Wednesday 9 November 2011

Three learning points for Day 2

Do a write-up on your individual learning points in the comments section. There should be 3 points and each of them must be in a PEEL format (Point, evidence, elaborate, link).

21 comments:

  1. Today, I learnt the importance of working hard for my future. I realised that there are many more competitors outside of Singapore. We may be friends now, but in the future, we may be competing for jobs. I understand I need to continue to work hard and improve myself in order to be able to stay ahead of them.

    I am very amazed at the attitude of the Vietnamese. They are willing to do any job to make a living and they will never resort to begging. I think we should learn from these people. We need this attitude in order to secure good jobs and be successful in the future.

    I am also amazed at the friendliness and patience of the Vietnamese students. They were very good hosts and made me feel very welcome. Despite my many failed attempts at trying to learn Vietnamese, they were still very patient with me and all the students around me also tried to help out. I am very grateful for their friendliness towards us.

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  2. Today, I have learnt about the Vietnam developing and possibly taking over Singapore. They are hardworking and have pride, as they do not beg in the streets and would rather do a lowly paid job, and this determination even helped them to win the Vietnam war!

    I have also learned that we are very fortunate in Singapore and we should treasure it as it is a privilege. Mr Tan told us that in Hao Lu School, their physics laboratory only had power sockets, and their chemistry and biology laboratories only have water pipes. This made me understand and appreciate the privileges we have at SST.

    Lastly, I have learnt that we should not be complacent and keep working hard to stay above others, as many countries in the world are becoming more competitive like China and Vietnam. They have large population, and there would definitely be a large pool of talents there and they are hardworking, so we must keep bettering ourself to be better than them.

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  3. 1) I learnt more about the learning environment for students in Vietnam. We went to Hoa Lu Secondary School, kind of like an average school in Vietnam, and saw how the facilities looked like. There wasn't much facilities for the use of their learning, thus, I found out how it is actually like to be taught in the schools here.

    2) I also learnt some basic Vietnamese language. The students in Hoa Lu Secondary School taught me how to speak and had also written down the words. The words I learnt are to be used in basic communication in Vietnamese. For example, for hello, it is "xin chao" in Vietnamese. I also learnt othera such as how to introduce myself.

    3) I also learnt that they have a very strong pride. Mr Koh explained to us that no matter how little income it may be, they will still work, rather than doing nothing. It proves the diligence as wells as how much they take pride in what they do. Thus, I could learn to be like them and work hard.

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  4. I feel that the Vietnamese students in the school were patient and friendly, and took time to explain to us as well as helping us to pronounce several Vietnamese sentences. They never lost their temper and patience towards us and I am very thankful for that. Thus we need this kind of attitude to be successful in future.

    I have learnt to be more responsible when doing things. After the incident at the shopping mall, we have to inform our group members or our friends what we are doing, where we are going, etc. This ensures the safety of everyone and not to jeopardise it.

    We need to studying hard for the sake of our own future. It is because that decides our path that we take when we start to work, and that our country neighbours may become our job competitors one day even though we are friends at a young age. With their strong determination to win and their 'never-say-die' attitude, we ought to learn from them to take pride in our work. We should never be complacent so that we can strive for better results, accomplishments.

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  5. I learned that Vietnam has a unique kind of doing business. It has two types of commercial stores. 1) Roadside Stalls (more) 2) Modern shopping centres (less). I can see that this means that Vietnam is a mostly poverty-stricken country. Stalls near the roadside were probably family owned businesses and food stalls. We also had a good chance to compare between these two stalls. The Roadside Stalls were made for the many motorcyclists on the road, the stalls were positioned inwards so that motorcyclists could bike in, buy something, drive off. The stuff sold at these stalls were usually clothes or toys. There were some nice stuff in the supermarket. This means that the speedy system of shopping for motorcyclists is unique.



    I also learned that it is a good idea to do things early and to stay in your groups. Any lateness could result in a bad case of embarrassment and more importantly, get lost in a foreign land without any directions and no way to communicate.


    Most Importantly, I have learned that we are very privileged to be living in a country like Singapore and that we are somewhat pampered as compared to people in other countries. We have air-conditions and an equal opportunity to develop our potential. Here in Vietnam, the students must work very hard to get into a good class out of 5000 people. This shows that we should cherish what we have in Singapore and know that other people are going through hardships throughout the world.

