Recommended Reading

reading-list.doc I have had a number of people asking for a reading list of some sort. There are a lot of books out there, and really the only way you will ever be able to figure out what you like and what you don’t, what you are able to read and what you aren’t, what [...]

The Catcher In The Rye

catcher-in-the-rye.doc Another book that I introduced to some of you was The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger. This book became a cult classic, and was in fact banned for a long time in schools and libraries. It is my opinion that most of you would really enjoy this book. Teenagers through the last [...]

The Original “Freedom to Think” Guy

immanuel-kant-on-freedom-and-thought.doc Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and while I would like to say that his work was the inspiration for the title of my blog, honesty forces me to admit that I pulled that one out of my hat. It was only when I was doing some random searching that I found my title [...]

A Fine Balance

rohinton-mistry.doc I brought some of my favourite books to school to show you last week. Not all of you got to experience that particular lesson. I’d like to think that those of you who did, enjoyed it as much as I did! (And if you didn’t, please don’t tell me so!) A little while back [...]

June Holiday Assignment

june-holiday-assignment.doc I am so sorry to have to do this to you, but the school requires that I set you an assignment for the holidays. Believe me when I say that I would much rather give you some free time, but I have to admit that your school is doing everything it can to help [...]

Acrostic Poems

Your little brothers and sisters in Sec One produced some very creative work today. The task was to write acrostic poems. (If you don’t know what this means look it up- or you might be able to guess as you read on. Most of you would have written such poems in Primary school.) Here are [...]

A Nice Surprise

You know how it is- sometimes a problem seems really big, and it keeps getting bigger. Like a balloon that you keep blowing air into. And then, just when it seems that the situation has reached its worst there is this big bang. Balloon bursts, problem’s solved. And you wonder what all the fuss was [...]

First post-exam day

Hi my sweeties! It was lovely seeing so many of you today. I actually missed you, can you believe that? I’ve realised that hanging around you keeps me young at heart, and when I don’t see enough of you I age too quickly. On the other hand, there is ONE class in particular that is [...]

Oral exam

Hi all, just finished listening to 38 kids from 2E5 while they read passages out loud and described pictures. Such an earnest bunch of kids, and so well behaved. They all had this clean cut look, and all did their best to perform well. I was impressed not only with their actual oral skills, but [...]

Racial harmony my foot!

I’ve been drowning in badly written essays for the last two weeks, and now that I have a viral fever, it really feels like I’m in hell. What is wrong with all of you? Apart from a few saving graces, none of you know anything about Singapore culture. The ignorance is staggering. And what is [...]