3 weeks of CID 2 aha

CID 2 is different compared to CID1 as we weren't given the chance to select which CID we wanted to go for but CID 2 is actually a lot of fun as well and in the past 3 weeks, we were split into groups and there were many different group activities and that were very engaging.

I learnt a lot about people from different countries and about their culture during one of the lessons when we had a quiz and although our team did not win, I have to admit that I learnt quite abit.

Something I remembered very clearly from that lesson was that the peace sign but backwards instead actually is vulgar in England and I was actually rather shocked because that was a typical pose that people would do in Singapore.

In another lesson, we were given two pictures - one of a man begging on the streets and a woman carrying a baby. We then had to write our see, think & wonder on the white board and after wards, we had to choose between 3 options which was to just help the man, the woman and  her child or both.

I picked to help both of them as I felt both were in a pitiful state but however to our astonishment, our CID teacher later revealed that the woman with her child is actually part of a syndicate and the money she gets back will largely go to the syndicate and only a small cut will go to her.

However, the man begging on the streets lost his motivation to help himself. He was born with just one arm only and he supports himself.

This lesson was very valuable and I indeed learnt a lot especially about what people often say, "never judge a book by its cover."

I'm very excited for the upcoming CID 2 lessons and this also gives us a chance to take a break from all the tiring accademic lessons :-)

-xinxuan (14) 

Last 3 weeks in CID2

Unlike CID1, CID2 is more enjoyable as we are able to learn our lessons through games such as 'egg,chicken and hen' that make the learning process more fun. We were able to make our own decisions when looking at situations. We had to create a blog to post the homework that we have been given during CID2 lessons every week. The quality of our class' blog determines where which country we can go this June holidays as a class so I really hope that our blog will have many page views and we will be able to do well for CID2.

Recently during CID2 class, we looked into the topic of poverty. We were instructed to look at two pictures, that of a beggar who was robbed of all his belongings and a woman carrying a baby who was also begging, by using the technique of 'see, think and wonder'. We were asked if we had a dollar who would we want to help. At first, many of us choose the lady with the baby in her arms as we thought that the man was still capable of getting a job whereas the lady had to take care of her child. However, after looking at the inside story of the man and the lady, majority changed their decision. Turns out the man was physically disabled as he only has an arm, whereas the lady was part of an beggar syndicate, where people are captured to beg. Women were given babies to carry to look more pitiful and a large percentage of the money that was donated to them by kind souls were given to those in charge of the syndicate, making the beggars in the syndicate genuinely poor. As many of us did not want to encourage such an dishonest act, we decided that we wanted to help the man instead. Through this lesson, I learnt that we cannot judge a book by its cover and when we want to help others, we have to learn the right way to help them. Because we may sometimes bring more trouble then help.

-Clarissa Lee

Reflection on CID2! 😝

The past 3 weeks of CID2 are very enjoyable and unforgettable, as the lessons were meaningful and fun. We had many mini-games, group work, and class work, that made the lessons extremely fun. However, one of the lessons is deeply etched in my mind...

On that particular lesson, our teacher showed us a picture of a girl, who was dying from hunger. At the back, there was a vulture, which was waiting for the girl to die and eat her. This picture made our class went 'OMG, that's terrible!'. In fact, it was really tragic. Instead of we Singaporeans, who are so blessed to have a roof over our heads, and efficient food and water, these people are out there suffering, fighting for their lives. I have learnt, that we should not waste food or water unnecessarily, and instead, should treasure them.

After that picture was shown, the teacher than showed us another 2 pictures. The first one shows a man who was begging for money. The other, also shows a woman begging for money, however, this woman was carrying a child and going around asking for money. The man did not do so, he just sat there and waited for people to donate. So, our teacher asked us a question, 'Who would you help?' Mot of us said, the woman... Because the woman made an effort to go around while the man didn't. 

But, we didn't know the whole story. Our teacher then showed us a slide on their history and background. The man was disabled, while the woman was part of a syndicate, where they go around asking for money and only a bit of the money was given to they themselves, the rest to the syndicate. Everyone then regretted our decision. Our teacher, then told us to decide again. Immediately, everyone wanted to help the man. This is another lesson I have learnt, that we should help others who are in need. Every bit counts to them.

Overall, the lessons I have attended so far were extremely meaningful, but this was the lesson that was the most memorable.

Danson Tan (31)

The past 3 weeks' cid2 lessons :3

In the CID lessons in the past 3 weeks, I've enjoyed them alot. There were discussions and groupworks and every lesson was very engaging. 

