SWiSS Joke Of The Week

While walking up the stairs to the TKSS Library Info@sis for the NLB Outreach Programme, Mohd Noh turns around, looks quizzically at his EL teacher and then asks with a completely straight face...

"Cher, why do we LOL? Why not LS?"

"Why, Mohd Noh, what's wrong with LOL? And what's LS?"

"No lah cher... why always must Laugh Out Loud? Cannot Laugh Silently is it?"


- Mohd Noh, SWiSS 1T1

T3 W4 Updates SWiSS-SPCA Booth Sale Success!

Admist being hard at work completing their English lesson dramatisations in class and doing up their comprehension questions as homework, our SWiSS EL Drama class still found the time to contribute back to society and help spread awareness to the TKSS family by setting up their SWiSS-SPCA booth in the canteen last Friday and today.

Deepest thanks and much love to all the lovely supportive TKSS staff and students who had donated generously by purchasing all the SPCA products - our students had a great time chatting to you about animal welfare and playing the spokespeople of these creatures who badly need a voice!

A total sum of almost four hundred dollars was raised through our students' hard work and PR skills over a period of 3 hours - excellent job, guys!

We thank SPCA for the opportunity to work with them and allow our students the chance to be able to give back a bit to their community, have a bit of fun and taste the humility and selflessness that comes from doing something not for themselves, but for the sake of those who are less fortunate and able than them.

Two solid thumbs up for all our SWiSS Lower Sec students from 1T1 & 2T1!

Here's to a small step in the right direction :)

Ms Feng and James setting up the booth and stressing out over how to arrange the products..


Lovely teachers who came to support us :)


The Mysterious Masked Crusaders try their best to peddle their wares while speaking out on the behalf of the SPCA animals that need their help...


Big hug out to dearest Valerie & Louisa from 5N2 for their generous donations and great support!

T3W3 Update: Special Guests & SPCA Visit

This has been a whirlwind week for the SWiSS School indeed!

Our SWiSS classroom has never been more bustling with creative energy, and its been a really enriching and rewarding experience being a part of so many exciting activities this week!

Let's see what we've been up to...

Special Guests!
In the spirit of sharing, collaboration and team learning, our SWiSS EL class was very pleased to have as our guests for this week Ms Marican, Ms Tay and Ms Begum from NIE under their Enhanced School Experience Programme (ESE) attachment with our school.





They were invited to be participants in our drama class, and they had the opportunity to view and participate in some lively performances and feedback sessions with our students.

With no coercion, bribing or any threats on our part whatsoever (really! we swear!), they had this to say as their final verdict:



"I think that using Drama to teach English has definitely benefited the students. They are engaged, interested and very involved in lessons. You can definitely tell that they want to be heard and appreciated by their peers. Hence they show immense pride in their work. Its amazing that by using drama, you not only teach them English but also communication skills, life skills and PR skills. I’m very impressed with both staff and students who I can tell have put in so much effort into this new endeavor. Well done! Would really love to see more of your work!"

– Ms Wafa Marican

"The use of drama for teaching comprehension in the class appears highly effective in engaging the students in the lesson, while at the same time enhancing the students’ understanding of the passage. It also fosters values like team spirit and appreciation and acknowledgement of the good efforts of their classmates."

– Ms Nadia Begum

"I appreciate how drama has given students the room for self expression and creativity. (i.e. the use of sound, imaginary props). I was pleasantly surprised when they portrayed themselves against the stereotype that NT students misbehave. It was also intriguing to have been given insight into the students’ mental images and perspectives on the role of a teacher and the students in the classroom."

– Ms Fiona Tay

As you can see, with comments like that, we at SWiSS have nothing but happy smiles and the deepest thanks for such constructive and positive feedback!







SWiSS - SPCA Collaboration, 17-21 July 09









The SPCA is a registered animal welfare charity and relies on the goodwill and generosity of the public and volunteers for its amazing work with the furry friends who cross their doors.




Animal welfare education is about harnessing the enthusiasm that young people have for animals and developing their awareness of the needs of animals and all living things. By teaching students to care for and to respect animals, animal welfare education promotes the life skills of caring, nurturing, communication and respect for life. Ultimately it seeks to develop responsible and caring attitudes and build a society that values and respects all living things: humans, animals and their environment.

We infused this teaching opportunity into our classroom by allowing students to role play the situations and treatment of the cruelty and abuse that the animals have experienced as outlined in their thematic comprehension passages that was done for the week in preparation and anticipation of this SPCA endeavour.

Abdul Rahman and his group dramatising in role how an animal abuser was caught and apprehended by the SPCA and the police



Rizwan and Shaffy dramatising in role how a teacher (Shaffy) is planning to bring his students out to a Learning Journey, and is in the process of debating it with his colleague, Rizwan



Farisha demonstrates how her team dramatises the plight of Rohaizad (in role as an abused animal) as he was found after he was flung from a HDB flat (they used the tables as props to act as the HDB flat's window)a>



Students engaged in a Hotseating activity where the audience took turns to ask them questions while they remained in character and provided insight into the characters' thoughts and feelings related to the issue of animal abuse

We were very pleased to see the students demonstrate incredible empathy and insight into the plight of these animals, and were able to approach their comprehension questions that followed with better ease after their dramatic exploration of their passage using drama strategies like hotseating and role-playing.

This paved the way for our SWiSS school to form a collaboration with SPCA to initiate a charity sale on 20th and 21st July this upcoming week so as to raise awareness in TKSS of the plight of animals in Singapore and to promote the knowledge and information that they had gained during their own visit there...







