Like a R!ot: Retro Revolution Preview By Regina Marie Lee (13A01B)
“Wah meng ti, wah meng ti,” crooned Alex Chan, as he rehearsed for THI’s upcoming concert — Like a R!ot: Retro Revolution. The self-professed Hokkien song lover has watched all 10 seasons of the Taiwan drama serial, Ai. This most definitely puts him in good stead with the beneficiaries of the concert, the old folks from the Care Corner Seniors Activity Centre at Toa Payoh Blk 5. Next Tuesday, 30th April, the ‘adopted’ grandparents will attend the concert, and they can look forward to performances blending the old and new. Expect to hear a rock-and-roll version of Wah Meng Ti, complete with drums and guitars!
Just how long should CCA leaders stay on with their clubs?
Behind the scenes, away from the sports seasons and SYF performances, almost all CCAs are starting the handover process. For many Year 6s, this is probably the busiest period of the year. For outgoing CCA leaders, some will feel satisfied with the things they’ve done over the past year. Others, and I suspect that this is the feeling of the majority, will regret the missed opportunities and wrong decisions.
Project Work (PW) must be the only topic that the RJ Confessions page and my Twitter timeline never seem to tire of. Because PW work submission deadlines are the same for all, you will find people commiserating about the rarity of a suitable Preliminary Idea (PI), or the terrible length of their Group Project Proposal (GPP). At times, this can be accompanied by a passive-aggressive remark about group-work issues.
While PW skills can be learnt, perhaps why PW is dreaded by most is this: your grades are contingent on your group members’ effort too. For most who prefer the significantly less risky nature of other subjects, where you can study and take tests alone, this presents a frightening vulnerability.
Nevertheless, we are not here to reconcile the existence of Project Work, but to suggest how to navigate through the experience, and coax everyone in your group to work together effectively and harmoniously. PW groupings are determined by one’s Civics and PW Tutors, and not by choice. We present to you a collection of PW groupmate caricatures, and how you can possibly work out differences as you research, discuss and craft your Group Project Proposal, Written Report and the like.
Fig 1. When Project Work Groupmates’ Tendencies Will Reveal Themselves
Excited Idea Generator
This is the one who can come up with numerous ideas during group discussions, often in eager excitement. He or she will be useful in getting the group pumped up for the project, but the Excited Idea Generator might require help in sifting ideas, in case they are unoriginal or unfeasible. Still, it is important that group members do not shoot down all his/her suggestions without considering it first, or it will leave the member feeling unfairly put down.
All Talk Little Action
The All Talk Little Action member is similar to the Excited Idea Generator. He or she contributes good suggestions during discussions, and you are hopeful of his or her commitment to the project. Then, the report writing begins, and your faith is shaken. He or she might tend to procrastinate at home, away from the group, after work has been delegated. When it comes to such members, it is perhaps more helpful to arrange a time to complete the various tasks, together in school or online, over Google Drive, or for the desperate, over webcam.
Meticulous to a Fault
This member will be the one calling meetings to clarify all the minute details in a project. They are useful to ensure the work is logical and coherent, but might get on everyone else’s nerves by insisting on too many discussions to debate insignificant changes to the project. If there are too many of these members in a group, productivity may suffer. A friend noted that his PW group once spent an hour’s lesson debating…on an alternative project title. Group members should encourage him or her to see the big picture, and exercise judiciousness before initiating yet another meeting.
The writer’s group celebrating the end of their PW journey
Tanker
The Tanker is heavily invested in the final product, and will volunteer (or more likely, delegate to himself/herself) a lion’s share of the work. While this helps to get work done, trouble ensues when there is a conflict of opinion. Some Tankers might be motivated by a lack of confidence in their group members’ abilities, preferring to trust themselves with all the work. While this may be more productive in the short run, groups that use their collective brainpower, building upon each others’ ideas, tend to produce more innovative and carefully considered work in the long run. Thus, it is important to demonstrate to the Tanker that other members are able to produce work of even higher calibre with collaboration.
