Closing the year

Dear denizens of 4B,

I set up the class blog for two main reasons - as a language learning tool as well as a platform for the class to air their views or just to touch base with one another. Whether these aims/ objectives have been met is a different story altogether BUT on to more important stuff ... as I won't be teaching you English anymore, it is time for us to decide on the fate of this class blog.

So here are our options:
1) I leave the blog up and running until 31st December (so you can salvage whatever memories you want) after which I would delete it.
2)I transfer the administrator / moderator status to someone else (You have to guide me along how to do this though :P~) so the blog will not be deleted in cyberspace and will be kept for posterity for eternity. If this is the chosen option, do nominate your new moderator.

So let me know okie people? I shall set in motion Option #1 if I don't hear anything by end December.

Enjoy what's left of your holidays (it's school again in 1 1/2 months time! *evil laughter*)

Regards,
Mr Faizad.

p/s anyone who's addicted to facebook too?

It's my Life

From : http://www.itsmylife.sg/itsmylife/

AUDITIONS FOR IT'S MY LIFE

An original musical about teens, by teens, for teens in Singapore!

“It’s My Life!
- A musical crafted from stories YOU tell about being a TEEN in Singapore!
- A Free-of-Charge, Fun, Learning Journey into the Arts!
- Goodie Bags, Adventures and even a CASH payment awaits!

TEEN performers and TEEN set designers WANTED!

Performers:
- Between 15 – 19 years old.
- No experience necessary.
- Any race, size, religion, gender, type and personality
- Prepare a short song and a simple movement or dance.

Set Designers:
- Between 15 – 19 years old.
- No experience necessary.
- Bring in examples of your creativity eg photos, drawings, artwork etc

Auditions will be held on 28, 29 & 30 Nov 2007 at Centre for Excellence
Great Eastern Centre, 1 Pickering Street

A SUMMARY:
The play will be produced by teens, under the guidance of a team of top local Theatre Practioners, like Lim Yu-Beng and Tan Kheng Hua.
Selected performers will get to participate in free professional workshops.
Selected Performers will get to perform for the public in a highquality performance.
The selected performers might even get to sing a brand new song specially composed by Corrine May and Dave Tan.

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I think Dorothy signed up as a performer, I saw her profile somewhere that day.

I've signed up as a set designer:D

People like Janice and Kah Lok who love to sign might want to sign up as performers! It's a great oppportunity! No harm trying anyway, since they will fit workshops and rehearsals according to holiday schedules. It's a great way to spend your holidays if you have planned nothing as of yet!

SA Christmas Kettle

While you are thinking of how to waste your holiday away, why don't you offer to help out? Those interested in giving back to the society during this holiday season, leave a comment, and I'll send you the application form:D

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THE CHRISTMAS KETTLE APPEAL
The Christmas Kettle Appeal is a unique fundraising project that enables The Salvation Army to continue its work with the needy and underprivileged. Every year, staff and volunteers take to the streets ringing bells and encourage passers-by to drop a donation into the kettles. As such, we would like to extend an invitation to you to join us in this tradition and make a difference.

You can read about the Christmas Kettle story on The Salvation Army’s webpage at http://www.salvationarmy.org.sg. For a video on the history of The Christmas Kettle Pot (created by The Salvation Army in British Columbia), you may wish to visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0y3_4mlnAc.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
1. Join us as a volunteer:

Volunteers help to man the red Christmas Kettle Pots and ring the bells, to help raise funds for the children, youth, elderly and needy families in our care.

Kettling is from Mon – Sat, 11am – 9pm from 24 Nov – 24 Dec 2007.
Each kettling shift is two hours.

Two volunteers to a kettling shift

Kettlers need to be 16 years old as at 31 Dec 2007 (unless accompanied by an adult)
For group volunteers, you are also welcome to adopt the pot for a day


To sign up for the project, simply complete send the following information to us:

Complete the attached Volunteer Application Form (Short-Term), indicating your preferred locations, timing and dates (you may wish to also include backup locations, timing and dates but do indicate which are backup slots)

Send the form to our Volunteer Coordinator for assignment.

We shall be getting in touch with you shortly regarding your assignment.


The locations are as follows:

Ang Mo Kio Hub
Bugis Junction
Causeway Point Shopping Centre
Centrepoint
CK Tang Limited
ECP Seafood Centre
Far East Plaza
HarbourFront Centre
HDB Hub
IKEA - Tampines
Junction 8 Shopping Centre
Lucky Plaza
Raffles City (Pte) Ltd
SBS Transit Ltd - Chinatown
SBS Transit Ltd - Kovan Stn
Tampines Mall
The Heeren
West Mall
Cathay *
Liat Tower *
Orchard Parade Hotel *
Orchard Point *
Paragon *
Park Hotel Orchard *
Plaza Singapura *
Shaw House *
Tanglin Mall *
Wisma Atria *

Note: Locations marked with an "*" indicates an unsheltered location.


