Advocators Newsletter

Hi-5!

Training

Teamwork

Coke bottle game

Group photo

Wilson Yip (director) / Edmond Wong (screenplay)

CAST :

Donnie Yen … Ip Man
Lynn Hung … Yong
Simon Yam … Quan
Sammo Hung … Hung
Xiaoming Huang … Wong Leung
Siu-Wong Fan … Jin
Darren Shahlavi…Twister

“Ip Man 2″ picks up where “Ip Man” left off. Ip Man (Donnie Yen) travels to Hong Kong with his family with the intent to propagate Wing Chun to the Hong Kong masses. The first hour charts the establishment and proliferation of Wing Chun by Ip Man. The hero is confronted with poverty, zero recognition, and threats from others masters for the right to teach.

The climax of the film shows Ip Man and Hung focusing their energies on defeating loudmouth British boxing champ Twister, played by Hong Kong stuntman Darren Shahlavi.

Apparently, the sequel is basically a rehash of the first movie’s major plot, showing Ip Man defeating the other masters, followed by his humbling of arrogant foreigners.

The speed of Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung is impressive. Their fight, which serves as the main selling point, ends in a draw. However, I must say the script does a grave disservice to Simon Yam’s Quan and Fan Siu Wong’s Jin, where both are completely wasted as there are not many fighting scenes with Jin and not at all for Fan.

Ip Man 2 depicts Chinese culture in its truest form, as simple as of drinking tea, to respecting teachers and patriotism for your motherland.

I suppose if you’re a real connoisseur of martial arts, there is some pleasure to be gleaned from the two men’s divergent fighting style.

The Singapore Education Summit 2010 will be held on the 5th and 6th of June, 2010 at Singapore Expo. It gives me great pleasure to extend an invitation to all our readers to attend the inaugural SES event.

This is the first time in Singapore that Top International and Local Educators are gathering on the same stage to share to parents and children in Singapore proven strategies to score excellent grades in their PSLE, ‘O’ and ‘A’ level examinations.

Our keynote speakers for the summit are Andrew Matthews, author of books such as “Being Happy” and “Follow Your Heart”, and Jerry Mills, acclaimed educator and motivational storyteller who will share on the touching topic of “Don’t Doubt the Dream”.

Participants in SES 2010 will also have the chance to learn from Singapore’s top educators in the field of child development. Experts on PSLE, O/A Level Subjects will be sharing with you how to prepare your child to score A for the upcoming examinations.

I would like to encourage all parents with children taking critical exams this year, be it PSLE, ‘O’ or ‘A’ Levels, to attend this summit together with their children. A bundled promotion with tickets for 2 parents and 1 child will be available at a price of $97 for general seating. Should you prefer to purchase tickets separately, you can do so through this link, http://www.sgeducationsummit.com/advocators/registration.html. More information on the event and biographies of the speakers are also available on the website http://www.sgeducationsummit.com/advocators.

Ever watched Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible”? Tom Cruise was really suave in the movie, cruising through all obstacles with that smoothness. What we thought was impossible, Tom was able to overcome them with good planning and a high degree of precision.

Truly, if only in life, we can be as polished as him. Yet, do we really believe we can do what he had done? How many times do we tell stories of “impossible-ness” to ourselves?

To a F9 student: “A1 is great, but for me to get an A1, that is impossible!”

To an overweight student: “I can never get gold for NAPFA!”

To a shy child: “OH DEAR! How can I ever be on stage with everyone looking at me??”

Are our goals truly impossible?

How many of you had been ridiculed when you had suggested something that you really want to do and people around you just slammed it shut by making slight remarks like “don’t be ridiculous, that’s so impossible!” or “please be realistic!” or “get real!”?

I had read recently an article that helped me see this in a different perspective.

There is no such thing as an Impossible goal. There are only Impractical steps to get to the goal.

This had really shifted my paradigm! It’s so true that we judge the end goal as unreachable when in fact, we seldom put time into thinking how we can actually take steps to get there! So today, I am going to share the steps I had learnt to start our journey to get to our “I-M-Possible” goals.

