IT Home Learning Lesson 6

Below is a dialogue between my father and me about Q1



What are the main types of lotteries in Singapore?

4-D
Toto
Big Sweep
Soccer Betting

Have you ever bought any of these lotteries?

Yes, I have but only Big Sweep. The reason of buying the tickets is actually not to buy in an attempt to earn money so as to “help” the blind man man who sells these tickets near my house.

Do you think gambling is very addictive activity and why is it so?

I agree on the fact that gambling is addicting. Personally, why I think it is addicting is that when someone wins, it gets excited by the thrill of winning and when they lose they will just say “just one more try”

What doing you think of people buying to make a living?

I think that they are just trying to find a way out of having to work hard to earn money to live. They think that luck alone can bring them fortunate but sometimes it is actually hard work.

Singapore has done a lot to promote people not to get addicted to gambling, personally, how effective is it?

Personally I do not think that it is effective as I do not see much of the effects of the ads or hear much about the campaigns in the papers.

How do you solve or cure this problem?

Actually, technology and sciences may be the key to the solution and with advanced technology and information, we are able to make drugs that can suppress these addiction. As said in the podcast, “ There is hope for those who have a problem with gambling and I couldn’t have said this ten years ago so I think a real progress has been made and I think this study represents an important step along that way.”.

“ Counseling can also help, but more importantly, one must first admit he is addicted to gambling before he can be not addicted.” (What my father said)

IT Home Learning Lesson 2

MY FAVORITE POET

Who is this poet? He is none other than Langston Hughes.

What was he known for

Being an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist, he was one of the earliest innovators of the new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best-known for his during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is also particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties

Just some Biographical information

James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in Lincoln, Illinois, that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University. During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

Recognition and honors

This is a list if his recognitions and awards.

In 1943, Lincoln University awarded Hughes an honorary Litt.D.

In 1960, the NAACP awarded Hughes the Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievements by an African American.

1961 - Hughes was inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

1963 - Howard University awarded Hughes an honorary doctorate.

In 1973, the first Langston Hughes Medal was awarded by the City College of New York.

In 1981, New York City Landmark status was given to the Harlem home of Langston Hughes at 20 East 127th Street by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and 127th St. was renamed Langston Hughes Place.

On February 1, 2002, The United States Postal Service added the image of Langston Hughes to its Black Heritage series of postage stamps to commemorate both the centennial of Hughes' birth and the 25th anniversary of the Black Heritage Series.

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Langston Hughes on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Why I like him

I came to known this poet actually to be frankly true yesterday when my LA teacher asked asked to do some activity regarding poems, so I just clicked on the link he had provided and just started randomly reading some poems and I ended up reading this poem called “ I , too, sing America” written by the Langston Hughes. This was like one of the few poem that I read that actually make me stop and even google so as to find out more about the meaning of the poem.

The thing about this poem that really caught my attention was the meaning of it. As I was reading the poem I could actually feel for the blacks in America. The were several emotion that were just rushing through me as I read the poem. I was sympathetic towards the black yet in some sense happy for them in the end as they stand up for their rights especially at the last part of the poem it is written “ I, too, am America”.

Another thing about him that really like him is because of the fact that he was a African American. His career was during the time when African American were still being discriminated. Therefore, being mocked or laughed at must have been some thing inevitable for Langston Hughes. Despite that he did not these mockery affect him and he overcame everything that was thrown at him at eventually become such a great poet.

Just some of his great works.

I, too, sing America. I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America. 

The Negro Mother

Children, I come back today
To tell you a story of the long dark way
That I had to climb, that I had to know
In order that the race might live and grow.
Look at my face -- dark as the night--
Yet shining like the sun with love's true light.
I am the child they stole from the sand
Three hundred years ago in Africa's land.
I am the dark girl who crossed the wide sea
Carrying in my body the seed of the free.
I am the woman who worked in the field
Bringing the cotton and the corn to yield.
I am the one who labored as a slave,
Beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave--
Children sold away from me, husband sold, too.
No safety, no love, no respect was I due.
Three hundred years in the deepest South:
But God put a song and a prayer in my mouth.
God put a dream like steel in my soul.
Now, through my children, I'm reaching the goal.
Now, through my children, young and free,
I realize the blessings denied to me.
I couldn't read then. I couldn't write.
I had nothing, back there in the night.
Sometimes, the valley was filled with tears,
But I kept trudging on through the lonely years.
Sometimes, the road was hot with sun,
But I had to keep on till my work was done:
I had to keep on! No stopping for me--
I was the seed of the coming Free.
I nourished the dream that nothing could smother
Deep in my breast--the Negro mother.
I had only hope then, but now through you,
Dark ones of today, my dreams must come true:
All you dark children in the world out there,
Remember my sweat, my pain, my despair.
Remember my years, heavy with sorrow--
And make of those years a torch for tomorrow.
Make of my past a road to the light
Out of the darkness, the ignorance, the night.
Lift high my banner out of the dust.
Stand like free men supporting my trust.
Believe in the right, let none push you back.
Remember the whip and the slaver's track.
Remember how the strong in struggle and strife
Still bar you the way, and deny you life--
But march ever forward, breaking down bars.
Look ever upward at the sun and the stars.
Oh, my dark children, may my dreams and my prayers
Impel you forever up the great stairs--
For I will be with you till no white brother
Dares keep down the children of the Negro mother.

