Some reflections on the 'Allah' incident is Malaysia

I am not sure what to post but to start it off, I will post this.

Perhaps I feel that the Malays had some right that the term 'Allah' was a sacred god in their heart and was not to be used to replace the word 'god'. It was wrong of the high-court judge to suddenly take away the Malay's holy book suddenly. To prevent what had happened in Malaysia, I will not use force, such as the police to stop the Malays from burning down churches. I will return the Holy books to them and maybe not put a ban, but ask the newspaper publishers to try to refrain from using the word. Not only will the Malays feels more respected for their culture, but also assure the other side to use the word for their own, maybe as their god.

True, that Malays are slightly sensitive, but we have to understand that it is not their fault and to promote racial harmony, we have to respect them and maybe learn their ways. It may be right that 'Allah' is just an Arabic word that refers to god, but in their heart, it is their one and holy, almighty god.

For example, I am a Christian. If someone would to speak bad about Jesus, I would not start fighting against him but tell him nicely to stop it, if not I will seek my parents for advice.

Posting my readers a question, what would YOU do if someone insult your culture? I would like to know.

E learning lesson 6 question 2

I support the idea on building a casino. These casinos are to attract tourists to come to Singapore and also to create more jobs. My father said,"the casinos are to earn the tourist dollar". which means to earn money from tourists that come to Singapore to gamble.

I know that this may cause some Singapore citizens to gamble ad therefore lose alot of money. Gambling is bad and most of us know it. Even so, we cannot let these group of gamblers stop us from providing more other people. We have to look at the big picture here. Ther reason of attracting tourists and creating jobs is superior to other reasons.

E learning lesson 2

The poet I chose was Shel Silverstein, full name is Sheldon Silverstein. Silverstein's verse and illustrations in his books for children are celebrated for their whimsical sense of humor, satire, and absurdity, a literary critic from Critic Megan Rosenfeld.

Some background knowledge of Shel Silverstein. Shel was born in Chicago, Illinois. He started drawing and writing and drawing when he was very young. Late, he beacame a cartoonist, playwright, poet, performer, recording artist, and Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated songwriter. Usually to start a poet off, they would look through other poets work and develop on it, but never studied the poetry of others, developed his own style: laid-back and conversational, occasionally employing profanity and slang. Another fun fact to know about Shel was that in the beginning, he did not write children’s poems. His editor was the one who encouraged him to write children’s poem. After he wrote his first children’s book, he loved his work and decided to continue.

I like his wroks as it is hilarious and entertaining, especially Cloony The Clown, Messy Room and Bear In There. His poems are targeted at children, thus he poems tend to rhyme and be repetitive. When we read his poems, we feel sort of childish again. His imagination is very wide as in Messy Room, he imagined what a messy room looks like. To make it hilarious, he imagined things in a weird places like the workbook is wedged in the window. It would set us thinking how on earth did the book get from the rightful place, the table, to the window and a lizard named Ed is sleeping on the bed.

The parts which I like about his poems. Shel’s poems are also in short and concise sentences and when reading it feels easy and fun, just what must be included in a children’s poems. When I read it, I felt a hopping sensation as the poems have some kind of tune. The poems he wrote are more on what children like for example Cloony The Clown. Children like clowns and funny things. Shel also related his poems to events in our everyday life. For example, in our life, we have messy rooms and hence, he wrote a poem on a messy room.

Why I chose this poet instead of other poets. Other poems written by other poets sometimes tend to be very philosophical. Like about the balance of the world and love itself. Shel’s poems have been simple to understand and fun to read. For children like us, we do not understand about the ‘world’ or maybe just a little.

In conclusion, I highly recommend to you the books he wrote and of course, his poems as well. Maybe his success came from the editor?

IT Home Learning Lesson 1: Figurative Language

Messy Room by Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

1) How is figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is, and why the poet chose to use this figurative language.

Ans: I feel that this poem used hyperbole as the poem said that the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp. The author wanted us to feel that the chair is dirty and disgusting and further exagerating the fact that the room was very messy. This poem as a whole maybe could be exageration as it said that a lizard named Ed is sleeping in his bed. Even an animal was sleeping on his bed!

2) Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

Ans: I like this poem as the author's imagination on a messy room was interesting. I like how he described where the items were all over the place and imaged it to be a place where it normally should not be in. But the best part was at the end, he gave it a slight twist and told us that it was his own room. At the beginning, I thought that it was a room of his friends but little did I know.

One year later in Thul

For Mr Lundburg:

Hari had used all his money to set up a watch mending shop and soon after, the factories were built and their father had a job there. He was in charge of opperating the machines and make sure everything runs smoothly. Many of the workers wore watches which usually spoil due to the watch hitting againts the machines. This totally boosted Hari's business at his watch mending shop, "The watch doctor".

Lila and her mother both helped mantain the house and sometimes donate money to the villagers who were worst off than them. They had to cook all the meals and clean the hut every now and then.

During the time when the shop had no customers, Hari would stroll along the sandy beach of Thul, gazing at the endless ocean, thinking of the past. Just then, he saw Biju pushing his knew boat which was made os steel. Biju had sold all the boats he owned to buy this boat. Biju saw Hari and waved. He and the other village's fishermen created a small fishing business.

Soon, before Hari knew it, it was nearing dinner time. He packed his things, attended to the last customer, counted his profits and closed the shop. In his mind, he knew that his family would all be waiting for him at home. The thought of that gave Hari a warm feeling in his heart. He went home and saw what he expected.

Hwa Chong open house experience

For Mr Lundburg:

During the Hwa Chong open house, I was supposed to tend the weiqi booth. There, some played weiqi, some were playing the Rubik's cube and others played PSP.

It was boring there as not many peoplecame and visit the club. The secondary four and three students even resulted to playing games on the computer to spend their time. I fell that the bandwas 'stealing our business' as they playing just outside our room and attracted many people to it. It was so loud that we could hear it very clear in an enclosed, air-conditioned room.

When almost all hope was lost, few of my primary six weiqi friends came to visit and we had a awesome time chatting about our experiences and had a splendid game of weiqi. At that moment, Shawn Ang dropped in and said,"Hi!"

When it was nearing lunch time, my friends started to leave and the only thing we were waiting for was our food waiting for us in the canteen and that is about it.

I feel that open house was boring for us there as there was nothing to do. I strongly advise that when there is an option to be a tour guide instead of mending a boot, choose the tour guide. You can meet new people and have at least something to do.

Interview on my parents about the book which had the greatest impact on them

For Mr Lunburg

The book which left the gretest impact on my parents is "To kill a mocking bird" by Harper Lee.

The book has thought them that they should not be racist and judge the book by its cover. We should not despise people of other races. Imagine yourself as the other race and are blamed for everything. Wouldn't you feel sad and lonely?

If we see racism taking place, we must bravely fight for their rights and not side others you know you are in the wrong. Like the lawyer in the book, he fought against all odds to protect the Boo Radley who was blamed for something he did not do. Despite knowing that it would affect his family, he continued to fight for Boo Radley. We should be like the lawyer and defend the weak.

Through this book, my parents learnt that we must stand up for what we believe in. For that, we need courage and not to confront to what others think. We have to think independently. It may sometimes be hard to do the right thing but the right thing we must do. Racism should not happen in us and should not occur in Singapore or any other place.