Writing this reflection is a very emotional matter for me. Weeks of writing long blog posts have finally come to an end. At this, a mix of elation and sense of loss fills me. Maybe I will continue in my personal blog to post about random topics.
Throughout these weeks of blogging, an example of a topic that piqued my interest would be:
The first week's topic, the debate on Mother Tongue scores, was an extremely nice representation of policies in many organizations and in the society. Usually proposals of policies will be debated, whether in the parliament or in corporate meetings. In this case, a public outrage was triggered, spreading to various platforms of discussion.
Some of the arguments were very intriguing. Some said that reducing Mother Tongue (MT) weightage was an 'easy way out' of the issue of students choosing English over MT. Others felt that the proposed move was justified by the amount of workload students have to bear.
The topic gave me a chance to think of one of Singapore's iconic policies: bilingualism.
Blogging in business English was new for me. Although action verbs may have been wrongly used and passive voice was used at times, hopefully you readers have enjoyed my blog posts.
That's all folks!
By Kwee Peng
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Reflections
This blog has been one of the challenging sections of this subject as it makes u consider on which is the best way to write a post and explain it in the right way.
One of the blogs that proved to be one of the most challenging was the one on 'split weighting for the mother tongue language'. Both sides of the topic had to be carefully interpretated and had to do a summary based on our understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the topic. This not only tested my interpretational skills but also other skills such as how to phrase the summary in a right way.Through this exercise, I have been able to further enhance my writing techniques and my understanding on different topics has improved.
In conclusion, I feel that this exercise has been useful for me and it has increased my vocabulary and writing skills based on this business world. Despite the challenges, it has always allowed me to further improve.
Done By: Palwinder Singh Johal
One of the blogs that proved to be one of the most challenging was the one on 'split weighting for the mother tongue language'. Both sides of the topic had to be carefully interpretated and had to do a summary based on our understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the topic. This not only tested my interpretational skills but also other skills such as how to phrase the summary in a right way.Through this exercise, I have been able to further enhance my writing techniques and my understanding on different topics has improved.
In conclusion, I feel that this exercise has been useful for me and it has increased my vocabulary and writing skills based on this business world. Despite the challenges, it has always allowed me to further improve.
Done By: Palwinder Singh Johal
Monday, July 26, 2010
Reflections
This is the first time that I have been exposed to blogging of articles on today's society.
My first blogging based on article review had been a challenging one for me as it is something new that I have been exposed to. The first newspaper article is "Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue weighting". Reading this article is a challenge to me as I do not usually read newspaper article that does not interests me. However, I manage to overcome this challenge by deceiving myself that this is a very interesting topic.
The second challenge that I faced is to write a reflection based on the article. This is the first time doing reflection on article in English as the other time that I did reflection on article, it is in Chinese. As the Chinese version requires a format to follows, I do not know if the English version is needed. However, I continued to write the reflections treating it as I have never done the Chinese version so as not to confused myself. Overtime, I got used to writing reflections on the articles given weekly.
From the first article "Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue weighting" to the recent one on English language, I can say that some of the articles are interesting. I got to learn more about today's society through reading the articles weekly. Without this blogging exercise, I might still be unaware that there is Mother Tongue weighting has becomes a concern that it has been brought up.
Overall, I have definitely learn many things through this blogging exercise. Firstly, i got to know more about today's society and its concerns. Secondly, I learnt to do reflection based on the articles that i had read. Last but not least, I know that through this blogging exercise, it can help improved my skills on writing.
Done by: Shirley
English Language
English is an important language in today's society.
As different countries have their own native language, it is very hard for two different countries to communicate with one another. Therefore, English language is one of the main language that countries used to communicate with one another.
Many countries are enforcing students to learn English language at a young age. For example, China students are now being taught basic English in their school. Some of the China students who wished to further improve their English, had been seen coming to Singapore to pursue their studies. China, who majors in Chinese language is now learning English in order to build business relationships with countries like United States of America.
Singapore has always been enforcing students to learn both their Mother Tongue language and English language during their pre-school. Some working adults are also seen taking part-time English class to further improve on the English. English language is important in our life and in the business industries. Mother Tongue language is not the only one that has increased their standards but also English language. This goes to show that English is really important in this world as it has becomes a means of communication and building relationship ties in the business world.
Done by: Shirley
Emotional Intelligence- The huge X factor in modern workplaces
References: `Emotional intelligence' a new hiring criterion, The Bonston Globe
Emotional intelligence trumps technical know-how, The Globe and Mail
EQ and benefits of EI
EQ comprises a collection of so-called "soft" skills, including self-awareness, an understanding of how your mood and behavior affect others; impulse control, including how you manage stress on the job; initiative, whether you can be counted on to report to work on time, manage your own time, and meet expectations; and the ability to motivate and lead others. Empathy is also included. (Source: `Emotional intelligence' a new hiring criterion)
The latter article used as reference is the application of the theories as shown in the former article. The latter article shows clearly that a lot of employers are " better off hiring for attitude and then training for skill”. People with EI are more flexible and can assume various roles, making it effiecient for the company. The difference between the 2 articles is that while the former focuses on explaining EI, the latter shows the practical use in a company.
Commonly, people are deemed to have 2 intelligences, IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient). In the past, IQ was used as an indispensable yardstick in evaluating whether an individual is an asset to the company. Nowadays, as the education level of most candidates have raised, Emotional Intelligence (measured by EQ) is the main factor employers look out for.