Let America be America again
Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.  (America never was America to me.)  Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.  (It never was America to me.)  O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.  (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")  Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?  And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?  I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.  I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!  I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.  Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."  The free?  Who said the free?  Not me? Surely not me?  The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.  O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.  Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, 
O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!  Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

References

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15615

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes

http://www.eliteskills.com/c/11765

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Langston-Hughes/2395

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Langston-Hughes/2385

IT Home Learning Lesson 1

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow-

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand-

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep- while I weep!

O God! can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

The Hyperboles are in ORANGE

The Personification are in BLUE

The Metaphor are in GREEN

The Simile are in PURPLE

The Symbolism are in LIGHT BLUE

Before I start talking about why I like this poem, let me first say that there are actual various interpretations of what the poet is trying to say here.

One of the interpretations is that the poem is about Poe's feelings about his life at the time, dramatizing his confusion in watching the few precious things in his life slip away. Realizing he cannot hold onto even one grain of sand leads to his final question that all things are a dream.

Why I like this Poem

There are two main reason why I really like this poem. The first reason is the why the poet writes this poem and the second is the content of this poem.

The thing about the way the poet writes which interests me the most is the repetition of the same structure. By just changing a few words in the repetition, the meaning can change a 180 degrees.

As for the content, I think it is really great to represent time with sand. The thing about sand is that it is too small for you to hold and you are unable to stop the flow, just like time. Therefore, it is trying to say that the control of time cannot be done as it will just keep on flowing.

An interview

This is an interview between by father and I about a book my father read when he was young.

Q: So what is the names of this book?

Ans: It's called "Cry My Beloved Country".

Q:When did you read it?

Ans: I read it when I was 15 as a Literature text.

Q:What is the book about?

Ans: Basically, this book is about apartheid(noun historical
(in South Africa) a policy or system of segregation or discrimination ongrounds of race)situation in Africa in the. It is also a book that touches on the matter of racial and social justice.

Q:What part of this book makes you like it?

Ans: The main reasons that result in me liking this book is that this book highlights the importance of not exploiting the weakness of someone and not to use one's strength to dominate a fellow human being.

Q: How has this book impacted you?

Ans: It has taught me to go beyond the surface characteristic of people so as to better appreciate the person of the other party.

Q: How would you rate this book?

Ans: It is a very good book that is definitely worth reading.

The Village by the Sea

Hi everyone, 

Today, I'm going to talk about a new book.

Drumroll Please

Yes it is the book that we all love The Village By the Sea

Has anyone ever thought about I possible ending(happy or sad)? Well I actually did during my LA class. Well here it is hope you guys out there like it.

Epilogue--- 1 years later

"Bela! Wait for me!" Kamal shouted as she tried to catch up with her hyper-active sister.

The reason for such excitement? It was simple, Hari had finally earned enough money to send his sister to school and it had been so long since the two little girls had gone to school. 

"Mum, we are home!" shouted Bela as approached her home.

 

"How was school dear?" replied a lady who came out of the house. She was Bela's mother. Last year, Bela's mum was so sick that she could not even stand up, but now, thanks to the de SIlvas,  her mum was as fit as a fiddle and was able to help out with the household chores.

"School was great mum. It feels so good to be finally be able to go back to school, aren't I right Kamal?" replied Bela.

"I LOVE school. It was SO fun. I can't wait to go back tomorrow. By the way, where's dad, Hari and Lila." asked Kamal.

"Oh dad and Lila are at the poultry farm. As for Hari is still at his watch repair shop. Recently, with more engineers and workers coming in Thul, both businesses have been doing very well. I don't think they will come back early today." replied Bela's mother.

"Mum, do you like the change that is going to happen to Thul?" asked the ever curious Bela.

"Well... even if I don't like the change that is going to happen, I cannot just sit down here and sulk as it will not bring any good. Instead we should accept the change and adapt to the new surrounding. That is how we can survive. The wheel never stands still and stop; it rolls, rolls and rolls." replied Bela's mum.

  

Nothing but the Truth

Hi everyone,

Below is a video about Nothing but the Truth.

Hope you liked it.

