Mrs Gayle Ng HOD English Rivervale Primary School
ou have started your first year at NIE. Some of you have done relief-teaching, some have done contract teaching and others have been tutoring. You will now spend the next two to four years at NIE, constantly grilled by your lecturers and tutors on the pedagogy of teaching. But, what and how does this compare to real life teaching? Voices goes down to the heartland and speaks to teachers whom we should all salute for all
their sweat and hard work in educating the children of Singapore. In return, they share their lives as teachers and dispense tips for overcoming the S-word Stress.

By Noorhafidah, TTC

Mrs Joyce Cheong (Mdm Too Siew Han Joyce) HOD Pastoral Care/Discipline/I&E Rivervale Primary School
How do you cope with the occasional stress? It is to take on a positive outlook to address the issue and learn to overcome it. Things may not get better all the time. It is the process of learning to face the challenge and overcome the situation that is more important. Do not allow anything to rob you of your first love for teaching. Accept every mistake or challenge as a learning experience and move on. Learn to let go and say Lets go! What is your advice to student teachers? Welcome to the family! You are in a very strategic position to touch lives and mould the future generation. Be exemplary in what we do. Always take on the position of a learner because when it comes to learning, theres no end to it. Though every child may be different, every child deserves an equal opportunity to learn. Take time to reflect and question to ascertain your conviction and commitment as an educator. While in campus, make friends and network among the teachers. Participate in the campus activities and look beyond the textbooks for every learning opportunity.
Mrs Gayle Ng and her family
How long have you been in service? Ive been in service since June 1996. That would make it about 9 years. How difficult is the adjustment between NIE and real life teaching and why? It was rather stressful for the first three years, well, some people take a longer time, I guess! Besides, Im quite a perfectionist; I tend to do everything to perfection. However, I feel that what I went through in the first three years of teaching has given me invaluable experiences, skills and knowledge to be where I am now. Moreover, mistakes are meant to make you and not to break you. What is your main job scope? What are some of the things that you do? What projects do you undertake? My main role is to lead my department members towards achieving the departments goals. I also plan, monitor and 2
How long have you been in service? Ive been in service since year 2000 This is my sixth year of service. What did you expect when you first came into teaching? And what were some of the things you had not expected? I looked forward to the role I would be playing and the many challenging and enriching interactions I will have with the pupils. I was pleasantly surprised by how much progress schools have made today compared to my time as a primary school pupil. So much effort, resources and creativity have been put into school programmes and activities to make learning more engaging and fun! Pupils learning space has certainly gone beyond books and four walls.

collect forms and such. I also have to interact with the parents of my pupils. How do you handle the workload? I have 3 young children; my eldest is in Primary 4 and my youngest is 3 years old. The key words are time management. I contribute 110% to work and I have to remain focussed (with the help of Post-its). Have a system or a motto such as Only do the things you can do today. Do not procrastinate. To manage stress, give time to yourself. Dont feel guilty if you want to take breaks. Plan your free periods wisely. For example, setting of past year questions can be done in December. For me, the passion is still burning. What is your advice to student teachers at NIE? Get involved in campus activities,
so you will better know how to manage your time and have the opportunity to widen your social circle. Get the experiences and you will be able to juggle roles better, and be a mentor to other teachers. Have a balance in life Work and Play hard.
Miss Ratna; Recipient of the Most Caring Teacher Award in 2004 English and Geography write minutes. So that experience Kranji Secondary School
How long have you been in service? I started in May 2001, so roughly about 3 1/2 years. How is teaching different from your life in NIE? In NIE, youre playing the role of a student. In teaching, youre the teacher! How did you cope with teaching? I coped well after the first year. You have to be passionate in this career. Having good colleagues and mentors is a plus. During my Poly days, I was the Business Administrative Honorary Secretary. I learned how to organise administrative work and
has helped me in my career right now. My students are always my first priority.
How did you handle all those extra workload? When it comes, I deal with it. Laughing out loud is a good stress reliever as well. What is your advice to NIE trainees? When we first come to teaching, its normal to have the mindset of an idealist and to try to change the world. But in reality, it is not so. However, you can always try. Make time for your students. Focus on the intangible benefits. More importantly, learn how to multi-task.