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  6. I learnt that the Vietnamese people are extremely resilient and have a very stubborn pride. It is shown from the fact that they managed to drive US out of Vietnam. We may be secure now in Singapore, but if Singapore faces the same situation we should have the same mindset as the Vietnamese.

    They have surprised me with their hospitality and friendliness. They were really encouraging when they were teaching me Vietnamese and were extremely patient even when i made many pronunciation errors. Mr Koh told us that they might be very strong competition in the future and i agree as they have already shown their resilience to learn a foreign language such as English.

    Mr Koh also touched on the fact that the Vietnam people are willing to work in any job a their pride does not allow them to beg in the streets. I believe that is something us Singaporeans lack. Some Singaporeans just do not think twice about begging in the streets

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  7. Today i have realised how being hardworking for my future is extremely important, as I now know that there are many buisness competitors outside of Singapore, people that might seem like friends now would eventually be competing for a lot of important things, for example we might have to fight for jobs.

    I have also learned about how fortunate we are to have all the facilities provided in school as like Mr Tan told us during the debrief that in Hao Lu School they had nothing other than power sockets and water pipes in their biology and chemistry labs.

    And I really enjoyed by the time spent at Hao Lu School, as the pupils there are really friendly and patient when they were teaching me how to speak a few basic Vietnamese sentences. They made their best to make me feel comfortable and welcomed. I feel that we should learn from them as this would benefit us in both the present and the future.

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  8. 1) I learnt that Vietnamese are people with very strong will (said by Mr Koh). Vietnamese will even do the toughest jobs and they will not go out on the street and beg for food. This shows that they have pride in themselves and they are very hardworking.

    2) I found out that some of the schools are the type of average schools that we have in Singapore. For example: Hoa Lu Secondary School. Their physics laboratory only has electric sockets, and their biology and chemistry laboratory only has water pipe. (source from Mr Tan) From these, i could tell that there is not enough learning resources for learning.

    3) I have found out that learning Vietnamese is not as easy as it seem, as the pronunciation need to accurate or the word will sound weird. When i attempted to teach the Hoa Lu Secondary school student chinese, i found out that they placed in a lot of effort to make the pronunciation as accurate as possible. That is something that i can learn.

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  9. Learning more about the students in Hoa Lu allowed us to understand more about how life is in Vietnam and how the culture in Vietnam affects the students studying in Vietnam. This also allows us to compare their cultures and ours in Singapore indirectly, which also can determine the difference in our countries' educational resources.

    Also, we have learnt about the fact that Vietnam could very likely be one of Singapore's close competitors, since Vietnam has a lot of land, thus letting it have more land resources, and this would allow Vietnam to catch up with Singapore economically. This is also evident in Vietnam's population having a lot of motivation and willpower to work, and not to beg on the streets. This makes a good working force for Vietnam.

    Lastly, we have learnt that Vietnamese consumers have different needs and things that they want to buy from Singaporean consumers. This was evident when we went to Lotte Mart, which showed us the difference in pricing of the items, to suit the financial needs of the citizens in Vietnam, and also the variety of the items being sold there, which shows what the Vietnamese population needs in order to function well in the society.

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  10. 1) I have learnt to be grateful for what we have in Singapore. Mr Tan told us that other then power sockets and water pipes, their science labs were practically bare. This told me that we should appreciate all we have.

    2) I have learnt that the Vietnamese have the willpower and the hunger to overcome all odds. Mr Koh told us that were proud enough even to take low-paying jobs and during the visit, the children kept on asking me questions about Singapore.

    3) I was impressed by the warn welcome to Vietnamese gave us when we entered the school. They are very optimistic and they are very welcoming.

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  11. I learnt that Vietnam and Singapore have a much closer relation then I thought. Singapore and vietnam have both set up VSIP, a joint industrial park. But the experience today, further enforce it. Allowing a foreign school to enter it's grounds is a security issue. To allow a foreign school to enter shows the close relationship between the two country. As such, we prospere together and help each other when in need.

    I also learnt that the Vietnamese people are quite proud of their country and show full commitment to the country. The Vietnam war emphasize this as the Vietnamese were able to drive US out of Vietnam, a feat consider quite impossible for a Asian country then. To add on to that Vietnamese people will not beg even if they take a lowly job. Pride come first to them.