IQ tests can only calculate linguistic, logical, and spatial intelligence, while the EQ test includes intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence. (Source: http://www.kidswebindia.com/iqeqtreasures.php)
"Many businesses utilize EQ tests to help their employees determine and measure their emotional responses to various situations." (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-emotional-quotient-eq.htm)
Research has shown too that "Not only does emotional intelligence greatly contribute to job performance and leadership skills, it has also been found to increase profits". (Source: http://www.ihhp.com/what_is_eq.htm)
Limitations of EQ
A person’s EQ can be measured using any one of a number of assessments, including one developed by the aforementioned Salovey and Mayer. Some assessments utilize self-given responses while others are peer-given responses. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-emotional-quotient-eq.htm)
Like all other assessments, there would always be the issue of human variability through the time the person is assessed at. Some people display different responses even towards identical events, depending on their mood, energy levels and various factors. Also, some people may not remember certain incidents when asked to take a questionnaire-type assessment, and thus the accuracy of such assessments will always be at doubt.
EQ focuses on intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences, while there are generally two types of "social" people: introverted and extroverted. The former kind of people are usually strong in intrapersonal while being weak in interpersonal intelligences, and vice-versa. The big question is how do we make full use of people's strengths and weaknesses in the workplace, as finding people who are strong in both intelligences may be tedious.
Another aspect of EQ is that people tend to have different situations in which they are more comfortable. Examples would be the place they work, the colleagues they have, and the type of work they are in. Adaptability is a point worth considering, although there are limitations in that aspect too. Depending on various personalities, some people's EQ may change over time if they face too many setbacks and hostile elements, thus blurring EQ's usefulness.
Empathy is more complex, as it requires first-hand experience or similar encounters for people to utilize effectively. It also depends on whether the individual is willing to spend time and effort understanding other people's situations. A simple EQ test has little ability in testing an individual's true worth of empathy, as every individual may be useful in various situations.
Conclusion
EI is a good theory, which is used to cover up some obviously lacking aspects of IQ. However, the measurement of EQ remains an issue, and EQ may also fluctuate over time. I thereby conclude that the best way to find out of a individual's true capabilities and compatibility in the workplace is simply to "put him/her to work".
Extra food for thought:
IQ tests can only calculate linguistic, logical, and spatial intelligence, while the EQ test includes intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence.
Since every person has a creative, unique brain, the limits to which we can push the brain's potential depend entirely on how we activate and stimulate it.
(Source: http://www.kidswebindia.com/iqeqtreasures.php)
By Kwee Peng
Emotional intelligence trumps technical know-how, The Globe and Mail
EQ and benefits of EI
EQ comprises a collection of so-called "soft" skills, including self-awareness, an understanding of how your mood and behavior affect others; impulse control, including how you manage stress on the job; initiative, whether you can be counted on to report to work on time, manage your own time, and meet expectations; and the ability to motivate and lead others. Empathy is also included. (Source: `Emotional intelligence' a new hiring criterion)
The latter article used as reference is the application of the theories as shown in the former article. The latter article shows clearly that a lot of employers are " better off hiring for attitude and then training for skill”. People with EI are more flexible and can assume various roles, making it effiecient for the company. The difference between the 2 articles is that while the former focuses on explaining EI, the latter shows the practical use in a company.
Commonly, people are deemed to have 2 intelligences, IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient). In the past, IQ was used as an indispensable yardstick in evaluating whether an individual is an asset to the company. Nowadays, as the education level of most candidates have raised, Emotional Intelligence (measured by EQ) is the main factor employers look out for.
IQ tests can only calculate linguistic, logical, and spatial intelligence, while the EQ test includes intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence. (Source: http://www.kidswebindia.com/iqeqtreasures.php)
"Many businesses utilize EQ tests to help their employees determine and measure their emotional responses to various situations." (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-emotional-quotient-eq.htm)
Research has shown too that "Not only does emotional intelligence greatly contribute to job performance and leadership skills, it has also been found to increase profits". (Source: http://www.ihhp.com/what_is_eq.htm)
Limitations of EQ
A person’s EQ can be measured using any one of a number of assessments, including one developed by the aforementioned Salovey and Mayer. Some assessments utilize self-given responses while others are peer-given responses. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-emotional-quotient-eq.htm)
Like all other assessments, there would always be the issue of human variability through the time the person is assessed at. Some people display different responses even towards identical events, depending on their mood, energy levels and various factors. Also, some people may not remember certain incidents when asked to take a questionnaire-type assessment, and thus the accuracy of such assessments will always be at doubt.
EQ focuses on intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences, while there are generally two types of "social" people: introverted and extroverted. The former kind of people are usually strong in intrapersonal while being weak in interpersonal intelligences, and vice-versa. The big question is how do we make full use of people's strengths and weaknesses in the workplace, as finding people who are strong in both intelligences may be tedious.
Another aspect of EQ is that people tend to have different situations in which they are more comfortable. Examples would be the place they work, the colleagues they have, and the type of work they are in. Adaptability is a point worth considering, although there are limitations in that aspect too. Depending on various personalities, some people's EQ may change over time if they face too many setbacks and hostile elements, thus blurring EQ's usefulness.
Empathy is more complex, as it requires first-hand experience or similar encounters for people to utilize effectively. It also depends on whether the individual is willing to spend time and effort understanding other people's situations. A simple EQ test has little ability in testing an individual's true worth of empathy, as every individual may be useful in various situations.
Conclusion
EI is a good theory, which is used to cover up some obviously lacking aspects of IQ. However, the measurement of EQ remains an issue, and EQ may also fluctuate over time. I thereby conclude that the best way to find out of a individual's true capabilities and compatibility in the workplace is simply to "put him/her to work".
Extra food for thought:
IQ tests can only calculate linguistic, logical, and spatial intelligence, while the EQ test includes intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence.