to the occasion and were able to capture the essence of the moment by carrying out the lesson confidently and succinctly. Feedback from the students showed that they enjoyed the lesson tremendously and they preferred such methods of teaching as opposed to their normal classroom lessons. I daresay it was truly a proud moment for all of us when we were able to see the fruits of our labour ripen with such success. Learning was also very much on the agenda of our YEP and it was not only confined to what we learnt from the Thai teachers. Through the many changes in agenda, accommodation and timing of events, we have learnt to take things in our stride, and pick ourselves up each time we fall. We have learnt to lean on each other when we needed support, and to offer support to our fellow members when it was needed. We have learnt how powerful a single gesture of concern can be to someone who is feeling down, and how a thoughtless word can generate misunderstandings between members. We devised ways to roster seventeen people between two toilets, live with a very limited supply of water and cope with the malfunctioning parts of a house. We solved each situation we faced with creativity and was determined not to let little problems keep us from our goals. There were deadlines to meet, stressful workloads and unforeseen circumstances. We were tested beyond our limits but we remained resolute by holding on together. We had a great leader, a wonderful facilitator and most importantly, a synergy of capable and efficient members each talented in their own ways, binding and working in unity. Learning also took place within our surroundings. The Thai people never fail to make us see what we urban-dwellers are missing out in the suburban areas.
Roosters crowing early in the morning, cows mooing as they are led out of their stables, a chicken perched on an electric wire. These are just some of the sights and sounds of the slow-paced daily life in Chumphon. There were no hustling and bustling of traffic, no whizzing of motorcars or motorcycles racing at 100km/h down the roads. Being closer to nature may be the reason why Thais live a simple, humble and peace-loving life. They do not look out for the next mobile phone or video game. Calvin Klein and Zara make no sense to them for they are contented as long as they have clothes to wear. Extend a helping hand whenever you can is what one of the Thai teachers truly believe in, for she very kindly provided us with free lodging when arrangements for our
Hospitable villagers residing in a quiet house by the sea
accommodations fell through. A villager providing free coconuts to quench our thirst and not wanting anything back in return further exemplifies the hospitability and wholesomeness of the culture. Life in its simplicity was elegant and splendid, expounding on the beauty of the Thai people. Seventeen days flew past and it was time to bid adieu to the Thai teachers and our fellow members. After spending more than two weeks living under the same roof and working with each other under different situations, we cannot help but feel a tinge of sadness when it was time to depart a place we have grown to like so much. Now what is left will be the plethora of photographs taken and newly-forged friendships to carry the cherished memories of Project Nature Venture 2005. 5

T-TEAM Project to Welligama, Sri Lanka
netball tournament. The T-team worked hard under the hot and glaring sun to clear the grass off the field and to level the land. We even picked up basic and essential gardening skills from the school boys who generously lent us their helping hands. The perimeter was then outlined using compacted fine gravel. Netball court markings were made using cement. All would not have been complete if not for the essentials when playing netball: primarily the netball posts and netballs. The T-Team bought four netball posts and ten netballs for the school. We also bought ten soccer balls, ten volleyballs, fifteen cones, three ball bags and three air pumps. Upon the completion of the court, a two-day Netball Workshop was also conducted to familiarise the students on the conduct of netball. The sweat and sunburnt skin was all worth the trouble when we saw the smiles, the laughter and especially the enthusiasm shown by the students, girls and boys, engaging in the true spirit of the netball activities organised by us. Prior to our trip, the T-team went to 12 schools all over Singapore to engage teachers and pupils in painting positive messages on pieces of plywood for the The students of Polwatta engaging in Netball people of Sri Lanka. It was so well received that we such as hammers and nails. raised a total of $ 6,400 worth of The Principal and teachers funds. We transported all the of Polwatta School have ambitions plywood pieces that had been to develop a niche in netball. painted, lacquered, and varnished T-team provided a proposal to in Singapore to Polwatta School. help Polwatta School organise an Within two days, T-team was able intra-school netball tournament, to transform a barren school wall in its infancy stage towards in Polwatta into a kaleidoscope achieving the long term plan. of colours. Polwatta School would also be Dr Vilma DRozario and Ms adopting a house system to Sim Hwee Hwang, 2 NIE conduct a proper intra-school
A/P Vilma DRozario and Ms Sim conducting the educational workshop
both sites in southern Sri Lanka. Our primary objectives at Polwatta School were to set up a netball court and supply netball soft skills to the children; mount creative plywood pieces from the children of Singapore onto the otherwise barren walls of the school; and provide educational soft skills learning to both the teachers and pupils. Polwatta School is one of the many schools that were indirectly affected by the Tsunami that struck many countries last December. The school was used as a shelter for the victims of the tsunami for many months and as a result, much of its facilities and equipment was destroyed. Over at the IDP campsite at Kathaluwe, we aimed to build 24 beds and shelves with the The netball court cleared of grass and ready to be used help of basic tools n 1st June 2005, T-team embarked on a two weeks journey to Welligama, Sri Lanka. It was only for a mere 14 days, shorter than previous YEP trips, but it was the one that tugs at our hearts the most. T-Team, made up of 14 participants, was led by Siva Gopal Thaiyalan, Chairman of SLC and Lau Ban Hwee. We worked with the teachers and children of Polwatta School and at an IDP (Internally Displaced People) campsite at Kathaluwe, 6