    I also learnt that Vietnam holds a similar future to China, as Luxury brands are coming towards Vietnam to sell their product. This shows the brands recognizing Vietnamese people rising spending power, not every Tom-and-Harry are able to afford it. Vietnam is seen as a prosperous country as it's economy is getting better and better. Companies are recognizing such country like Vietnam as a potential market.One such example is China, Luxury brands are now heading towards there to sell their products.

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  13. During this visit to the school, i find that the students were very helpful, friendly and patient as they repeated the pronunciation many times because i could not hear and understand wad they were talking about. Although i could not pronounce the words properly, they did not get frustrated and instead, continued helping me. I think most Singaporeans would need to learn this attitude as many of us get frustrated easily over small things.

    When we were at the shopping mall, I think we learnt a valuable lesson from there such as punctuality as it could lead to many problems. We should also look out for each other when we're outside.

    From what Mr Koh said, I think that we Singaporeans should be like the Vietnamese people and work hard. Thanks to their strong pride and will, they were able to win the American in the war and thus, this proves that having a strong will, will enable us to accomplish anything. We should also learn from their "never say die" attitude and continue to work hard no matter how hard life is.

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  14. !) When we went to Hoa Lu Sec School, we saw the facilities and the condition of the School, most of the facilities were not sufficient enough for them. The labs that they have compared to our labs in SST make me realize that we are much more fortunate to have properly equipped labs in Singapore.

    2.Learning Vietnamese Language, the students in the Sec School we visited introduced us to this foreign language. They warmly welcomed us to the new language and their school. And so we learned how to speak in a different language and this showed me that they were very optimistic and open people.

    3. I learned that Vietnamese people have very big pride, they won't rely on begging to earn money, they would prefer to get proper jobs with low income than to beg for money. I learned that they are very hardy people and that they are willing to work hard no matter what.

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  15. I felt amazed by the friendly and polite Vietnamese students which gave us a very warm welcome when we went to their school. They were very patient and taught me some simple Vietnamese sentences, like simple greetings and numerals from 1 to 10 in Vietnamese.

    After today’s incident, I also learnt that we must be punctual for gatherings and meetings so as to ensure the safety of everyone. We must not allow one person to endanger the entire group. We should also look out for one another and inform others in our group before we go anywhere. Thus, punctuality is actually very important and we cannot afford to be late for anything.

    During the debrief, I learnt that Vietnamese people are actually extremely hardworking people. They never begs on the streets no matter how poor they are, and work whole-heartedly no matter what jobs they do. So, we should not look down on them as their willpower is very strong. They might even be our competitors for jobs in the near future!

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  16. 9 November 2011, Wednesday

    Ryan Yeo S102 Group 1 Day 2 Reflection:

    I’ve learnt much from today’s trip, about importance of punctuality, situational awareness, and Responsibility.

    Punctuality:

    I’ve learnt that Punctuality is very important, especially today’s case where our bus could not stop at certain places, and thus if everyone was not punctual at the set time place they are supposed to meet at, it would cause everyone to wait, and waste everyones time, it could also have gotten everyone in trouble... So be punctual!

    Situational Awareness:

    I’ve also learnt that we should always be aware of our surroundings and always look out for non-verbal ques that are always shown and given. Taking into account of these, we would be able to understand and know when to do the right things and the right time. For example today, with the Hao Lu Junior High School, we always try to look for this ques to go with the flow and know when to do what we are supposed to.

    Responsibility:

    Responsibility also played an important role today, we had to be responsible for our own belongings and keep them safe, for our own sake. Instead of always relying on others to assist you in your own personal matters, for example today some of us thought we lost our belongings, only to realize that we had it with us all along. We should always keep notice of our stuff and check our items are present before moving forward.

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  17. Today, we visited Hao Lu Secondary School. There, the students put up an amazing and wonderful showcase of performances for us. It was a very enjoyable experience. From this experience, I have learnt that the Vietnamese students were very welcoming people who could be very nice and warm. The effort they put in to put up the whole showcase showed me that they really cared about us as their visitors. I find the fact that the students were really 'into' the performances was very engaging in the way that they did not seem to be reluctant or did not display emotions of reluctancy and it was comforting to know that they were interested to perform for us.

