Month: September 2019

Defining culture

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on September 30, 2019

* This is a late post, thus there will most likely have only a few comments and images of my notes from class. Also, note that it may not be entirely detailed as this is from memory.

After looking at Context, we look at culture – which is very important in terms of shaping context as well as meaning.

There was heavy discussion regarding cultural appropriation, about the fine line between appreciation and respect to taking the cultural practice out of its original meaning. Personally, given the example of a famous chef’s take on a cultural dish or an Instagram post on a girl wearing a cheongsam, I agree with a Youtuber’s comment about how nowadays, there is a strong “victim” mentality regarding cultural appropriation to attract attention.

I felt that this type of mentality has become incredibly rooted in our society as we begin to be more sensitive and honestly, too paranoid/conscious about oneself, especially as we begin to be even more confused about our identity in this world of globalization and third culture lives. The act of this divides and categorises us instead of allowing us to assimilate.

We then also looked at other terminology related to culture.

Common Writing Task 1

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on September 30, 2019

* This is a late post, thus there will most likely have only a few comments and images of my notes from class. Also, note that it may not be entirely detailed as this is from memory.

The text that I wrote about:

The notes I took before writing about it:

Style – Video/Advert

Intended Audience – Older working-age people

Purpose – To remind people to start preparing for retirement

Context – Singapore is an ageing population, where life expectancy is getting longer. Retirement age is extended, though it is published before the official announcement of the extension.

Reception

Many netizens felt that this is an inappropriate way of representing seniors as the act of “tsk”, which is commonly used to annoy others or show disappointment is believed to be portraying the age group in a bad light.
Many also felt that there is a lack of transparency, that the government has yet to allow them to fully understand the system, thus feeling that the advertisement is inappropriate
Some also noted that the use of a young adult male was inappropriate as it is mandatory that all male Singapore Citizens have to go through National Service, it causes a representation of the SAF’s training.

The thinking part:

I chose this text to analyse because I was interested in the use of “tsk” as a representation of seniors in the advertisement. The advertisement is produced with the intent of reminding working-age people to start preparing for retirement.

The video showcased a working-aged woman on a bus together with many elderlies when a young man got on the bus speaking loudly and being completely ignorant about his surroundings as he was playing a game. Many of the seniors around the lady began to click their tongue “tsk” at the boy, with the lady smiling to herself at 0:13, possibly because she does not see herself as “old”. However, toward the end, the lady got annoyed and “tsk”-ed at the guy, in which later she frowned due to the realization that she was getting “old”. The video ends saying that Singaporean’s life expectancy is getting longer and that old age has a way of pulling up out of nowhere in order to encourage people to start planning for retirement.

Alongside many netizens, I felt that the use of “Tsk” as a representation for seniors is inaccurate. The use of tongue clicking is not only often to express disapproval or annoyance but is also considered rude as it is disrespectful. The fact that the advertisement used it as the representation degrades the image and respect of the seniors, and this is really disapproving in this society, especially since we play heavy importance on filial piety. All in all, the inappropriate way of representing seniors with the act of “tsk” portrays the age group in a bad light. Although I didn’t consider this initially, after reading comments about it, I do agree with the netizens that although the notion of video gaming is often associated with guys, however seeing that Singapore is a country that is mandatory for all male Singapore Citizens to go through National Service, it is a disrespectful representation of the SAF’s training.

Despite the poor reception, I do think that it is a rather unique and interesting way of representing the age group, especially while keeping in mind that Singapore has a diverse race and culture as well as that the Singaporean government has been against the typical image of old age like being inactive and prone to illness.

The original Document to reference from

Reflection on it:

Personally, I felt I could have expanded more on my own thinking instead as my analysis and my views may have been swayed too much by the public reception of the text.

I could have also argued about the effectiveness of the advertisement as well as look at the advertisement from another perspective, especially on the humour side of the commercial as hinted from the exaggerated facial expression at 0:21.

But overall, I think that I did good enough

What’s Context?

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on September 30, 2019

* This is a late post, thus there will most likely have only a few comments and images of my notes from class. Also, note that it may not be entirely detailed as this is from memory.