lecturers, conducted a two-day workshop for the teachers of Polwatta School on collaborative learning and counselling. Not letting the language barriers get in the way of great educational sharing and with the kind help of the Principal as the translator, they exchanged the latest teaching tools and ideas to benefit teaching staff of Polwatta School. During one of the days in which the collaborative learning workshop was conducted, the Art Workshop was also conducted simultaneously for the students of Polwatta School. Students were introduced to poster paints and designs. The students were given many ideas to paint murals and were encouraged to be as creative as they could. With the help of funds collected from generous Singapore teachers, students and parents, we managed to refurbish classrooms of Polwatta School with 100 new sets of chairs and tables, replacing the old and Mission accomplished! Over at the IDP campsite, SIF volunteer engineer, Eng Wan, demonstrated to us how to build beds and shelves. We quickly absorbed the skills and started hammering away. We made friends with the locals and were impressed that they too were willing to sacrifice their afternoons to help us accomplish our mission. Some even climbed up coconut trees to provide us with cool and refreshing coconut juice to quench our thirst. On the day we were supposed to depart for Colombo, many of us harboured tears of
The completed mural walls in Polwatta School
dilapidated ones that were damaged by the Tsunami disaster. We were also able to provide every student with a T-shirt, sport bermudas and canvas shoes. During one of the nights, the T-Team organised the screening of Finding Nemo to promote community and social bonding. Teachers, students and parents
were invited for the screening. Refreshments in the form of light snacks and titbits were provided. The language barrier was not an issue when it came to watching movies and the crowd was certainly wowed by the animation. What touched our hearts the most was the heartwarming welcome we received by the
One of the many letters that we received
Maslina and her little darlings during the Art Workshop
The movie screening of Finding Nemo
Distributing the mattresses, pillows and blankets at the IDP campsite
principal, teachers and parents of the students of Polwatta School. Without fail, every afternoon, they would painstakingly prepare sweet tea and snacks for us. We received many letters of thanks from the students and even the construction workers who were working on a new building for Polwatta School. To show our gratitude, the ladies of T-Team took up the challenge to cook up a Singaporean feast which included some of Singapores delicacies such as pineapple rice and chicken cooked in red sauce.

