ES1102 Essay Prompt (Edited)

Main topic area:  

Independent-living elderly who receive home based healthcare and those who do not

Main problem identified:  

Elderly who are technology-ignorant or does not wish to be connected are unable to enjoy full benefits of home-based healthcare due to technological impediment such as the absence of fiber broadband at home

  

Proposed solution:  

Ministry of Health to implement limited free wifi zone in buildings to allow connectivity of approved medical devices

Proposed thesis:   

A group of independent-living elderly are deprived of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support due to their ignorance in technology, Ministry of Health can implement a "limited free wifi zone" in the building where these elderly reside to allow connectivity for approved medical devices so as to help these elderly be connected and to enjoy the full benefits of home-based healthcare. 

ES1102 Reader Response Draft 3

Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue?

Lu (2013) discussed that there has been an increasing prevalence of English being recognised as their mother tongue in Singaporeans over the years. He also observed that there are efforts to encourage Mandarin, Melayu or Tamil learning but Singaporeans still regarded English as their sense of core identity. Sadly, he noted that such identification of the English Language by Singaporeans did not gain consensus from our local government and the international crowd. He then mentioned that the divide between older generation Singaporeans and younger generation Singaporeans is also the cause of the current linguistic and ideological segregation. He also stated that with such divide, conflicts amongst different linguistic and ideologies groups will slump progressively. He then went on to highlight that Singaporeans proved to be of a better caliber by outdoing most nations in international tests in English proficiency and literacy. To conclude, he asserted that the acceptance of English language as our mother tongue would only be feasible with the government’s recognition of the English language and the alteration of our language policies and stances to match our sociolinguistic entities. 

Growing up in a Chinese speaking family, I always pondered about the possibility of speaking or performing better in my English language if I was born into an English speaking family. I have friends who speak and write proficiently in English, and interestingly most of them are from English speaking families. There are also friends who do not have any English speaking background and yet they are adept in their English. I believed that such anomaly is due to some English-speaking influences which thus molded their English speaking and writing skills. 

With globalization, I believed Singapore has became more recognized on the world map with her rich diversity and culture, which also brought about the confusion of Singapore's language culture of being solitary. Many foreigners actually believed that Singaporeans spoke either Singlish or Chinese and it was in fact the nation's language.

On the contrary, being cosmopolitan, Singapore has a pool of different languages and it can be perplexing to determine which language actually represents her mother tongue. However, it is clear that Mandarin, Melayu, Tamil is representative of the Chinese, Malays and Indians respectively. I recalled asking my friends over leisure talk which language was representative of Singapore and the answers I got were obvious. I had answers like Singlish and Chinese. In light of this, Singlish is actually a term created due to the warp English many Singaporeans speak today.

I feel that in today's Singapore, with the influx of foreign linguistic and culture, it has slowly obscured her roots. Many Singaporeans are also gradually deviating off as they progressed with the society, a lot are moving away from Mandarin to English and they no longer value the importance of their mother tongue anymore. I have friends who feel that Mandarin is totally useless for their future and are not bothered to spend time reading anything written in Chinese at all. It is saddening that such scene is very common across teenagers nowadays. Such are the effects of globalization and I believed Singapore will not escape it unscathed. 

I feel that as Singapore develops and flourishes, she has well integrated into the diverse social practices, cultures and linguistic influences different countries bring about. However, I feel that she is ambiguous in the eyes of the foreigners. In resonance with Lu (2013), I strongly feel that Singapore should quickly establish a firm stand on our sociolinguistic reality in order to make known our local English standards and to gain recognition for it across the globe. It would also be an excellent opportunity for the locals to rethink about their roots and origin instead of going along with the globalization wave. 


Reference:

Lu, L. (2013, July 15) Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue? Today Online. Retrieved from
http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/can-english-be-singaporean-mother-tongue?singlepage=true

ES1102 Reader Response Essay Draft 2

Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue?

