Reflection: The FINALE

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

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

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

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:

1. Knowing your emotions
2. Managing your own emotions
3. Motivating yourself
4. Recognizing and understanding other people's emotions
5. 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

http://www.businessballs.com/eq.htm

http://www.unh.edu/emotional_intelligence/index.html

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

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.

Translators have been used in the past to aid in communications between business meetings if there are communication barriers. Regarding this, some important terms that natives use may be "lost in translation" or misinterpreted. Translators, being human, may also pass slightly altered messages to their clients. This poses a risk of businessmen or other professionals relying on translators to have less successful meetings with clients.

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

English Language

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Self-reflection

After looking through the past blog entries, I found that blogging has made me gain interest and attention in international affairs. This interest helps me to gain better understanding of my surrounding, the world I am living in. With the blogging method, it forces me to think and understand what is happening and try to come out a conclusion of the matter.

Keep myself updated with international affairs helps me to perform better in school. For example, I could quickly link the knowledge I just learnt in Macroeconomics lesson to the current happenings. It helps me to understand and apply the knowledges easily. Also, it allow me to look matters in a big picture.

I am glad that I found a new interest that helps me to do better in school and live better!

Done by: Yang Xin Yu

Self-Relection

Out of the 4 articles that i have done, 'Singapore splits on Mother Tongue weighting' affects me most personally.

Even though I disagree that Mother Tongue weighting should be reduced considering today's society, but I personally think that it should be reduced. Mother Tongue language has always been an obstacle to me. The exams standard of Mother Tongue has always been very high and those who are weak in that subject have to compete with those who excel in the subject. Therefore, the moderation does not help much.

However, I also think that Mother Tongue weighting should not be reduced as in today's society, we need Mother Tongue to communicate with the people in China. Most of the business in Singapore now works with the business in China.

The other three articles did not affect me much personally as I have never given them much thought. How Singapore can stay forever young, plagiarism and animals reducing are not in my thought the most. However, plagiarism and animals reducing have been in my thought some time in the past. I had read articles about animals reducing in National Geography when I am in Secondary School and had given some thought. Though, animal reducing does not affect me much personally as compared to Singaporeans split on Mother Tongue weighting.

Done by: Shirley

Opinions on the article 'Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression'

Quoted from the article, 'self-reflective rumination--a focus on the self and one's feelings'.

This is an interesting discovery, one which would help mental health institutions to categorize patients with depression. Self-reflection is a generally welcomed habit that allows the individual to improve his/her actions and behavior by reflecting upon his/her actions and sorting out feelings. This article could give us an insight about the possible harms that self-reflections brings us, making it a must to balance self-reflection with other individual needs. An example is seeking knowledge and new experiences.

In my opinion, self-reflection could be based on both external and internal factors, and self-reflection has varying degrees as well. External factors can include negative feedback, such as quarrels, scoldings and ostracization among peers. These external factors prompt the individual to reflect upon his/her actions so that he/she will face greater acceptance among the society.

Internal factors could be based on personalities formed, which could also be influenced from parents when the individual is young. An example is where the parents force a child to properly think about his/her actions before allowing the child to eat a meal.

According to the factors, self-reflection could be deeply-instilled within an individual-or not. This degree of self-reflection will in turn determine how much influence self-reflection has on the person's depressive symptoms.

According to my knowledge, an individual may be tested for how strongly he/she does self-reflection. Multiple Intelligences, a concept conceived by Howard Gardner, are seven distinct ways to demonstrate intellectual ability. They are: Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Intelligence.

People who are prone to self-reflect a lot have high scores in the Intrapersonal Intelligence. Intrapersonal Intelligence is the ability to self-reflect and be aware of one's inner state of being (http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm#Intrapersonal%20Intelligence).

Referring to the article, the experiment Paul Verhaeghen, PhD, Joormann and their colleagues does show some evidence that their hypothesis is correct. I agree with the hypothesis as well, that self-reflection may lead to both depression and creativity. This is with regards to how the mind works, and with everything there are usually strengths and weaknesses. Depression may be causing by self-reflecting too much too.

