OELP reflections -- Jing Xue

So, 

No doubt we had a whale of our time in Taiwan. We see souvenirs we bought from Taiwan from our wardrobe, but the most important souvenirs are obviously the lessons learnt.

So,

We went to various places that we never went before ( I think ). Where we shop around in Night Markets, visit the grand memorials and had an exchange programme with JianGuo High School,

We brought back lots of memories and lessons learnt. Well, that's why I'm here to share there memories and lessons to all of you!

1. Visits to memorial halls and museums:

    Visiting such places is a chance for us to explore the history of Taiwan. Well, what's the use of knowing THEIR history? Instead of just limiting your knowledge of Singapore's or China's history, why not learn another country's history to expand our tiny minds? Besides, learning other countries' history helps us to analysise the historical causes as we know what, back in the past, caused the present outcome of today. We can compare Taiwan' history with Singapore's and we will eventually know why individual countries have its own unique culture. E.g. Singapore is a multi racial society. Why? Because in the past, there were a few riots in Singapore between races. Singapore was also an international trade port. Hence, there is a need for a multiracial society and peace between races to prevent such riots to happen again in the future. As we know, Singlish is our common language, and part of our culture. If we happen to travel to another country and it happened that the person you're talking with in the foreign country speaks Singlish, you immediately know he's Singaporean. Singapore's history has an effect to today's Singlish. In a multiracial society, Singlish ( = English with a mix of other languages ) has naturally developed to ensure that we can communicate better with other races.

See? We can now see how history affects the future. If Chang Kai Shek hadn't escaped to Taiwan with his precious Jadeite Cabbage, the museum wouldn't have been that famous. 

2. Taipei 101

     Look at Taipei 101. Look at how tall it stands. Look at how it withstands such weather patterns in Taiwan. It may seem impossible to build such a tall building. But in fact, nothing is impossible.

Taipei 101 was the world's tallest building. It has a damoer to prevent it from swaying when there is an earthquake or strong winds.

Actually, the key that unlocks what seems impossible is thinking. You don't know the solution to it until you think. Take taipei 101 as an example. The architectures may not have thought of this idea or having the damper until they actually worked hard and think.

Taipei 101 actually inspired many other tall infrastructures like the one in Dubai. 

Hence from this, we can learn that nothing is impossible. Just put on your thinking cap and think. Eventually, a solution will magically appear, and you will enjoy what you reap.

3. JianGuo High School

     What does schooling means to you? Is studying the only thing we do in school? Feeling so stressed  out in schools of Singapore? Well, schools in Taiwan totally differ from Taiwan. I expected to see hardworking and hardcore students in JianGuo High School, one of the top school in Taiwan. However, I was totally shocked to see students sleeping and playing computer games in class. Some didn't care what the teachers were teaching in class, as if the teachers are talking face to face with a wall. The teachers neglect their actions and continued their teaching, without even scolding or punishing them. Even if students forget to bring their homework, teachers wouldn't care much. In addition, students can wear any shirt to school and their lunch break is an hour long, where they can even go out of school to buy their own food.

So much freedom in Taiwan makes us jelly. However, freedom has consequences. Students slack in school and could still get good grades because they will attend long hours of tuitions ( cram schools ) after school. So, they put tuition in their first priority instead of school. In singapore, not many students attend tuitions and their main source of education comes from the school. This is likewise in Taiwan.

However, Singapore students seriously faced too much stress. Competition is high and it will take a lot of effort to enter a good school like RVHS. Singaporeans are Kiasu, where they want to ace in every subjects. Hence, students must attend additional courses like piano lessons, art classes and tuitions.

I recommend that the school can put in some effort in reducing our stress level. RVHS is considered a rather stress-free school as compared to other competitive schools in Singapore. Occasionally, events are held here and there to help the students relieve stress. But I think that this is not enough. Students can be granted longer recess and lunch breaks such that they can slowly enjoy their food instead of rushing to get back to class.

Freedom is an important element in learning. However, too much freedom has its own negative consequences. A balanced freedom will be great.

4. Wulai elementary school :

   Looking at the students there, so cheerful and carefree they are when they attend school. Their school is significantly smaller than RVHS, with no field at all plus a track so small equivalent to a quater of a regular running track.