Lu (2013) discussed that there has been an increasing prevalence of English being recognised as their mother tongue in Singaporeans over the years. He also observed that there are efforts to encourage Mandarin, Melayu or Tamil learning but English is still regarded as their sense of identity. Sadly, he noted that such identity did not gain consensus from our local government and the international crowd. He highlighted that Singaporeans proved to be of a better calibre by outdoing most nations in international tests in English proficiency and literacy. In conclusion, he asserted that the acceptance of English language as our mother tongue would only be feasible with government’s recognition and the alteration of our language policies and stances to match our sociolinguistic entities. 

Growing up in a Chinese speaking family, I always pondered about the possibility of speaking or performing better in my English language if I was born into an English speaking family. I have friends who speak and write proficiently in English, and interestingly most of them are from English speaking families. There are also friends who do not have any English speaking background yet they are adept in their English. I believed that some point in their lives they must have came across a certain English-speaking influence which help molded their English speaking and writing skills. This also brings me to a particular point highlighted in the article by Lu (2013) – “The notion “native speaker of English” is tied to particular nationalities and ethnicities — that is, Anglo-Saxons — and this is still prevalent throughout the world.”

Personally, I feel that such association is incoherent and it deviates from what I have always believed. I believed that English is a very complex art and anyone can master English and called it their first language. However, once you put a definition into it, it can be controversial and sensitive.

Quoted from Lu (2013), “Those who argue that Singaporeans lack intelligibility in spoken English must not have heard the British in their “Cockney”, “Geordie” or “Brummie” dialects.”, I presume that there are thorns among the roses and yet they represent the native speakers of English. On the contrary, Singaporeans who proved to be better are condemned for their inadequateness. I feel that such statements made on Singaporeans are biased and unfair. Is there a definite circumference to determining who belongs to this pool and who does not, and who defines these circumferences? Who has the rights to define such circumferences as well? The English language is universal and should not be used to classify people into groups based on their demographics. 

I feel that as Singapore became more globalized and recognized on the world map, she has well integrated into Singapore the diverse social practices, cultures and linguistic influences different countries bring about. In resonance with Lu (2013), I agree that Singapore should quickly establish a firm stand on our sociolinguistic reality in order to make known our local English standards and to gain recognition for it across the globe. 

Being cosmopolitan, Singapore has a pool of different languages and therefore it can be perplexing to determine which language represents her mother tongue. However, it is clear that Mandarin, Melayu, Tamil is representative of the Chinese, Malays and Indians respectively. I recalled asking my friends over leisure talk which language was representative of Singapore and the answers I got were obvious. I had answers like Singlish and Chinese. In light of this, Singlish is actually a term created due to the warp English many Singaporeans speak today. Therefore, is it not understandable and reasonable that English be representative of Singapore? 


Reference:
Lu, L. (2013, July 15) Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue? Today Online. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/can-english-be-singaporean-mother-tongue?singlepage=true

Reflective post: An event that has shaped your life and the person you have become (Edited)

When I was doing my internship with EXPERIA Events Pte Ltd during my poly years, I was exposed to my very first big scale international event. As I was studying Integrated Events and Project Managment, the event was a stepping stone for me into the corporate events sphere in Singapore.

I was part of the organizing committee that ran the Singapore Airshow last year. It was a crazy and tiring six months stint at the office in Changi Airport. However, the event did help to change me in different ways. I became more extrovert in character as I had to liaise with many people from all walks of life with regards to running the show. I used to be afraid to strike conversations with strangers and would definitely fade into the background whenever there was an ongoing discussion. I simply did not enjoy sharing and conversing with people I didn't really know. But the event forced me out of my comfort zone and made me accomplish things I thought I was not able to. I can still recall addressing a foreign attendee with regards to her needs for the show. It was really not easy for me but I had to display professionalism and had to attend to her with poise. I also became more meticulous and organized in my work as compared to before, where I would make mental notes instead of writing it down on my scheduler. To date, many qualities and attributes I have developed stemmed from this six months of once in a lifetime work experience.

ES1102 Reader Response Essay Draft 1

Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue?