I disagree though, regarding the view 'people most likely to have the blues are also those most likely to express them' suggested by Joormann. Self-reflection is but a possible avenue for discovering creativity, and besides, external factors do determine if people are encouraged to express their ideas in the first place. Therefore, this view is too narrow.

On a personal note, this article presents an intriguing perspective on the risks of relying on self-reflection for managing oneself. This article may encourage individuals to look out of themselves rather than focusing inwards for generating ideas. Ironically, it may also prompt educators to emphasize on self-reflection for creative writing, at the expense of the potential risks of doing so.

By: Kwee Peng

Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression

I do not agree that Self-reflection may lead to creativity.

Creativity is not easy to be captured unless one is born with that talent. If creativity can be nurtured so easily, there would be no “born” creative people in this world as everyone can become creative after going through courses.This is proven by “The researchers found no direct link between depression and creativity.”

As for depression, I agree that Self-reflection may lead to depression.

Self-reflection after solving some issues or self-reflection when a problem occurs is good but those people that think too much during self-reflection would generally lead to depression. As people think too much, they will assume a number of things. As time goes on, their assumption would deepen and it might lead to wrong thinking of things.

Therefore, I suggest those people that are doing too much of self-reflection to consult psychiatrist before the matter get too serious.

By: Winston

Ocean Rish could Disappear in 40 Years & 2010 Year of Biodiversity

Aquatic animals, land animals, birds and plants species are getting extinct one by one or at the verge of extinction.

This is due to human activities and natural disaster. Human activities include deforestation for globalisation. Deforestation cuts down the tress in the forest. This causes many animals to lose their homes and food supplies. Therefore, many animals die and some are at the verge of extinction. The burning of trees also causes global warming. Global warming causes the sea ice to melt. The melting of sea ice causes artic animal like the beluga whale to be unable to hunt for its prey. The emperor penguins are also unable to mate to produce more offspring. If this continues, they may all face extinction.

Natural disaster includes storm, earthquake and drought. It is the natural disaster like storm that destroy the nesting habitat of the leatherback turtle. Drought has caused quiver trees to lose its population. If nothing is done to prevent the loss of population of quiver trees, it will soon face extinction.

Proctecting the endangered species are important because if they become extinct, we can never reproduce them. In order for them not to go extinct, everyone should play a part in protecting them.



Done by: Shirley

The fishes are reducing in numbers due to many reasons. Two of the most important reasons are human consumption and the destroyed environment by human.

While fishing, all kind of fishes will be caught in the net. This will reduce the number of fishes that do not breed as fast. These kind of fishes will extinct easily. A selective fishing will reduce in harm to these fishes. Fisherman may detect and fish for those breed very fast for human consumption. Also, man can open fish farms to breed fishes which people has been doing so a long time ago.

The biodiversity of the sea is reducing in a very fast speed due to pollution and environmental changes. Oil splits and wastes water from factories released to the sea in killing marine life every second. Also, global warming caused the ice at poles to melt. Tons of fresh water has mixed with seawater. This greatly affected the marine life as the salt level in seawater has dropped and it affect the water temperature. Many marine life are fragile and unable to survive in such conditions.

So I suggest people should start thinking now about how they can save the world by individual actions and act today.

Done by Yang Xin Yu

Opinions about Environment with reference from 2 articles

The 2 articles referred to are "Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN" and "2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions ".

These 2 articles are similar in that they are both about initiatives started by the authoritative global organisation, the United Nations. The articles also focus on measures and problems related to serious environmental problems. Notably, both articles emphasize on drastic consequences if pressing issues are not resolved in the near future.

Based on these 2 articles, the world has little time in reversing harmful practices in hope of a sustainable environment. Ocean fish population is continually battered by huge fishing fleets, pollution, among other factors. Statistics included shows that millions of people worldwide depend heavily on fish, whether financially or for nutrition. Moreover, an extinction of ocean fish would affect the biodiversity of the ocean ecosystem, causing collapse among other populations.

In this manner, the article "2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions " is more of a macro version of the other article mentioned above. This article warns us that as Global Warning ensues, plants and animals worldwide have little choice but to perish under drastic environmental conditions. There are still things we can do to reverse the trend, and one way is to support the 2010 Year of Biodiversity.