Since every person has a creative, unique brain, the limits to which we can push the brain's potential depend entirely on how we activate and stimulate it.
(Source: http://www.kidswebindia.com/iqeqtreasures.php)
By Kwee Peng
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Final Post
Over the few weeks of blogging experiences, I realized that blogging is quite a fun activity as it requires knowledge of people in understanding the topic they are writing. This blog activity had let me know more about the society and it had improved my knowledge and characteristic.
E.g. the previous blog entry about Emotional Intelligence had taught me on what is the actual ways of handling personal emotions, on why should people handle their emotions, and on how important is emotions to the society.
With all the blogging topics, it had helped me to know more about what everyone should have and what is the correct characteristic everybody should have. Therefore from this blogging experience, it had help me achieve another level of my characteristic and also improved in my English writing.
Here, I would like to thank you, Mr Pang, for guiding us all along in this blogging activity. Without you, I would not been able to improve my writing, and also on my blogging skills. (because I have never blog before in the past) You have also helped me to learn how to analyse articles and also some particular Topic.
Once again, THANK YOU!! :D
By: Winston
Emotional Intelligence
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence describes the ability, capacity, skill or, a self-perceived grand ability to identify, assess, manage and control the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.
Emotional Intelligence embraces two aspects of intelligence:
· Understanding yourself, your goals, intentions, responses, behaviour and all.
· Understanding others, and their feelings.
Emotional Intelligence includes four types of abilities:
1. Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible.
2. Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.
3. Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.
4. Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.
The five domains of Emotional Intelligence:
- Knowing your emotions
- Managing your own emotions
- Motivating yourself
- Recognizing and understanding other people's emotions
- Managing relationships, E.g. managing the emotions of others
Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and theirrelationships, and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them. Emotional intelligence is involved in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage them.
The high EI individual, most centrally, can better perceive emotions, use them in thought, understand their meanings, and manage emotions, than others. Solving emotional problems likely requires less cognitive effort for this individual. The person also tends to be somewhat higher in verbal, social, and other intelligences, particularly if the individual scored higher in the understanding emotions portion of EI. The individual tends to be more open and agreeable than others. The high EI person is drawn to occupations involving social interactions such as teaching and counselling more so than to occupations involving clerical or administrative tasks.
The high EI individual, relative to others, is less apt to engage in problem behaviors, and avoids self-destructive, negative behaviours such as smoking, excessive drinking, drug abuse, or violent episodes with others. The high EI person is more likely to have possessions of sentimental attachment around the home and to have more positive social interactions, particularly if the individual scored highly on emotional management. Such individuals may also be more adept at describing motivational goals, aims, and missions.
Different EI in people
Some of us accomplish certain tasks with great ease and sophistication; others of us simply can't do those tasks. This is the case with most challenges we face in life. Some of us are great chess players while others of us have trouble just figuring out how the pieces move. Some of us are fabulous conversationalists, while others of us have trouble just saying hello.
Emotional intelligence is an intelligence having to do with discerning and understanding emotional information. Emotional information is all around us. Emotions communicate basic feeling states from one individual to another -- they signal urgent messages such as "let's get together" or "I am hurting" or "I'm going to hurt you."
We all need emotional intelligence to help us through our emotionally demanding days. Even if we are not emotionally intelligent ourselves, we may rely on those higher in emotional intelligence to guide us.
EI are particularly good at establishing positive social relationships with others, and avoiding conflicts, fights, and other social altercations. They're particularly good at understanding psychologically healthy living and avoiding such problems as drugs and drug abuse. It seems likely that such individuals, by providing coaching advice to others, and by directly involving themselves in certain situations, assist other individuals and groups of people to live together with greater harmony and satisfaction.
Measuring Emotional Intelligence
Some people ask whether emotional intelligence should be measured at all. Often, people who take this position equate emotional intelligence with maintaining a sense of sensitivity and respect toward humanity. The idea of assigning a number to a person's quality and particularly an emotion-related quality such as emotional intelligence seems highly problematic.
The counter-argument to this begins with the idea that self knowledge is a core human value. The importance of self-knowledge has been recognized by both Western and Eastern philosophers since antiquity.
One contemporary contribution to self-understanding that arises from psychological research is that it is very difficult for people to understand themselves without some kind of independent feedback.
Changing Emotional Intelligence
Some people may ask that “Is it possible for someone to increase his or her emotional knowledge?” and “Is it possible for someone to improve their social and emotional functioning?” In both cases, the answer is almost certainly yes.
First of all, it would be surprising if people could not learn something about emotions and emotional behaviour. People are very good at learning, and emotions are fairly well understood. There is nothing mysterious about how to teach information about emotions.
Many educational curricula exist concerning teaching social and emotional effectiveness. In addition, some curricula can be focused on emotional learning in particular. Teaching emotional knowledge and teaching social and emotional functioning are somewhat different.
Therefore, I agree that Emotional Intelligence is very important to everyone and with a good Emotional Intelligence, everybody can work well together and the world will have peace. In addition, I suggest that peoples should work on managing their emotions and this will definitely help them to move on to a greater path in their life.
By: Winston
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The English Language
Today, English is still the most widely used language in the world. Traveller can use it almost in any conner of the world. With English, countries that speak different languages could communicate easily and understand each other well.
The English Language is the most important in educations in Singapore. If one failed English in any exam, he had fail the whole exam. Over the years the Singapore Government has been emphasizing more and more on speaking good quality English. Advertisements were made to remind citizens to speak good English. I feel this is very essential as stated previously, Singaporeans need make use its advantage of being an English speaking country to cooperate with other countries more often to do business.