   They are from different tribes, mainly atayal. They lack technology, their school facilities are so few that RVHS looks like a huge palace compared to the school. However, they seemed to be enjoying what they have.

   Who says we need technology to make us happy? Yes, technologies give us convenience, entertainment, and it improves our lives. However, without technology, does that mean we will bring a frown on our faces everyday?

   No. Simply because living life to its simplest is the happiest thing in life. We don't need complicated  technologies, nor we need expensive handbags or iPhones to make us happy. I talked to my buddy, he said that the iPhone 4 hadn't even came out in their city during that period. But, he seemed contented even though he didn't have an expensive samsung or iPhone in his pocket.

    So, who says technology makes us happy? Yes, it makes us happy, but it is not necessary to have it in our everyday life. Without technology, living life to its fullest and living life in the simplest way is the best way of living life.

     Be contented that we are already fortunate to be living in singapore, with high standards of living. We ought to empathise those suffering in LDCs like africa, those unfortunate ones that needed our sincere help.

Daven Lim (27) Overall Reflections for OELP trip

Over the 7 days spent in Taipei, I went to many places, saw many different things that are not in Singapore, and most importantly learn a few lessons from it. To me, this OELP trip was a really meaningful and memorable one. Our class bonded more than ever with one another in this trip as we had to spend time face to face everyday, and we even took care of one another when our friends fell sick. Here, I would like to share some of my thoughts and lessons learnt during this trip.

Lessons: 

Firstly, I learnt that failure does not mean impossibility. In life, we face many setbacks, challenges and failures, and if we do not persevere, we would never overcome them. To me, giving up is definitely not an option. I think that we should not be afraid to make mistakes, because there is always a chance to stand up from where we fall and try again. Failure is education, and I believe that every time we fail, we learn from our mistakes and never repeat them again. As Edison failed over 9000 times to invent the light bulb, he did not give up. He said that he had learnt over 9000 ways not to build a light bulb, so why should he give up? He eventually succeeded and he proved to us that so long we persevere, nothing is impossible. Failures do not determine impossibility, and we should believe that we can succeed no matter how many times we failed. This came to me when I was in Jianguo High School and I saw a group of jugglers from the circus club performing. They only had 3 months of training as the club was new, and they did not fear failures and mistakes during their performances. They failed countless times, failing to catch the balls and pins almost every time they juggled. They even challenged themselves to 4 balls or pins! Every time they dropped the balls or pins, they picked them up every single time and continued to juggle, trying their best to keep the momentum going. Even though they never seem to succeed, they persevered, and eventually they managed to complete their performance at the end, without anyone dropping balls or pins. I went up the stage to try juggling, and I could not even juggle it for 3 seconds! I believe that giving up is never an option, and we should try our very best, despite failures. 

Secondly, I learnt the importance of traditions and history of the country. I am sure that without the past, Singapore would not be what she is today, and we would not be living in this comfortable home of ours today. We have to be grateful of what people in the past had done to develop Singapore. Without traditions, there will not be today. Traditions are also important, and I feel that there is no point of living in a modernized city without knowing the traditions and how this city came about. Farming may be looked down upon because it requires hard work and the profit is very little. But what if all u have now was just land with soil? Without money and technology? Without traditions, there would be no 'starting point' for the development of technology, which we use daily... We have to learn and cherish our traditions because they may help us to pull through difficulties in harsh conditions, just like how people in the past had gone through with the traditional ways and methods when they were much poorer back then. Traditions have many benefits, that is why countries have museums to preserve them, and we must learn to cherish them. The iPhone and other types of phones might become a traditional item 100 years later, but they are still important because without them, it is hard for us to communicate with each other when we are not interacting face-to-face. History is also important, as people learn from mistakes made in the past and avoid making the same mistake, and people can improve on traditional 'items' of the past. Take the iPhone as an example. If it was not introduced today, there might be no improvement on the technology of the phone in the future. For example, music instruments can be invented from the idea of sounds made by tribal people in the past, which I saw in the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines. Therefore, I believe that without the past, there would not be today. 

