Wait, where are the animal pictures?

HOT date at the Night Safari's Halloween event.

Before venturing further, we fortify ourselves with Bongo Burgers -- safari themed fast food. The burgers aren't quite the size we remember, but if most people's appetites are anything like June's, perhaps its just as well. Guess who had to finish her leftovers?

The Haunted Village attraction was at the zoo. It's not visible from this pix but behind us the queue to get in here snaked a very long way away. To get to this entrance took about half-an-hour of patient stand-look around-move forward-repeat. Lots of atmospheric sound effects, spooky music and the odd costumed party-goer to keep us company in the meantime.

This bunch of fraidy-cats pushed June and me to the front as soon as we stepped through the creepy entrance. Inside, lots of spooks got their jollies popping up and scaring the bejeebers out of our makeshift party. It's good to travel with a crowd of screamers. People tend to bring their own atmosphere with them.

A close encounter with a spook. I asked for a close-crop, but this is ridiculous.

The other highlight was the spooky tram ride. It's the usual ride around the park to view the nocturnal activities of the animals, but tweaked with a soundtrack and the guide adopting a Monsterpiece Theatre presenter's voice as she nattered through her spiel on lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Could tell she was having fun 'cos this is about the only occasion that she could threaten stubborn flash photogs with a 'poke in the eye'.

Along the way, there were also frequent 'visitations' from our guide's scarier colleagues. Somehow, they know how to pick the screamers. My observation: to avoid becoming a victim of these apparitions, choose a seat directly above the tram wheels. No ghoulie would risk squished tootises for the sake of a shriek. 

Lots of other photo ops at the entrance plaza. The costumed ones are not above sudden acceleration to startle the unwary and pursue the fleeing.

If you're thinking of going too -- there's still this weekend and next -- go early, and don't waste too much time over dinner. We thought we had lots of time but after covering the Gui Mansion, the tram ride and the animal show, it was too late for us to take the walking trail where more surprises awaited us.

Wonder what the tourists thought of this very Asian-themed Halloween celebration?

Reading aloud

Consultations are coming in thick and fast. They can be a lot more draining than regular classes 'cos the kids are actively engaged and focused on asking questions that really make you think before shooting off a reply. Many of these past nights, mental fatigue sets in and I'm passed out on the floor of the study again. It's a seasonal thing.

But I've learned from last year. Around this time, I lost my voice for a week, losing valuable consult time with last year's kids. This year, Im drinking more water and, more importantly, I'm making the kids read their work aloud to me. I can thus minimize my vocal input, inturrupting where necessary and reviewing Cowell-style after.

While conserving my larynx, the kids also benefit from the reading as they can catch awkward phrasing and grammatical errors they've made. Listening is a skill we don't train much at our level, but it's too important to neglect, especially when GP is so particular about the use of language.

Also, it's good for them to read what they have written because with a 'live' and immediate audience they have to take pride in their essays and AQs. All the more so if they're reading aloud to a small group consult. Given more time and more practice, writing quality is sure to go up.

In other news, it's been HOT. It's been so hot, June and I have polished off a pint of Benjamin and Jeremiah's frozen confections a night. Soon, we're going to become what we eat: a Chunky Monkey(TM) and a Chubby Hubby(TM) respectively.

And they're off!

Like the rest of their cohort, x34 officially flies the coop today. See? Old enough to wear bow-ties, they are. Witch hats are for the crone and codger that sent them on their way.

And some of the graduating class of x33

x34 again. Long may these kids look back fondly and remember that on this date they took their first steps into a society larger than they ever imagined. Though they have an exam yet to get through first.

Putting the "me" in media

Messing around with Google's Chrome Experiments. Found The Wilderness Downtown fun in a narcissistic, nostalgic kind of way. It mainly features Arcade Fire's music video, "We Used to Wait". But thanks to Google Maps, if you input an address into the search bar, that location becomes incorporated into the video. The integration isn't smooth just yet 'cos lots of windows pop up, occasionally obscuring each other, but I can imagine what it could be like when the integration becomes more seamless.

