BLOG2: The first spring festival spent away from home

     It is 5 days since the spring festival. But I still intend to bring it up in order to finish my second blog.

       It was the first spring festival I spent far away from home. Initially I decided to do nothing special on that day. However, two days before the lunar new year I met my host family for the first time and my host family was actually a single lady whom we called Dr. Flor. She invited my fellow Zhu Xin and I to her sister’s house to celebrate the festival together and we accepted it willingly.

       The day eventually came. Zhu Xin and I spent more than an hour approaching and searching for her sister’s house. After asking several passers-by for help we finally made it. Dr. Flor and her sister’s family gave us a warm welcome and according to tradition, we gave them a couple of oranges as a gift.

   The lunch was far beyond my imagination. Food from around the world was served on the table. I forget all the names except love letters which I heard before, but I still remember they were from Italy, Sweden, America, British and Singapore. I tried almost all the dishes. Not all delicious as they were, the banquet itself was an impression. And the friendly atmosphere was really joyous.

   After lunch Dr. Flor introduced us to a numerical game called Rummy-o. It was an intellectual game in which four people engaged and needed to figure out the relevance of numbers curved on small pieces of plastic cards. We enjoyed it very much.

      When we left Dr. Flor invited us to her birthday next week and she told us more snacks and games would be provided!

   It was a very special spring festival for me. Although far from home, I still felt warmth from outside world, which boosted my confidence to fit in Singapore. I was especially grateful for Dr. Flor, who gave me a chance to learn more about Singapore and its people.

Blog 2:It is you that changed sadness to happiness

Chinese New Year is the most important festival to Chinese people, and every this time we all family members will stay together to eat, to watch TV and to communicate with each other sharing our stories. It may be the only opportunity in a year, so we all cherish and enjoy it very much.
But this time, it changed for me, because I was in Singapore then, which made me far away from my beloved family. So as a normal person, I felt sad when I was awake that morning, and the mood took my energy and passion away. What I thought was only the scenes that I experienced last several years.This mood lasted until when I was invited to have the festival with my seniors in an activity room. They organized many games for us and provided us a really wonderful dinner even including dumplings which I thought I would not eat this year. Then we sat together to watched Chinese New Year show in CCTV. During that time they were very busy delivering snakes and drinks for us. The party gave us much warm and kept me from being sad and gave me passion again. So thanks to all of my seniors for your kindness and considerate care, which made us feel at home and gave us a special unforgettable experience.

BLOG ONE: Is China’s English Education Reasonable?

 I have been in Singapore for more than one month.  Through one month’s life here, I suddenly realized that maybe China’s English Education System is not reasonable.

When in China, we study English in a system we Chinese developed ourselves.  I think I learn it quite well that way. But when I came here, completely in an all-English environment, I started to feel how poor I am in English. Pronunciation is not accurate, Vocabulary is poor and not confident when I communicate with others, though I have learned English for over ten years.  So I concluded that there must be something unreasonable in China’s English education.

First, let me talk about the quiz we usually took at the beginning of Chinese English class.  Teachers always say the words in Chinese and we write their English form on papers.  As we all know, this is the common method in China’s English education.  The advantage is that when do essay exams, we will quickly remember the corresponding of the Chinese words we need.  But I think disadvantages overweigh advantages.  For example, it makes us always ponder English in Chinese ways, which stop us from improving.  Besides, we won’t practice English listening skills when do such quiz. What’s worth, some provinces even don’t have listening parts in their college entrance exams.  So, could you imagine how weak we are in listening.

Second, since there are so many students in one class, so we have few opportunities to speak in class, let alone after class.  So we spoken English are poor and will feel nervous when speak English to someone.

Third, almost everything in Singapore is in English, even if in China’s exams, we also need to read English articles and do questions.  So I think we should try the way that see English first and ponder in English ways.

It’s unreasonable in China’s English education.  Do you agree with me?

BLOG 1: About Laborador Lodge

      Laborador lodge is located in the southwest of Singapore, only ten minutes’ walk to the coast. It is where SM students including girls of NUS and boys of NTU are accommodated. I would like to introduce it from 3 aspects: the facilities, the stuff and the neibourhood.

       LL (short for laborador lodge) indeed has sound facilities, with each unit equipped with a microwave, an automatic wash machine, a bathroom as well as other furniture. Canteen is on the first floor of 3E, where daily meals are offered regularly. Moreover, there are two study rooms and a music room available to us. All these much add to our convenience and entertainment.

