ES1102 Mid Term Appraisal

Initially, I was a little apprehensive about ES1102 and felt that it was a burdensome module. To add on, the module even took up two days of my weekly schedule. I felt even sour for having to attend this module as it meant that my English was bad. After nine weeks into this module, I am glad I “qualified” for it. This module has enriched and honed my written and analytic skills. The materials provided were very informative and it was applicable to my other modules as well.

What I really liked about this module is that the class is small in size. Although it was really awkward for the first few sessions as everyone was foreign to me, a few sessions later helped cleared up the awkwardness amongst the people in the class. Our tutor Brad, was also a funny and approachable guy who makes our learning more conducive. Brad would often pair us up with different people in class or group us randomly according to our height or age. I feel that this is a very good way to encourage conversation and interaction between different people in the class as we have to work together with our new weekly partners to complete the in-class assignments. The amount of work assigned for this module is however, relatively heavy considering that it is a zero module credit course. Luckily, Brad was very understanding if we failed to meet the datelines for our essay submission in class.

I feel that the class as a whole, has a very positive learning vibe as I see that my peers are really enthusiastic during classes. The in-class activities are also interesting and informative, such as grammar editing for essays. The in-class assignments are also easy to absorb and understand as they are all in the form of bite size information. I especially like the fact that the class often engages in discussion. We will share thoughts and doubts relating to each other’s work or on certain academic essays. To date, I feel that the class has progressed and improved significantly as compared to the very first time we met in this class. It is also heartening to see the class progress together. In all my other modules, I feel that learning is very individualistic and competitive. Whereas in ES1102, I feel that everyone learns and errs together and the learning environment is very positive and encouraging. I hope this module will continue to enrich and benefit more people in the future. 

Essay Prompt Draft 2

Introduction 
Singapore is facing a rising greying population, with baby boomers entering their golden years. (Tham, 2014) The term baby boomers indicates people who are born between 1947 and 1964. (MCYS, Jan 2009) As the country progresses toward a technologically advanced era, a group of these baby boomers are unintentionally left behind - they are the group of independent living elderly who are not technologically connected. This is also the focal point of this paper, which discusses the divide between independent living elderly who receives home based healthcare and those who do not due to the insufficient technological infrastructure in their homes.

Problem
Home-based healthcare is when medical assistance is provided for at the comfort of the homes of the elderly. In the present hi-tech society, home-based healthcare includes the use of highly intelligent devices. Majority of these medical devices are intentionally designed to have a tracking or monitoring system so that movements can be instantaneously detected and then recorded. This is helpful as user can be notified with the situation in an independent-living elderly home. e-Guardian is the epitome of such intelligent device. It takes the form of a wrist watch and picks up signals when the wearer has fallen down or fainted at home. These signals are transmitted wirelessly to a base station which then sends out messages to family members or even doctors about the accident at home. In other instances, some medical devices may require substantial technological infrastructure support in the homes of the patient - such as the support of fiber broadband. This is when the gap between those who can afford and cannot afford such home-based healthcare becomes apparent. It is reasonable to understand that some independent-living elderly are not able to afford broadband as they are poor. On the flip side, we have to also consider a small group of elderly who does not wish to be plugged in as they do not see the need to, or elderly who are not educated at all to understand the concept of Internet. It is this group of elderly that lies on the other end of the spectrum.

The group of independent-living elderly who does not wish to be connected and those who are technology ignorant is the ones who are unable to receive home-based healthcare due to the absence of broadband or relevant technological support in their homes, Ministry of Health can implement a "limited free wifi zone" in the buildings these elderly reside in to allow connectivity for approved medical devices and the initiation of IT campaign to educate the elderly about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to help these elderly stay connected to enjoy full benefits of home-based healthcare

Limited free wifi zone
The proposed solution can be deem as a luxury for these group of elderly, and as such, it should not be exploited to the use of those who are not under this scheme. This means that only qualified and approved households and medical devices by the Ministry of Health (MOH) can be connected via the "limited free wifi zone". Elderly who uses intelligent medical devices which require broadband support and are technology-ignorant are those who fall under this qualified households category. The medical devices that they use will have to be endorsed and authorised by MOH before it can be use through the "wifi zone".  Helping these elderly stay connected, family members or doctors can tap on the intellectual and efficient system of the medical devices created for home-based healthcare, and also allow them to monitor and assist when out of compound. The concept of "limited free wifi zone" will serve as a primary tool to help these group of unplugged elderly stay connected while not allowing them to exploit the notion of "free wifi" by limiting their usage.