For the most all-about-me effect, the Experiment encourages you to input the street address of the house you grew up in, though you may input any address you wish. One of the windows that pop up asks you to write a postcard to the past "you" from the perspective of the person you are now. Ok, then, a little reflective self-indulgence:

Dear young Xmac
Stop slouching! Everything that is happening to you now may look hopeless upfront, but hang tough and you will survive. You'll be ok, really. You'll see.


PS
please rescue the Matchbox cars you hid on the toilet window sill before you forget where you put them!


PPS
please stop Mom from selling off your Star Wars action figures at 5¢ apiece! They'll be worth a fortune someday, I'm sure of it!

Sigh... my two biggest childhood regrets.

Ready to fly

The soon-to-be-graduating class of mine. Sorry about the picture quality. This is a scan of a colour print on A4 paper, but it's the only shot of all of us as a group that I have. So far I've been blessed with Civics groups that have left me with good memories. x34 is no exception. Only a couple of days left before Pet (co-civics tutor) and I kick them all out of the nest. We'll miss you; and -- we mean this in the nicest possible way -- don't come back! *sniff... waves hanky

The marriage equation

Responding to NBS's post on 'Soulmates', we often have the misconception that in marriage the equation works out as 1/2 + 1/2 = 1, by which we assume that we are incomplete until another completes us. That's not going to happen. A person who only feels like 1/2 and seeks an identity in another is going to be disappointed that the perfect "1" will always seem elusive, unattainable even.

Marriage is more of a 1 + 1 = 2 situation -- a partnership of 2 complete individuals who are different from each other, but preferably in a complementary way. Because marriage comprises 2 complete individuals, staying together is a constant choice they must make with every obstacle or difficulty they encounter as a couple.

Kids add a further complication. They cannot be expected to be complete in themselves until they leave to build their own nests. So, 1 + 1 + x/2 = 2 + x/2. Chaos ensues.

Grand Theft Auto

Last Friday, Wayne's car was spotted parked in the campus porch area -- in a lot designated 'Reserved'. He'd parked it there with the intention to make a quick getaway for the weekend as soon as he was done for the day.

The next time he saw his car again, it had mysteriously moved back to its usual parking spot behind the canteen. Strange things happen if you park in unaccustomed areas, but leave your keys unattended within easy access of well-meaning individuals.

Huh? What do I know about Wayne's car? Er... it's red?

Getting Steamed

Got my hands on Civ V. It was a total pain to install because the DRM relies on the player having a Steam account beforehand. That's not the problem because lots of other games have similar requirements. Steam, however, insists on updating itself upon installation... and hangs at downloading the update patch as it can't connect to the Steam server, for some reason.

After some searching over the 'net, I finally found this solution that worked for me: click here. Thanks, daveske!

Oh, make sure you first backup the file he suggests you edit -- just in case.

As for the game itself, er... I'm still messing around with the tutorials. Civ V looks like it has a lot of depth to come to grips with. Not quite ready to start a proper game, hopefully I be will soon.

Less than average

Edit 01:
Think I've been reading the figures wrong. What Credit Suisse is referring to is not the average income per person per year. Rather it's the average value of all the stuff we own individually. But considering that at least 50% of what I own is co-owned by June, my net worth is still nowhere near that estimate. Our rich-poor gap must be huge to hike up our expectation of what 'average' means around here.
-----

Waaaait a second...! I thought I was average, but Credit Suisse has completely ended my delusion. S'pore is the second richest nation in Asia, fourth richest in the world. Average personal wealth per adult is USD255,488 (S$333,462). If this is true, I calculate that I'm just slightly above the poverty line.

Speed thrills

To the WRX Bengmobile who -- as I was filtering left from lane 1 so as to exit the CTE -- stepped on the accelerator to cut me off but ran out of space and ended up straddling lanes 2 and 3 sandwiched between me on the right and a truck on the left, thus causing a few anxious seconds before we could all get it sorted out: Ee-diot!

In case you think I didn't check my blind spot, Ah Bengmobile was actually in my rear-view mirror with space to spare between our vehicles. To close the gap that quickly shows a wilful intent on his part to pressure me to stay in my lane despite my early signal and the fact that I had already committed to the movement to change lane. Guess he was in a hurry. There was something urgent in the hand 'signal' he proffered in my direction immediately after we got clear of each other.