Thirdly, after visiting the Atayal Museum, I learnt about the way of life of the tribal people. Men had to learn how to shoot and kill an animal with a bow, and also leant how to set up traps to trap them. Without these skills, they would die due to lack of food and moreover, they would not get to marry any woman because a woman in the same tribe would want to have a skilful husband who can hunt and provide for her. I learnt to appreciate many things, in my life in Singapore, with plenty of food and clothing for me, and a warm and cosy home, unlike the forest. Even though there is so much stress in Singapore, whereby we have to study, I feel that it is a rare opportunity to study, in the point of view of those people living in the forests. Studying can help to improve ourselves, in character and knowledge. I learnt how to appreciate the chance to study, the abundance of food and clothing provided for me and also, the comfortable conditions I am living in today. Compared to the tribal members living in the forests, my life is far from poor. No matter how stressed am I, or how small my bedroom is, I will learn to cherish them. I find myself very fortunate to be able to live under a stable roof, to be able to have 3 full meals a day, to be able to study... Appreciation is important, so we will not take what we have for granted. To be able to stand in the shoes of someone who lead a poorer life than us can enable us to appreciate what we have, and I have learnt to appreciate what I have. 

Thoughts: 

Firstly, I feel that Singapore's schools should give their students a little more freedom -- to let their creativity have a chance to 'show itself' rather than being 'buried deep under the sights of people', and to let students to try to find information on their own before teachers teaching them. For example, I feel that students should have a chance to find an explanation for a certain science philosophy and research on it. Students can explain it either through their own creativity and process skills or experimenting it out themselves, which can help them learn much better. Since it was the students who have found out the information, hey would have already thought through it many times and it would be more effective for them to be able to remember it. Teachers can help them add on to their knowledge. I am sure that there would be cases when students come up with an interesting explanation or philosophy, and students can expand their knowledge 'scope'. Also, this can help them in developing their process skills and thinking. Granting students some freedom like this, allowing students to learn not only from textbooks but in other unique ways, can greatly benefit them. As mentioned earlier, failure is education. There is always bound to be a failure in providing the correct explanation, but by letting students make mistakes, they can learn from them, rather than learning the correct concepts from teachers everyday. By making mistakes and learning from their failures, it gives students the chance to explore more and think more. Students' knowledge can go so much further, learning new knowledge as they explore and think more in depth. Their creativity does not get 'buried deep under the sights of people' -- students' abilities would not get unnoticed and students' brains think and process information and new explanations much more efficiently. Students would have a chance to challenge themselves with more complex information and this greatly benefits them. This came to my mind when I was joining a lesson in Wulai Elementary School. The teacher did not teach the students how to weave shapes on a paper using strings. She let us think, explore and learn how to weave shapes on the paper, and this made me learn how to weave strings with many different methods. Failures made me learn ways that is unsuccessful to weave shapes and it greatly increased my learning horizon. The teacher only helped us if we had any problems and sometimes she asked us to figure a way out ourselves instead of helping us. This way of learning makes students rack their brains, allow their creativity to flow and allowing them to think more. 

Secondly, the actions of the students such as sleeping in class in Jianguo High School made me feel that they did not respect the teacher, and also, they gave us a bad impression of themselves. Part of 'freedom' that the school gave the students was to do anything in class, except heavy mistakes that break rules such as wearing slippers to class or gambling with cards. However, to me, I think that such freedom given to the students can be beneficial to them whereby they can learn to be responsible and take ownership of their studies and learning, such as deciding on whether to pay attention in class. Also, when they did not score well in examinations, they can learn to be matured to change their learning style, such as paying more attention in class.

However, these actions may backfire. The students go to school to study, but if they do not pay attention in class, they would not gain more knowledge and information, so they might not appreciate schooling. Their learning attitude can worsen as when their academic results drop, they would feel sad and might affect their studying attitude. Their character might also worsen as they would not learn how to respect... They would not also learn that studying can have a huge impact in their future working lives. They do not understand how poor children in other countries are craving for education, let alone studying in a top school like Jianguo High School. 

If 'freedom' was introduced to RVHS, I would not recommend too much freedom but instead, continue to pay attention in class and abide the rules. I feel that the purpose of learning and studying is to improve ourselves, in terms of character and knowledge. I prefer to be rule-abiding, rather than being 'free', because overtime, rules would become good habits that students have in the future and also let them know how to differentiate from right and wrong. 

