最后的星期六和星期天！

我不要回去新加坡！回去就有‘O’水准等着杀我！我不要回去。。。 。。。

新期六
我今天到了老舍茶馆去边喝茶边看戏。那里有变脸表演，杂技表演，相声等等。。。非常精彩，尤其是相声，害我肚子痛！接着我去逛街了。对！没错，你没看错，是逛街!哈哈！逛到口袋破个洞了，真可惜啊！

新期天
早上我依然不变，到了教堂去。接着就陪人去逛街！哈哈！这几天就是吃喝玩乐在逛街！哈哈哈！今天的晚餐有老师清客。谢谢老师！糟糕，多五天就会回新加坡了，记起来就会特别伤心。。。

三天的新年假期我到底怎么庆祝呢？

2008年12月31日，2009年12月1，2日
今天早上我很乐意上学，应为今天只是班级间的运动活动。很开心的跟大家分享一个好消息，启航班赢了！如果你们还不知道的话，就是我们！哈哈今天真开心。接着两天就是一样的事情了，就是。。。逛街在逛街！这几天内向别人发现几个很好逛的地方。那里的东西又便宜又美，连我都需要一两个小时多才能逛爽，不说女人了！哈哈！心情愉快，天气变好，2009年的第一天过得很开心！

2009 年1月4日

已经是2009年了! 新的一年，新的开始. 今年对我们来说的确是非常重要的一年. O 水准会考离我们越来越近，在01012009 的早晨，就在 0000 时分，华中的学生还对我们说：“Good luck for O-levels!” 但是他们不需要考. 时间似乎过得特别快! 还记得我们刚刚来到北京的时候，我们还在说：“我们还有30多天!” 但是现在，我们只剩下4天就要回去新加坡了! 真有点舍不得这里，好像在这里呆久一点!

昨天，我们有6个人跟着邱老师到他以前在北京留学时所住的地方. 那栋楼是一栋旧楼，最高是六层. 我们所要去的地方就在第六层. 当我们爬到第六层楼时，邱老师的前同屋便开门给我们. 屋里头和屋外是两个完全不一样的感觉和面貌. 屋子的外面给我们一种很旧的感觉，但是当我们一踏进屋内，我们感到又回到家里的感觉. 屋内的装修却是现代的. 屋子里住着三个人，一个来自新加坡，一个来自马来西亚，还有一个来自韩国. 我还真有一点意想不到，三个来自不同国家的人竟然可以同住在一个屋檐下. 也许这就是我们所谓的缘分吧. 我们在屋子里参观了他们的厨房和厕所等等，他们还让我们参观了他们的房间! 我们过了不久后便离开了.

我们在离开了之后，便步行到北京大学去. 我们到里头的一家店吃午餐. 除了我们六个人和邱老师之外，我们还和一些在北大念书的新加坡人吃饭. 在吃饭的时候，我们还有和他们说话.我们发现到他们都是拿到奖学金然后来北大读书的! 他们真的好厉害，确实值得我们学习.

吃了饭后，他们其中一位带我们到他在北大里的宿舍参观. 那栋楼其实还挺旧的. 那里的走道很暗，似乎是在哪个恐怖片里见过类似的情景. 在那里，厕所，厨房和洗衣房都是公用的. 如果嫌麻烦的话，他们可以自己买一架洗衣机或者是微波炉放在自己的房外. 有些人还甚至把一个冰箱放在房间外. 这种景象在那里是常见的. 我们也到一间房里参观. 他们大多数都是两个人一间房间. 我们也在那里看见一些在那里住宿的新加坡学生!

走出了北大后，我们便到附近的图书城. 我们总共逛了三间书店，而且三间都很大. 我们大多数人都有买到书! 不知不觉，天色都已经暗了. 我们搭巴士到五道口和其他的南华学生会和，一起到一间韩国烤肉店吃晚餐. 除了我们还有邱老师的三位朋友在那里. 谢谢邱老师请我们吃这一顿饭! 我们过后便会去宿舍了. 好晚啊! 已经是晚上9点钟了.