Small-time solutions for big-time poverty

Because we think of poverty in developing nations as a huge problem, we tend to leave the thinking of solutions up to international aid, government and non-government agencies and big business. We have this assumption that because they are much bigger, smarter, and richer than us, they have the responsibility to fix the problem. Who are we, after all, to even comprehend the scale of the problem, let alone contribute to solving the problem?

But here's a radical idea: since the people suffering in poverty are so short of many necessities, why don't we (as in 'normal' people) invent some kind of technology they can use to maximize what resources they do have, and sell it to them at a low cost? Notice I said 'sell' and not 'give', because resources can only be acquired at a cost; and if we don't recover our costs our Christmas Tree would run dry very fast.

And why should we even bother helping these poor folk whom we have almost zero contact with in our day-to-day lives? Simple: there are millions of people living under the poverty line in the world today, let's say on about US$1.25 a day. They may not have a lot of money in their pockets, but they do have SOME money they would be ready to part with IF we can sell them a product that is both good and useful to them.

If a few million people would give us a portion of their US1.25 a day, what's in it for us is a huge market with lots of further growth potential... or in other words, there's a lot of money to be made selling them a product they would be willing to buy. But we're so not selling them junk. As David Wolman says, "The poor may be poor, but they're not stupid."

So, if we're going to save people from poverty, perhaps the best ones to do it would be us, the small-time entrepreneur with an innovative idea that would benefit millions for a low, low price. Wait, why does this sound like PW all over again?

Essay skills: structure vs content

Josh and I have a difference of opinion. He thinks that when answering GP essays, content and logic are inextricably linked, whereas I would separate the two and place more weightage on logic over content. I've not been able to sway him from his position, but to be honest I haven't been able to explain my position adequately to myself either. That is, until this afternoon's consult with a student.

The essay in question was: Discrimination against women is still an epidemic in today's world. Discuss.

My standard question breakdown is as follows:
Subject: discrimination against women
Condition: in today's world
Qualifier: is still an epidemic

Despite many possible variations, a proper answer to this question (like any other question) requires a logical structure in order to be satisfying. For example:

In today's context (condition),
IF discrimination against women were still widespread around the globe (subject)
THEN we can say that it is epidemic in proportion (qualifier)
HOWEVER we observe that there has been a marked improvement in the lives of women in certain parts of the world
SINCE this improvement in women's rights is gaining ground in the world today
THEREFORE we can say the 'epidemic' has stopped spreading and -- though it may yet take some time -- the lot of women is instead getting increasingly better.

So this is the logic part -- a series of claims that deal with each aspect of the question leading to a fair and 'balanced' conclusion. Of course, these claims are unsupported at the moment so now we can start layering in the content to flesh out the argument and make it more convincing.

Yes, content is crucial to the essay, but in a secondary role. Content has to be filtered and arranged in a way that supports the answer's logic structure. Content alone is just information, but information is not what we are testing. We want to know if the student can make a decision [regardless of how nonsensical it is -- discrimination of women is like an epidemic???] and justify it through a logical thought process... with supporting evidence (content).

Conclusion: logic and structure first and always because that is what answers the question. Content is meaningless without either.

Not animal documentaries too!

This is going to feel like telling a child that Santa Claus doesn't exist. We've long held the assumption that animal documentaries are one of the very few programmes left on TV that we can trust as 'real'. Not so, says Chris Palmer, who makes a living producing them. Click.

Ok, before you get carried away and throw your Cable subscription out the window, I believe that, like any other kind of programme on TV, there is a genuine attempt to tell a true story. However, the true story cannot always be caught on camera at the time the camera is looking for a true story to capture. Very often, these stories have to be reenacted by actors, whether human or animal.

The truth in animal documentaries? Let's just call these presentations a sacrifice of low-resolution truth for the sake of high-definition video storytelling. It's better than channel surfing to Nat Geo and getting frozen on a "Service disrupted till the Truth appears" message before something interesting shows up.

Book run gone west

Funny how the library keeps sending us to Jurong on our book delivery runs. We still can't get around without the help of our trusty street directory, but this time we didn't get lost.