So I think the Government should pay more attention on the education to children and teenagers than the general public. When a child born to speak good English, he will maintain the high standard and pass it down to the nest generation. Over the years, Singapore's overall standard will become higher and continue growing.
Done by, Yang Xin Yu
Cyber Wellness
Computer has become a tool that we must have in the modern days. Internet has become the biggest platform for people to exchange information. From a British research group (www.cybersentinel.co.uk), they found that, on the whole, teens spend some 31 hours per week online, that’s around 4.4 hours per day online. However, this number grow even higher for a normal poly student in Singapore.
It attracts people's attention on how teenagers think about it. And the result turns out that many of them did not thought of the health risk at all. Also, teenagers did not take note of the "proper usage" of the internet, here refer to the cyber awareness. Teenagers now a days just download musics ,movies and softwares online with out second thought on it. Many of them did not aware that all those contents they downloaded carry copyrights and it is illegal to download it. This act has no difference between stealing.
People are sad to see this phenomenon to appear. I think the Government did not put enough effort to promote the awareness of proper internet usage for the public. Also, they did not work hard enough to monitor and block the websites that allow teenagers to access to illegal contents so easily. I think the Government should make more advertisements and held more talks in school to tell teenagers the consequences and how to have a healthy life style with so much of internet usage every day.
Done by, Yang Xin Yu
Monday, July 19, 2010
The English Language from various viewpoints
Reference Articles
Article 1- Global English 'Strengthening U.S. Supremacy' from englishnews@chosun.com
Article 2- Beijing steps up English-language drive from www.ChinaPost.com.tw
Article 3- Have English standards REALLY fallen? from http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20091108-178566.html
While most people assume that the English Language is just a communication tool, article 1 shows us that the English Language has become such a powerful symbol worldwide that it "strengthens U.S. supremacy". Articles 2 and 3 shows China and Singapore striving to improve their English standards, in order to increase communication in various sectors, especially the tourism sector.
Article 2 supports article 1's claims where English is predicted to be the second language in China, by citing China's campaigns for English proficiency among some professions.
Contrary to article 2, article 3 shows the many approaches to viewing English. Singapore has high English proficiency, where the next step is now to maintain the English standard. In addition, article 3 rightfully points out that while Singapore students are good in 'receptive' skills (listening and reading), 'productive' skills (speaking and writing) has much room for improvement. Grammatical knowledge has also improved.
Thus, article 3 explains that although the English standard in Singapore seems to be floundering, the issue is in fact multi-layered. Magnifying the various aspects that constitutes English, Singapore is actually doing well relative to other countries. For article 2, article 3's analysis of the English language could help to develop a more balanced approach in increasing the English proficiency in China.
Regarding my own viewpoints, English Language is more than just a communication tool. English, as an international language, has helped unify the world and aided in making globalization a great success. In fact, English may be a tool of survival for some non-western natives to communicate with their western counterparts. In some countries, English may even be a privileged language to learn and use, especially for less developed nations.
Article 1- Global English 'Strengthening U.S. Supremacy' from englishnews@chosun.com
Article 2- Beijing steps up English-language drive from www.ChinaPost.com.tw
Article 3- Have English standards REALLY fallen? from http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20091108-178566.html
While most people assume that the English Language is just a communication tool, article 1 shows us that the English Language has become such a powerful symbol worldwide that it "strengthens U.S. supremacy". Articles 2 and 3 shows China and Singapore striving to improve their English standards, in order to increase communication in various sectors, especially the tourism sector.
Article 2 supports article 1's claims where English is predicted to be the second language in China, by citing China's campaigns for English proficiency among some professions.
Contrary to article 2, article 3 shows the many approaches to viewing English. Singapore has high English proficiency, where the next step is now to maintain the English standard. In addition, article 3 rightfully points out that while Singapore students are good in 'receptive' skills (listening and reading), 'productive' skills (speaking and writing) has much room for improvement. Grammatical knowledge has also improved.
Thus, article 3 explains that although the English standard in Singapore seems to be floundering, the issue is in fact multi-layered. Magnifying the various aspects that constitutes English, Singapore is actually doing well relative to other countries. For article 2, article 3's analysis of the English language could help to develop a more balanced approach in increasing the English proficiency in China.
Regarding my own viewpoints, English Language is more than just a communication tool. English, as an international language, has helped unify the world and aided in making globalization a great success. In fact, English may be a tool of survival for some non-western natives to communicate with their western counterparts. In some countries, English may even be a privileged language to learn and use, especially for less developed nations.
Thus, with English, professionals can finally take full control of their success in the global workplace. Aside from professionals, countries like Singapore benefited greatly from emphasizing on English proficiency. English helped to unify Singapore's different races together, thus contributing much to a prosperous and stable society.
On a last note, English has seen "evolutions" as it gets passed around into different countries. Examples include "Singlish" and "Chinglish". These "evolved forms" of English are strongly filled with native culture and thus could be treated seriously along with English.
English is a constantly evolving subject, so let us adapt to its changes and soar well in the international workplace with it.
From Kwee Peng
English Language
English language is the most important language in this universe at this point of time. Not knowing how to speak this language would be of great disadvantage to an individual. That is why schools in Singapore give so much importance to this language.
In Singapore, the education system gives the most importance to english language. If a student is unable to pass this subject, he is not allowed to carry on further with his education. This ensures that every student in Singapore learns how to speak and write this language with minimal effort. This would help Singaporean students to have greater career opportunities and be more competitive compared to other people in other less educated countries like China and India. Big companies may want to chose employees with good communication skills so that they can speak to more customers. It is true that not all customers speak english, but english is a universal language and it is the also the most important in these times.