    After the performance, we had a 1-to-1 session with the students of Hao Lu Secondary School. During that 1-to-1 session, I was paired up with Vi, a student from the Grade 8A1 Class. At first it was a little difficult to communicate with her and her friends as everyone was kind of shy to speak up. After a moment of silence, Vi decided to introduce herself and I followed suit and we all started like chit-chatting. From this like experience, I sort of learnt that the students there 'like' to take the initiative to do things instead of waiting for something to happen. This is an important like trait as we cannot always be waiting for someone to start doing something before we follow. I wish to learn from my buddy and sort of take more initiative in future.

    After lunch and the school visit, we went for a retail workshop, which turned out to be a shopping trip. Although there wasn't a guide to explain to us about how the stalls worked in the shopping mall, it was still very educational in the sense that we had to go explore on our own. The first mall we visited had a special policy in the sense that we needed to keep our bags in special lockers before entering a sore. I think they have this policy to prevent shoplifters from shoplifting items from the store and hiding it into their bags or framing someone else by putting the shoplifted item into their 'victims' bags. I find this a very good policy as it keeps shoplifting to a minimal and keeps shoppers safe from being framed. Our second stop was at a much plusher and more 'modernised' mall. It was 'modernised' in the sense that the architecture was very 'unique' to a like more recent kind of design. This mall was larger as it had a basement which the other did not. The first mall was three-stories high while this second one was three-stories high as well but had three levels of basement underneath the mall and the basement was incredibly huge. From this experience, I found out that 'standard of consuming (in the aspect of what the malls had to offer to buyers)' had a very vast difference. The first shopping mall we visited was kind of like a 'Takeshimaya' mall with 'booths' all over the place selling their products. The second shopping mall we visited was more of a 'normal' shopping mall in the sense that stores have their allocated 'spaces' and a larger variety of shops as compared to the first mall we visited. I am glad that 'standard of consumer' is not so vastly differentiated in Singapore. Now I have truly understood what is meant by 'epicly' different 'living conditions' in the aspect of like 'consuming goods'.

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  19. Based on my observation about the students speaking fluently in Vietnamese,I can infer that the school uses Vietnamese as the medium of instructions and to conduct lessons so that it would be easier to for students to understand the Vietnamese culture which can be associated with history lessons.

    I learnt that it is important to establish relationship between countries like Singapore and Vietnam.Singapore would be able to help Vietnam with developments,Vietnam will feel then an obligation help Singapore when in need.

    Lastly,I learnt that there are many countries,like Vietnam,which have the potential of becoming a key competitor in the economy as Vietnam has Vast resources and lots of manpower.Hence,we should be more adaptable and efficient so that we'll be ahead of or competitors

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  20. After the activities today, I have learnt how people from different countries, culture, background and countries can communicate with each other with so much common topics, even if they do not know each other.
    I have also learnt about the importance of traveling in a group wherever we go and alerting someone when we are about to break apart from the group to go to somewhere else, such as the toilet.
    In addition, I also learnt about the importance of keeping track of the time. It is very important as we have a schedule to follow. If we do not keep track of the time, we would not be able to follow the schedule. It would also cause inconvenience to others.
    Lastly, I impressed with the attitude of the vietnamese. They are united as one country, have pride in themselves and are diligent. Even if the Vietnamese do not have suitable jobs, they would rather take a job with low pay than beg on the streets. These qualities even helped them to win the Vietnam/American war. We should really treat the vietnamese as role models and learn from them.

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  21. After the various activities that we have experienced today, I have learnt about many things that I have never heard of.

    1)I have learnt that the friends in the present can turn out as competitors and enemies in the future. Mr Koh told us that the Vietnamese are hardworking, even with their relaxed and friendly exterior, and that Vietnam would be a major country in the future, and also that we would have competitors fron Vietnam.

    2)I also have learnt that the Vietnamese have an applaudable sense of pride. Mr Koh told us that the Vietnamese would work, even for a low paying job, rather than to sit on the street to beg. This shows me that the Vietnamese really value honor very much.

    3) I have also learnt how to be punctual and responsible for my time. When we set a certain time to assemble, we shall assemble at that time.

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