More than Meets the Eye
This member might appear quiet or distracted during group meetings, but it is useful to suspend quick judgements on this sort. Some might merely be less confident in voicing ideas in person, but possess the ability to produce thorough research or insightful analysis during the report-writing process. As such, give your group members a fair chance to contribute.
Email Ninja
This member does not reply emails, avoids discussions about PW work and is generally uninterested or blur. For some, it might be useful to arrange a time for the group to work together on the project in school. The library offers Think Tank Rooms for this purpose; they are equipped with laptops, a whiteboard and a projector! When delegating work, decide together on detailed tasks instead of a generic “everyone work on Draft 2”, and allow members to decide on who does what, based on their strengths and interests.
It is very possible to come together as a group by adopting different approaches to accommodate conflicting working styles – in fact, it might be a great learning experience in itself. That said, self-introspection might also come in handy: what kind of PW groupmate might you turn out to be?
The writer would like to assure her PW groupmates that the caricatures in this article are not specific to them. :)
By Arintha Adelina (14S05B) and Seraphine Chanentia (14S06N)
11th April 2013 might have been just another boring school day for most of us, but not for the Indian Dancers. As early as 6.45AM in the morning, the Indian dancers had assembled in the Multi-Purpose Studio, preparing to start putting on-make up. For the past few months, they had been putting their blood, sweat, and tears (sometimes literally) for this day — their SYF day.
In the end, they clenched the certificate of distinction which is the highest level of award in the SYF. This year, the awarding system was changed to Distinction, accomplishment, and commendation instead of the Gold, silver, and bronze awards. The Indian Dancers certainly deserved their achievement. Choreographed and taught by Mrs. Sreedevy Sivarajasinga, the Indian classical dance named Natya Shristi (Creation and Aspects of Dance) was brought to life by the dancers.
The dance opened with a narration about the “greed, lust, and injustice” in the world which was illustrated by 2 different groups representing violence and lust. Red lighting brought out the sense of horror that the dance scenes were trying to depict. The story continued with the appearance of 3 characters – Lord Indra, Lord Brahma, and Barathamuni – trying to alleviate suffering in the world. Another part of the dance included Hastas which was a set of standardised hand gestures, each with its own meaning. These hand gestures required precision, with strict rules on their execution. Even though less than half of the seats in the venue were filled, the exciting atmosphere could be felt through the shrieking cheers from the audience which mostly consisted of students at Kallang Theater.
This achievement could not have come about without the hard work and perseverance of the dancers. “Things didn’t look too good initially because we had all of 5 dancers in the J2 batch and there weren’t many juniors who had auditioned for Indian Dance. But we really stepped up our efforts to recruit dancers by doing a promotional video and it did pay off! We managed to get 19 dancers for SYF – a huge leap from the mere 5 we started off with” said Renisha, the Indian Dance chairperson.
“On the other hand, one of the highest moments of this experience was watching our new dancers (who weren’t Indian, mind you!) put in so much hard work to be able to perform for SYF. Learning the Indian Classical Dance, Bharathanatyam, from scratch is no cakewalk and they learnt what usually takes 3 years to learn, in 3 months! It was inspiring to see how they pushed through, although it really was a struggle!”
It was of course not easy for the new members get used to the dance beat and memorise the choreography with only a month of intense practices. Ho Yu-ling (14S03H), one of the non-Indian members, told us, “My stamina was a problem, the warm ups itself were killers, and for the first week or so, I had muscle ache everyday. It was hard to learn and follow the pace of the dance at first as every single move was new to me and I did not have the basics. I had poor hand leg coordination too, which made dancing to the beat even harder. It took quite long for me to listen and catch the Tamil music beats as it was alien to me!”
Even the Year 6s faced challenges in coping with schoolwork as they had their CTs during the preparation period for SYF. “It sure wasn’t easy balancing studies and dance. The March Holidays was really a test of our mental and physical stamina. The J2s did try our best to study as much as we could for CT1 but I’d be lying if I said we did well for CT1!” said Renisha.