Anyway, today I am going to talk about a possible ending to the book Nothing but the Truth.

Dairy of Phillp Malloy

Life is NOT a bed of roses. Ever since that incident that happen months, my life has been changed a 180 degrees around. Just because I was singing (or humming. Does that make any difference?), my life has been drastically changed. Now I am in a weird private school filled with nerds and geeks and to make things worse, THERE IS NO TRACK TEAM!!! If i had continued to stay in my previous school, I would be blamed by others because I had caused my English teacher, Miss Margaret Narwin to resign. But is it my fault? If she had just not poke her nose into my affairs, none of this would have happened. Furthermore, people like Jake Barlow just kept on talking about this issue causing people to be provoked which resulted my into getting so much trouble. And if you think this is bad, wait till you hear the rest of my story. When I had arrived in my new school, I was asked to lead the class in singing the national anthem. At that very moment of time, I had no choice but to admit that I did not know the lyrics to the national anthem. Ever since then, I have been coldly treated by the student in my new school. 

Well there is no use complaining now. :(

NEVER give up

Hi "long time" no see,

Today our topic is about resilience and about NEVER EVER giving up.

For most of you guys in 1A3, when you were in P1, you were always getting very high marks, aren't I right?

However for my case, life was not a bed of roses. I was always getting a Band 2-3 and a rare Band 1. At the end of the year, I was around "top" 200 in my cohort. 

When I was in P2-P3, the Band 3's were gone and I would usually get a Band 2 and sometimes for EL and Math a Band 1. I was ranked 100+ during that time.

Then my forth year in primary school came, the year of my greatest improvement. That year, I topped my level for English that meant I had actually beaten the top boy in the top class. That year, my ranking became from 100+ to somewhere around 30-40 (I can't really remember). I personally believe that the main reason why I had such a big improvement was that I had worked very hard (especially during the holidays).

Then when I was in p5 and p6,  my results were starting to get better. I had some high band 2's ( above 80) and quite a lot of band 1's and A*'s. At the end of the year, I was top 14 in my school.

If I had given up because of the fact that my results were poor when I was in P3, I would not be able to enter HCI such a wonderful school and be in 1A3 and have such nice and friendly classmates.

Being Hard Working

Famous inventor, Thomas Alva Edison said "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration"

What does this mean?

Personally, I think what Thomas Edison is trying to say is that in order to succeed, one has to work hard and his or her efforts will pay off.

I actually know of someone who came from China in 2002 and was primary 4. When she came to Singapore, she did not even know her ABC's, but when she took her English test, she got a Band 1. Some of you may say that she was lucky or something like that, but the truth of the matter is that her success was the fruits of the hours spent learning and being taught by her mother. Now, she is in RJC year 1. In addition, she is in the best class and is actually one of the best in English in her entire school. From this we can see that actually what Thomas Edison said was 100% correct. However, the thing is that not everyone puts in a 100% effort  (including myself sometimes). People make use of the proverb" All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" and say that they should totally not do any work and slack. They always think that they can do things at the eleventh hour (like how I am rushing to do 5 blog posts). They think that do the work is a waste of time and playing games is a more meaningful job to spend his time.

If you disagree with what I say, feel free to share your comments.

Bye(off to do my next blog post...)

Best sci-fi book I have read yet

The SuperNaturalist

" Reads like the Matrix crossed with Oliver Twist" - The Times

"A headlong techno fantasy... Colfer's story rattles along at a tremendous pace"-Guardian

"Colfer's best book yet"-Mail on Sunday

The story is set in a futuristic place on Earth called Satellite City, a place where happily ever after does not exist.

Basically this story is from the point of view of Cosmo Hill. Cosmo Hill is an orphan living in Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys. Being an orphan there was like being a lab rat trapped in a lab forever with no way out. The orphan there are forced totest out products of all kind even if the eating the product meant death.

In the end Cosmo does escape the orphanage. However, Cosmo realizes that life in Satellite City was just as bad. Sadly, Satellite City is filled high-tech street gangs, SWAT like team of paralegals and worst of all it is infested with four-fingered parasites that are invisible to everyone except Cosmo and three other misfits that call themselves the SuperNaturalist. These parasites suck the life out of you. Is it Cosmo's destiny to destroy the parasite?

What I like about this story is that the twists in the plot are everywhere.

Rating 9/10

An Essay

SHOULD MOTHERS STAY AT HOME AND LOOK AFTER CHILDREN

Should mothers remain at home to take care of children? Personally I agree and diagree to a certain extent with this question as there are both positive and negative effects of the mother staying at home to look after children.