2. Support our beneficiaries and our volunteers by contributing to the pots

3. Help spread the word about the Christmas Kettle Appeal

THANKS PEOPLE! :D

Heroes

Four years
That's what they call a long time
I've waited so long
To seek and to find
A place where I belong
And a home I can call mine

We search all our lives
In the hours of light
For the meaning that exists
For our destiny to take flight

Heroes
That's what they call those
With a noble cause
Who understand what they're meant to do
Who knows
What to do

Can you be a hero?
Can you be there when it all ends
Can you assure me with your soul
That you will be a hero?

Four years
We've hidden in the shade
We've been sheltered by umbrellas
But now, those shadows will fade

For the time to call our own
We will be heroes
We will take the frontline
We will know

Heroes
That's what they call those
Who gives without thoughts
Who does what is needed
Without doubts

Can you be a hero?
Can you be there when the time comes?
Can you assure me with your soul
That you will be a hero?

Four years
We've changed
None have become heroes
But now, we know what we have to do

Because we were given
By the greatest Heroes of all
Who assured us when the time came
Who found us when we called

Can you be a hero?
Can you be like them?
Like the ones who assured us with their souls
That we would be heroes.

------

Written by a friend's classmate. Inspired by Sound track from heroes.

Don't forget to catch the 2 hour special on Monday, 12 Nov! :D

Hey hey!!! I did this video out of impulse. Hope you all like it! Treat it as my gift to all of you before O levels. All The Best!!!

Grad Day=)

Hey..I hired a PI to film down the process of us going up on stage to receive our progress reports.There was an earthquake at that time,so please pardon the shakiness.As my PI was able to camouflage very well,there were people moving in front of my PI without noticing it.It's a rather long video,hope you guys will enjoy=)

Watch here

Just a little something

Hi... long time no post..

I made a photo slideshow for everyone in 4B... so enjoy...

Well......

Hello.....


Well my discovery of the power of Windows Movie Maker came at the right time so i decided to make a video slideshow of the pictures I took of 3/4Bidden. I think I only have a pathetic number of 30 photos so the video slideshow is not that long. Therefore if anyone of you out there who is rather free can go watch it on youtube or you may choose to save it until after the O'levels. I will keep the video online until 1st December. Good luck for your O'levels!!

Watch here

Last day before our Prelims

on a typical day..
jade stoning or concentrating?
our tables are linked by a gold string
LOVES

how jade looks like after the soccer game
Sleeping?
Our resident nose digger! Best friend of pete tsai! tsk, the look of perverse joy on kh's face.
Nose-digger brothers!

Both of them look damn sadistic!

What a nice picture.

*to be continued on my blog *

SP!

SOCCER:)
SOCCER:)

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yeah people let's take more photos after our prelims!

17 July 2007

Word of the (Fri)day

Its been a long time since I posted, and I figured I should do something about it.

So... the word of the day is..

clamber \KLAM-buhr; KLAM-uhr\, intransitive verb:
1. To climb with difficulty, or on all fours; to scramble.

noun:
1. The act of clambering.

Isn't this cool? It comes with a free sentence too:

At one point a whole horde of them fell over a shallow cliff. Plumes of red dust rose in the air as they struggled to clamber back up.
-- Thomas Beller, The Sleep-Over Artist

Try this test!!!!

hahaha.. I am really convinced that i am spiderman! A personality test showed that i am 90% spiderman!!! Wow!!! Try the test to see which superhero u are! http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/

SEC 4 PRELIM EL ORAL EXAMS 2007

Dear people (most of whom I have not seen for more than a month),

Heard of the saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"? Anyways I think we can all attest that it doesn't apply in this case.

I hope you have had some time to truly enjoy what essentially is your last holiday / long break before the dreaded 'O' Level exams. Remember to recharge, and come back re-energised and more focussed for Term 3.

At the risk of contradicting myself, I hope you have not forgotten your holiday homework. No referencing on the first day of school ok? I also hope that you have been in constant contact with the language. (reading the English papers / watching the English news / watching English movies, et cetera).

I am also posting your Prelim Oral Exam schedule here for your reference. Please help to remind one another about your exam dates. I believe Ms Choong has spent quite a considerable amount of time training you for the Oral exam - so do not let her efforts go to waste. Put into practice what you have learnt and try your best ok?