       The aunties in LL are friendly and considerate, always wearing a smile that delights everyone. They help us cope with problems and try to make our life convenient as much as possible. For example, they put bottles of utensil cleanser beside the taps in the canteen so that we don’t need to bring along our own. Also they are willing to receive our feedback and even complain.

        Outside LL is MRT station only several steps far, and there is only one station between LL and Singapore’s biggest shopping centre, Vivocity. Not far from the station lies a mall providing the neibourhood with almost all kinds of necessities. In addition, we can walk to the seaside to enjoy the scenery, the fresh air and let breeze clear our mind.

       In a word, LL is relatively a good place to live in, by this i mean, serving as a student hostel, LL has done its best.

Blog1:At different time we have different hearts

Recently, I get to know that at different time we have valid spirits.

There is my experience about that. Just a few days ago, when I was neatening the files in my computer, I found a book I
once read, and just by fits and snatches, I read the book, Threebody, again. However, amazingly, I got more intersting
contents, and when reading the book, I got more abundant feelings, such as sadness, pity, angry, regret, and so on, which I
had never got through. The thing is just like that numerous emotions have flooded into my heart. In a word, the book is
different now, or maybe it is my heart that becomes differnt from the one I held.

Also, we always see people change a lot after a period of time. For example, one of my friends was very out-going and talktive before a accidence. However, then he became more and more silent, but not numb, and in his eyes, I caught
something showing his wiseness. His experience made a change to his personality, or say, to his heart.

Personally, we should regard the change as a fortune of our life. Maybe the different hearts just is the different
parts of life. Younger, a little puerile; adult, considerate; and the old, free and easy.What we shall do is just to enjoy or
bear the time now, because heart is changing and life is being transformed, and please treasure the time now.

Blog 1: Everything Is New

One month ago, this time, I was picking up the luggage in Beijing for the flight to Singapore next day, feeling excited, as well as a little worried about the life alone abroad. Now, I’m still excited,
because everything here is new for me, but the feeling of worry is dying away gradually.
I’m using my new computer to write this blog, next to the windows, enjoying the cool wind, sometimes having a glimpse of the booming trees that I have never China before. Decorated with vivid flowers, they are so beautiful.
During the four weeks in Singapore, I made many new friends, some of which are Chinese students just like me, and others are local seniors. They all helped me a lot, making me feel the warmth that only can be found at home. We learnt new knowledge together, played new games
together and shared our happy time with each other. Even though everything here is new, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.
Thinking of these things, I get some new views of the song "far away from home"--if I hadn't gone so far away from home, how can I meet so many new things, and how can I make so many wonderful friends? Now I won't worry about the coming road, no matter it's tough or plain. Maybe it's my pleasure to face every new day!

blog1:I want to run for the leader

About two weeks ago,the MOE officer told us that they would like to choose leaders from us. Sinnc then,I have been considerinng about whether I should run for the leader. But just until one of the seniors made a encouragement last Friday,I made up my mind to do this thing.


Actually,the reason why I hesitate if I should do this is that I was afraid.I was afraid that I might got the least votes during the election.I was afraid that I might receive derision from others. All the fears become a barrier to me. But after I heard that senior's speech,I found that there were some poeople like me. The difference is that she had make a change,and I do not want to stay the same all the time .I decided to run for this leader.Chances are that I may lose this time,but it dosen't matter.What is important is that I have make a change,I have stepped out my first step.Even if I lose my election,I still achieve the my own goal to some extent.


To my great joy today,I received a SIM from a senior of my.She ask me if I would run for the leader,I told her "yes",and she said that she would back me.Also she told me that what is important is not the title of the leadership but the heart to serve other people.I do want to help other people,and I want to make friends with all the 20th SM3 students.


Here I want to say to myself.If you lose,please clap for yourself.Because you have made a change and tried your best,which is the most important thing.

Blog one: My strategy of learning vocabu

My strategy of learning vocabulary

Last week, we were instructed to start our vocabulary notebooks. For everyone is unique, it is natural that different people adopt their own ways of organizing vocabulary notebooks and I am no exception. I'd like to share my approach with you.

When encountering a new word, I usually first look it up in Oxford advanced English-English dictionary(electronic edition). Secondly, I will search for further information, especially the usage of this word in Oxford collocation dictionary(electronic edition). After doing these, I will clarify the word. For some words, knowing the meaning is enough because there are few situations where you have chances to use them or the usage of it is quite simple. But in terms of words whose collocations are not that simple, you should write them down and try to remember. This also applies to the words that you have lots of opportunities to use and those words that are idiomatic to use. The above is my own way to accumulate vocabulary.