1. Set your I-M-Possible goal.

What is it that you truly want to achieve? Is it that A1 in Maths and Science? Is it that NAFA gold? Write it down! Entertain nothing but possibilities!

2.   Decide why you want to achieve that goal.

Is it to get to that TOP junior college that you had always dreamed of? Is it to be able to qualify for the first team in the basketball team? What is that strong “why” that will drive you forward? The bigger the WHY, the more “energy” you will have to see your goal through.

3.     List all the possible ways that could help you get to that goal. ALL. Again, any methods you can possibly imagined, write it all down!

Getting a coach on the specific subject, spending an extra hour everyday to run through all the not careful mistakes in your homework/tests, walk to school instead of taking that 5-minute bus ride etc etc. List EVERYTHING.

4.    Choose the most practical way to get to that goal.

Looking at the possibilities that you had listed. Choose one most practical way FOR YOU. Not for anyone, but one that works for you.

Now, you may find that the way you had decided on is not going to see you through all the way to your goal. That’s perfectly fine! The key is to get started. In time to come, the ways and opportunities that will help you get to your goal will start revealing themselves. The very first step will lead to the next step, so, get started!

All the best in your I-M-Possible pursuit!

Grace Lee – Sec 4 Pure Chem

Ashvin – Sec 3 A Math

Isabel Wong – Sec 4 Math, Science and POA

Sihui, Isabel and Isabelle – Sec 4 A Math

“RICH DAD POOR DAD – What the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not!” by Robert Kiyosaki

This book was recommended to me by a friend, he was telling me how this book was so fascinating and that he completed the book within 2 days. At that time, I wanted to start reading again but did not know which book to start with. I had heard about “Rich Dad Poor Dad” for quite some time. Hence I decided to head down to Borders to purchase the book out of curiosity.

The book highlights the differences in the ways that the rich and the poor view money and how they handle it. In this book the author uses his experience of his own dad, a school teacher (also known as poor dad in the book) and his best friend’s dad, a businessman (also known as rich dad in the book). The book states various examples of how each dad handled their finances. And through their differences, we can relate to how we ourselves treat money; as a rich guy, or as a poor guy.

An example that stood out to me was when both dads were looking at an expensive car. Poor dad said immediately “I cannot afford this car; this car is not suitable for me”. While Rich dad said “How can I afford this car”?  Can you see the difference by just asking “how”? “How” opens our minds and urges our brain to think of means and ways to afford that car.

At that time both dads had equal financial status. However, one chose to think like a rich person while another chose to think like a poor person. That alone made the difference and rich dad became rich eventually.

Besides the mentality, rich dad also did something different which I find rather interesting.

You earn $1000 a month and monthly bills of up to $1000. A normal person would want to pay your bills quickly. After all, if I’m not in debt, and I still can survive, I’m considered financially well off.

However rich dad has a different take on this. He would choose to pay himself first and then pay his debts. He would leave $300 for himself and use $700 to pay his $1000 debt. Crazy you might say. But he says he would use the pressure by his debtors on him to earn that extra $300 he owed others. This way he increased his income to $1300. And he has $300 in his pocket to invest in his assets.

I would recommend this book just because it provides simple but amazing insights to how one views money. I would not say it’s a “guarantee get rich” book. But it has refreshing and interesting ways to manage our money.

E8 to A1 for E Math – Marcus Sng, St Andrew’s Secondary School, 2009 O Levels

D7 to A1 for Combined Science – Stephan Tan, Maris Stella, 2008 O Levels

E8 to A2 for A Math – Peter Loh, Anglican High School, 2007 O Levels

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Our Power Revision program is back! This intensive crash course is tailored for students taking their O Levels this year. Over 6 sessions, we will cover the entire O Level content for the subject, so that students can build a strong foundation before they start doing practice papers.

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Author: Stephen R. Covey

This book was picked up somehow by chance at Harris Bookstore’s sale. It was late and the store was about to close. Since I was already there, I was not about to leave without buying a book. The title caught my eye “The Courage to Change”. I am usually tremendously resistant to change, therefore that seemed like the perfect book.