OELP Day 6 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

Time have really pass by so quickly for these 6 days. Today is technically the last day of our OELP trip, because we are taking a flight early in the morning tomorrow :(  At least, I got back some of my voice and was able to speak (more like squeaking actually hahaha) 

The first place we went to was the Confucius temple. I was rather excited to go to the temple because I wanted to see the Confucius statue and HOPEFULLY to be able to get a better grade after praying to him. After an explanation of the building structure given by the tour guide, we were led to a theater to watch a 4D movie. (wow even a temple has such advanced technology) The 4D movie was exciting and interesting as we got to experience the jerking of the chair and the spraying of water and mist throughout the movie. Through the movie, we learnt more about the history of this Confucius temple and also the six arts of confucianism. I thought that it watching the 4D movie was a good idea to let us learn more about Confucius. However due to time constraint, we were unable to see the Confucius statue before we leave. To say I was only disappointed is the understatement of the century! 

The second place we went to was the gold museum. At the gold museum, we learnt about the history of Jin Gua Shi. Jin Gua Shi was once a prosperous place with many gold mining activities. However when all the gold were mined out, the place became dead. *insert pic of quotes* The place became a little more lively after the gold museum and the resorts were built as tourists would visit the place more.

The last place we visited was Jiufen Old Street which was near Jin Gua Shi. Jiufen was quite crowded and was bustling with activities as compared to Jin Gua Shi. There were many shops that sell street snacks and also souvenir shop. I managed to spend all my money that was left over there. Some of my classmates even bought prank toys from a shop and tried pranking each other! 

OELP Day 5 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

So I woke up this morning and I felt a burning sensation in my throat. TO MY HORROR I HAVE LOST MY VOICE COMPLETELY and I could not even hum a tune yay this is wonderful *note the sarcasm* this is the moment when I am so glad for the invention of mobile phone! Its the only way for me to communicate :'(

Anyway, the first stop for today is at Wulai Aboriginal Elementary School. When we got there the students performed their ethnic drums to us. Then we were taught some simple Atayal phrases. The teachers there were really welcoming to us and even cracked some jokes to lighten up our serious atmosphere. Most of us opened up to them quickly and participated actively in the activity. We had fun in the art lesson where we could draw anything we wanted and let our creative juices flow. Then we had to weave some strings into the art piece. 

After lunch it was time for PE lesson. As I was still sick, I had to sit at the side and watch my classmates participate in the basketball competition between our class and the students in Wulai. I thought that my classmates would surely win because our competitors were children of age 9-15 and we were more than half a head taller taller and older than most of them. Much to my expectation, the children were able to shoot the basketball into the net accurately while some of my classmates could not even dribble a ball properly. Wow we should really not judge a book by its cover.  Also, halfway through the game, it started drizzling. The first instinct of my classmates and I were to run into a shelter to shield ourselves from the rain. However, the students in Wu Lai continued the game as if nothing had happened! I could see the sportsmanship in them which was to not give up. Perhaps, we Singaporeans are too pampered by our parents. We need to put ourselves through the mill to be stronger! Faster than I thought, it was time to leave already. We went to the nearby Wu Lai old street and visited a museum there which was similar to Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines.

The last stop was at Raohe night market where we were given our own time to walk around and have our dinner over there. I did not have much appetite as I was sick and there were alot of food that I was allowed to eat as they will worsen my condition. I noticed that the streets of Raohe night market were relatively clean although there wasnt any rubbish bin there. Puzzled to where I should dispose my rubbish, I hand my rubbish over to a stall owner and asked if I could throw my rubbish into their bins. Later on then I heard from our tour guide that we should hold on to our own rubbish and dispose them when we get home. The environmental policy is definitely a success in Taiwan! Singaporeans should learn from them as well.

All in all, I feel that it is not a good day today. I was unable to speak the whole day and had the experience of being mute. I guess today is the day that I have been the most quiet in my entire life. Unfortunately, I was also unable to interact with the Wu Lai students much today as I had no voice to speak. But at least I got to experience what the lesson of the aboriginal students. Although both Wu Lai and Jian Guo are schools of Taiwan, there is a significant difference between them. Singapore's educational system is much more similar to Wu Lai Elementary School. 