In one of the lessons, it was about poverty. The teacher showed us 2 pictures. One of them depicts a homeless man who was seeking for help so that he could call his family as his house was broken into and all his things were stolen, and the other picture depicts a woman carrying a baby and begging a man who seemed like a tourist for money. She then let us choose who we would help if we only had a one-dollar coin.

After we had chosen who we would like to help, the teacher showed us the story of the two people. The man actually has only 1 arm and was begging for someone to help him get on his feet again after his house has been broken into, and the woman was begging under a syndicate who makes woman carry babies and go on the street to beg money for them and they would only get a little of what they've earnt.

We were then given the choice to change our answers. I thought that I should help the woman as I should donate the money to her as she will still get a little of what I've donated and she could still survive, and I thought the man could manage by himself. But, I was wrong. I did not think of the long-term consequences if I donated to the woman. The woman would suffer more if I had donated to her as her 'boss' would think that she can help them earn a lot of money as compared to the others and they would definately want her to stay and help them earn more money, instead of thinking that she was not capable of earning money for them and set her free.

In this lesson, I learnt that we should always think ahead and not only thinking about what is happening on the surface. When we are trying to help someone, we might be actually making things worse for them. Sometimes it is the best not to do anything though... 

:) -Siting(20) 

Chinese New Year 2014 + Chingay slides

colour: red

it means prosperity and is a colour you will always see during the Chinese New Year period.

symbol: $

during the Chinese New Year period, we go around our relative's houses and get red packets but ofcourse, that isn't what celebrating Chinese New Year is all about.

image: 

this image shows a few mandarin oranges and a couple or red packets. Both are what we usually link Chinese New Year to.

Chingay 2014

What is school life like in RVHS?

a) School Spirit

RVHS Anniversary Celebration- everybody singing "Happy Birthday" for RV 

b) Happiness

Happy Chinese New Year ^^

c) Fear 

Too many homework.... :(

d) Life

Morning assembly is finally over-- let's go back to class :)

Poverty in Singapore

 

In 2012, Singapore was the world's 6th most expensive city to live in. Also, in 2012, more then 100,000 Singaporeans and PRs earned less than $1000 a month, despite working full time. Still the overall price of goods and services in Singapore increased by 13.1% over the last three years. The price of a bowl of fishball noodles shot up to 20% in just one year from 2011 to 2012! As a result, Singapore is ranked as 26th out of 136 in the world for income inequality. In other words, while the island got richer, the poor got poorer.

 

The poor had no place to share the success of the country. The fact that many needy residents live in the shadows of a rich society prompted a new campaign known as Singaporeans Against Poverty, that was launched in October, about two years ago and organised by Caritas Singapore. Its aim is to raise the awareness of poverty in Singapore while sharing stories, that touches the hearts of many people, such as that of Vincent Thor, a visually handicapped man, and encouraging people to help break the poverty cycle.

 

Singapore's poor are often seen spending the night on benches near their jobs to save the transport fare home or even collecting empty soft drink cans out of trash bins. Sometimes also seen, selling packets of tissue, playing instruments such as a harmonica or a guitar in the public to earn a living. They are commonly seen around hawker centres, near MRT stations and bus interchanges. Besides them, there are also the foreign workers who live in slums, that has recently gained the attention of the government due to the riot in Little India.

 

Singapore- Foreign workers living in cesspool basement

 

Poverty in Singapore is gradually increasing and that those who are of a higher rank should help them out, such that Singapore will no longer have income inequality and everyone would be able to afford their basic necessities. Such as being able to send their children to school, being able to afford three simple meals a day, public transport, etc, If there are schemes to help them to live a better life, then the government should find ways to ensure that they are well informed too. That said, as majority of us Singaporeans are enjoying a better life, we tend to complain about trivial matters, such as "I hate school. Why must I got to school?", "It is so unfair, why can't I have an Iphone when all my friends have one?". But before complaining, we must always remember that there are those who are more needy then us and that they would gladly swap their problems with us.

My holidays

My 2013 holidays


During the holidays, me and my family visited Korea with a tour group. We went to Seoul and many other suburbs. Our tour guide was very friendly and told us a lot about the history of various landmarks we visited. I enjoyed their food a lot as it was bothdelicious but   not oily at the same time. But mostly, we stayed in the tour bus as the weather was freezing and we could not stay outside for too long without us freezing cold. I learnt how to ski there too. Despite the many failures, i managed to get the hang of it and realised that it was rather fun. However, my mother and sister did not participate in the skiing class as they gave excuses to escape from that class. We then went shopping and my mother bought a lot of clothes and did not give us any time to buy our own stuff. She only left us with some time to buy sweets like bubble gum. Our hotel had wifi and thus i was able to keep in touch and play some games with my iPad.
After that we went to Shang Hai. I got sick there with a fever but got well soon. I was not able to follow the tour group for a day and missed out a lot. On our second day, we visited a emerald production factory and learnt about the emerald. We then went for a circus performance. Our tour guide said that it was the opening for some Olympics our something. It was speculating as the performers performed different and difficult stunts.
At the end of the journey, i learnt a lot. I hope that I will be able to visit there again.