这一天对我们来说真是一大收获. 我们对留学生有了更深一层的了解，也知道在留学时是怎么的一回事. 有些人还因为这样而考虑到外国留学. 我个人认为这天真是不枉此行，因为我请亲看到这里留学生的生活以及住宿情况，也看到了他们在这里的生活. 以前，我一直认为出国留学对我来说是一件不可能的事. 我想象中的留学生活并没有我昨天所看到的那么精彩和充实. 现在，我亲眼看到了，我认为出国留学的确是不错的. 我们可以在那一段时期学习独立, 自己照顾自己, 不要一直依靠父母.

Immersion(part 1)

We have been here in Beijing for a few weeks now and of course we have to join their local classes. One thing i must say is that although our education system are different from theirs, the local students are not having a 'good' time either. During weekdays, they have to be in school for most of their time and they will have to return to school in the weekends. For weekends, students will stay in school from morning to the evening. Their one period is 40 mins and they have a 10 min break in between each period. I think that teachers from Singapore will find So each day they will have 7 -8 periods of lesson. If our school follows this timetable, i think that we will not be able to finish the syllabus. On Monday morning, they will sing the national anthem, hear the achievements of some students, the cleanliness result of each class and one essay.


For the rest of the weekdays, they have to run around the running track for 3 rounds in the morning. I think it can help to bond the class. While running, they will have to shout cheer, maintain the formation throughout etc. They will be assessed based on these criteria. So to get the highest marks the class will have to work together. Furthermore, they also have Pe lessons.Thus they are regularly exercising in the winter,which is very important so as to keep the body fit. For their pe lessons, they will start with another run and a mass warm-up exercise. After that, they will have their own time to play other sports. They have specific teachers to teach the students different sports. Even if the teacher is not present,they will just continue to play the sports. i went to see how they play basketball and i seriously think that they are good. i also notice some similarity among Singaporean and Chinese Students during pe lesson. They will be always students bringing in books and then will sit in one corner and start revising. In the school that i am attached to, the girls are more inclined to study during pe lesson while the boys are the opposite.

To be continued......
(Please note that this is not representative of all the schools in China)
China

多两天就是新的一年了!

今天我到了颐和园和圆明园却参观。
先说颐和园。那里的建组非常豪华又美丽，看了会不经佩服他们。。。那里非常大，我们在那里整整花了三个半小时！可是我们也没走完，你说那个地方大不大吗？哈哈！
圆明园的历史非常长久有悲惨，我为它感到伤心。虽然圆明园现在是一个毁掉的地方，不美丽或不豪华，但圆明园曾经是世界最美丽的花园。唯一知道圆明园原来的样子的办法是靠以前人所画出来的。虽然画得很真，但是我们永远不会体会到圆明园曾经的美丽而为它感到骄傲。真是可惜啊！
终结来说，颐和园比较美丽和豪华，但是我还是比较喜欢圆明园。再见了大家！很快就会见到你们了！

2008年12月26,27,28,29日

2008年12月26日
今天有时一整天的浸濡。今天有没有设么特别的事情，还是一样上课在上课又上课，非常闷。。。既然没什么事情发生，我就不写了。

2008年12月27日
今天我们到了首都博物馆和军事博物馆去参观。两个博物馆大概是展览中国怎么从一个落后的国家而站起来，成为你所看到的中国！在那里多看几个展览后，你会感到那时候中国人的痛苦而同情他们。中国能到今天的成就的确让人佩服。

2008年12月28日
今天早上我又到了教堂。然后我就到一个批发市场去购物。那里可以用三个字来形容，就是“超便宜！”便宜到没话说。今天就是这样而已，就是买了又吃又在买。心情真愉快！

2008年12月29日
时间过的真快，今天是浸濡的最后一天了。。。虽然只是三天而已，可是会感到一点难过。跟他们国的时间虽然很短，但是在他们学到了一天小知识。我相信有一天一定能用得到。哈哈！没什么精彩的事情发生了，再见大家！