In conclusion, I feel that the Singapore government has taken a right step in equipping their students with this language allowing them to be more competitive in the near future and in current times.
Done By: Palwinder Singh
In Singapore, the education system gives the most importance to english language. If a student is unable to pass this subject, he is not allowed to carry on further with his education. This ensures that every student in Singapore learns how to speak and write this language with minimal effort. This would help Singaporean students to have greater career opportunities and be more competitive compared to other people in other less educated countries like China and India. Big companies may want to chose employees with good communication skills so that they can speak to more customers. It is true that not all customers speak english, but english is a universal language and it is the also the most important in these times.
In conclusion, I feel that the Singapore government has taken a right step in equipping their students with this language allowing them to be more competitive in the near future and in current times.
Done By: Palwinder Singh
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The English Language
I agree that English is definitely important in the society as it is the main language that many countries used to communicate with another country. Without English language, countries would have difficulty in communicating with each other. Example, without English, Chinese are unable to communicate with the Americans as their country has their own country's language. Therefore, English is a great tool for communication and only with English, the economy could grow.
In order to have a powerful English society in Singapore, schools should emphasize on students scoring well in their English language examinations. Schools should organize an "English Awareness" talk to help student to understand why is studying of English is important.
For China, they do not have proper English teacher for them to learn English and therefore most of them are unable to communicate with the Americans. Thus, I suggest that USA should sent English professional to conduct talks in China to aid them in learning English language.
In China, English language should be tested in examinations and students are required to do well in the examination. With improvement in speaking and writing English language, it would allow talents in the country to go overseas to other countries such as USA for further studies. It could also allow Chinese in China to communicate well with foreigners either when they go for another country for holiday or tourists visits China.
As the world improves on their communication through speaking and writing English, the economy of the world would be better as communication between countries would be better. Therefore, I suggest that the world should focus on improving their style of writing and speaking English language.
By: Winston
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Cyber-Awareness
Most youngsters lack of cyber-wellness and they do not know the importance of it. Cyber-wellness is important in this days because there were many cases where people were being cheated of money through online shopping and many teenagers are addicted to online gaming.
One of the popular cases due to lack of cyber-wellness is being con on online shopping. This days, people like to do online shopping as they find it convenient and the prices are quite cheap compared to some of the shops. However, they do not know that some of the online shops are fraud. Some of people paid the blogger money but do not get their goods delivered to them. Those people do not think before they act. They were just being lured by the convenience and cheap pricing provided by the blogger. The end results is them being con of their money.
Another popular case is teenagers addicted to online gaming. Online gaming is not only popular to the teenagers but to some adults too. Once they start playing, they find it hard to stop. According to research, most of the teenagers who are addicted to online gaming spend most of their time on their computer instead of concentrating on their study. There are also cases where teenagers neglect their studies and have to drop out of school due to their addiction of online gaming.
In conclusion, I think that NIAC should organise talks to all the primary school, secondary school, polytechnic, junior college and university. This talk will create cyber awareness to all the students. Not only that, talks on cyber awareness should also be conducted outside so that those people who lacks of cyber awareness could also attend. By doing so, cases that links to lack of cyber awareness will decrease.
Done by: Shirley
One of the popular cases due to lack of cyber-wellness is being con on online shopping. This days, people like to do online shopping as they find it convenient and the prices are quite cheap compared to some of the shops. However, they do not know that some of the online shops are fraud. Some of people paid the blogger money but do not get their goods delivered to them. Those people do not think before they act. They were just being lured by the convenience and cheap pricing provided by the blogger. The end results is them being con of their money.
Another popular case is teenagers addicted to online gaming. Online gaming is not only popular to the teenagers but to some adults too. Once they start playing, they find it hard to stop. According to research, most of the teenagers who are addicted to online gaming spend most of their time on their computer instead of concentrating on their study. There are also cases where teenagers neglect their studies and have to drop out of school due to their addiction of online gaming.
In conclusion, I think that NIAC should organise talks to all the primary school, secondary school, polytechnic, junior college and university. This talk will create cyber awareness to all the students. Not only that, talks on cyber awareness should also be conducted outside so that those people who lacks of cyber awareness could also attend. By doing so, cases that links to lack of cyber awareness will decrease.
Done by: Shirley
Lack of Cyber Wellness a "dangerous matter"
According to the Cyber Wellness Task Force (CWTF) report in 2004, cyber wellness is: "The positive well-being of Internet users and a healthy cyber culture for the Internet community.
The Internet has been infamous for being a breeding ground for nefarious deeds and a tricky ground to set legislation for. Issues like cyber-bullying, hacking, phishing, scamming, illegal downloading challenges human morality and, in a way, challenges users to act righteously.
Notably, most users assume that they are anonymous when they use the internet. Thus they would have less responsibility and respect when doing things online, and some freely express their opinions. This leads to racial discrimination, cyber-bullying and "flaming", the act of expressing angry comments towards other people.
Education could be done more on this field to correct the situation, such as reminding Internet users that even on the Internet, people have emotions. Written abuse is a powerful way of inciting emotions, so comments on blogs, forums and online games could be thought out more carefully before being expressed. Human morality should be emphasized, since enforcement of any law could prove tricky, due to huge size of issues created daily.
Next, the protection of Internet users, although extensive, could still prove inadequate as new online threats are created everyday. These threats include: viruses, phishing, spyware and hacking. Part of this issue lies with the ignorance of threats ubiquitous throughout the Internet, even among teenagers. This threats have more implications on the young and old, since access to these information takes one a lot of time to read up.