sadness. The warm welcome and smiles of the Welligama locals and children had certainly touched our hearts to the core. We learned to appreciate that in the midst of simplicity, there is great happiness and a sense of fulfilment. We left Sri Lanka on 15th June 2005 but the journey certainly has not ended. We hope to continue our journey beyond our borders to Sri Lanka in the months to come as we share our learning experiences with the NIE family and the various schools that we have worked with prior to this project without whom, our project would not have been successful.
NIE FIRST DINNER AND DANCE BASH N
IEs first Dinner and Dance bash was organized especially for the NIE graduates of 2005. It was held at the grand Inter-Continental Hotel. The D&D team, led by Woody Woo (President of Trainee Teachers Club), promised the graduates a spectacular night to remember and they kept their promise. We were introduced to our emcee for the night, Sam, an NIE graduate who is currently teaching at Jurong Primary School. Naturally being a music teacher that he is, he wooed us with his voice by singing an opening song. He even picked out a lecturer who gamely danced and swayed with him. The audience was in awe.
Director Professor Leo Tan delivering his inspiring speech for the night
NIEs Hunk, Mr James Chan and Babe Miss Sharon Eng
Professor Leo Tan, Director of NIE, was then invited to give his speech. Professor Tan was proud and congratulated the trainees on their recent graduation. It was indeed a heartwarming speech which touched the hearts of many graduates. After Professor Leo Tans inspiring speech, the graduates and lecturers were treated to an 8-course dinner which consisted of braised mushroom with spinach, steamed sea bass and spicy sauted big prawns with broccoli. The satisfied faces of the NIE graduates, they were indeed delighted with spread offered. Sensing that the graduates needed a little warming up, the emcee called a few graduates on stage to play a simple game of musical chairs with rules that the graduates were not
familiar with. Three men and women were called up on stage. The male graduates were allowed to sit on the chairs. However, the female graduates were to go round the chairs and sit on their partners lap when the music stopped. Failing to do so would result in the male partner taking off a piece of article on his body. It got the crowd cracking up. Sadly however, the emcee stopped the game before it turned R(A). Sam then invited a teacher-parent to the stage to sing a duet with him. Joanna Goh, head of publicity for TTC, with good grace, offered her melodious voice. They sang the famous Teresa Tengs The Moonlight Song and certainly melted our hearts. Next up, Sam, cheekily invited two male and female teacher-graduates to the stage. The audience was curious as to what he had in store for them. We soon found out that the male teachers had to masquerade as females with the help of the female teachers. It was indeed side-splitting as we witnessed the male graduates struggled with female accessories while desperately racing against clock. At the end of it, the graduates were given a small token each for their spontaneity. Finally, what the graduates had been waiting for since the start of the D&D the NIE Hunk and Babe Contest. As if knowing what was at stake, the nominees wasted no time to strut their assets on stage, much to the emcees and audiences delight. When it comes to voting for the winner, Sam cleverly asked the audience to queue up behind their

TTC graduates

NIEs own Teresa Teng
chosen NIE Hunk or Babe. The female and male contestant who had the most number of people behind them would take away the award. It became clear that James Chan and Sharon Eng, both of whom had served in the TTC and done great service for NIE, had won the contest hands down. They were crowned NIE Hunk and Babe 2005. The D&D would not be complete without the official lucky draw. Most of the prizes were proudly sponsored by Nike and InterContinental Hotel, itself. The NIE Dance and Dinner Bash would not have been a great success if not for Woody Woo and his D&D committee. They had put in a great effort to ensure that our graduates would have the most glamorous night of their life. Thank you for a job well done and to all the graduates, all the best in your teaching careers.
The graduates looking very glamorous
A word or two with our NIE graduates
Mohd Razlee Diploma in Education (General)
What are your feelings since now you have successfully graduated from your course of study? I am very thrilled and excited to move on to the next stage of life which is teaching full time. I will definitely try my best, not only to teach but as well as to bring out the fullest potential of my pupils. I would also like to make my pupils learning environment more fun and enriching.
Sunita Mohandas Diploma in Education (General)
How are you feeling now that you have graduated from your course? I am actually looking forward to teaching actually. Do you have any advice for the student teachers at NIE? Just study hard and make sure to enjoy your life as well.
Noraishah Ayob Bachelor of Arts in Education
What are your feelings now that you have finally graduated from a 4 year course? This is my second time graduating. I was previously from the Diploma in Education (General) before I was given the chance to crossover. Therefore, I am relieved to successfully complete these 4 years of training and I am raring to practice what I have been taught in NIE.
Edgar Wong PGDE (Primary)
Any last words of wisdom for student teachers at campus? Be familiar with the education system. Its best to take your time at NIE seriously as you will not have the privilege of learning all the pedagogy that you been taught again. Build a strong foundation when you still can.
TAMIL LANGUAGE CLUB (TLC)