In this class (Week 3), Ms Katherine gave us some concept questions which we hopefully would be able to answer in some ways:
– How are we affected by text?
– In what ways is meaning constructed, negotiated, expressed and interpreted?

We then moved on to discussing what context is and the various types of it.

Although I tried to draw out a spider map on what factors affected how I received context, I felt like I didn’t really align with what the class (as it appears) is viewing this question. I think I may need more work on understanding and adjust to how the majority interprete the question.

Can Text represent?

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on September 30, 2019

* This is a late post, thus there will most likely have only a few comments and images of my notes from class. Also note that it may not be entirely detailed as this is from memory.

So initially, we started off English with a look at the question: Can Art imitate or represent life?

Immediately we began asking questions as we dissect it word by word. What is considered as Art? What is Representation? What is the difference between Imitation and Representation?

In my memory, I don’t think we really answered that question. In fact, I don’t think that there is an answer to it as there is already confusion/conflict on the meaning of the question. But perhaps we will look back into it again sometime in the future…

To understand the complexity of representation, we look into our first case study: the movie Crazy Rich Asian.

To give a brief description, Crazy Rich Asian is basically about how the MC struggles to fit into the high society the ML is in. If the title has not suggested yet, the setting is in Asia (in this film it’s Singapore) and the storyline is surrounded by the Elites, who are crazy rich.

So why despite the great reviews of the movie in the west, it is criticized on the east? That is due to the lack of representation of other Asian as well as the beauty standard the movie has set.

Below are some notes I took during class regarding this

Notes on one of the articles that stand for the movie

PSE: Emotional intelligent

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on September 26, 2019

This is a reflection from our first PSE unit on Emotional Intelligence, what it is and its importance.

I actually have multiple goals that I would like to set as after reflecting, I realized that I still have a lot to improve on. A lot of the goals are based on someone I admire for their high EQ, while some are from some things that I became aware of myself. I feel that the goals are all related to each other so I’ll try my best to articulate my thoughts.

So this year, I would like to learn how to let go, say “no” and stop negative self-talk. It sounds like its a lot of different things but to me, they all came from one source: guilt. During this reflection, I realized that I tend to do things out of guilt, not the guilt when someone does something wrong, but the avoidance of guilt. While the wanting of not feeling guilty becomes a motivation for me and helps initiate me to take action, however, I do not want to live a life of guilt. I don’t want to live a life with the feeling of something weighing (physically) on my chest.

I also find that I can be a little aggressive as well as demanding of others as I sometimes can’t understand or empathise their actions/abilities, like when people just want to spend time watching tv shows instead of listening in the class. Another reason is that I also tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to do well, which in turns makes me feel very guilty or useless about myself and my actions.

To tell the truth, I don’t really know how to overcomes this, but maybe a solution or a way is by perhaps telling myself that whatever I do is what I believe is the best of my abilities and is the right thing to do.

I think that if I can improve this, it will not only allow me to be more assertive but also boost up my self-esteem.

CAS profile

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on September 8, 2019

In August, we started discussing CAS and thinking about what we want to do.

Since the beginning, I had an idea of what I wanted to do as all the activities that I have been doing for the past few years can be completed as CAS. While that said, I also want to push myself out of my comfort zone as a way of cherishing my last two years in high school and making the full use of it.

Below are the screenshots of Stage 1 of CAS, where we investigate and think about what we want to do.

Creative – Memory Project

Why do I want to join:

The moment I heard about this activity in the assembly, it really touched my heart. The thought of being able to draw for a good cause really made me want to join the activity, especially since drawing is one of my hobbies. I haven’t drawn many portraits (the only one that I can think of being drawn 3 years ago when I was in Grade 8) so it will definitely be a great opportunity to brush up my skills for drawing. L01, L02, L06

Any goals:

To improve my drawing of the nose and ears

How will I achieve it:

Fully participate and make full use of the time during sessions!