OELP Day 4 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

Alighting from the bus, we were led to the conference room by the teachers in Jian Guo High School. After which, we were broken up into groups and went to different classes. Then, buddies from different classes went into the conference room, each of them holding a card with our names. My buddy's name is Xie Sheng Rong.

The first lesson we had was Chinese lesson known as 国语 in Taiwan. I had a "cultural shock" at the start of the lesson. The teacher walked into the class and started his lesson immediately, without the students greeting him. On top of that, a students who was a few minutes late strolled into the class without acknowledging the teacher and was still playing with the basketball in his hands. The teacher did not reprimand the student and seemed nonchalant about it. During the Chinese lesson, I was quite lost and my buddy managed to explain it to me patiently. I realized that the Chinese they learn in Taiwan is the 文史 we learn in Singapore which is about 中国上下五千年, with characters like 鲁迅. Halfway through the lesson, I saw a student sleeping soundly at the back of the class. However, the teacher continued his lesson nevertheless and did not wake the student up. Then, I thought of the 'freedom policy' that my buddy told me yesterday- Students are able to do anything they want as long as they get good grades. Having so much freedom seem to be too good to be true. However I think that too much freedom is not good for the student. I certainly do not want to be in an environment where students can sleep in class and arrive late for lesson. I find these actions distracting and will affect other students too as they will make the environment not a conducive place to study. On top of that, I did not like the teacher's nonchalance. I feel that the teachers should care more about the students and keep the discipline in class. Also, the way the teacher teach was to talk and talk without stopping to check the student's understanding. At that moment, I felt appreciative of the teachers in Singapore because they care for their students.

Afterwards, I had the chance to be in the English, a CCE-like and Japanese class too. I have learnt alot in these two days of immersion and get to have first-hand experience to what Taiwan educational system is like. 

After Jian Guo High School, we went to Martyr Shrine. When we reached there it was time for the change of guard and we got to watch it again (for the third time) To be honest, I was quite bored of it already. Due to the fact that we were late, we were unable to get into the shrine. I felt that we have wasted our time to travel there :( But at least we got to take some photos outside the shrine.

After dinner, we went to Eslite bookstore. I was excited to go there initially as I wanted to buy some books back to Singapore. As expected there was a wide genre of books ranging from Teenage fiction to TCM books to books about fortune telling. However much to my dismay, 95% of the books are in Chinese and I couldnt really find English books. Also, the Chinese books are in traditional Chinese and I couldnt read them very well. So I left the bookstore empty handed and feeling disappointed. 

BUT yay Kudos to me for not spending even a single cents today 👏 sigh about 2 more days to the end of this OELP trip *cries* Having quite a high fever today, so I Mrs Tan gave me the permission to skip reflection and rehearsals. Hope I would be better tmr!

OELP Day 3 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

This morning I woke up with a sight fever fever at 27.7 degree :(( sighpie I am the first one to be sick.  

It was truly a good learning experience for me at Jian Guo High School. Upon reaching Jian Guo High School, a group of students lined up infront of the school gate and waved to us enthusiastically. Despite their friendliness, I was feeling nervous too. We were then assigned a buddy and were brought to watch different performances such as band performance, beatboxing, juggling, magic etc. 

It was said that there are more than 80 different CCAs in Jian Guo High School and if none of the clubs and societies interests you, you can set up your own club. The school would then support and fund them. This is similar to the IDP in our school which our students could initiate our CCA. However, we have a tighter budget in River Valley High School so it is harder to set up our own CCA. The performance that left the deepest impression on me was the juggling put up by the "circus club". Although some of the jugglers did not manage to catch the ball they threw after a few tries, they did not give up and continued to pick the ball up and continue juggling until they were successful in doing so. The facilitators cheered and clapped for their schoolmates as a sign of support. This was a familiar sight that could be seen in our school too- We cheer to spur our friends up when they are not doing very well. It was the same kind of spirit that was shown in Jian Guo High School. I learnt from the students in Jian Guo High School not to give up even when we are faced with setbacks. Perseverance was exercised during the juggling performance and I could see that giving up was definitely not an option for them too. I learnt not to be afraid to make mistake and to stand up from when we fall FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES STAND UP EIGHT!