By Shankar

amil Language Club (TLC) prides itself on its closely knit bond shared amongst the Tamil Trainee Teachers, the future flag bearers of the Tamil language in Singapore. Being part of TLC might seem to be an emotional rollercoaster ride at times but the enriching amount of experience one gains is a reward not easily assessed in tangible terms. The 8th Executive committee is currently managing the club matters, ably supported by the sub-committee. Under the watchful eyes of the club advisor, Dr. Seetha Lakshmi (Assistant Professor and Coordinator, Tamil language and Culture division, ALC), TLC functions with alacrity and purpose. TLC extends its tentacles to societal levels, currently working on CDC (June 2005), a childrens drama competition, aimed at nurturing and identifying the acting potentials of school students. The Tamil Language Club

caters to other ethnic trainees as well. We have an annual farewell party for our graduating trainees. TLC also organises events like workshops and seminars, ensuring that our trainees are well equipped to meet the evolving changes and challenges posed by Tamil Language Club (TLC) in their traditional costumes teaching. educational institutions. We also work hand in hand with the Asian All in all, it is a great and rewarding Languages and Cultures Division, for another experience being part of TLC, a club steadfast cultural event, Tamil New Year Celebrations. in its objectives and goals. The cultural juices Despite its tag as a cultural club, TLC shows flowing through TLC is one you must be part its flexibility in participating at NUS Sports of to savour. It is certainly an experience one Fiesta, a sports event aimed at promoting the will cherish for the rest of his/her life. cultural relations between the various
The CLEAR (Chinese Language Education and Research) Club
he Chinese Language Education and Research Club, also known as the CLEAR Club was founded in September 2002 by our advisors Associate Professor Chan Chiu Ming and Assistant Professor Aw Guat Poh. CLEAR Club aims to provide an avenue for student teachers in the Chinese specialization to share their experiences, instructional skill and views on Chinese language teaching. It also aims to make NIE a more vibrant environment for all trainee teachers and at the same time promoting racial harmony and greater appreciation of Chinese language and its culture in NIE. The different activities that the club had organized include workshops and sharing sessions such as the Drama Workshop and Pre Practicum Sharing Session. These activities aim to give our trainee teachers more opportunity to learn about the magic in the teaching

By Samuel Huang

of Chinese Language. Nevertheless, the club did not forget about the whole NIE community. The club also organized celebration events such as the Mid Autumn Festival Celebration and the Chinese New Year Celebration where all the students and staff of NIE met together. With the coming of this new academic year, CLEAR Club hopes to reach out beyond the NIE community. This year, a National Chinese Children Literature Writing Competition will be held and a Cultural Immersion Trip to China is currently being planned and will be carried out at the end of the year. On top of that, we will be going to schools to have story telling sessions for them. It is definitely going to be an exciting and fun year for the CLEAR Club. The current committee is being headed by Samuel Huang and Soo Li Hong. More information can also be found on the club website at http://www.nieclear. cjb.net

mathematical tasks along the way. What better way to learn when you have nature and wildlife as your background? So what did I take away from the excursion? First and foremost, never did I think that I would be solving math questions at a tiger or hippopotamus enclosure. But I did! Learning in such an environment was a refreshing change; besides I think I was beginning to feel claustrophobic within the classroom. I remember when I was younger, Mathematics, as a subject, and I were constantly battling. I contemplated the existence of a thing called the math gene that I was obviously not blessed with. Being more of a linguist, I never quite saw its relevance to everyday life. It was only when I got older that I truly understood the
beauty behind the subject and soon began to enjoy it. Developments in the world are precipitating major changes in education. We need to change the way we approach Math as a subject. Gone are the days of chalk and talk (by the way, 80% of schools are now using whiteboards). These changes need to be made quickly to cope with the rapid changes our world is now undergoing. Worksheets are monotonous and to engage our students, we need to make Math fun, creative and exciting. With the advent of opportunities such as the Math Trail for our students, I encourage all teachers to seize this new initiative. Subjects should not be confined merely to the classroom. It is not even necessary to go to the Zoo or the Bird Park for the Maths Trail. Perhaps due to budget constrains and being resourceful, you can even have it within the comfort of your own school. Our students need to understand that Maths is at work almost everywhere, in places least expected, such as the Zoo, the Bird Park or even at home. Maths is definitely a fun subject; and it is the role of us teachers to inject that into our lessons!