Nowadays, it is becoming easy for a non tech-savvy user to pose threats to other users, due to software and websites which teach people to. Keylogging is especially one common threat that is very easy to implement, even for those with no experience. Spam e-mails these days contain threats from the moment users open the email, and thus users who are ignorant about such issues will bear the brunt of the damage.
Measures include: awareness of which websites are real (against phishing), installing anti-virus, anti-spyware and other software to protect against complicated threats. Education is a key element to preventing legitimate users from facing these issues which may "turn them to the other side". Human morality could be emphasized here, yet again, as legislation could do little against threats of such huge extent.
Finally, Intellectual Property (IP) is an extremely tricky situation to handle. Many companies have tried unsuccessfully to make sure that creative content sold in markets do not get posted on the Internet for free downloading. Apparently, this is still a grey area for most users. Many people do not want to buy things which they can get for free off the Internet, unless it's for personal reasons like support for the pop idol etc.
Also, this steps on the area of human psychology, where people would not like a disadvantage on the things they could potentially own. Influence from acquaintances and peers play a part as well. Additionally, IP, to most people, is a largely obscure concept. This is due in part to the relative small creative industry. As little people work in that industry, few among thousands would fully comprehend the impact that infringement of IP does.
The truth is grim too. Nowadays, probably most of the materials available online are either infringing on IP or contains plagiarism. This issue today spans across several individual industries like the television, song and movie industries. As there are too many things that have to be done, like re-shifting the human psychology to recognize IP over personal benefit, this issue is not easily resolved.
In conclusion, as Singapore's and worldwide usage of the Internet increases, we will face increasingly complex issues about cyber wellness. New threats will surface over time, but one fundamental concept should be remembered when we go online, regardless of the purpose.
And that is: We are still human even when we are online.
By Kwee Peng
The Internet has been infamous for being a breeding ground for nefarious deeds and a tricky ground to set legislation for. Issues like cyber-bullying, hacking, phishing, scamming, illegal downloading challenges human morality and, in a way, challenges users to act righteously.
Notably, most users assume that they are anonymous when they use the internet. Thus they would have less responsibility and respect when doing things online, and some freely express their opinions. This leads to racial discrimination, cyber-bullying and "flaming", the act of expressing angry comments towards other people.
Education could be done more on this field to correct the situation, such as reminding Internet users that even on the Internet, people have emotions. Written abuse is a powerful way of inciting emotions, so comments on blogs, forums and online games could be thought out more carefully before being expressed. Human morality should be emphasized, since enforcement of any law could prove tricky, due to huge size of issues created daily.
Next, the protection of Internet users, although extensive, could still prove inadequate as new online threats are created everyday. These threats include: viruses, phishing, spyware and hacking. Part of this issue lies with the ignorance of threats ubiquitous throughout the Internet, even among teenagers. This threats have more implications on the young and old, since access to these information takes one a lot of time to read up.
Nowadays, it is becoming easy for a non tech-savvy user to pose threats to other users, due to software and websites which teach people to. Keylogging is especially one common threat that is very easy to implement, even for those with no experience. Spam e-mails these days contain threats from the moment users open the email, and thus users who are ignorant about such issues will bear the brunt of the damage.
Measures include: awareness of which websites are real (against phishing), installing anti-virus, anti-spyware and other software to protect against complicated threats. Education is a key element to preventing legitimate users from facing these issues which may "turn them to the other side". Human morality could be emphasized here, yet again, as legislation could do little against threats of such huge extent.
Finally, Intellectual Property (IP) is an extremely tricky situation to handle. Many companies have tried unsuccessfully to make sure that creative content sold in markets do not get posted on the Internet for free downloading. Apparently, this is still a grey area for most users. Many people do not want to buy things which they can get for free off the Internet, unless it's for personal reasons like support for the pop idol etc.
Also, this steps on the area of human psychology, where people would not like a disadvantage on the things they could potentially own. Influence from acquaintances and peers play a part as well. Additionally, IP, to most people, is a largely obscure concept. This is due in part to the relative small creative industry. As little people work in that industry, few among thousands would fully comprehend the impact that infringement of IP does.
The truth is grim too. Nowadays, probably most of the materials available online are either infringing on IP or contains plagiarism. This issue today spans across several individual industries like the television, song and movie industries. As there are too many things that have to be done, like re-shifting the human psychology to recognize IP over personal benefit, this issue is not easily resolved.
In conclusion, as Singapore's and worldwide usage of the Internet increases, we will face increasingly complex issues about cyber wellness. New threats will surface over time, but one fundamental concept should be remembered when we go online, regardless of the purpose.
And that is: We are still human even when we are online.
By Kwee Peng
Monday, July 12, 2010
Cyber Wellness
Teens in Singapore spend a lot of time on the internet. As the article says, teenagers spend an average of about 17.2 hours each week on the internet.
They know a lot about the internet but when it comes to cyber awareness, they lack knowledge. For example, teens know stuff about gaming and surfing the web for sources. They also know how to download audio tracks and movies illegally from the internet but they do not know the consequences if caught. This shows us that they are not aware of what is safe and what is not. Some may be aware of the dangers but may chose to avoid them. By not equipping them with cyber knowledge they are just causing harm to themselves and their well-being on the internet.Many other teens also lack knowledge on stuff like copyright acts and so on. This just increases the risk of Singaporeans teens being cyber bullied easily.
In conclusion, I feel that teens in Singapore should put in some effort to understand the risks of being on the internet and what can happen to them without their knowledge. By being more aware about internet, they can reduce the probability of themselves being attacked on the internet.