IT campaigns for the independent living elderly
Another group of these independent living elderly are those who are not willing to be plugged in. Statistics from Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in 2012 have also shown that 60 years old and above individuals who uses a computer and internet is only a meager 16% compared to 51% for individuals aged 50 to 59. Based on statistics and personal experience at an independent living elderly home, most of these elderly do not have the support of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their homes. With such absence of ICT, it does not entitle the elderly to enjoy the full benefits of home-based healthcare as they will not be able to support certain hi-tech medical devices or equipment that require technical support. The initiation of an IT campaign for the elderly can help to tackle this issue. MOH can work together with welfare organisation and community centers to launch series of events that educates the use of ICT through talk show and hands-on workshops. Such initiation will only drive enthusiasm amongst the disinterested elderly about ICT but the implementation of financial aids, ICT schemes and packages will help to encourage use. Subsequent follow through will have to be made in order to ensure these elderly will upgrade their status from "offline" to "online".

Conclusion
The digital divide in Singapore is real with a group of people who are still not connected. The digital gap between elderly who can afford home-based healthcare and those who cannot is an existing issue and the government play a crucial role in the efforts to bridge this gap.



References

Health Exchange, 2013 January 01, Keeping a Watch on Seniors Living Alone, Retrieved October 3, 2014 from http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/keeping-watch-seniors-living.aspx

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm-Landscape/Facts-and-Figures/Infocomm-Usage-Households-and-Individuals

SG Press Centre, 2009 January 09, Singapore's Baby Boomers Wish To Age Meaningfully And Stay Active In Their Golden Years, Retrieved Date, October 6, 2014

The Straits Times, 2014 March 13, Bridging the digital divide, Retrieved October 4, 2014 from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/case-you-missed-it/story/bridging-the-digital-divide-20140317

ES1102 Reader Response Draft 4

Can English be a Singaporean mother tongue?

Lu (2013) discussed the increasing prevalence of English being recognised as their mother tongue in Singaporeans over the years. He also observed that there were efforts to encourage Mandarin, Melayu or Tamil learning but Singaporeans still regard English as their sense of core identity. Sadly, he noted that such identification of the English language by Singaporeans did not gain consensus from the local government and the international crowd. He then mentioned that the divide between older generation Singaporeans and younger generation Singaporeans was also the cause of the current linguistic and ideological segregation. He stated that with such divide, conflicts amongst different linguistic and ideologies groups would 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 the language policies and stances to match the linguistics context. 

English should be recognized as the rightful mother tongue language in Singapore but due to the nature of Singapore being cosmopolitan with different racial groups co-existing together over the years which resulted in a pool of distinctive languages, it is hard to determine this stance. 

I recollected 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. Making up 75% of the population, Chinese is the largest population in Singapore followed by Malays, Indians and other racial groups. It is therefore reasonable to claim that Mandarin can be our Mother Tongue given the racial composition but however, we have to consider that not many are fluent in Mandarin. This is in fact what makes it tough to establish English as the rightful mother tongue language of Singapore - the competition of the Mandarin language. Mother tongue, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is the language that an individual speaks while growing up. Although many had always been speaking Mandarin since their childhood days, there has been a visible shift in the "mother language" spoken at home by many new young generation Singaporeans. The advocation of English as their mother tongue by these young generation Singaporeans would show increasing trends as more choose to identify themselves as a "English speaker" than "Mandarin speaker". 

I also observed that with this gradual shift, many Singaporeans had also shifted away from their Chinese roots. As these Singaporeans move away from Mandarin to English, they no longer value the importance of Mandarin anymore. I have friends who feel that Mandarin is totally useless for their future and are not even bothered to spend time reading anything written in Chinese. It is saddening that such scene is common across the young generation nowadays. 

As Singapore develops and flourishes with the effects of globalization, 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. Many still have the perception that Singaporeans are not skillful in written and spoken English and that we converse mainly in Singlish. In resonance with Lu (2013), I agree that Singapore should quickly establish a firm stand on our sociolinguistic reality and make English our mother tongue 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

Oxford Dictionary, (n.d), Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mother-tongue

Essay Prompt Draft 1

Over the years, there is a  __% rise in the numbers of elderly living alone in Singapore. The figures are worrying as there are concerns over the elderly being able to take care of themselves while living alone. With the increased statistics, it also meant that there will be more elderly who are prone to accidents or health risks when they are at home as they are unable to take care of themselves properly. In order to tackle the problem of these accidents or health issues occurring in the elderly's home, home-based healthcare is looked into in this paper as one of the possible solutions to address this problem.

Home-based healthcare is when the elderly at home can receive any form of medical assistance or attention without having to go to a clinic or hospital. These healthcare services are manifested in the form of highly intelligent devices which are also easy-to-use and require minimal or no human effort. (Will include an existing example of such devices, still researching) Devices like the ____, is the collaboration between engineers and medical professionals, and more similar products are suggested to be developed in time to come. The main concern over these products is the ability of the elderly to afford them and the existing technological infrastructure and support in the homes of the elderly. The collaboration between the engineers and medical professionals is able to produce user-friendly medical devices that allow one-stop assistance and immediate call-to-action for elderly who faces health issues at home, yet the monetary incapacity of the elderly is the cause of single-living elderly not being able to receive immediate medical attention for their health issues at home.

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