OBS Adventure (May 2005)

had to trek in the forest!), sea expeditions and obstacle courses. Throughout the four days, we learned a lot. Adapting to tough situations, thinking on our own two feet, and making split-second decisions became second nature to us all. We also learned to be resilient, going head-on to overcome any obstacles that came our way. To be able to rise, recollect our confidence and strength, even after falling, was what we experienced during the course. And the most important thing that OBS never mentioned was, the camp was a breeding ground for wonderful friendships. In just a short time, we created bonds with each other that we know will last. In our lives as teachers, adaptability and resilience play very important roles. Teachers with good character will impart sound and useful knowledge to their students, not only academically but also through character development. The OBS course may sound tough, and it truly was demanding and challenging, but it was an excellent way to overcome our fears and weaknesses. We each came out a stronger and better person. In all, this course has achieved its objectives to make us better-rounded people, to be able to face adversity and deal with problems and obstacles that come our way. The camp was a wonderful experience and it allowed us to gain firsthand experience on nature and the environment. It will surely provide you with a secret weapon to wow your future class and win them over! This programme was generously subsidized by NIE. To find out how you can take part in a similar adventure, By Nur Jihan Kahar & Malisa Ali contact Jann Tan at 6790 3332.

Youll have to spend some time with the manual to figure out how to use them all. It also only supports USB 1.1 interface, meaning slower transfer speeds.
VOICES Verdict for Flash-based players
Apples iPod Shuffle is our choice for a flash-based player simply because it has a built-in USB connector. You would not want to be lugging around an extra piece of cable just to connect to the USB slots in the computers in NIE. A disaster scenario would be one where you forgot to bring the USB cable on the day of a presentation. Thus, the Apple iPod Shuffle proves to be the best flash-based player suited to the campus environment despite its own shortfalls 14
Micro-drive based players

iRiver H10

Price: $418 for 5GB The iRiver H10 is one of the newer microdriver players around in the market. It has FM radio and voice/line-in recordings capabilities. The highlight of the H10 is an attractive 1.5-inch colour display that makes the player a joy to use. The H10 also seems to sync without issues with Windows Media Player 10. A key attribute of H10 is its capability to play JPEG, and TXT files and compatibility with Windows Media Player 10.0. iRiver claims 12 hours of life from its battery and transfer times over USB 2.0 average 1.52MB per second.
To fully use all the features of the H10, you have to spend extra money on accessories like the cradle for line-in recording to access them.

Creative Zen Micro

Price: $299 for 4GB; $399 for 5GB; $429 for 6GB The Creative Zen Micro features a built-in FM tuner/recorder that supports 32 presets. Zen Micro also has a built-in microphone for capturing up to 10 hours of voice recordings in WAV format. Another mark of the Micro is its ability to store personal data. Using the included Zen Explorer software, users can sync with Outlook and have access to contacts, to-do lists, and a calendar while on the road. The Micro delivers excellent sound quality with a signal-to-noise ratio of 98dB.
The Micro yields an average transfer time of 2.3MB per second over USB 2.0. The lithium-ion battery lasts 12 hours and can be charged via the included AC adapter or its USB connection to a PC. With such versatility in features offered, the colorful Zen Micro should make lots of users happy.
Mobiblu DHH-100 5GB Juke Box
Price: $399 for 5GB Slightly smaller than a credit card and about three-quarters of an inch thick, it fits into the palm very snugly. The front of the player has a 6-line mono back lit LCD display, thumb-stick, microphone and speaker grill. The DHH-100 has only one control, the centrally located thumb-stick; this lets you enable the menu by pushing in, adjusting the volume with up and down, and skipping back and forth between tracks with left to right. The highlight of this player are the built-in speakers which are reasonably good. It allows sharing of tunes without needing external speakers to connect to. It also has a line-in jack to accept audio from external sources and directly encode them into MP3 format. A 3 hours charge will give the lithiumpolymer battery about 12 hours to burn. The data transfer rate is quite fast at 5 MB per second over USN 2.0.

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
Genres: Comedy Release Date: August 12th, 2005 (wide). MPAA Rating: not rated Distributor: Columbia Pictures Starring: Rob Schneider, Eddie Griffin, Edwin Alofs, Til Schweiger, Jean Reno
Deuce Bigalow is seduced back to his unlikely pleasurefor-pay profession, when his former pimp T.J. Hicks (Eddie Griffin) is implicated in the murders of Europe's greatest gigolos. Deuce must go back to work in order to clear his good friend's name. Along the way, he must compete against the powerful European Union of prosti-dudes and court another bevy of abnormal female clients including the beautiful Eva, who suffers from acute obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BOOK REVIEWS