The advantages are obvious. It can save time, for I use electronic dictionary(the content are the same as the printed one). What's more, it's convenient. For those words that I only need to know the meaning, I just add them to my e-notebook. It only takes one second to click. Further more, the e-notebook(exploited by Kingsoft) is scientific, it can remind you when and what words you need to review, according to "forgetting curve". The disadvantages are that it's inconvenient for mentors to examine and you need some equipments( for example a ipad) to do this, so that you can make your e-notebook portable.

I hope my mentor can accept my approach and also I am sorry for the trouble I bring to her!

Blog 1: Feel Free to Contact

"Feel free to contact us."This was one of the most frequent sentences I had heard about in the two days' orientation camp indeed.And it really came true in the final.

Divided into Group10 in the camp on the first Saturday,I was very curious about everything that would be going on in only two days.Maybe they would just take us to some interesting place to let us learn more about Singapore like our seniors did. However,when we first gathered as a group,we were just led to sit around and have a game together.We felt not so free for we didn't know many people around us.But it didn't matter.Our attention was soon attracted by so many interesting games one after another.Soon laughters and happiness take place of disappointing silence and embarrassment.So magic,isn't it?Then what came later is to make our own kite all by ourselves and fly it.We had tacit corporation and we all enjoyed ourselves in the process.After the barbecue,when the first day ended,we already felt freer to contact each other.And what marked the end of that day was the befrienders' considerate SMS,saying 'Feel free to contact us and have a good sleep'.

The second Saturday soon arrived and we had a more wonderful day.Entertaining games amused us once again.And we had an unforgottable evening for the talent show.Every group had performed greatly and our befrienders made the talent show more interesting.At the end,we all feel very reluctant to separate with our cute, kind and enthusiastic befrienders. I realized that we had really made it free to contact.And we were happy to be able to see them in the ESC later.Our befriender even invited us to visit his home during the Spring Festival.

From strangers to friends,we did have gain a lot and learn a lot！

Blog 1

We have already started our class for half
a month, and in this period we learned many English learning strategies. They
are very useful, such as reading skills, writing skills, listening skills, ways
to learn vocabulary and so on. Besides, our English class can help us solve
many problems. Today in the class, we learned how to use “according to” , some
students had some different views, so we had a discussion on that. Finally, we
solved this problem and all the students have understood how to use that collocation.
It’s a progress!
These days, we not only studied hard, but
also took part in several activities. We joined in the Orientation Camp every Saturday.
During that time we played many interesting games, made our own kites, barbecued
by ourselves and performed in the Talent Show. We did everything together with
other students and our befrienders, and now we became friends. It’s really a
very precious memory and I think I will keep it in my mind forever.
Next weekend is Lunar New Year, it’s a very
important festival for our Chinese, and it’s the time for every family members to
get together. But this year we can’t go home and we have to celebrate it with
our friends. I hope I can have a unforgettable Chinese New Year!

Blog 1:The Christians

I had never known the true meaning of the Christians until I came to Singapore.They are all very good persons who are kind-hearted and selfless.Also they always try their best to help others,such as the oversea students like us,which makes me moved and grateful.

The day when I first arrived in Singapore was approaching to my birthday and it was the first birthday that I celebrate out of my hometown without my parents.I felt a little sad at first for I just knew a few people and didn`t know how to spend my birthday.But when Michelle,a Christian , heard of it ,she took me out to the beach,where we used the sand to make a birthday cake.It really made me feel at home.

When the Christmas was around the corner,I attended some Christmas parties.Although I just accompany friends to the parties and didn`t know the hosts at all,they treated me well.

What impressded me most was the befrienders.As is printed on their T-shirt,we love for he first loved us.They had warm hearts and broad minds and helped us for nothing.

The Christians follow the pace of Jesus to save the world from sin.Maybe it`s why they do good to others.Again,I want to express our sincere thanks to them.

Blog 1

In today's class we have dicussed the method of studying English.Here I'd like to put forward my opinions in this theme.
As is known to all,language learning is not an easy work but a long process to accumulate and experience.We need to improve our English comprehensively.However,most of Chinese students have attached too much importance on the examinations in the long run. It took them much time to do various kinds of exercises which actually does little good to them.Even if having passed CET6( College English Test Band Six),most of them will still have difficulty in communicating in English.It seems that the most significant speaking capacity is ignored by them.So,it is time to work out this problem.
As far as I'm concerned,we should build up environments to speak English."Practice makes perfect."We may try to talk with our friends in English.We can also join in English clubs to make foreign friends.When we go out for shopping,it is also our opportunity to practise speaking.After overcoming our shyness,we will manage to speak fluently in English.
I hope all the English learners can reach their goals after our hard-working.