在高一（9）班的体验

星期一，也就是我们要参加浸濡计划的第一天。晨跑过后，我们在体育馆外集合，等待我们被安排到的班级的班长来接我们。我被安排到了高一（9）班。起初，我们有些担心因为听说高一的学生会比较冷淡。可是，在去班上的路上，我消除了我的担忧。班长和副班长在路上一直和我们聊天，告诉我们班上的一些事情。后来，当我们一踏进高一（9）时，几乎每个人都开始鼓掌和叫喊，欢迎我们的到来。坐在前排的一位女生还大声地说:"他们终于来了!" 听到这句话，我感到很惊讶。我们自我介绍后，要上课了，便在最后一排的空位上坐了下来。

经过三天的浸濡，我发现了许多在新加坡上课和这里的不同的地方。例如：虽然这里的老师大多数都用 microsoft powerpoint 来上课，但他们不会把资料印出来给学生。学生们会主动地在课本上或笔记本上作笔记。当老师问一道问题时，会有许多人举手，想回答问题。而当一位同学答错的话，会有很多人在下面讨论。而当老师叫他们辩论时，他们会立刻自动的分成两组进行激烈的讨论。如果是在南华的话，老师问几遍都不会有人回答，更别说主动举手了。如果是辩论的话，每个人只会呆呆地看着老师。
不知是因为考试要来临的原因还是平时都这样，上课的时候，没有一个人把头放在桌子上，更别说睡觉了。说到这里，我不得不说，在南华，我班每节课，都至少有一个人在睡觉。哈哈。
真佩服这里的学生啊。。

Immersion

I find immersion lessons very interesting because we get to learn things that may not be taught in Singapore. Especially things like Marxism.
Here is what I have got from today’s history immersion lesson:

马克思主义的诞生
马克思主义的诞生
《共产党宣言》的发表
经济前提：资本主义迅速发展，基本矛盾暴露。
阶级基础：欧洲三大工人运动，表明工人阶级已觉醒。
1831、1834年法国的工人运动。
1836-1848年英国的工人运动。
1844年德意志（德国）的工人运动。
理论基础：19世纪中期前欧洲的三大理论果。
实践基础：马、恩的理论研究与实践探索。

我发现让我更有兴趣的却是上那些我们学过的历史所上的课。课上不只能让我们复习，还允许我们有不同对一件事的看法，让我们在SEQ上有更多不同的观点，让我们的SEQ写得更加标准，精彩。特别是今天教上的俄国十月大革命。

Look forward to the rest of the immersion classes. I made some new friends not only from my class, but also other classes. This is because of PE lessons when we were playing table tennis and all the tables had been used up, the only way for you to play is to ask the others and play with them. Friends come that way.

Immersion Lessons @ BSC

I finally blogged after two weeks. During these few days, we were having immersion lessons with the China Chinese students in BSC. Initially, we thought that they were unfriendly and cold just like how some teachers described them. But we were proved wrong the moment we stepped into the class. Some of them were applauding and some were smiling at us. It turned out that they were rather friendly.

So we had lessons like History, Geography, PE, Mathematics, Politics, Chinese, etc. I like Geography and PE lessons because I take E.Geog in Nan Hua and I can exercise during PE lessons. It was a nice experience learning with them and learning the same subjects we have in Singapore but using a different language that we are not used to. It was hard for me to digest what the teachers said because they were all using Mandarin to teach. Gradually, I was used to their accent and teaching style, although sometimes I still don't really know what the teachers were saying because of their accent. Nevertheless, I enjoyed attending their lessons.

On the second day of our immersion lessons, we were introduced to the class during break time. What we did was that we wrote our name on the board using chalks of different colours. We might look silly to them, but we rarely have the opportunity to actually touch the chalk and write on a blackboard, which is something that we won't be able do when we are in Singapore. They were laughing and smiling at us and they always lend us a hand when we need help.