Done By: Palwinder Singh Johal
They know a lot about the internet but when it comes to cyber awareness, they lack knowledge. For example, teens know stuff about gaming and surfing the web for sources. They also know how to download audio tracks and movies illegally from the internet but they do not know the consequences if caught. This shows us that they are not aware of what is safe and what is not. Some may be aware of the dangers but may chose to avoid them. By not equipping them with cyber knowledge they are just causing harm to themselves and their well-being on the internet.Many other teens also lack knowledge on stuff like copyright acts and so on. This just increases the risk of Singaporeans teens being cyber bullied easily.
In conclusion, I feel that teens in Singapore should put in some effort to understand the risks of being on the internet and what can happen to them without their knowledge. By being more aware about internet, they can reduce the probability of themselves being attacked on the internet.
Done By: Palwinder Singh Johal
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Cyber Wellness
Cyber Wellness is definitely important as it can prevent one's from doing things that are illegal, such as free downloads of songs, movie and etc. People that set up the illegal website for free downloading of songs, movie and etc are unable to be tracked due to the wide network. However, people can control themselves to not download any items in the website IF they have strong cyber wellness. Therefore, I agree that cyber wellness is very important.
There are some teenagers that like to do "blog shopping", which means that clothes, shoes and etc are sold online in the website. Seller post product on their blog and those people that are interested to make purchase any item, they are required to pay by credit cards. However, buyers does not have the thoughts of if the seller took the money and did not deliver the products, they are unable to claim it back. Therefore, blog shopping might be dangerous.
Email is a common communication tools for everyone as it is easier than writing a letter. Writing an email saves time and money as only internet is needed. However, recently there are cases where emails are spam automatically and people that are curious in the content will tend to visit the website by the given link in the email. Some of the websites contain virus that might harm their computers. Therefore, it is not safe for younger people at the age of 12 - 14 years old to use email as a communication.
Instant messaging are very common nowadays as it is a simple and easy communication tool. Everyone uses instant messaging as messages are sent instantly without any delay. E.g. When A guy sent a message to B guy through instant messaging, B guy will receive the message during the next five seconds. Therefore, the message are being sent more faster and efficiently.
Inappropriate websites such as pornographic websites should be ban/block in Internet Cafes so as to prevent users from entering pornographic websites. Cases of sex abuse/raping/molesting are caused by people who visited the pornographic websites very often. If pornographic websites are not ban/block to prevent teenagers from visiting, more underage sex cases would definitely occurs. However, people with strong cyber wellness, will exit the website if they did not intend to visit it. Therefore, people themselves plays a part in managing cyber wellness.
Below are some of my suggestion to help improve cyber wellness of everyone.
Firstly, I suggest that parents should frequently check their children's laptop or computer to check whether is there any inappropriate website their child had visited and provide an advise for their children to help them understand why cyber wellness is important.
Secondly, I suggest that schools should hire professional to provide a talk to their students to enhance cyber wellness of the students.
Thirdly, Internet Cafes should ban/block all the websites that are illegal in their cafes so as to prevent users to visit the inappropriate websites.
By: Winston
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
World Cup affecting office productivity
As the World Cup came, many people decide to catch the late game and could not rest well at night. Therefor many employers complains that the World Cup is affecting office productivity. However, I do not agree with their statement.
Due to the difference is time zone between South Africa and Singapore, all games are held in late night. Many soccer fans decide to burn the midnight oil and watch the game. Employers in companies believes that their productivity drop during the peroid is due to their employees could not rest well. I think this is not ture because we all know that the World cup games are played at 7:30, 10:00 and 2:30. So a smart employee will be able to watch the earlier 2 games and go to sleep before 12 midnight, which is a very normal to sleep even if they did not watch the game.
Also, there is a study says that if people want to catch the late 2:30 game, they could sleep 4 and half hours before it to get their brain fully rested and then continue to sleep after the game end at 4 to allow their body to rest.
So I should say that the World Cup did not affect the office productivity but the poor decisions made by the the employee nt to rest well affected it.
done by Yang Xin Yu
Due to the difference is time zone between South Africa and Singapore, all games are held in late night. Many soccer fans decide to burn the midnight oil and watch the game. Employers in companies believes that their productivity drop during the peroid is due to their employees could not rest well. I think this is not ture because we all know that the World cup games are played at 7:30, 10:00 and 2:30. So a smart employee will be able to watch the earlier 2 games and go to sleep before 12 midnight, which is a very normal to sleep even if they did not watch the game.
Also, there is a study says that if people want to catch the late 2:30 game, they could sleep 4 and half hours before it to get their brain fully rested and then continue to sleep after the game end at 4 to allow their body to rest.
So I should say that the World Cup did not affect the office productivity but the poor decisions made by the the employee nt to rest well affected it.
done by Yang Xin Yu
Office productivity and the World Cup DEATH MATCH
GOAL!!! The 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 19th FIFA World Cup, is held in South Africa this year, from 11 June to 11 July. As the World Cup progresses, soccer fans cheer their own countries as well as watch professional soccer, meanwhile a dark atmosphere engulfs office workplaces.
By referencing to the articles "How to manage your workflow around the England game", "Lower productivity, more sick leave expected during World Cup: HR experts" and "Some employers fear World Cup", a ghastly picture is drawn.
Yes, a death match between office productivity and the World Cup progresses, as employers combat falling productivity due to lack of sleep, distractions etc. due to the World Cup. The latter two articles show that employees would go the extra mile to watch 'live' matches rather than compromise for recorded matches. The first article, meanwhile, presents interesting tips to manage the workload better around the workplace, while making compromise for soccer fans.
The three articles present a global phenomenon: while matches may be shown in the afternoon in the United Kingdom, they are shown late at night in China and Singapore. Moreover, workplaces worldwide are facing decreasing office productivity due to employees being too engrossed with the matches.