-Joshua Yeo

My 2013 End of year Holidays

My 2013 end of year holiday was quite a boring one as I did not go overseas. But, on 1 November, our class had a class outing!! It was really fun and exciting. We went to West coast park and played games prepared by our class welfare comittee. During the first game, Treasure Hunt, it was interesting. But halfway through the game, most of us went to the playground to play instead of finding the clues for it was kind of hard to find the clues. 😅😂 After the game, on my way back to the gathering place, I played with a 360 degree turning thing at the playground. As a result of my friends turning the thing too quickly while I was on it, I crashed and hit my head 😣😣😣 It was a painful but fun experience haha 😁😁 After that, we played water bomb. We went to the toilet beside the cart rental shop(?) and filled up pails with water. Some of the water was put into plastic bags for throwing at people and some (actually most of the water) was directly splashed at people XD Then, we had BBQ for dinner. 😊

After this event, I spent most of my time at home playing iPad games hehe. That was kind of the only exciting thing that happened during my holidays. :3

The playground that we played in. Lol

Class photo~~

Playing 'Truth or Dare' near the end of the Class Party ~

- Zhang SiTing (20) 2G ^_^

My 2013 End Of Year Holidays 😝

My 2013 End Of Year Holidays was an extremely fruitful one. I went to Australia, and experienced many things I thought I would not do ever.

Of course, we took an aero plane there. The flight was about 7 hours long. We reached there early in the morning, and we were on our own to look for the agent. We took our tickets from him and he directed us to our shuttlebus. The shuttlebus journey was about 20 minutes long only, and we reached the harbour to take our ferry to the Tangalooma resorts. 

Upon entering the ferry, my family and I were welcomed by the comfort of it. The seats were soft and provided us lots of warmth. Soon after, the ferry took off. Many of the people went to the outdoor part, including me and my sister. The wind was extremely strong, and it was able to slightly push me forward or behind. 

Not long later, we saw our destination which was not far from us. Many of us stared in awe, as the water was crystal clear and the sand was so golden. The small mountains were also beautiful. Here is a picture of it.

As we left the ferry, someone was awaiting us. He was a tour guide from there, and he was super friendly to us. He explained most of the parts of the Tangalooma resorts to us, and soon after, we were on our own. We checked in to our resort, and upon packing everything already, we went to explore the place again.

We went to the beach to admire the fine sand and clear waters. We also saw many seagulls in the sky and on land. They were cute! We walked by the water, and stumbled upon a starfish. My dad picked it up. All of us were excited as it was the first time in our lives to see a wild life starfish. 

Time passed quickly as we were enjoying, and it went to catch a bite. The food was delicious too. We went back to our resort to take a break. 

It was night time, and this was the time the wild dolphins came out to Tangalooma resorts. My parents paid for the dolphin feeding programme. As we waited for the dolphins, we were shivering to death. The wind was extremely strong, even the staff over there said so. 'Splash!' Suddenly, a few dolphins came up near the shore. Everyone cheered and admired them. The dolphins swam around, looking excited. After they calmed down a little bit, the staffs led those that paid for the programme to the beach. My parents, sister and I were waiting for our turns to feed the dolphin. Finally, it was our turn. Each of us took a fish and the staffs held our hands and placed it in the water. All of a sudden, the fish was gone. This was an experience I would never forget. This was roughly how it looked like.

The next day, I went to take a ride at the Quad Bike Tours with my dad. We had our safety helmets on and we headed up the mountains. Another unforgettable experience. 

Not long later after the 30 minutes Quad Bike Tours, we headed to a bus which would bring us up the hill to a sand mountain. My family and some others would be undergoing a sand boarding experience. The sand there was extremely fine and smooth, and it was not dirty at all. The strong wind blew, and the sand was blowing into our eyes. We put on our goggles and upon knowing the rules, all of us climbed up the sand mountain. It was not an easy task, as the mountain was steep and high. Moreover, there was strong wind. The staff would then apply wax to our board to make it more slippery and after that, he would push us down the hill.

It was time to leave the Tangalooma resorts. All of us could not bear to leave it, but still, we had to. We took the ferry back to the airport and waited for another bus to bring us to Gold Coast. The journey was about 2 hours. 

