Many people experiences first-times, including me...
Exhilarated was the most appropriate word to describe my feelings when I first tried to download this online game client, Puzzle Pirates, to experience what the virtual world was like back then, when I was 8. It was certainly very confusing to me because I had never had the experience of doing this sort of administrative stuff where I needed to register to play and also download the client. It took me awhile before I got the hang of it. I waited awhile for the client to finish downloading before I launched the game.
There were many servers to choose from and I randomly picked one since I did not know which server was more beneficial for me. I created a character and soon I got into the game. Mesmerized by the graphics, I continued the tutorials given upon my character's creation. The tutorials were brief but very clear. I went for a pillage out in the seas with some other players and that was when I found that the game was very educational for me because I could not only interact with other players, strengthening bonds between one another, I could also do the duty puzzles, where I would have to squeeze my brain juices to play the puzzles. There was even a duty roster after every league, indicating to players the progress of their puzzles, be it Booched, Poor, Fine, Good, Excellent or Incredible.
There were many other things to do in the game and I soon found myself actively engaged in them. What I liked most of the game was that they would remind players to take a break should we be playing the game too long, because sometimes players are just so obsessed with the task at hand in the game that they forgot to go for an eye break.
Unfortunately, homework caught up with me and occupied most of my schedule, causing me to lose interest in the game after some time due to the tiredness I received after finishing all my homework; I had to sleep to rejuvenate myself, resulting in myself not being able to go online and do the mind-stretching puzzles and more. This first online multi-player game I played netted me alot of knowledge on sea-related stuff along with teamwork skills.
Till now, I am still grateful that I knew about this game, sadly, I forgot my password to that 5-year-old account so I had to create a new pirate, revisiting the game is another wonderful experience.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
English Difficulties
Everyone has difficulties in life, and I am no exception. Everyone has subjects that they are weak in, and I am no exception either. English has always been the subject I have detested the most, because there are many different components that make up the score on the report book; many of them are not easy to score, let alone ace them.
Oral has always been the most dreaded subject for me in the English component, because there is three components in Oral, which are the Reading, Picture Discussion, and Conversation. Reading has never been a trouble to me in Primary school but in Secondary school, words get tougher, with some never-seen-before words. Of course, Phonics will definitely play a big role in pronouncing these weird-looking words, but as my English teacher said, ''English is not remembering this formula and applying it that's it, but English has alot of exceptions.'' So how far can Phonics help me to pronounce words? Not much. Picture discussion is another trouble. Sometimes, words pop up to me immediately when I look at the picture, but problem is that I cannot ascertain that the words are applicable for that situation as pictured in the paper. As I do not want to take the risk of using words wrongly, I tend to use simple words which can hardly net any good scores. Next, is Conversation. Singlish, is commonly used in teens' life, therefore it is common to be spoken out. I always will have to stammer when I am about to speak the Singlish word, in an attempt to try to find an appropriate synonym to replace the Singlish word. I could also easily stray off-topic when I am too indulged in talking. Therefore I do not score well in Oral.
Summary is another obstacle blocking me from getting good scores. I noticed that I cannot get the correct 15 points despite many attempts and I always add in irrelevant points which eat up my words, causing me to have very limited words. Shortening sentences has also become a problem for me as sometimes I take away the important point in the midst of shortening the sentence. My most drastic problem is to use my own words. As my vocabulary is not very broad, I tend to repeat some of the words and use words wrongly, causing me to lose the meaning in the sentence which ultimately causes me to lose a point for content. I have made several attempts to try to use many words which were not that simple, but my score does not rise, which is saddening to me. The other problem is my tenses. As I am thinking of plotting my sentences while writing in both summary and composition, I tend to make mistakes in my tenses carelessly, causing me to lose precious marks too.
Overcoming these difficulties will no doubt be hard, but when there is a will there is a way !