First recipient refused delivery but instead suspended further deliveries because she had to study for her year-end exams. She might have called the library earlier, but we suspect it was her mom who made that decision for her. Anyway, we collected the books she was returning from the previous run so it wasn't an entirely wasted trip.

June went alone to meet the second recipient. I had to stay in the car because the parking lot was full. Never did get a lot. June found me where she'd left me. No other problems.

Two drops, run done!

A cat may open a door

Achieving a new milestone for feline intelligence, Maui has learnt to open the bathroom bi-fold door from the inside! The bi-fold door is designed to be opened by human hands only. It requires fingers to grip the embedded handhold in order to pull the door open. The handhold is too high for Maui to reach and even if he could touch it, he doesn't have any fingers to grip it anyway. And pulling a door open is quite an alien concept to a cat used to applying his body weight to push doors open instead. See for yourself in the vid below:

Oh, a note about the accompanying music: YouTube makes it difficult for us to distribute material containing copyrighted music. With apologies to KMJ, I used her one of her original compositions for a Drama Night of years long past. It was the only piece of non-copyrighted music I had.

'Small is better' debunked?

As in my previous post, today we see another example of learning taking place in desperate circumstances. NYT reports that a school with a huge population and low grade scores has recently made an amazing recovery, thus proving that the 'small is better' rule is wrong.

I think it proves more the exception than the rule. No offence to Brockton High's achievement, but the headline oversimplifies matters. Brockton made circumstances work in its favour. It recognized that reading and writing, speaking and reasoning (in English, I assume) were the very basic fundamental skills forming the bedrock of any kind of higher learning. Thus, it insisted that every subject factored in some component of reading and writing regardless of how 'relevant' literacy in English was to the subject, even gym class. Any subject having problems implementing this odd new component got immediate support and assistance from the committee heading this initiative.

There were the usual teething problems but it worked, mostly because there was nothing further to lose anyway. The other thing was that everyone agreed to align themselves to prioritizing reading, writing, speaking and reasoning over their specific content subject area, and so allocated the necessary time and emphasis on the same during curriculum time. Needless to say, the kids got a lot of practice in these basic skills which went a long way to boosting their overall academic performance over time.

I can't imagine an already successful school pulling off such Instructional Programme alignment among their staff. Every successful Department will want to focus on it own syllabus, maintain its own reputation and see such cross-departmental cooperation as a waste of time and effort. Why risk sacrificing our good grades to help another department pull up their's?

Selfishness aside, class size may not matter if what is being taught is basic literacy and reasoning skills. Everybody teaches the same thing, everybody learns the same thing. It's teaching that caters to the lowest common denominator. But class size does begin to matter when we're teaching higher, more specialized skills and content -- when a small mistake can result in grave consequences to the final result, closer supervision is necessary.

Time to get personal. Consultation season is about to recommence. At this level, one-to-one and small group meetings are still the best form of teaching.

Learning from a hole in a wall

I think Sugata Mitra's TED Talk in it's entirety is worth the link. Mitra has been experimenting with kids and computers and is now proposing that even without a trained teacher, kids with a computer and broadband Internet access can organize themselves and learn what they need to learn.

Now, wait. If what he has observed is true, then S'porean kids should be freakin' geniuses! Many of them are carrying around their own personal Internet devices in their pockets. Those who don't still have lots of free (or cheap) access to the 'net almost any time they want. Plus they have the added advantage of having access to us, trained teacher professionals who are ready, willing and able to mould the future of our nation. But, sad to say, to call the majority of our kids 'geniuses' is somewhat of an exaggeration. And I'm not trying to be modest here.

Worse still, why is it that when we come across students who are struggling with one subject or another, our first line of attack is to cut him or her off from this very key learning tool in our wired age? In some countries, Internet access is a human right, so this approach could in some circles be considered an atrocity!

