

·         Air Strike

·         Ethnic Cleansing

·         Rape and Murder

·         Genocide Mass Grave

These words were signed to the baby while in the background, the music still played. I felt quite perplexed because normally these weren’t the words you’d normally tell/sign to your children. These words have a too cryptic of a meaning to tell children. Some of these words are quite depressing. Some of these words are too vast for children or babies to even understand but since mothers are normally nurturing their children, maybe she is preparing her child for the world. Maybe she’s letting her child know what to expect.  When I looked at my table,  there were vandalism on the table. My table had said Global Warming and the pictures of global warming flashing on my little screen. I soon got why were we there and what they trying to teach us. Since now lessons are presented through videos or tutorials, the first video was telling us what baby signing was all about so the second video was to show how to use the signs and what signs we could use and apply to what we have learnt. So when I looked at my table, it is what we apply in life. The pictures on the screen and vandalism on the table of global warming was what I had learnt and it shall be an impact, vandalized forever onto something I used to learn. It has created an impact that big.

EDUCATION IN SINGAPORE

I think education in Singapore is very different compared to the education in other countries. The education here is good enough because in places like Korea, education is enforced throughout their lives. Education is a constant 24 hour ordeal for them. Most of them don’t even like studying but they don’t have a choice because everyone’s too competitive. In Singapore, education only makes you compete with yourself. Education in western countries is rather bad, in my honest opinion. This is because since they don’t lead them and tell them  what to do, they wouldn’t care even if you did tell them how important education is unless your message of education got through one student.

IDEALISM vs REALISM

I feel that it’s better to be a idealist because if you try your best and get something not so bad, then it’s alright because you know you’ve tried your best but if you were a realist and got something really bad in life, you only have yourself to blame but the stigma against idealist is that they get so hard up that they forget everything around them.

NATIONALISM vs GLOBALISATION

I think Globalisation is important because we all function as one earth so whatever happens to the world, we have to help each other. Not fanning out and letting people in our country would just create problems and tension between countries hence hindering possible help.

MODEL CITIZENS LETTER

Melly, why did you want to get married to Zul and get rich?

I don’t want to get rich. I wanted to live like a Singaporean. Here, they have such a simple life. I want to raise my children in a safe environment like Singapore. If I were to raise them in Indonesia, there was the probability that they will be raped, sold off and have no education because I don’t have enough money in Indonesia to support them.  In actual fact, I didn’t really need Zul. I knew I could’ve been a Singapore alone but it was the fact that being a Singaporean alone scared me. I needed someone who knew Singapore and also, I loved him. As I said, I had nothing to live for. I want something to live for. Something like my own family. My own HDB. Sending my children off to school.  To live in a safe environment. This was what I wanted. 

PRIMARY 1 – Nicole Cheah

GENERAL OVERVIEW

On 10^th January 2011, I visited the exhibition “Primary 1” in the esplanade. The exhibit was rather intriguing in terms of their portrayal of what they wanted to show.

The first exhibit that I saw was a large number of similar looking babies sitting on stacked classroom desk holding cardboard crosses and ticks. Personally, what I thought they were trying to portray was how favoritism existed in society even though everyone is equal. I say this because all the babies looked the same regardless of whether they were holding a tick or a cross. This could mean that the babies with a tick were smarter academically or they are an all rounder however the babies holding a cross were lacking in something thus they were discriminated. Further more all the babies were sitting on classroom desks, it could also portray favoritism in classroom among the pupils.

Moving on, displayed on the wall were loads of pictures some showing different kinds of pictures. The placements of the pictures were shown in such a way that there was a contrast. For example on the right side of the wall was a picture of three children holding ticks and in the background was people doing construction works whereas on the left side of the wall showed a picture with three children holding crosses with a man slacking of by sleeping on the table in the void deck instead of doing something more productive. I presume that these two pictures were trying to show us how to improve the country by putting in hard work.

Next up, was a picture with a bunch of students seated together staring blankly at the screen (They looked really bored). I think this picture was to show how students are like during lesson time and generally what they go through in their everyday school life.

Finally, the last section of the exhibit consisted of many tables and chairs with a big screen in front portrayed just like an ordinary classroom. The screen was showing about sign languages there were 2 ladies explaining about using sign languages to babies. One of them was an Asian women used sign language to communicate the message whereas the other lady just stood there doing nothing but just gesturing and nodding her head. I thought that this exhibit was related to babies or children with disabilities thus it shows the point of view of those who can’t hear or understand anything yet. For example it shows the point of view of the baby who would most likely pay more attention to the Asian women doing sign language compared to the other who dose nothing. This allows the baby to understand better.