20th June (Wednesday)	0750 – 1000 hrs	Container Block R (3J & 3L)	4F	12	1 to 12	Ms Jaina Tan
		Container Block S (3H & 3I)	4B	12	1 to 12	Ms Dora Lee
		IT Resource Room (near the Conference Room)	4J	12	1 to 12	Mrs Jennifer Tan
	BREAK
	1020 – 1230 hrs	Container Block R (3J & 3L)	4F	12	13 to 24	Ms Jaina Tan
		Container Block S (3H & 3I)	4B	13	13 to 25	Ms Dora Lee
		IT Resource Room (near the Conference Room)	4J	12	13 to 24	Mrs Jennifer Tan
	LUNCH
	1320 – 1530 hrs	Container Block R (3J & 3L)	4F	12	25 to 26	Ms Jaina Tan
		Container Block S (3H & 3I)	4B	13	26 to 38	Ms Dora Lee

Note to pupils:

1. Please take note of your scheduled examination date and do turn up punctually at the stated time, even if you are the last candidate of the day.

2. All candidates to report in full uniform half an hour before their shift begins.

3. 1^st candidate to begin silent reading and oral exam prep 10 min before he / she gets examined.

4. Unless for official or valid reasons, pupils are strictly not allowed to swap slots or absent themselves. If you are sick, you need to produce an MC covering you for the day.

Till next term,
Ni Men Qing Ai De Ying Wen Lao Shi

SC Camp 2007

This blog is like practically dead. So, in case you're bored here's something from my blog. (slightly edited)

DAY 1

The SCs got scolded after no one bothered to ask why there were so many different assembly venues. We purposely confused them to see their reactions. Unfortunately, results were as we expected and not so good. Most of them just sat around in the canteen / hall to wait. My welfare juniors were slightly better as they went around asking where the assembly venue was.

After that Clare and I conducted ice-breakers for group 5. We didn't really prepare for our icebreakers so it was quite "cold". But after that they sort of warmed up. They were supposed to do a funny (ask them about the contents) skit but they all ended laughing like hell!

Their game and my brilliant solution *Smirks*

Supposed to pass the ring (of string) through everyone. Josephinethere helping.
Close up!

Then out of desperation, I got them to untie knots while blindfolded. They were doing very well and could have easily untied the knots but they didn't managed to. I tied many many additional knots without them noticing as they were swopping people around. One of them asked, "Why like forever the same ah?" but I pretended not to hear.

In the afternoon, the kids attended workshops & talks by teachers and seniors while we slacked / prepared for Forager's quest / dug earthworms / bought stuff. Jia Min, Clare and Stefan dug worms while DF & I went out to buy breakfast for Day 2 and get durian husks.

When we got back, we ate the durians and the lychees. YADA YADA fast forward to Forager's Quest. It was a violent game. Tsk.

The rainbow that we saw!
Close up with birds(black specks in the photo)
And this was what happened during Forager's Quest. !!!

Actually before that Yu Jun was grabbing Chi Kan while I sat on him (CK), but after that I got off him and took this photo:) CK the evil boy tried to steal our balloons! And because of this, Zong Guo (the one nicholas voted for)scratched and tore our whole plastic bag of balloons apart like a crazy feline.

After the Forager's Quest, the group settles down to listen to Stefan's debrief After dinner and wash up, we met up at 7.30pm for evaluation. Here's Jo leading the evaluation while we were away.

After evaluation, they gathered at the hall for a small discussion about the 6 yr structure. This photo and the 2 below were taken by them using my camera.

Yu Jun, Jo, NQ, Zi Qi, Kah Kah, Yuan Long.

Following that was screening of 'Exorcism of Emily Rose'. I brought joanna, jiamin, karen, mdm chan, miss tan and mr gan to the venues for solo night so they could check the venues. It was ok except for the LT and block b and c area, which I thought was very dark.

After the check, I joined the restto watch the movie. Then, we went to respective venues for solo night.

When the activity ended, everyone got back to the hall to vote for their favourite 6 year structure from the various groups.

After that we bathed and went to SC room to sit around until 2am.

DAY 2

Woke up at 6 or so to get ready for PT. Each group was supposed to do 30 crunches, run 3 rounds, do 30 starjumps, 30 sit-ups and 3 cheers. We were 5th because I was quite strict (!) According to their positions (time taken to finish PT), they were to choose their breakfast.

1st: Beehoon with egg & luncheon meat

2nd: Beehoon

3rd: Sandwiches

4th: Biscuits

5th: Cupcakes & Minicakes

6th: Bread

Group 5 slacking while waiting for the faciliators to brief them on station games. This was after breakfast.