Next monday would be the last day that we attend the immersion lesson. I hope that I can have the opportunity to come to China and learn with the students here.

-Kee An

周口店

A visit to 周口店 has not only given me a greater understanding towards archaeological studies of the Peking Man, but also has allowed me to reflect on something else. We were shown to a 8-minute movie of the evolution of man. From apes to modern man, there was a significant change to our brain size as we get more intelligent. However, something struck me as I was watching the movie. What is the meaning of life? In the past, the peking man's main aim each day was to gather food for the family, mainly by killing the slower animals(larged horned deer). As the peking man evolves and becomes the modern man, they still have a quite a common goal, to fill their stomach each day. Modern man, being ambitious, tend to neglect nature, the roots of life and destroy nature. What is the meaning of life? What are we living for? Archaelogists want to find what is life about. They want to study about the roots of their lives. They want to understand human better.

Back to the topic. Other than the museum that showcases the different archaelogy findings, we were shown to the exact place where those artefacts in the museum was found. This allowed us to actually know how archaelogists work and also how they deal with the artefacts they find. I find it to be a very interesting career indeed.

Oh ya. Mr Ang(HC Teacher) looks like 北京猿人

最近这几天的那点事儿

沙河民工子弟学校
十二月十五日下午，我们一行四十人乘车前往沙河民工子弟学校。此行的目的是教那里的学生英文，可正如洪老师所说我们可从他们那里学到更多东西。

一踏进进校门便是一个操场，附近篮球场的篮筐早已破旧不堪，可能是学校的唯一体育设施。学校只是院子里其中的一栋楼的第一层。从学前班到初三，总共十个班，我们教的班级是初一班，大约有二三十名学生。与二附中相比，二者可说是天上地下。由于他们不能在城里上学，所以学校位于北京郊区昌平区。由于他们的父母需要经常更换工作，所以他们无法像我们一样完成学业。由于地处偏远，所以他们没有很好的师资与硬件条件。但他们的学习兴趣不差，当我们开始与他们互动时，他们很积极地向我们提出题，他们对于学习的渴望给我留下了深深的印象。与他们相比，身处优越学习环境的我们又是何其的幸运，而当那朗朗的读书声从那简陋的教室里传出时，远在千里之外的我们在教室里又在做什么呢？他们的教室可能要比我们的脏乱，他们的纪律可能要比我们的松散，可我们呢？

人民抗日纪念馆
还记得，多年前参观卢沟桥时，桥还是免费开放，而宛平城也还没有被修复原貌，五环路也还没有修到这里。也正是在卢沟桥，八年抗战就此打响。

虽然小时候曾参观过人民抗日纪念馆，但印象已经十分模糊了。如今的纪念馆分为八个展区，从9.18事变打响抗日战争的第一枪到7.7事变抗日战争全面打响，从两国势不两立再到中日建交都有非常详细的展览。通过展览，我们看到了日军的野蛮残暴，看到了中国军队的英勇无畏，看到了中国人民的不屈不挠。纪念馆大厅中有一幅名为血肉长城的大型雕塑，那里刻着坚持抗日的全国各族人民，也应了中国国歌中的“用我们的血肉筑成新的长城”。日军曾有过三月亡华的狼子野心，半壁江山曾一度沦入日寇之手，清逊帝溥仪在东北当上了伪满洲国的康德皇帝，昔日曾试图暗杀袁世凯的革命志士汪精卫投靠了日本人，但中国人民并没有屈服。在百团大战，在台儿庄战役，在武汉会战，中国军队给予日军沉重打击。1945年9月9日，长城内外，大江南北一片欢腾，日军在南京投降，长达八年的艰苦抗日终于取得最后的胜利。战争虽然结束了，但仍留下了许多历史遗留问题，成为影响中日关系的关键因素。

侵略者选择了遗忘，但我们要铭记这段历史。铭记不代表揪着不放，社会总是要放下历史包袱轻装前进，但放下包袱不代表对这段历史的冷漠，我们需要这段历史时时提醒我们不要重蹈覆辙。

Being a teacher.....