Later on in the video it showed a mother using sign language with a baby. While the mother did the sign language, they showed the baby’s reaction towards it. The mother was probably trying to communicate to the baby what was happening in the world as she starting showing words like “Unemployment”, “Stock Market”, “Global Capitalism”, “Humanitarian Disasters” and much more.

The interesting thing about this exhibit was how it linked to the tables that I had mentioned earlier. On these tables were carvings of all these words. Furthermore, each table had a screen, which flashed many pictures very quickly. Upon looking at the tables clearer, I noticed that each table had a specific theme like “Finance”, “Natural Disasters” and many others. These tables strike me as what the students have to cope with apart from their studies, which makes them quite stress. I believe that this exhibit was to emphasize that there are many things happening out there in the world that we have to prepare.

Finally, I think that this exhibition was really meaningful as it shows part and parcel of our childhood, school life and other things.

DESCRIBE ONE PICTURE IN DETAIL

I thought the portrayal of the message within the picture was really creative. It was a picture of a huge variety of FOOD. It totally consisted of a weird mixture of food that we would never imagine putting together; there were noodles, fruits such as rambutans and durians, I think there was also some sort of jelly with sauce and there were also biscuits with a colourful topping! All of them were on the same platter piled on top of each other regardless of the type of food combination and non of them were placed separated or segregated from the rest.

I think it shows how food could complement each other nicely despite their differences and make a whole new creative and stunning dish. In other words, the food symbolizes how the people who could live together harmoniously and peacefully without any discrimination or racism and as a result, it makes a peaceful society. Mainly I think that this picture was to portray and promote a multi-cultural society without any discrimination.

I feel that this image is very meaningful to me as if everyone could just live together despite all their differences and what not. There would be no arguments, meaningless wars, racism and discrimination. Without these the world would be a much better place.

LETTER TO ONE PERSON IN A PICTURE

To the girl sitting alone on the table in the canteen:

Why are you sitting here alone instead of playing with your friends? Are you troubled with something or are you confused about what to do? If there are any problems at all, you could always talk to someone you trust and confide in like your parents or sibling. Its best to share your troubles with someone you trust as your problems would feel as if they are halved also, the same applies when you feel happy or excited which will make your happiness double. Sitting there alone won’t get you anywhere so get up and go sort out any problems you have and you’ll feel much better!

EDUCATION IN SINGAPORE AS A STUDENT

As a student it’s great that I can study in Singapore as I think that Singapore makes an effort to try to make our learning more fun and enjoyable in school.

IDEALISM VS REALITY

Idealism is like a belief of a perfect life and situation however, I think that this most definitely cannot be achieved 100% as nothing is perfect. In reality we should just try our best in whatever we’re doing and hope for the best but not perfection as if there is always perfection, we wont have the motivation to get better.

GLOBALISATION AND NATIONALISM

Globalization means the fact that different cultures and economic systems around the world are becoming connected and similar to each other because of the influence of large multination companies and of improved communications.

Nationalism is the desire by a group of people who share the same race, culture, and language to form an independent country.

PRIMARY 1 - Lauren (:

OVERVIEW

When I walked into the exhibition, I could not understand what was the point of the babies and the pictures on the wall. I felt that nothing was connected and that everything felt wrong. But I looked closer and closer and I finally understood. Well at least my opinion on it. I think the babies on the tables, represent levels and that each child is growing at its own rate. I feel that children progress and learn at different rates and that if you force someone too much, the course of nature will be disrupted. Therefore I felt that the babies showed levels of maturity and that they are trying to tell “kia su” Singaporean parents this message.

The pictures on the wall seem to be telling me a story. A story about life as a student. I think that the pictures also represent a multi racial world as the children in the pictures all come from different race and religions. Some of the pictures are even about racial harmony. The fact that all these race and religions joined together shows that the designer may also be trying to say that everyone could live together peacefully and without wars and disputes.

I think the students have their own views on society and I feel that the way they are brought up as a huge role to play on how they are thinking. What their parents are teaching them is very important as that is what they listen to. When the lady in the video was communicating with her baby, at first I felt “what is this lady doing? She’s making a fool of herself! She looks really funny.” Then after watching the video for a while I realized that if I looked at it from a different point of view, I would see things differently. The mother could have been trying to teach her child economics and what is going on in the world. The calm and soothing music in the background could mean that the mother wants to teach her child peace and harmony. Teaching her child that war is not always the answer to all problems.