Lu, L. (2013, July 15) observed that there has been an increasing prevalence of English being recognised as their mother tongue language in Singaporeans over the years. Despite efforts to encourage Mandarin, Melayu or Tamil learning, it had become predominant that Singaporeans have regarded English as their sense of identity. However, such identity was not able to gain consensus from our local government and the international crowd. On the contrary, Singaporeans have proved to be of a better standard by outdoing most nations in international tests in English proficiency and literacy. As Lu (2013) alleged, the acceptance of English language as our mother tongue would only be feasible with government’s recognition. Our language policies and stances should also be altered to match our sociolinguistic entity to convince the international crowd.

Growing up in a Chinese speaking family, I have always pondered about the possibility of speaking or performing better in my English language if I was born into an English speaking family. I have friends who speak and write proficiently in English, and interestingly most of them are from English speaking families. There are still friends who are good in English, yet they are not from an English speaking family. However, they are the minorities and I believed some point in their lives they must have came across a certain English-speaking influence. As a result, it molded their English speaking and writing skills. This also brings me to a particular point highlighted in the article by Lu (2013) – “The notion “native speaker of English” is tied to particular nationalities and ethnicities — that is, Anglo-Saxons — and this is still prevalent throughout the world.”

Personally, I felt a certain degree of stereotype present in this particular notion and I am rather bemused by it. Meaning to say, if someone who does not originate from that particular nationality, they are not considered to be native speakers of English even with high level of proficiency in the language? It is pretty saddening that the notion of “native speaker of English” is tied to specific nationalities and ethnicities. As quoted from Lu (2013), “Those who argue that Singaporeans lack intelligibility in spoken English must not have heard the British in their “Cockney”, “Geordie” or “Brummie” dialects.”, there are still thorns among the roses and yet they represent the native speakers of English and Singaporeans are condemned for not being proficient enough. Such presumptions are biased and can be unfair to English practitioners who may have spent most of their life trying to master the language. As such, is there a definite circumference to determining who belongs to this pool and who does not, and who defines these circumferences? I have always believed that English is a very complex art and anyone can master English and called it their first language. However, once you put a definition into it, it can be controversial and sensitive.

Being a cosmopolitan country, Singapore has a pool of languages and therefore it can be tough to determine which particular language represents her mother tongue. I recalled asking my friends over leisure talk which language is representative of Singapore and the answers I got were pretty obvious. I had answers like Singlish and Chinese. However, if we were to think about this, Singlish was actually a term we came up with due to the warp English many Singaporeans spoke today. So could we actually confidently claim that English is our mother tongue language? Surprisingly, the answer would be no. As we all know, Mandarin is representative of Chinese, Melayu is representative of Malay and Tamil is representative of Indian, so what about Singapore? Isn’t it understandable and reasonable that English is representative of Singapore?

If we were to go out on the streets of Singapore and observe the language spoken by most Singaporeans, I would definitely place my bet on English. I feel that it is pretty obvious that as Singapore became more globalized and recognized on the world map, she have grown and changed so much. With the diverse social practices, cultures and linguistic influences different countries bring about when their countrymen set foot in Singapore, Singapore should quickly establish a firm stand on our sociolinguistic reality in order to make known our local English standards and that Singaporeans are actually pretty adept in our English language. It is quite sour to actually hear foreigners commenting that Singapore is just a “Rojak” country with rich diversity. As much as it adds color to our country, it can be affecting down under. It is especially so for people who are studying overseas and are looked down upon for their language inferiority. As the future pillars of the country, many students have definitely done a lot, worked really hard and went far. It is really unfair that these students are already not getting recognized for such efforts, yet getting criticized by “native speakers of English” or by the Caucasian population. Shouldn't we start doing something in our homeland and change this perception the world has on Singaporeans students? For me, I will do so by going back to the basics to hone and perfect my English skills.


Reference:
Lu, L. (2013, July 15) Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue? Today Online. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/commentary/can-english-be-singaporean-mother-tongue?singlepage=true 

D1 Summarizing Information Selectively: ( Facebook fans do worse in exams ) Edited

The Ohio Report stated that students who use Facebook excessively do not score as well for their studies as they allocated lesser time for revision. This was apparent in students obtaining lower cumulative grade and achieving lesser work productivity (Leake, & Warren, 2009).

References:
Leake, J., Warren, G. (2009, April 12) Facebook fans do worse in exams. The Sunday Times, from  http://www.timesonline.co.uk