Oral has always been the most dreaded subject for me in the English component, because there is three components in Oral, which are the Reading, Picture Discussion, and Conversation. Reading has never been a trouble to me in Primary school but in Secondary school, words get tougher, with some never-seen-before words. Of course, Phonics will definitely play a big role in pronouncing these weird-looking words, but as my English teacher said, ''English is not remembering this formula and applying it that's it, but English has alot of exceptions.'' So how far can Phonics help me to pronounce words? Not much. Picture discussion is another trouble. Sometimes, words pop up to me immediately when I look at the picture, but problem is that I cannot ascertain that the words are applicable for that situation as pictured in the paper. As I do not want to take the risk of using words wrongly, I tend to use simple words which can hardly net any good scores. Next, is Conversation. Singlish, is commonly used in teens' life, therefore it is common to be spoken out. I always will have to stammer when I am about to speak the Singlish word, in an attempt to try to find an appropriate synonym to replace the Singlish word. I could also easily stray off-topic when I am too indulged in talking. Therefore I do not score well in Oral.
Summary is another obstacle blocking me from getting good scores. I noticed that I cannot get the correct 15 points despite many attempts and I always add in irrelevant points which eat up my words, causing me to have very limited words. Shortening sentences has also become a problem for me as sometimes I take away the important point in the midst of shortening the sentence. My most drastic problem is to use my own words. As my vocabulary is not very broad, I tend to repeat some of the words and use words wrongly, causing me to lose the meaning in the sentence which ultimately causes me to lose a point for content. I have made several attempts to try to use many words which were not that simple, but my score does not rise, which is saddening to me. The other problem is my tenses. As I am thinking of plotting my sentences while writing in both summary and composition, I tend to make mistakes in my tenses carelessly, causing me to lose precious marks too.
Overcoming these difficulties will no doubt be hard, but when there is a will there is a way !
Mother Tongue Brew
First sight on the title, one might question what is the meaning of 'brew', I was no exception when I was informed there was a Mother Tongue Brew on 15th September. My curiosity carried me further as I googled on the word 'Brew', but to no avail, I still could not figure out the meaning of 'brew'. Disappointed, I had to give up. As the event was getting nearer, my curiosity was also getting greater.
When the event itself came, the Secondary 1 and 2 were all gathered outside Indoor Sports Hall, waiting to enter. Upon entering, we were then asked to sit according to our classes. We had a short briefing before we were dismissed back to our classrooms for our events. At that point of time, I was still doubtful of the purpose of this event.
My class and I returned to our classroom and were surprised to see that the instructor was already waiting for us. With a sense of urgency, everyone scrambled back to their seats hastily so as to not keep the instructor waiting. The instructor then briefed us on how to play Congkak, a traditional game. It was a 2-player game and my partner was Wai Weng. As we two had played that game on Club Penguin, just that the game was called Mancala, we proceeded without watching the demonstration. After a friendly match, I emerged victorious.
It was then time for bean art. It was a chinese culture. I did not know of such culture, I guess I should be more aware of my culture I believe. As time was limited, the instructor did a very brief introduction and told us how to produce the beautiful artwork. The instructor then said we had to think of a design to decorate on our paper plate. She said if one has no idea, one could use one of her templates, cut and paste. Given my independence, I told myself not to rely on her templates and think up of a design myself. The Mickey Mouse design on my pencil case was smiling at me as I stared at it thinking of a design, it then struck me that I could use it as my design. I took my pencil, drew the face of Mickey Mouse. I used my own glue and glued the beans and rice onto the paper plate. Within minutes, my artwork was done but it looked terrible. I did not blame myself for such awful artwork as I knew my art skills were not that magnificent. We were then dismissed from school and that marked the end of the event.
Till now, I still do not know the meaning of 'Mother Tongue Brew' although I can identify the purpose of the event; to raise awareness of cultures of other races among Riversidians. I feel that this event is meaningful as it brings people from different races together to experience cultures together.
When the event itself came, the Secondary 1 and 2 were all gathered outside Indoor Sports Hall, waiting to enter. Upon entering, we were then asked to sit according to our classes. We had a short briefing before we were dismissed back to our classrooms for our events. At that point of time, I was still doubtful of the purpose of this event.
My class and I returned to our classroom and were surprised to see that the instructor was already waiting for us. With a sense of urgency, everyone scrambled back to their seats hastily so as to not keep the instructor waiting. The instructor then briefed us on how to play Congkak, a traditional game. It was a 2-player game and my partner was Wai Weng. As we two had played that game on Club Penguin, just that the game was called Mancala, we proceeded without watching the demonstration. After a friendly match, I emerged victorious.