by Mark Haddon

By Fidah

The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time
Mark Haddon takes the reader into the chaos of autism and creates a character of such empathy that many readers will begin to feel for the first time what it is like to live a life in which there are no filters to eliminate or order the information that come to us through our senses every instant of the day. For the autistic person, most stimuli register with equal impact, and life becomes a very confusing mess of constantly competing signals. Christopher, at fifteen, has been attending a special school for most of his life, living at home with his father. A savant at math, he sometimes calms himself by listing prime numbers and squaring the number two in his head, and he tells us that his "record" is 2 to the 45th power. His teacher, Siobhan, has been showing him ways to deal with his environment more effectively, and at fifteen he is on the verge of gaining some tenuous control over the mass of stimuli which often sidetrack him. Innocent and honest, he sees things logically and interprets the spoken word literally. He is unable to recognise the clues which would tell him if someone is being dishonest or devious or even facetious. He can understand similes because he can see the similarities in appearance between the literal and the material, but he cannot understand metaphors which, he feels, are not true. When Wellington, the pet poodle who lives across the street, is stabbed with a pitchfork and killed, Christopher decides to solve the mystery and write a book about it. Using his favourite novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as his model, he investigates the crime, uncovering many secrets involving his own family in the process. As he applies the lessons which Siobhan has taught him for dealing with the overwhelming outside world, he also embarks on a most unusual, if not unique, coming-of-age story, and ends the book a much more mature 15year-old than he was when he started. Haddon creates a fascinating main character and allows the reader to share in his world, experiencing his ups and downs and his trials and successes. In providing a vivid world in which the reader participates vicariously, Haddon fulfils the most important requirements of fiction, entertaining at the same time that he broadens the reader's perspective and allows him to gain knowledge. This fascinating book should prove useful for us teachers as we embark on the many journeys of individual differences.

olds have scaled it unharmed before, we continued our ascent up the wall. The sight that embraced us at the summit was worth all the trouble climbing up Gunung Panti. Spread out beneath our feet were thick tropical rainforests; serene undisturbed greenery stretching for miles; and clouds floating across the blue sky backdrop. After a short rest, we proceeded on down the mountain, this time appreciating more of the beauty that the hike could offer. Finally, after almost four hours, we returned to the starting point and were whisked away to our reward - a seafood dinner at Pasir Gudang town. While waiting for our dinner, we joked and laughed like long-time friends. I was glad the team took this trip together for we have bonded closer within these few hours. And I for sure have learnt a valuable lesson what matters most is the journey and not the destination.

By Noraishah Mhd Ayob

The lush greenery
OGA, you must have seen or heard this word many times at many places and in many magazines in Singapore. Some might be wondering, whats this yoga thing about? Why are people so hyped up about it? Well as you read further, you will understand why yoga is playing such an important role in many Singaporeans health routines. Before we move on to the reasons, lets see what does yoga actually mean. Yoga is the ancient art of healing, toning and rejuvenating the body. It is an art of living that holds the key to vitality and longevity. You might be wondering hmmm what is that all about? We all want to feel loved, open, free and peaceful and these feelings in us definitely lead us to healthy living. Through yoga you will be able to have all these wonderful feelings.
In Singapore due to everyones hectic lifestyle, I believe that most people do not have much of a peaceful mind because they are working long hours and the stress level is always there. And Im sure many would agree with me when I say that most of them do not have time to exercise and therefore they are far back in their health issues. That is where yoga is the way to relax and also to have a fit and toned body with a minimum time of at least fifteen minutes every morning or evening. It can also be done wherever and whenever u have free time because yoga can be done without any equipment, all you need is a comfortable position and your full concentration. In yoga there are lots of poses, which allow us to stretch our body and make it more flexible. Yes, poses are a part of yoga, and they do wonders for your body! Now there are many types of yoga such as hatha yoga, sahaja yoga and etc. One good website that I would recommend is www.yogajournal.com. In this website you can find important information about yoga and what type of yoga exercises you would need and whether its for both genders. Some important ones would be yoga exercises for
women suffering from PMS, yoga for reducing that ugly flab around the abdominal with the pose of chakarasana, yoga tips, yoga at workplace and FAQ on yoga and other helpful advice. Take some time to go through the site and soon you may be sitting on a mat with a yoga pose!