Creative – Piano

Why do I want to join:

I find piano hard, even after playing piano since young. There is just always some inconsistency in my playing which changes the whole song, like a note played too harsh or an accidental clash note made. And it can really be demotivating when that happens. However, I still want to improve and learn new songs that aligns with my hobbies even after having my Grade 8 classical piano exam during November. L01, L04

Any goals:

To pass my Grade 8 practical piano exam… I tend to mess up a lot when I play in front of others.

Also, I want to clean my pedalling, it’s too murky…

How will I achieve it:

Practice every day! Even if it is just a run-through of the songs…

Service – 0WES:

Why do I want to join:

Well, I have been in the service for 2 years now, since Grade 9, and I really want to continue it. After all, it’s not really me if I don’t fully commit to something. I think that change should happen within the campus first before we can really expand out of it (like the hawker). If I can make a change by help decreasing the wastage produced during events, that will be sastifying enough. L03, L04, L05, L07

Any goals:

I’m aiming to be the chairman of the service because I want to push myself out of my comfort zone to improve my interpersonal skills. I also want to tackle something I noticed during the end of Grade 10, which is that the portfolio hasn’t really been updated and is not “professional” enough.

During my summer internship at Dentsu, I managed to read about the creative materials regarding posters, hero stories (90-sec vid with narration) and micro-stories (no narration and fast cut style). I believe that we should focus on promoting 0WES to not only those who use the crockeries but also to students to persuade them to join
- I hope that it would look professional and clear. Perhaps there could be a team on this, where every 2 sessions they could update us on the progress
- A document with notes I took about branding and some guidelines
I have also noticed that the 0WES portfolio doesn’t have a lot of reflection content and has not updated since December, thus neglecting some of 0WES biggest events like the Pasir Ris Fair and the Family Festival. What I would like to do for next year is to have discussions on we can consistently keep the portfolio updated as well as implement a dedicated team

How will I achieve it:

I would like to focus more on the image and portfolio of 0WES. So to do that, I would like to organise 3 team of students, one to create the video, one to update the portfolio consistently as well as make it user-friendly and the other to manage the crockery count after each event. (All hypothetically, if I became the chairman)

Service – Swimming with Hougang Care Center

Why do I want to join:

A couple of reasons why I decided to join this local service. First one would be that I want to push myself once again outside my comfort zone after “stabilising” myself with the activities I have been doing over the past years (badminton, piano, 0WES). The second reason is that I think that this is really a good opportunity to develop an understanding of this part of the community and once again open up my vision of the world. The third reason is that I want to expand my career options as much as possible and after a small talk with one of the service teachers (Nisha) on some universities’ requirement, I decided to take local service as some of them required them. The fourth is that I want to continue improving my teaching skills, especially since I was participating in Chinese Chat during Grade 9 and 10.

Any goals:

To be honest, I’m not much of a swimmer, and it’s kind of my first time interacting with people who have mental health issues, so my goal for this year is to be tenacious and interact positively with them.

How will I achieve it:

Remember that you are part of a movement and part of a change. Stepping out of the comfort zone is the first step to do so.

Activity – Badminton:

Why do I want to join:

They say badminton is an individual sport. In a sense, it is, however because you are on the court alone, facing all this pressure knowing that every move counts, that we need a team. You need grit to push yourself to continue to try even when you are tired and when you are behind the opponent. L01, L04, L05

Any goals:

To become the second singles of the team and have the team stay in SEASAC division 1

To improve my lobs so that I can lob from backhand to backhand.

To maintain the same culture as last year, which is a team that supports each other by cheering for each other during matches and gets along well

How will I achieve it:

To run every day if possible!

5km at speed of 10+km/hr in the gym or…
15 rounds of running at a constant pace around the pool (~6.5km)
Participate in the weekly family running activity (within my household) at Bedok Reservoir every Saturday morning (~4.3km)
After a run, at least do 3 sets of: 40 tricep weight lifting, 25 rowing, 20 sets of lifting above shoulder

I don’t really know how to maintain the culture but I will make sure to interact with each member of the team positively and cheer on every single match.

I have also created a spreadsheet to help me keep track of CAS