Blog 1 The Fantastic Camp

As time flies, I’ve been in Singapore for more than 1 month.
And it has been 2 weeks since our bridging course began. Fortunately, I can say
that I really have a great time here. During this period of time, I have more
chance to practice English as well as learn the culture of Singapore. What’s
more, the camp on 7th January and 14th January also build
a bridge between our SM3 students and local befrienders. Today, I would like to
share more things about our camp.

I was in Group 8 which consists of 10 SM3 students and
5 befrienders. During the first day of our camp, we got to know more about each
other by playing games as well as making kites together. The barbecue in the
evening was quite enjoyable that we consolidated our friendship through the
whole activity.

Before talking about the party on last Saturday, I
would like to say I really had a great time during the preparation for it. Our
show has 3 parts, including a short time of play, an interesting gymnastics as
well as an inspiring chorus. No matter how many difficulties we faced during
the whole rehearsal, it was our spirit of cooperation that really mattered. We
worked together and took efforts to do our best which contributed more to our
relationship.

The party held on the evening of 14th
January may be the most exciting part in our camp. Each group presented
perfectly that we laughed, cheered or even sang together to enjoy the whole
night.

Although there were only two days that we stayed with
our befrienders, every minute we spent together is distinct and valuable. I
hope that we can keep contact with each other and I want to deliver my sincere
appreciation to them: Thank you for organizing such a wonderful journey for us!

blog one

Today, after our oral repot, I learned about how to my presentation more attractive and effective. The main three points are confidence, rapport, and rhythm.
Firstly, confidence means that we should trust in ourselves and believe ourselves to address the speech perfectly. During the presentation, we should not let us be seemed awkward and the eye contact is a good solution to it. Confidence is the basis of a successful presentation.
The next part is rapport. Rapport means interaction, that is to say, we need to warm the whole atmosphere up and make both speaker and listeners attracted and interested, as a result of which, we can interact with the audience by some interesting ways, such as asking some funny questions and proposing several l attractive topics. And rapport is the main factor of a perfect speech.
The third part is the rhythm. Through the rhythm, the speaker can emphasize the main points and the listeners can catch the key words and understand the article better. And the intonation is as useful as rhythm to make the report more colorful and interesting. So, rhythm is the skills of a well-designed lecture.In conclusion, not only the three main points should we follow, but also other points such as humor, signature, and so on we need to focus on. Therefore, oral report is not just a cakewalk and we need to make more efforts to get it more charming and excellent.

Blog 1:Thank You,My Befrienders

Thank you,Sam!As our group leader,you really did a lot for group 10.You gathered us to play games,to start our BBQ,to prepare our performance.You sacrificed so much spare time to be with us,to encourage us,to make us not feel lonely in Singapore.Thank you!

Thank you,Vee Nee!I will never forget your warm smile.You are so vivacious and active.Just like a sister,you gave us a joy,which would make us be willing and optimistic to live in Singapore.That's really a fantasitic gift.Thank you!

Thank you ,Tianping!I am so glad to be your friend.We have so many common hobbies.We both like listening to incidental music.We both like watch movie.We both like history...Although we just know each other for only 2 days,you seems to have already been my friend for a very long time.You are my first Singaporean friend!Thank you!

Thank you,Tim!The picture that you flew the kite made by us can clearly appearance in my mind at any time.We really did a good job,didn't we?You are quiet but full of ideas,modest but full of abilities.I am so impressive by your piano and guitar performance,and I am so eager to hear it again.I will hope our friendship can last forever!Thanks for all you did for us.

Thank you,all my befrienders.thank you for providing me such a amazing camp during my start days in Singapore.This will absolutely become one of my most beautiful memories in Singapore.And all of you will not become memories.You will all become my friends and change my life entirely.