Nai Sheng, Clare and I were in charge of Station 3. Participants have to form chinese characters and a selected team member will have to guess the word from the gallery. Wahaha during the game, he got one of the juniors to throw his waterbottle down from the gallery when he was downstairs. And HE CAUGHT IT! Atrocious.

After he went up, Clare threw a pingpong ball up and he caught it AGAIN!

Group Picture of Facilitators.

Vote for Singapore's favourite English words!

Do you have a favourite English word? Vote for Singapore's favourite English words at the British Council, which is putting together a list worldwide. Visit http://www.britishcouncil.org.sg to cast your vote.

EL SYF

Since I'm frigging bored at home and rotting away (figuratively and literally), I shall show you some pics from my SYF (Last Wed)

I arrived in school at 6.10am, but the LT was already bustling with activity. The few who were already there were putting on their make-up and my coach was helping them. I was giving out sweets while waiting for my turn after I had changed. At about 6.30, some of the crew(juniors) arrived and I played with them :)

Hehehh.

After taking this pic, we went back to the LT. I was sitting near the aisle at the middle column of seats, with my 2 juniors in front of me. We were all stoning. Then I suddenly heard this wailing sound right beside my ear, and I thought I heard wrongly since no one else seemed to have heard it. I turned around, but there were no ELDDians around, so I covered my right ear. But I could still hear it!

I froze.

Then Eileen (junior) who was sitting in front of me seem to have heard it too. She turned around and looked really scared. Then she saw me covering my ear. Then I looked at her.

"What's that?"

"I don't know."

Then Joshua Gay jumped off the stage and went to pick up his call -.- Okay, so we were over-reacting, but it was inevitable okay, after my first scary experience in the LT.

Then we helped Ning Qian to tie many many tiny braids:)
Heheh, top view of her head (effort of many!)

After that, I got bored and decided to drag some of the people who are free to do warm-ups. Coach told us to walk one round around the track and we did while doing our vocal warm-ups ("Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, Double Bubble Gum, Triple Double Bubble Gum" x 1000 times)

[SYF at ACS Barker]

Heheh, after school, we went to Changing Appetites at Marina Square to have lunch/dinner. We ate from 2.30pm to 5pm! The food there's superb, and quite cheap too. We only spent $160 for about the 10 of us because some shared their food since their servings are quite big.

Cookie Monster!

This is utterly good :) LOVED it and it's only $7.90 or so. It's one huge chunk of icecream, and I shared it with Eileen&Josephine(juniors). And while the others went to foot the bill, some of us went outside to wait for them. Miss Ek came up behind us and went "Early Celebration ah". We got a shock, but we were saved by a call from Mr Chua (Miss Ek's).

Anyway, I think our SYF went well, and we really want to thank Miss Ek, Mr Chua, Mrs Yeow, Mdm Chia for coming down to support us! :):):)

International Understanding Day 2007

It was International Understanding Day last Wednesday and while the rest of you were attending assembly (or sleeping), the sec 1s had fun! Did we have IU day when we were in Sec 1? I can't remember, but I know that this year's sec4 Interactors have been working on IU days since we were in sec 2.

Class 1C singing
The New Zealand Mascots

Germany
The winner for best mascot!
My lil' juniors.
The souvenirs (Class 1C)
1J macots.

Free Ice-Cream from Ben & Jerry's!

Dear denizens of 4B,

It's mid term now and I suppose it's a rather dreary time for all what with the exams just around the corner. Just thought I'd share this piece of information with you in hope of brightening up your week. If you have time on Tuesday, after CCA, do drop by the outlet at Vivocity and indulge yourself. It'd be a fun class outing too! :)

I have posted more information below or you can check out the website at www.benjerry.com.sg

Cheers,
The English Teacher.

Free Cone Day is coming!!

Thanks to you, it's on us!

Mark it in your diaries - Tuesday, 17th April is Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day!

Loyal fans, in appreciation of your support, we are giving out ice cream from
12noon to 7pm at 8 participating Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops:

Downtown East, #01-08A
Great World City, #02-40A
Suntec City Mall, #01-152
Raffles City, #B1-80
The Cathay, #02-12
United Square, #02-40A
VivoCity, #02-135
White Sands, #01-36

One cone per person, while stocks last!


Free Cone Day was first celebrated back in 1979 in the first Ben & Jerry's scoop shop - a dilapidated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, USA. Ben and Jerry had been scooping ice cream for a year and decided to reward staff and customers in the best way they knew how - by serving up a tasty tub of thanks free to everyone. An instant success, Free Cone Day has now been scooping up free cones for over twenty-five years and has raised tub loads of money for charity too.