We signed in to our hotel upon reaching there. The hotel was extremely big and cosy. We called it a day as it was already late. We went to eat first and after that, we went to sleep.

The day was bright and clear. It was only 5 in the morning and the sun is already up. We took another bus to Sea World, a tourist attraction of Gold Coast. We watched many shows of animals performing, one of which is this.

The animals were smart, especially the dolphins. We went around the place and saw many many more other animals. We enjoyed it. Also, there were rides there which seemed fun, and so my sister and I took a ride on some of them, including this.

We watched a Spongebob Squarepants show too. 

Time ticked by, and it was time to go back to our hotel. We went and find a place to eat our dinner before heading to the hotel. And we called it a day again...

The next morning, we went to another tourist attraction of Gold Coast, the Movie World.

There were many more shows than in Sea World, after all, it was a Movie world. The most unforgettable experience about Movie World is that particular roller coaster ride I took. There were 2 to 3 360° turns. Here is a picture of that roller coaster ride.

Although it was not that long, but it was worth it queuing up for this. Definitely one of the best roller coasters I have rode... Because I have only ridden a few!

We went to watch an extract of a movie in 3D and 4D. It was fun. There were many other things we did in there, but the list would go on forever and ever. Therefore, I would stop here.

We reached our hotel again... We took a walk in the nearby shopping centre after placing our stuff in the hotel room. And yes, the shopping centre was extremely big, and they were selling many branded goods. The shopping centre was near the 'Gold Coast', which is a beach. We headed to 'Gold Coast' and admired the scenery. There were, of course, many others there. Also, there was a night market. We went to shop for some items and after that, we headed back to our hotel.

We needed to go back to Singapore the next day, and had to wake up at about 3 in the morning. So, we slept exceptionally early...

The sun was still not up, but we were already awake. We packed our things, and soon after, checked out of the hotel. There was a bus awaiting us, and it would take us back to the airport. 

After doing what was needed, we boarded the plane. The 7 hour long journey flight was like a prison, as there was nothing to do there, and the food was not good. The only things I did was to watch some videos, and I fell asleep. By the time I woke up, we have already reached Singapore! I was extremely happy as I can finally go back to the climate and habits I used to have. Over there, the weather was cold, and the wind was exceptionally strong.

A few days later, I was back to my CCA again which was held 3 to 4 times a week. My CCA is badminton and I enjoyed this sport ever since I was primary 3. 

Overall, in my opinion, this 2013 Year End Holiday was an extremely fruitful and enjoyable one. I definitely hope I can go to Tangalooma resorts again in the future.

Danson Tan (31) 2G

My 2013 Holiday. ☺

I spent most of my time during the 2013 holidays in school as my CCA, choir, had a concert to prepare for which was on the 30th of November.

We had practices nearly on every weekday until the concert day and thus, it also gave me a chance to bond with my CCA mates a lot. I grew closer with my section mates as well as level mates and also got a step closer to knowing my seniors better. 

Throughout our entire journey in preparation for concert, we all worked very hard, with our practices that were conducted from 8 in the morning to 5 or even 6 in the afternoon. We had to plan our own choreography, and also had to work on our techniques and also do many runs on the actual stage itself and also full dress rehearsals etc. 

We also performed a part of our concert during the open house and it served as a trial run before the actual concert day & well enough, the open house performance was a huge success!

Days went by quickly and when our concert day was here, I still remember everyone being a nervous wreck even though we had practiced so many times and even performed once but 30th November, the day we were working towards, finally came and I still remember the girls helping each other with our make up 

and it was truly a fun and enjoyable day and the concert went on as planned and ended off with our encore piece.

((Picture of y1 choir girls after our performance))

After the concert, I went to Taiwan for a short week holiday with my family and I really enjoyed myself and had a great time! We went to a lot of sight seeing places, tried many new food and also got a chance to experience a rather chilly weather. 

After I was back from my trip, other than being busy with holiday assignments, I also went out to catch up with my p5/p6 class and had a CLAS BBQ

and also went out several times with different friends,

iceskated to celebrate my birthday,

had a shopping spree with my best shopping buddy, 

and also went out numerous times with my best friend.

Most importantly, I went out with my best friend to celebrate her birthday and we went to soliso beach at Sentosa and had a great time.

   ((Birthday present I made her))

This holiday was definitely different from the others as I had to spend time committing to my CCA and after this performance, I've definitely feel more attached to my CCA but of course I was only able to begin on my holiday assignments in mid December as I went on a taiwan trip during the first week of December and not forgetting the many times i went out with friends.

Nevertheless, I would conclude this holidays was a rather fruitful one and definitely one that I won't forget. ☻

XinXuan (14) 2G