My recent life

It has already been almost two weeks since I began to study in CELC, where I met many tutors and each of them has their own characteristics in teaching and I enjoyed my studying life here with them.During the class I learned many things about Singapore I had never known ,including the culture and education system.I also learned some basic skills of learning English,such as how to learn vocabulary,how to write a paragraph and how to make oral report in public.I really learned a lot and cherished every opportunity to learn,to communicate in English.
What also impressed me much these days is the kindness of our befrienders.They always sacrificed their own time and money to provide us with many meaningful activities in which I made many new friends and had a lot of fun.The experience of the station games and the barbecue party is unforgettable.All the station games needed teamwork and we won the first prize finally because our team really cooperated well.And it is my first experience of barbecue in Singapore and it was amazing fun,for I enjoyed the atmosphere that everyone sat in a circle and barbecued together with laugh and story.It was befriender's true love that moved us all and gave us reasons and eager to love others.
In conclusion ,I enjoyed the life here very much.

Blog 1 Cooperation

Albert Einstein is generally considerer as the greatest scientists in the 20th century, he was very famous for his incredible imagination, he often sat alone in his room and used his imagination and logicalcapability to comprehend the ultimate principal of the universe. But even if such a great man when he tried to establish the theory of relativity, he didn't actually solve all the technical promblems on his own, he used Riemann's theory as his mathematical tools.

In fact, even some daily stuffs need people to work together,let alone some big project. We have to cooperate with other peolple to get our goal.

I regard cooperation as a kind of art cause many skills are required during the process. We need to use our intelligence to come up with good ideas and complete our tasks efficiently in order to make contributions to our group, at the same time, we may also have to sacrifice our own benefits in order to satisfy the group's benefits, we need to balance between sacrifice and benefit, it may be a little bit difficulty but of course ,it's the cooperation that makes the world so amazing today.

That's what I've learned during the camp.

What is the biggest obstacle in the way towards LeBron's championship?

Do you like watching NBA games?I am really a fan of it.You should have heard of a super star--LeBron James.Now I would like to write something about him.

LeBron is an unprecedentedly talented player.He has distinguished physical attribute and brilliant basketball skills.LeBron is compared to a tank when he start off,so nobody can stop him in the game. But even so,he has never gained a championship ring up to now in his career. LeBron joined Miami Heat last season. Though there is the big three in this team,the result is the same.

Why is LeBron always a loser?Before he joined Miami Heat,you could say that because LeBron's teammates were not very good, he had to shoulder all the responsibilities. So it was too hard for LeBron to achieve his dreams.The situation changed last season,but the result didn't pay off either.In my opinion,all the failures due to LeBron's personal weakness.The strongest is not equal to the most confident.He cannot believe in himself all the time.In the Final of last season,He always seemed confused and desperate in the fourth quarter when the score was surpassed.We were not able to compare him to the King James at that time.LeBron was not willing to attack as usual,so the success was seized by others in the end.

Nobody is born with confidence.We should learn how to believe in ourselves even in the emergency.Everyone has his advantages and disadvantages and nobody is perfect.By lots of exercise we can develop our advantages and dispel disadvantages. Then we will have a sense of becoming perfect from it.If we are needed,we will know clearly that we can do it.Only in this way will we become more and more confident.

I really hope one day LeBron will attain what he wants all the time and prove himself the King James to everyone.

Memory about Two-day Camp

Time elapsed swiftly. But two-day camp we enjoyed with befrienders has become a really precious memory.
The first day we met together，befrienders separated us into 12 groups and organized us to play interesting games so that we could cultivate each other more deeply. I couldn't believe that befrienders memorized our names so quickly,which impressed me most. A cute girl called Grace was always with me.She asked me whether I‘had come across some problems and she was willing to help me. We talked a lot as if we had been good friends for a long time. We also planned to go shopping and eat Japanese food together. I feel singaporean friendly and considerate.
In the afternoon，we made kites and competed which group could fly it highest. We made and tried but the kite fell down to the ground .We tried again and again. And at last......still failed. But it doesn't matter. We have enjoyed the procedure very much . We discussed together，worked together and laughed together，which is the most significant. In memory of the afternoon，we took a great number of photos.
And the second day，we had a talent show.Each group had to perform. Because of the feelings about the camp，I suggested to sing We Are Family, a Chinese song, which moved our befrienders at last and we really regarded them as our families here.
While we got on the bus to return to Labrador Lodge, befrienders waved their hands to us. I thought we could be friends forever. Thanks a lot to prepare such a wonderful camp!

Blogging Guidelines

1. Display Name - use your real name so that all tutors in the group may know who you are.
2. Content - write on your insights or reflections on any of the topics covered in class. Avoid sensitive and political issues.
3. Language - write in complete and grammatically-accurate sentences as far as possible
4. Labels - insert your mentor's name every time you post a message.
5. Comments - read your classmates' postings and write brief comments