In our case, Internet access is a major advantage that we have yet to exploit properly. What we haven't come to realise yet is that access to fast information at our fingertips will only work to help us become smarter people if certain fundamental premises are already in motion. According to Mitra's findings, kids are self-organizing and they learn according to what they as a group are interested in learning. Also, kids learn collaboratively and cooperatively. Information is shared among kids freely, thus when one makes a discovery or arrives at an understanding of a concept or whatever, very quickly this new knowledge spreads to the rest of the group. Result: smarter, more motivated kids who understand what they are learning and can recall their learning much better than our exam-smart text-bookish S'pore students who 'slog their guts out' and have had no fun with their learning process whatsoever.

Unfortunately for us, the ones standing in the way of our kids actually learning and enjoying their learning is... us. Teachers. We don't let them self-organize. We organize EVERYTHING for them; their materials, their time, their tests, their co-curricula activities; inside school, outside school we manage them and continue treating them like unweaned breast-fed babies regardless of their physical age. I wonder if that's why we feel so sucked dry sometimes?

But the worst thing is that because of what we are doing, because of our lack of trust in our kids, we instil in them the idea that they can't trust anyone either. Not their friends, not their classmates, because everyone is competing for a limited number of university places. Competition is the biggest killer of collaborative and cooperative learning, and without this fundamental pillar of learning our job teaching individual selfish information hoarders can actually be quite a futile one, a joyless one and a thankless one.

This sort of competition-is-good (or at least inevitable) attitude goes right up to MP level, so making the necessary changes to the way we teach to maximize our latest tech assets will be 1) difficult, and 2) will have to start on a very small-scale, perhaps within one's personal sphere of influence, no more.

Who's with me?

On task

The best thing about finishing prelim exam grading a whole weekend ahead of schedule is that I now have all the time in the world... to finish grading my assignment backlog. Yay.

Values in two hours

Big industry boss wants us to teach our kids values. The plan is to allocate two curriculum hours a week in which the kids can learn the values of citizenship and about their social and moral responsibilities as human beings who can balance their reasoning abilities with their emotions.

This latest development could be a step in the right direction, seeing as how our kiddies are so drained of soul by the time they've passed junior high. This is one opportunity for us to reach them with a different perspective from the usual results-are-everything message they're so tired of listening to. That is, if they don't have a test to pass at the end of the year just to prove that this extra class justifies the taxpayers' monies funding it, in which case the whole exercise becomes self-negating. Actually, taxpayers don't have to worry since we'll be teaching it for no extra pay, but you know how accountants get about justifying every microsecond of our time -- it's their job.

I can see how such classes would be great for the kids in secondary school and below, though I believe they already have some kind of social studies and civics and moral ed classes. An extra two hours a week could help them put the theories they learn in-class into real, practical projects; or at least get them learning about their world butts-off, hands-on. These are skills we can't learn from textbooks anyway, so let's get active for a change. Let's use this opportunity to show them what goes on outside the classroom, unmediated, uncensored, and fully sensory.

I wonder if these two-hour weekly sessions are meant to continue through junior college? If we start taking in kids who have real experience working within the community since their secondary school days, I'll bet our GP classes will be so much more engaging for both us and our hypothetical future students. After all, everything Boss wants taught we already cover in GP, with the exception that we have an exam at the end the kids must take.

With the experience they bring with them coupled with their mid-teen maturity, they should be ready to discuss the basis of their beliefs, the nature of the human condition, human partnership with one another and stewardship over the rest of the world, and have a sense of fun, innovation and hope for their future.

I know I'm being idealistic. Our intentions are always good. I'm just worried about the accountant in his little back room working out how all this is going to pay off in dollars and cents, effectively placing a price tag on the priceless, thus rendering it worthless.

Amazing prescience

Tues 21 Sept 2010, 1030 hrs:
C (via email): Please report for duty tomorrow at 1415 hrs...

Wed 22 Sept 2010, 1315 hrs:
C (via voice call): Oy, where the @#$& are you? You're on duty now, y'know!

Xmac: Oh? Your email said to report at 1415?

C: Really? That was a mistake. Please report now!

Wed 22 Sept 2010, 1330 hrs:
D  (over PA system): Due to a disruption on the MRT line at AMK station, this afternoon's paper will be delayed and will commence at 1430 hrs.

C: Er, there's a delay. You want to come back at 1415 hrs?

Xmac: Sure. Whatever.