Past the deeds we have done, perceptions play a bigger role in causing environmental disorder than the motivation of money. Subsidies are one cause of depleting fish population, as fishing fleets can earn larger profits. This stems from the governments' viewpoint that productivity is more important than environmental health. Pollution is also allowed in many countries, because of the perception that motor cars and factories are more important than environmental health.

Another facet of this issue lies in myopic views. Some people assume that environmental damage is restricted only to the organisms directly affected. They assume that organisms are isolated from the food chain, while forgetting that human beings are part of that food chain. One example is the interview of some Singaporeans after an oil slick occurred off Singapore's coast. Some claimed that the oil is on the surface of the water, thus not affecting the fish swimming underneath.

Green technology has been developed in recent years, although environmental destruction is still happening worldwide due to oil exploration, mining, among others. Green technology can replace only a portion of pollution-causing industries, thus we need to scrimp and save unique resources. The economy is recovering and it has been likened to the Great Depression in the 1920s. Since after the Great Depression, countries used pollution-creating industries to accelerate economic growth, we can start using green technology to do the same instead.

The United Nations (UN) is setting a good example for all countries to follow, in environmental terms. Following this example, countries could start their own initiatives and green policies, like the Singapore Green Plan in Singapore. Global organizations take greater consideration and time compared to individual countries, and feasible plans may be too superficial, due to the need of agreement from various countries.

Strive forward while thinking of our future generations, that is how we can save our planet.
Support World Environment Day!!

By: Kwee Peng

2 article: Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN; 2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions

Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

After reading this article, I agree that Ocean fish is slowly reducing in number as the consumption of fish by human is countless. If human does not reduce the consumption of fish, in many years later, all the fishes would be be fully consumed. And also due to the recent oil leak, many fishes in the sea have died due to the oil that prevent the sunlight and oxygen to reach the fishes. This would eventually decrease the number of fishes in the sea. Therefore, I suggest that people should breed the fishes before they consume as this would allow the new breed fishes to replace those that have been consumed. Example, in a fish breeding area, there are 1000 fishes. People should breed the fishes until there are 2000 fishes and they can consume 1000 fishes as the remaining number of fishes goes back to 1000, and they continue to breed them. This will eventually reduce the loss of fishes.

2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions

After reading this article, I can suggest that most of the problem is caused by global warming. Ice melting at the north and south pole had caused the polar species unable to survive. Ice melting also causes the rise of sea level and increased storm activity due to climate change which causes the leatherback turtle habitats to be destroyed. The rising in sea water temperature had causes the sea lives to be loss. As sea water temperature is high, it reduces the oxygen level and therefore, fishes are unable to survive. Increase in CO2 had caused the plants to die as the plants do have enough oxygen for their processes. Therefore, I suggest that if people want to solve these problems, they should think about how to reduce global warming. People that drives car should sometimes think about how much harm had they caused to the earth. Public transport should be taken instead of driving as it reduces the number of cars on the road, which will reduce the emission of CO2.

Both the article talks about the extinction of animal, plants, and fishes life. I suggest that people should really start thinking about how to solve these problems and also they should know how much harm had they caused to the earth.

By Winston

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious act of offense in school. As the passages mentioned, it is a way of cheating and stealing. many student do not know how serious it is and thought their teachers will not find it out.

Copying is okay but never pretend it to be ones own work.

To me, I find that human has always being copying others. For example, babies learn how to walk and talk by coping the adults. Teenagers is growing up and maturing by copying adults way of act and behavior. So I always think that humans grow and evolve through copying. like what William Ralph Inge said, Originality is undetected plagiarism.

However, if one take copied work as if there own, then things turn ugly. I believe students could learn though copying and referencing other people's work, but plagiarism is morally unacceptable。

Done by Yang Xin Yu 100622Y

Upon reading this week's article, I have more knowledge on what plagarism is about. Allowing everyone to know about plagarism would teach every individual to acknowledge the actual and primary source from which the information has been obtained.

As students and individuals grow older, this would be more important to them. Nowadays, in secondary schools project work has been introduced and thus being aware of plagarism has increasingly become important for students. Before this scheme was implemented, many students who had to undergo the 'O' level examinations were unable to make bibliographies.

Done By: Palwinder Singh Johal