The desks that belonged to the students of that class all had writing and graffiti on them. I think these students wrote on the desks their opinions on what is happening, what they are feeling and their opinions on society. It’s their point of view on this matter and in a way each topic on each desk sort of signifies an individual problem that the world is facing.  

I feel that the video and the desks are somehow in a way connected as the writing on the desks are about problems happening in the global world. It is almost like as if the video is trying to teach the next generation how to stay away from these problems. The video and the sign language will help to strengthen and broaden the minds of these young babies and hopefully will be the foundation to the next generation.

DISCUSS ONE PHOTO IN DEPTH   

The picture I chose to go into detail about is the one with the school girls all standing together holding their dolls. The dolls are all dressed up differently and they are full of colour and life.

The girls in the picture could have been given a project about racial harmony. The dolls coming together with different costumes from different ethnic groups could be a representation on global harmony.

The picture was very meaningful to me as I feel that nowadays, living in a multi racial country has thought me that I have to be conscious of the people around me and I can’t do stupid stuff to offend anyone. It has thought me to be open-minded and not be so shallow when it comes to something unfamiliar. The picture also has another meaning to me. Singapore is a growing nation and I feel that many races and religions are coming together to form this beautiful place and that because we are the next generation, we must learn to keep it together.

A letter to the girl sitting on the bench.

I feel like I know you, it’s as if I’ve met you before, but I can’t remember where. Why are you sitting there all by yourself? Is it because you’re afraid of something or maybe because you’re feeling alone. You kind of remind me of me on my first day in my new school. I remember having only one friend and not knowing anyone. That feeling of loneliness, makes you feel empty doesn’t it?

You should know that you are not alone and that there is always someone or something there for you. When you’re feeling lonely or alone, you should talk to someone about it. Maybe you could try talking to your mom or a teacher or maybe even a friend. Bottling things up is not going to make things any better. When you’re hiding something inside you, the only thing that’s going to help is when you talk it out.

You are much more capable than you think you are. Do not underestimate yourself. Just follow your dreams and you’ll be able to do whatever you want.

Education in Singapore

I feel that I am really lucky to be able to study in Singapore and grow up here. I feel that Singapore’s education system is one of the best in the world and many people are actually coming here to study.  I feel that as a Singaporean I am really proud and honored to say that I studied here and grew up here.  I feel that as a thriving new country, Singapore is doing really well and the fact that Singapore is a multi-racial nation; it really helps us to grow and learn. It develops the way we think and how this affects us as we grow up. Unlike in other countries they may not be able to get this sort experience we do. So therefore I feel that my education in Singapore is really important to me.

IDEALISM vs. REALITY

I think to me idealism means that it is a sort of dream. Like it’s not real. Its as if the ideal world is your imagination because nothing is perfect. Reality is when everything makes sense. When people makes mistakes because that’s just normal. In your dreams, nothing goes wrong.

GLOBALISATION vs. NATIONALISATION

I feel that globalisation is when the country is good at work and that everything is purely business related and everything is very unfriendly. Nationalisation is when everyone is working together to form our country. Where the people actually care for the country and want to make it better. Their love and devotion to the nation is wha counts.

"Primary 1" -Dawn Yiu

Overview of the Exhibition: 

  

(Ticks&Crosses:Babies on the table)

When I just step into the exhibition room, the first thing I saw was naked plastic toy babies holding either a green tick or red crosses in their arms placed on school tables. To me, the tick and crosses on each baby represents if they starts off well as child, and whether their parents put a right mind of education and contributing to the society in their minds. I think that the artist (Jemina Yong) is trying to convey the message of the importance of education and contributing to the society to us. 

(Going on to the pictures) 

Walking to my right, there were a few pictures hanging by the wall , one of them was a picture of a body of an Indian girl. She was clothes in different ethnic groups of clothing. To my left there was a picture of a 'multiracial' food where different ethnics' foods formed to combine as one. From my point of view, I think that Jemina Yong is trying to use these pictures to represent Singapore, to convey the message to us that Singapore is a multiracial country where different ethnics group can live as one harmoniously. 