It does not matter whether you have read “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” from cover to cover, you can still keep up with this book as Covey brings attention to the Habits (and how they were used) at the end of each short story. The short and inspirational stories are shared effectively in sections, namely the Individual, Family, Community & Education and lastly the Workplace.

The very first story that made me shed tears was “My First Broken Heart” in the “Raising Teens” section, whereby a man recalls vividly how his father wept together with him on the night of his first romantic heartbreak many years ago, and recently how he paused to remember fondly that particular night before closing the lid on his father’s casket. After the story, Covey did a wrap up and emphasized the value of profound emotional experiences that lasts a lifetime, and the fact that such experiences give powerful scripts to the next generation.

Another persuasive take-home point from this book is the highlight of Habit 3: Put First Things First. Sometimes we can’t help but grumble about lack of time, yet Covey states it isn’t a matter of time; in fact, it’s a matter of “prioritization and commitment”. But first, you need to decide what matters most. The most important thing is always to “keep the main thing the main thing”.

With that said, it is perfectly fine to read this book before deciding to pick up “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Who knows, you might feel instigated to let the 7 Habits govern your life and perhaps next time, it is your turn to share your inspirational story.

We just had our AdvoChalet on the 8^th Jan at Costa Sands Resort at Downtown East. The purpose of the chalet is to let the students have fun and for bonding. Although it was not my first time go to the resorts, but it was my first time to join in the AdvoChalet. The events started at 2pm, but I arrived around 6pm with my colleagues.

However, the rain started when we reached. You may think that the BBQ cannot be done under such bad weather conditions, however, our 4 great heroes – Lynn, Darrell, Anisha and Adam were doing their best to save the fire. They were all drenched, while the others were hiding in the comfortable room. Then we found out that there was not enough food for everyone, so we headed down to the food court to have our dinner.

Next was the cake cutting session and the champagne popping. After that, coaches sent their wishes and blessing to students as two days later was the result release for O level students. After that, we had the Chinese traditional “yum seng” cheers. The energy was very high and everyone had a share of the champagne. The next event was bowling, we found out that there are a lot of talented players among students. And lastly, they decided to go pool and continue their challenge. Back in the room, we continued our day with playing cards.

Overall, students enjoyed themselves and had fun. However without our AdvoTeen Committee, the chalet will not be fun and success. Let us remember their efforts and the members – Anisha, Adam, Darrell, Rupini, Sandra and Farah.

AdvoChalet 2010 collage

-by Audrey-

Recently I caught ‘Avatar’ in 3D and to my surprise it was full house as the show opened early last December. Initially I have no intention to catch the show as the trailer doesn’t interest me. I was away for holiday and when I came back, people around me were selling it to me. Most of them watched it more than once.

As first I was telling them I will catch it when the DVD is out. However they were telling me the effect is best on the screen in 3D. What happens next is that I was sold!

Let me give you the gist of the story…
The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a moon in the Alpha Centauri star system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora’s reserves of a precious mineral which can fetch them millions, while the Na’vi—a race of indigenous humanoids—resist the colonists’ expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na’vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. Ironically, the “spy” who mingled among the Na’vi eventually joined forces with the Na’vi to fight against his own race to defend the Pandora and its residents.

My own verdict of the show… I LOVE IT! It’s a show not to be missed. The idea of the story is fresh and something different. I like the computer graphics, the interesting plants and species being portrayed.

Human beings are often found engaging in activities that are harming the environment and the living things on earth, due to their greed and self-centeredness.

Thinking back, how many people actually bother to slow down their pace and appreciate what Mother Nature has bestowed upon us? On the other hand, many people are always exploring new arenas like outer space and unknown territories.

I was just sharing with my colleagues the other day that I was very happy that I get to touch and feel the grass and trees on my last holiday. As the car was cruising along the road and passing by the mountains… A thought came to my mind “Wow! How beautiful the grasses are on the mountains with varying shades of earth colours. If only I can touch it or lie on it.”

Whenever we stopped over at places, I never miss the chance to mingle among the trees and grass and I even lie and roll on it. Yes, my friends say I am crazy. It feels good to be in and with nature.

We never know when we will wake up not seeing the sun or the moon might just disappear one day.

For our future generations, love the earth and do our part to keep it thriving.