It was then time for bean art. It was a chinese culture. I did not know of such culture, I guess I should be more aware of my culture I believe. As time was limited, the instructor did a very brief introduction and told us how to produce the beautiful artwork. The instructor then said we had to think of a design to decorate on our paper plate. She said if one has no idea, one could use one of her templates, cut and paste. Given my independence, I told myself not to rely on her templates and think up of a design myself. The Mickey Mouse design on my pencil case was smiling at me as I stared at it thinking of a design, it then struck me that I could use it as my design. I took my pencil, drew the face of Mickey Mouse. I used my own glue and glued the beans and rice onto the paper plate. Within minutes, my artwork was done but it looked terrible. I did not blame myself for such awful artwork as I knew my art skills were not that magnificent. We were then dismissed from school and that marked the end of the event.
Till now, I still do not know the meaning of 'Mother Tongue Brew' although I can identify the purpose of the event; to raise awareness of cultures of other races among Riversidians. I feel that this event is meaningful as it brings people from different races together to experience cultures together.
Teachers' Day / Aces Day celebration
As the title suggests, 1st of September was Teachers' Day / Aces Day celebration. Riversidians, including me, were all assembled in the Parade Square. I was exhilarated as celebrations only occur occasionally in Riverside, so there was the need to appreciate the precious celebrations.
The day kicked off with the Aces Day component, where the RS Dance was utilized. It was a RS Dance competition; a competition between classes. We were to perform the RS Dance as naturally as we could, and the judges, amongst them was the principal, would decide the winner of each level. Nervousness was the only word that could describe my feelings. The competition started with the Graduating Classes starting first. Meanwhile, messages were passed down telling my classmates to perform the best of our abilities. Time flew past in a blink of an eye and soon, it was time for Secondary 1 to show our grace in dancing. I put in effort to dance as it has been a while since I did the RS Dance; some steps were still not vividly etched into my memory.
After the marvellous performance by the Riversidians, we headed to the Hall where the next component was waiting for us. It was prize presentation for the teachers, there were a few awards and the teachers were all very elated to walk up the stage and receive the prize. What stumped me was that my class and I did not know that we could participate in the voting. If we did, some of our favourite teachers would have had a higher chance of winning a prize.
Finally, after the side course, it was the dessert that was whipped up for us. It was the long-awaited moment ! I guessed you guessed it, it was the prize presentation for the winners of the RS Dance competition. When the emcees was about to announce the winners, the response was huge, with some people screaming, and alot of people doing drumrolls. Our team spirit paid off when we unexpectedly heard ''1/5!'' My class was totally taken aback as we did not expect to win. The class winners of other levels were announced shortly after declaring our class victorious. Our class then went back to class, distributed the prize - which was a medal, and everyone was then dismissed from school.
I feel that our class spirit has since bonded incredibly after this event, I wish there would be more of such meaningful events in the near future.
The day kicked off with the Aces Day component, where the RS Dance was utilized. It was a RS Dance competition; a competition between classes. We were to perform the RS Dance as naturally as we could, and the judges, amongst them was the principal, would decide the winner of each level. Nervousness was the only word that could describe my feelings. The competition started with the Graduating Classes starting first. Meanwhile, messages were passed down telling my classmates to perform the best of our abilities. Time flew past in a blink of an eye and soon, it was time for Secondary 1 to show our grace in dancing. I put in effort to dance as it has been a while since I did the RS Dance; some steps were still not vividly etched into my memory.
After the marvellous performance by the Riversidians, we headed to the Hall where the next component was waiting for us. It was prize presentation for the teachers, there were a few awards and the teachers were all very elated to walk up the stage and receive the prize. What stumped me was that my class and I did not know that we could participate in the voting. If we did, some of our favourite teachers would have had a higher chance of winning a prize.
Finally, after the side course, it was the dessert that was whipped up for us. It was the long-awaited moment ! I guessed you guessed it, it was the prize presentation for the winners of the RS Dance competition. When the emcees was about to announce the winners, the response was huge, with some people screaming, and alot of people doing drumrolls. Our team spirit paid off when we unexpectedly heard ''1/5!'' My class was totally taken aback as we did not expect to win. The class winners of other levels were announced shortly after declaring our class victorious. Our class then went back to class, distributed the prize - which was a medal, and everyone was then dismissed from school.
I feel that our class spirit has since bonded incredibly after this event, I wish there would be more of such meaningful events in the near future.
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