After that, my buddy gave me a tour around the school. Their school was really big and there were many facilities too such as the swimming pool. I feel envious of what they have but *sigh* lets just be content with what we have in Singapore because there are limited land mass in Singapore. Last but not least, we were taught how to do some magic tricks by the magic club. The seniors taught us two magic tricks with the use of rubber bands. It was a little hard to understand but the seniors explained to us repeatedly with patience until we were able to do it. It was a whole lot of fun as the seniors showed us some others magic tricks! 

Before we left the school, the seniors offered to treat us their local "ice kachang" from a shop beside their school. As Jian Guo High School focuses on freedom, they were allowed to go outside their school to buy food during their break time. The "ice kachang" tastes different from the one in Singapore, with alot more ingredients. It definitely helped to quench our thirst in this humid weather. BAGUS! :D Thank you Jian Guo High School for the treat! 

Afterwards, we went to Chiang Kai Shek and Dr Sun Yat Sen's memorial hall. In both Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen memorial hall, there is a changing of guard every hour. The change of guard is quite interesting but there was too many people so we had to peep through heads. I felt so impressed of the guards because they had to stand upright for an hour without moving. (I cant even sit still for 10min!) They must have trained hard to be this discipline. Also, I realized that the commands spoke by the guards was in Chinese because their first language in Taiwan is Chinese while Singapore's commands are in Malay. I though it was pretty cool to hear military commands in Chinese although I couldnt really make out the words. Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen are the leaders we learnt in history class. Being able to visit these memorial hall personally, allowed me to to understand more about  the history and the family background of Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen by looking and thinking outside of textbook context.

Selfie with the guard @ Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Changing of guard @ Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall

Lastly, we went to Xi Men Ding in the evening. There was not much to learn there and all we did was shopping, shopping and shopping! (HEHEHE) 

Overall, I feel that it is a fruitful day today and I really look forward to the second day of school immersion at Jian Guo High School :D

OELP Day 2 reflection- Lim Yan Tong

Its the second day of the OELP trip. Today, I woke up with a sore throat and a little bit of runny nose due to the lack of sleep (5 HOURS OF SLEEP ONLY! :( ) and also because I did not drink enough water on the first day.

After breakfast, we went straight to the National Palace Museum. Although we reached before the museum opened, there was already a long queue outside the museum and we had to wait again. We were not allowed to bring our bags in due to security problems so I only took my phone, iPad and wallet. Inside the museum, I saw one of the most popular pieces of jade carvings in the museum is the "Jadeite Cabbage". It's a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a cabbage head, and with a large and a small grasshopper camouflaged in the leaves. Much to my dismay, the Cabbage jadeite was not as big I think it would be. It was smaller than my palm size. On top of that, the colour of the cabbage was quite disappointing. At one of the exhibition, my classmate thought that no one was looking went to take photo although it was prohibited. However, he was caught by the guard and was forced to delete the photo. I feel that he should have the integrity to the right thing even when no one is looking.

couple shirt yay -at national palace museum-

After which, we went to the Sung Ye museum of Formosan Aborigine by foot. Following that, we went to Shih Fen Old street. When we get there, it was raining quite heavily and the tour guide told us that this was called the 西北雨 in Taiwan. We were very disappointed because our main purpose of going there was to put sky lantern. We was unable to do so if the rain continues. Fortunately the rain stopped a few minutes later. I saw that some other tourists started letting off their sky lantern. It was an amazing sight to see the different coloured sky lanterns flying up into the sky. 

It was finally our turn to write our wishes on our sky lantern. We chose a sky lantern with a different colour in each side because we thought that it looks nicer- Blue, Pink, White, Red. They signifies 事业运，幸福快乐，前途光明 and 健康平安 respectively. We took turns to write down our wishes on the sky lantern with a brush and ink. We tried to write all our wishes down in Chinese but it did not turn out very successful so we mixed some English in and also wrote in Hangul too. (OOPS 😁). Lastly, we went to the railway track to let off our sky lantern. With a count of 123, we let our sky lantern off. I felt warm-hearted as I watch our sky lantern float off into the endless sky with our hopes and wishes. It was a definitely a fresh experience for me!