I was looking at my logs recently and found something quite bizarre. Go to Yahoo! Singapore, and put in 'xiaxue' in the search box. (She is Singapore and Asia's most popular blogger.) The first search result would be her blog, right? Strangely, no...
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Thursday, August 31, 2006
The Social Sciences All Mixed Up Together
School has been lots of fun, even though right now I'm still stuck at a 400-word short essay trying to argue why 'the English Language Syllabus serves no useful purpose for the English teacher.' Hmm... maybe I should be arguing for the opposite...
Besides dealing with languages, I'm also doing this thing called Social Studies. Now, in my experience, this was one subject that few kids were interested in (at least in my time during primary school). I was told before my job interview that it would be one of my teaching subjects if I got hired. For someone like me who regularly thinks in ironic terms, the idea that I was asked to teach this was quite funny.
Now a lot of folks see this subject as Pr*po**n*a, and rightly so. During the interview (paneled by obviously wise and experienced ex-principals), one question was: 'Now, how do you feel about teaching Social Studies?" And I said, "Well, many people think that Social Studies is Pr*pog*a**a/National Education. [laughs] While that is somewhat true, I think it's much, much more that. It's history, geography, political science, citizenship studies... blah blah blah... very interesting... blah blah blah... I love it...blah blah... more people should be studying this! blah blah blah..." And the interviewers were smiling because I think they knew where I was going with this: the interesting question of balancing the positive/useful P with the very important introduction to the various social sciences (essentially, the study of the world around us).
Naturally, one worry I had was whether teachers have any room in the classroom for critical thinking and the 'look-the-emperor-has-no-clothes!' sort of questioning. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case so far. The two tutors (one local and the other American prof) that we have seem to understand this tension, and it's discussed very openly in class, which was, like, so refreshing to see. Asking questions and having a constant sense of inquiry seem to be a main purpose of the subject. Of course, the reality in a real classroom might be totally different. Nonetheless, it's good to see intelligent folks in class, both tutors and students. The honeymoon is going great so far...
Anyway, happy Teachers' Day to all the real teachers: heros working hard on the front lines!
Update(!): Archaeologist Xenoboy engages in some excavation.
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Besides dealing with languages, I'm also doing this thing called Social Studies. Now, in my experience, this was one subject that few kids were interested in (at least in my time during primary school). I was told before my job interview that it would be one of my teaching subjects if I got hired. For someone like me who regularly thinks in ironic terms, the idea that I was asked to teach this was quite funny.
Now a lot of folks see this subject as Pr*po**n*a, and rightly so. During the interview (paneled by obviously wise and experienced ex-principals), one question was: 'Now, how do you feel about teaching Social Studies?" And I said, "Well, many people think that Social Studies is Pr*pog*a**a/National Education. [laughs] While that is somewhat true, I think it's much, much more that. It's history, geography, political science, citizenship studies... blah blah blah... very interesting... blah blah blah... I love it...blah blah... more people should be studying this! blah blah blah..." And the interviewers were smiling because I think they knew where I was going with this: the interesting question of balancing the positive/useful P with the very important introduction to the various social sciences (essentially, the study of the world around us).
Naturally, one worry I had was whether teachers have any room in the classroom for critical thinking and the 'look-the-emperor-has-no-clothes!' sort of questioning. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case so far. The two tutors (one local and the other American prof) that we have seem to understand this tension, and it's discussed very openly in class, which was, like, so refreshing to see. Asking questions and having a constant sense of inquiry seem to be a main purpose of the subject. Of course, the reality in a real classroom might be totally different. Nonetheless, it's good to see intelligent folks in class, both tutors and students. The honeymoon is going great so far...
Anyway, happy Teachers' Day to all the real teachers: heros working hard on the front lines!
Update(!): Archaeologist Xenoboy engages in some excavation.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Tiger Woods Is An Alien/Swing Portrait
For many years, I've had the suspicion that golfer Tiger Woods isn't really a human, but an alien from the planet SasQuatch. That guy is a bloody machine, for crying out loud! A new feature that appeared a few days ago at NikeGolf's website seemed to confirm my worst fears.
The Nike folks used a digital camera capable of capturing 4000 frames per second, pointed it at Mr. Woods, and requested him to do a swing. As I watched the swing portrait, I realised it should be obvious that anyone who can repeatedly replicated that sort of deadly power and grace, winning 50 PGA titles by the age of 30, simply can't be human. As Sherlock Holmes once said, once you eliminate all possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Anyway, even if you don't like golf, have a go at watching Tiger swing if only to see what a 4000 frames per second camera can show you. The cello background music is very nice too...
I just started golf lessons for the first time and I was determined to learn as much from this alien as much as possible. I think watching the swing sequence numerous times might have helped; I got my breakthrough with the second set of 50 balls I hit last night. Everything just fits together when the ball flies, it's like a point of singularity so precise and yet so elusive. Anyway, here's a writeup I did 10 years ago if you're interested about this 'slow' sport works...
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The Nike folks used a digital camera capable of capturing 4000 frames per second, pointed it at Mr. Woods, and requested him to do a swing. As I watched the swing portrait, I realised it should be obvious that anyone who can repeatedly replicated that sort of deadly power and grace, winning 50 PGA titles by the age of 30, simply can't be human. As Sherlock Holmes once said, once you eliminate all possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Anyway, even if you don't like golf, have a go at watching Tiger swing if only to see what a 4000 frames per second camera can show you. The cello background music is very nice too...
I just started golf lessons for the first time and I was determined to learn as much from this alien as much as possible. I think watching the swing sequence numerous times might have helped; I got my breakthrough with the second set of 50 balls I hit last night. Everything just fits together when the ball flies, it's like a point of singularity so precise and yet so elusive. Anyway, here's a writeup I did 10 years ago if you're interested about this 'slow' sport works...
In The Jungle/Teacher's College
So a few weeks ago I started school again at Teacher's College. This place is really cool. It's in the middle of a thick secondary tropical forest and they simply cleared away some land to make way for a very nice campus. The library is especially wonderful. I'm writing this sitting at the circular balcony on the fourth floor, it feels like I'm in some exotic place, with trees stretching as far as the eye can see...
The instructors have been wonderful so far, way better than what I'd heard or expected; the students are supportive and intelligent. Eventually, I'll be teaching political science, human geography, history, and languages, all of them English, so that'll be really interesting. But let me just enjoy the oasis of green until that happens...
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The instructors have been wonderful so far, way better than what I'd heard or expected; the students are supportive and intelligent. Eventually, I'll be teaching political science, human geography, history, and languages, all of them English, so that'll be really interesting. But let me just enjoy the oasis of green until that happens...
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