There was also a picture on the right wall where a girl was sitting alone in the canteen sipping her drink, her eyes were bore and she looks really lost and to my left was a picture of a young girl who is skipping a skipping rope in the courtyard all alone. I think that this picture depicts isolation and loneliness. This picture reminded me of when I just started Primary school. As a primary 1 school girl, everything to me was strange and I did not know anyone at all, and most of the the time we just played and ate alone. I think that Jemina Yong is trying to tell us that each of us encounter the same problems (not just being isolated or alone but also other problems)through the phases of life and even though we are different in each of our own ways, there is always something in common that we Singaporeans go through/share. 

On the same wall on my right is a picture of buildings in Singapore and a woman being camouflaged in the picture. Her face is being shone by a bright light hence enabling me to see the picture of the woman easily. From my point of view I think that the purpose to have the light shone on the lady's face and have the picture to be taken in a way that the lady is standing right in front of the building is to let us think that it is because of what we have contribute to the society that is why Singapore is a prosperous country and so i think Jemina Yong's is trying to tell us that we should work hard and contribute to the society the best that we have to make Singapore a better place.

After browsing through the pictures, I watched a video and the seats that I sent on, the tables have words written on them. Each table a different stimuli linking to the video that we were about to watch then. There was a blonde lady using sign languages to 'speak' to her child. The words that and sign language that she showed was flashed on the screen. " happy baby, beautiful girl, school exam, tuition fee, child abuse, social isolation, discrimination, extra marital affair, GST, unemployment, mortage, stock market, freedom, global captilism, illegal immigrations, post imperial nostalgia, avian flu, global warming, intelligence agencies, relief operation, radicalism, terrorist attack, air strike, rape and murder, genocide mass grave" At first when I was watching this video i did not understand why is the  mother showing these to her child when she is still so small, but after that I realise that the mother is actually trying to prepare her child for the world that she is going to grow up in. 

Before that was also a video about the importance of sign languages. There was an Asian and Western lady plus a little girl. The girl know how to use signs. And so as every sign languages that the Asian and the little girl demonstrates for us, the meaning/word of the sign language would flash up on the screen. However, the Western lady communicates through her facial expressions. For example, when the Western lady shows the little girl a certain facial expression or a nod the little girl seems to understand what the lady is trying to tell her.

Letter to a Character of a picture 

(To the girl skipping alone in the basketball ground):

Dear girl, what are you doing all alone in the middle of the basketball ground? Are you feeling social isolation? Is  this your first year of primary school? Do not worry , all these would eventually pass and you would make lots of friends even from different ethnic groups. You would learn about their cultures and traditions from them, and they too can learn about yours. Do not let anything distract you from your studies, a few crosses in life is actually okay, so as long as you do not do the same mistakes but learn from them, and yes, we do not know what the future  awaits for us but what we know is that when you grow up you can contribute to the society and make it a better place for us to live in. 

Dawn. 

Discuss one photo in depth:


While I was browsing through the exhitbitions, two pictures(inter-linked) had caught my attention.

The first picture's title was "What do you think would happen to our country part 1".The pictures depicts 3 girls, each of them holding a green tick each. In the background is construction workers building the road. 

The second picture's title was  "What do you think would happen to our country part 2". The picture depicts 3 different age group of children holding red crosses in their hands, standing beside a boy who seems like he is doing his work halfway, yet he is lying on his homework sleeping, this picture was taken at the void deck. 

There is a huge contrast between this two pictures. I think that Jemina Yong is trying to let us be aware of things happening around us. "What do you think would happen to our country?" was a question that she  posted to us. It seems like the ticks and crosses in these 2 pictures determines the future that Singapore is in hold of .  In my opinion, she is trying to let us know that with people like the boy in the 2nd picture our country would not prosper well and that also linked to the babies that were on the tables whether their mindset was set to contribute to the society and knowing the importance of education or not.

As for the picture with children holding dolls in their hands and the picture with a family reading books together, I feel that as we grow older we should learn to grow up and be independent as we are not young children anymore but going to be adults who should return something back to the society.


- Education in Singapore
As a student I think that studying in Singapore is a very privileged thing ,as in Singapore, we can learn about different races ethnic group and can experience living together harmoniously together without any racism remarks. Moreover, when we are doing our social studies it is easier to understand each others' culture more easily. 


-Idealism vs Reality 
Although Singapore may seem to be a perfect country without any blemish, but in reality, as an individual we still have a lot of things to learn from each other to make this country a better place to live in. 


- Globalism vs Nationalism 
I think that Singapore is a prosperous country , and because of our achievements as an individual, we have made Singapore proud and many other companies from other countries has been greatly influence by us and hence they want to have trades and business with us.