While matches are increasingly intense on the soccer fields, another match is covertly happening: the death match between office productivity and the World Cup. While it is possible that office productivity may drop due to overflowing interest in the World Cup matches, the result can vary, based on the employer's actions.
History has taught us that unyielding to workers stubbornly may produce drastic results, examples easily found from strikes and riots all over the world, like the Air France strike. The World Cup creates displeasure, but only to a smaller extent. Being too rigid in the workplace makes employees feel that the employers do not care about their interests, and thus may create a barrier between the boss and the worker.
The first article gives us a few tools to work with, while employers must first feel empathetic towards employees' interest in the World Cup. Some employees are interested only in the World Cup since it only occurs once every four years, some bet on the matches, while others may watch it to discuss with their co-workers and friends. Accordingly, employers should use the World Cup as a platform to bond with workers.
Since the World Cup occurs at every hour possible, due to different time zones, late-night, mid-day and morning matches could be handled by introducing flexible work hours and lesser workload for this period. This should work for office workplaces, but as for the manufacturing industry employers may need to find part-time workers disinterested in soccer, while granting unpaid leave to a small number of employees who are die-hard fans.
Finally, office productivity and the World Cup may not necessarily be at a death match. They can coexist peacefully when handled properly, depending on what the employer thinks and do.
Now... time for some Mac and SO--CC--ER!!
By: Kwee Peng
By referencing to the articles "How to manage your workflow around the England game", "Lower productivity, more sick leave expected during World Cup: HR experts" and "Some employers fear World Cup", a ghastly picture is drawn.
Yes, a death match between office productivity and the World Cup progresses, as employers combat falling productivity due to lack of sleep, distractions etc. due to the World Cup. The latter two articles show that employees would go the extra mile to watch 'live' matches rather than compromise for recorded matches. The first article, meanwhile, presents interesting tips to manage the workload better around the workplace, while making compromise for soccer fans.
The three articles present a global phenomenon: while matches may be shown in the afternoon in the United Kingdom, they are shown late at night in China and Singapore. Moreover, workplaces worldwide are facing decreasing office productivity due to employees being too engrossed with the matches.
While matches are increasingly intense on the soccer fields, another match is covertly happening: the death match between office productivity and the World Cup. While it is possible that office productivity may drop due to overflowing interest in the World Cup matches, the result can vary, based on the employer's actions.
History has taught us that unyielding to workers stubbornly may produce drastic results, examples easily found from strikes and riots all over the world, like the Air France strike. The World Cup creates displeasure, but only to a smaller extent. Being too rigid in the workplace makes employees feel that the employers do not care about their interests, and thus may create a barrier between the boss and the worker.
The first article gives us a few tools to work with, while employers must first feel empathetic towards employees' interest in the World Cup. Some employees are interested only in the World Cup since it only occurs once every four years, some bet on the matches, while others may watch it to discuss with their co-workers and friends. Accordingly, employers should use the World Cup as a platform to bond with workers.
Since the World Cup occurs at every hour possible, due to different time zones, late-night, mid-day and morning matches could be handled by introducing flexible work hours and lesser workload for this period. This should work for office workplaces, but as for the manufacturing industry employers may need to find part-time workers disinterested in soccer, while granting unpaid leave to a small number of employees who are die-hard fans.
Finally, office productivity and the World Cup may not necessarily be at a death match. They can coexist peacefully when handled properly, depending on what the employer thinks and do.
Now... time for some Mac and SO--CC--ER!!
By: Kwee Peng
Monday, July 5, 2010
World Cup affecting Office Productivity
As the world cup starts, more and more people would want to watch it as it only comes once every four years. Many people around the world will be watching the world cup and this may inturn affect their perfomance at work. Many workers despite knowing that they may not be able to perform so well in their they would still watch the world cup.
This may be a major cause of concern for the employers as they wouldn't be able to do much to stop their employees from watching the world cup. This would thus cause the office productivity to decrease. For instance, many in China are fanatics about the world cup and some are even comsidering quitting their jobs just to watch the world cup. This would be a disadvantage to both the employers and employees.
In conclusion, the world cup is affecting office productivity and thus employers and their companies may have to consider ways and means to prevent the seriousness of this case to go to high.
Done By: Palwinder Singh
This may be a major cause of concern for the employers as they wouldn't be able to do much to stop their employees from watching the world cup. This would thus cause the office productivity to decrease. For instance, many in China are fanatics about the world cup and some are even comsidering quitting their jobs just to watch the world cup. This would be a disadvantage to both the employers and employees.
In conclusion, the world cup is affecting office productivity and thus employers and their companies may have to consider ways and means to prevent the seriousness of this case to go to high.
Done By: Palwinder Singh
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Office Productivity
I agree that as World Cup kicks off, most of the football fans would be willing to stay up late at night to watch every match. As they stayed up late to watch the match, they would have no energy the next day to work. Thus, they will then apply leave from their employers and give reasons such as “I am sick”, “my mother is receiving treatment”, and all sorts of reasons. If many employees applied for leave, the productivity would definitely fall. Office productivity is important. Even though the World Cup only takes place every four years, it doesn’t mean that most of the office productivity would fall and rise every four years. E.g. If a company has 100 employees, 70 of them are football fans, there are 20 people applying for leave every day, the office productivity would definitely drop.
What employers can do to prevent this from happening is that employers can build employee morale through celebration and reduce from implying stress. Serious meetings should be switch to a more relax kind of meeting, with more laughter instead of everybody looking so serious. Project’s deadline can be pressed, but prevent from stressing their employees. Employers can also organize an outing or and dinner with their employees and this can help in having stronger bonds between each other.
By: Winston