Thankfully, for the Indian Dancers, the hard work paid off in the end.
On Thursday, 11 April 2013, The Realmadrid Foundation (Spanish: Fundación Realmadrid, FRM) announced its plans to partner with Raffles Institution to bring the Realmadrid CampusExperience to Singapore and Southeast Asia. These plans were announced via a press conference held at the Multi-Purpose Hall at RI (Y5-6), attended by (from left): Mr Joaquim Sagúes (Worldwide Director of Campus Experience), Mrs Lim Lai Cheng (Principal of Raffles Institution), Mr Sergio Cervantes (Realmadrid CampusExperience), His Excellency Federico Palomera (Ambassador of Spain to Singapore), Ms Gabriela Martinez de Aragon (GM of BBVA Bank) and Mr Manuel Parreño (Worldwide Director of FRM’s Clinic Programme and Technical Academies).
Speakers at the press conference officially launching the camp
An opportunity for budding boys and girls aged 7-17 keen on pursuing football in the region, the Realmadrid Campus Experience will also provide like-minded Rafflesians and other young footballers a unique opportunity to work with and learn under coaches from one of the most successful teams in football history. More than 100 participants have already signed up from countries in the region such as China, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
However, the programme does not solely provide a footballing experience. “What sets this programme apart from the rest (other football training camps),” says Mr Cervantes, “is that we mix football with education.” The balance is found in a value-based education, focusing on the ideas and beliefs that Real Madrid and FRM pride themselves upon, including leadership, teamwork, humility and respect, to name a few.
On the philanthropic front, FRM seeks to raise funds to sponsor at least one kid for each camp held in the summer, in what H.E. Palomera hopes will be a “small step” in helping the community to be passionate about football as a sport, and as an experience. The Campus Experience hopes to attract children of different socio-economic statuses around the region.
So why choose Raffles?
During the press conference, H.E. Palomera mentioned how he saw Real Madrid as the “epitome of excellence in football”, and viewed Raffles Institution as of a similar level within the Singapore education system. The team in charge of the programme also felt that Raffles was equipped with the facilities they needed to carry out their camps. The CampusExperience will make use of the fields at RI (Y1-4), which will hence serve as the base for their annual camp.
From the Raffles perspective, Mrs Lim exclaimed, “Who can resist Spanish football?” (Before adding: “And I stop short of saying [Spanish] footballers.”) Diving deeper, Mrs Lim felt that a collaboration with Real Madrid was suitable due to similar aims. This was so not only in terms of overall excellence but also in RI’s and Real Madrid’s shared values. She noted how FRM and the CampusExperience’s goals of “raising funds (and) supporting regions and communities and kids who are disadvantaged to allow them that kind of training experience” were in line with “what Raffles has been doing: social responsibility” In exchange, a Gap Semester element will be introduced for RI 1-4 boys, some of whom will have the opportunity to travel to the Spanish CampusExperience site. Clinics will also be conducted by coaches from Real Madrid for the football teams and other interested (and fortunate) participants.
The boys’……and girls’ soccer teams with Mr Cervantes and a signed Real Madrid jersey
H.E. Palomera expressed that Raffles has become the “byword for sporting excellence”. The Foundation’s worldwide director, Mr Sagúes, was also happy about working with Singapore and “happy to cooperate with RI”. It was agreed by both Mrs Lim and the representatives from Real Madrid that this was going to be a “long-term project”, and that both parties were excited to begin what they hope will be a long-standing partnership between Raffles Institution and Real Madrid.
Given RI’s history of sporting excellence and support from the E W Barker Institute of Sports, your correspondents have no doubt that the partnership will promote friendship and cultural exchange, and that the camp will live up to its promise of providing a holistic football education.
For more information, visit the website of Fundación Realmadrid Singapore: www.frmsingapore.com