The important event that happened this week was the cip that the school had embarked. it is very different from the ones that i have in Singapore. In Singapore, the events that i had done are flag days, marshals etc. This time, however, i went to a school in the less developed area of Beijing. This school, if in our education system, will be providing primary and secondary education. This school houses children of the migrants. Beijing, in recent years, have been developing rapidly. Thus it will need more manpower. As such, people from the poorer states of China will move to Beijing to find jobs. When they can't find a job, they will move to another location. As a result, their children will have disrupted education and they can't attend the normal school in Beijing. Next, the standard of the school in terms of facilities and infrastructure is not as good as the ones in Singapore. We has always been comparing our school with others. You will be shocked to find that there is not even one proper basketball court. Worse still,there is no dustbin in the classroom.All of the rubbish were thrown to the back of the door. We have 80 mins to teach them. My team and i had planned to teach a couple of topics but we only get to finish one of it. Nonetheless, i feel that we have done quite well. We taught them about occupation. The class was spontaneous when we ask them questions. However, we heard some disturbing answers like they want to be assassins, hackers etc. Of course, there were students who were not listening and these people had some weird hairstyles which will be surely not be accepted in Singapore schools. Our objective there is not to help them to master English language but to learn how to interact with the students and experience the whole process and the joy of teaching. At that place, i finally feel the difficulties of teaching. it is never easy to control a class and keeping the students interested throughout the lesson. I can also learn some lessons of life. Although they have difficulties to pronounce the words, they never give up. They will keep trying until they get it.i think that we should applied that to our studies especially since we have o-level next year. it is pivotal that we understand the necessary concepts.

---written by yangle

平安夜和圣诞节

平安夜。。。
今天有时一整天的进入。。。为什么今天有进入呢？真倒霉。。。不过今天还过得很愉快有没有让我伤心的事情所以还不错的平安夜。但是没有那个气氛。我很期待圣诞节的到来。请你快点来！


圣诞节。。。
我显著大家圣诞节快乐！希望大家天天都开心。今天之上两节课，我们才到Keppel Land参观。在那里，我学会了很多知识又发现几个工程师的技巧和方法。虽然我对这方面没有兴趣，但是多知道也无害，所以我听课。 =） 不说了，我要去过我的圣诞节了！

二附中的实地考察旅行

今天二附中中学带我们到卢沟桥，人民抗日纪念馆和周口店北京猿人遗址。卢沟桥的历史非常可笑又精彩。人民抗日纪念馆是一个非常让人流泪又感动。如果新加坡被外国侵略，我要学那些英雄好汉，为新加坡付出一切！可是我也希望这一天不会发生。战争已发生后，后果就不堪设想了。周口店北京猿人遗址让我学到了很多知识，比如，北京人的开始和原来，他们的生活习惯和习俗。今天让我感到了很多不同的感情，真没白来一趟。=）

Christmas in another country isn't much different from christmas in Singapore. Just need to have your friends with you, and spread the joy of christmas :)

Celebration with the rest of the singapore students here was alright. There were games, performances (not forgetting forfeits), and lots of songs. Most importantly, gifts exchange! It was quite funny, seeing some people getting the weirdest presents, and some people getting back their own presents. Well, I guess this is just having fun :D

Last night, close to midnight, Anglican students came to knock on our door with their christmas wishes. There were presents too. But what really mattered was that we were all enjoying ourselves. Although there were some of us who misses home, and others who misses friends in singapore, but it doesn't really matter, because we're all together.

It's christmas today! China don't have the habit of celebrating christmas, so lessons are on as usual. Teachers here don't celebrate christmas, but I guess they wouldn't mind receiving presents from singapore students :) For all that they taught us, we thank them during this christmas :D

MERRY CHRISTMAS!