Firstly, I agree that mothers should remain at home to take care of children. My reason for this opinion is that if the women were to go out and work, the family would most likely employ a maid to look after the children. The maid may be caring and love the child but the difference between maternal love and love from a third party is very significant. The child might even grow up feeling neglected and not loved. In addition, the child might grow up and astray as there is nobody at home to monitor him or her. For example, there have been many cases where the child was left alone at home and the child ended up mixing with the wrong company and started smoking or taking drugs. Also, the parents did not know or suspect anything the whole time. Therefore, it is of upmost importance that a parent should stay at home to monitor the child and that parent should be the mother as traditionally, women stay at home while the husband goes out to work.

On the other hand, I also partly disagree that mothers should stay at home to take care of their children. If the women has high qualifications which allow her to get a good, stable, high paying job and if the husband's salary is not as much, it would seem much more practical for the wife to go out and work while the husband stays at home to look after their children. If the mother were to stay at home to look after their children, they might grow up with the mentality that their mother would always be there to help them. The child would then not be able to be independent as he or she would tend to rely on their parents.

In conclusion, I agree and disagree to a certain extent that mothers should not go out and work, but should remain at home to look after their children. Perhaps in the future, bosses can be more flexible on the employes working time, or even let them work from home.

Responsiblity

What is RESPONSIBILITY???

If I were to look up the dictionary for this word, I will get this:

–noun, plural -ties.
1.
the state or fact of being responsible.
2.
an instance of being responsible: The responsibility for this mess is yours!
3.
a particular burden of obligation upon one who is responsible: the responsibilities of authority.
4.
a person or thing for which one is responsible: A child is a responsibility to its parents.
5.
reliability or dependability, esp. in meeting debts or payments.—Idiom
6.
on one's own responsibility, on one's own initiative or authority: He changed the order on his own responsibility.

Before I talk about responsibilty, let tell you what I saw a few days ago.

At a overhead bridge, I saw two little kids. One was a 5 year old boy, while the other was like a 3-4 years old girl. They were struggling to get down the stairs mainly because they were young and too short to reach the handles of the stairs.My intial thought was that they were so excited to get home that they were way ahead of their parents. However, this was not the the case. "Mummy, mummy wait for me" I heard the little girl said. Only then did I realise that her mother was actually infront of them. She was metres away. She seemed to have heard her child's pleads, but she just ignored it as if she had something more impotant was on her mind. (What could be more important than the safety of her own children.) Not only did the little girl's cry for help not even affect her mother but also, it made her mother walk even quicker...

TO BE CONTINUED

Book Review/ Reflection

Hi everyone,

  Today, I am going to share with you a book called "Holes" and share with you how I rate it and how I feel about the story.

  Some basic information about the book.

- written by Louis Sachar 

- winner of the 1999 Newbery Medal

 

  Basically, the story is about a teenage boy called Stanley Yelnats who was framed of stealing a shoe of a famous baseball player and was sent to Camp Green Lake. If you think Camp Green Lake, is all beautiful and nice, then you are so wrong. Firstly, there was a lake but that was over a hundred years ago, all that is left is a dry, flat wasteland infested with rattle snakes, scorpions and worst of all yellow-spotted snakes whose bites are far more painful than death. As Stanley enters Camp Green Lake, he finds life there is going is not going to be all that easy.

  Stanley is forced to dig a five feet by five feet hole every day. Along the way, he meets many friend that help Stanley along the way. Will Stanley ever escape Camp Green Lake? 

  The thing that I like about this book is that there is two story going on in a single story.

The first story is about Stanley's life in Camp Green Lake, while the second story is about Katherine Barlow who lived near Camp Green Lake over a hundred years ago and what Katherine did, was similar to what Stanley did. 

  Rating: 3.5/5

The Beginning...

Hi everyone out there on the world wide web.

This blog is actually a project for my LA( Language Arts).

I would like to make the first blog entry a meaningful one .Therefore, I have decided to write a small little paragraph about myself.

I am a student from Hwa Chong. I am in secondary one this year. Actually to be honest, I am kind of afraid that I might not be able to do as well as I did in my primary school. Anyway, I have one weak subject: CHINESE

Most of you might have this thought racing throught your head " Is this Gabriel CRAZY? He is weak in Chinese

I actually knew that Hwa Chong's Chinese is very good. Hence, I decided to go to Hwa Chong as I believe that if I work hard and with the exposure to Chinese given in Hwa Chong, my Chiense might improve.

My hobbies are reading and robotics. I cultivated intrest in p4 when I attended a robotics workshop. Since then I joined my primary school's robotics club and I have reprsented my primary school in various competition and I have done my school proud.

There is one thing I really dislike and that is piracy. Piracy is a form of stealing someone's idea and stealing is wrong. Therefore I dislike piracy

Bye

PS: If you are from 1A3 and you happen to read this post please comment on my post and if you don't mind could you also include a self Intro? Thanks.