Our SWiSS-SPCA ambassadors were to be found on early Saturday morning yesterday hard at work creating their booth's posters and display boards so that they can do their best to play their part and speak for the animals they had met during their visit:

Umar, Ashraff and Ibrahim proudly showing off their excellent Saturday morning effort!

Ibrahim busy putting up posters around the school to raise awareness in TKSS students on how to stop animal abuse.


Happy smiles from all in the SWiSS Team for a great weekend job well done!

Do come down to our booth in the canteen during your recess breaks (both Upper and Lower Secondary recess) this Monday and Tuesday to donate generously by purchasing the adorable SPCA posters, bookmarks, notebooks and stuff toys - and do your part to support the SWiSS school in our effort to spread the good word about animal welfare and helping to further educate the TKSS family about animal abuse!

Animals of all shapes and sizes are our friends, and deserve our unquestioned respect and love - as Gandhi once said:

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."

It is the hope and wish of the SWiSS Team for our SWiSS students, and by extension all students from our TKSS family - that they will always be there to speak for those whose voices cannot be heard, to protect those who are too weak to protect themselves, to be Accountable for their actions, to show Respect to all living things big and small, and to always demonstrate Kindness to anyone and anything that crosses their paths.

We all had a tough time deciding which one was cuter...

The journey of a thousand steps always begins with a single footprint -

Here's to a small SWiSS step in the right direction!

SWiSS - "Remember The Name"

You ready? Let's go
Yeah for those of you who want to know what we're all about
It's like this y'all come on

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill,
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

Mike, he doesn't need his name up in lights
He just wants to be heard whether its the beat or the mikes
He feels so unlike everybody else, alone
In spite of the fact that some people still think that they know him

But no, he knows the code
Its not about the salary its all about reality and makin' some noise
Makin the story makin sure his clique stays up
That means when he puts it down Tak's pickin it up, let's go

Who the hell is he anyway? He never really talks much
Never concerned with status, but still leavin' them starstruck
Humbled through opportunities given, despite the fact
That many misjudge him because he makes a livin from writin raps

Put it together himself, now the picture connects
Never askin' for someone's help, to get some respect
He's only focussed on what he wrote, his will is beyond reach
And now when it all unfolds, the skill of an artist

This is twenty percent skill, eighty percent fear
Be a hundred percent clear because Ryu is ill
Who would've thought he'd be the one to set the West in flames
And I heard him wreckin' with the crystal method, name of the game

Came back dropped Megadef, took em' to church
I'm like, bleach man, why you had the stupidest verse?
This dude is the truth, now everybody givin' him guest spots
His stock's through the roof, I hear he going with S-dot

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill,
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

Eight years in the makin', patiently waitin' to blow
Now the record with Shinoda's takin' over the globe
He's got a partner in crime, his talent's equally dope
You won't believe the kind of things that comes out of this kid's throat

Tak he's not your everyday on the block
He knows how to work with what he's got
Makin his way to the top
People think its a commoner's name
People keep askin' him was it given at birth
Or does it stand for an acronym?

No, he's livin proof, got him rockin the booth
He'll get you buzzin quicker than a shot of drink with juice
Him and his crew are known around as one of the best
Dedicated to what they doin, give a hundred percent

Forget Mike, nobody really knows how or why he works so hard
It seems like he's never got time
Because he writes every note and he writes every line
And I've seen him at work when that light goes on in his mind

Its like a design is written in his head every time
Before he even touches a key or speaks in a rhyme
Those other fellas he runs with, those kids that he signed
Ridiculous, without even tryin, how do they do it?

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill,
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill,
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name

- 'Remember The Name', Fort Minor



SWiSS Sec 1T1
TLLM Ignite2! English Drama Class
TKSS BlackBox
13 July 2009

Update - The SWiSS SecretNotes Project 09

Hey everyone! The weekend is here again and here at TKSS SWiSS we bring yet another fun week of drama and EL in class to a close.

Its been an eventful week, with lots of projects ongoing at the moment so that students would be both meaningfully occupied, participate in fun learning journeys and activities and develop their social emotional learning competencies under the guidance and mentorship of their SWiSS teachers.

One that has had its roots earlier this week was piloted by the gregarious 2T1 students, who were enthusiastic and engaged participants in what we here at SWiSS call The SWiSS SecretNotes Project.



The idea is based around the concept founded from this website - and we aim to give our students the opportunity to share confessions in art form, to help to create a gallery of postcard-sized images posted anonymously by TKSS SWiSS students to unveil a secret about themselves.

(click on pictures to view larger)







The goals of this activity are for students to:

- Gain a better understanding of self-disclosure theories.

- Think about self-disclosure in a different manner other than face-to-face.

- Write a critical reaction of their SecretNote experience in relation to self-disclosure.

- Have a platform to showcase the many different secrets of today’s youths as they face daily challenges and pressures of school, growing up, family and love.

- Be a part of a unique exhibition of pop art and modern literary translation of innermost thoughts and emotions.



Students are invited to sit in 2 circles (even register numbers outside circle, odd numbers inside circle) facing outwards and one hand span away from each other, to create a private yet communal space where the class gets to explore their personal experiences and emotions in relation to the secret that they would like to share as a part of the SWiSS SecretNotes project.



A scaffolding exercise was held by doing a wordsplash on the board eliciting student responses about the concept of a 'secret', and it also acts as a trigger for their memories and personal experiences that they can then tap on to use as their contribution for the project.

Students are assured that their secrets are anonymous and confidential, and they are encouraged to keep their secrets as simple or as detailed as they like, with the option to decorate and draw on their 'notes' with their color pencils and markers as another form of self-expression to accompany their written secret.



After they are done they are to place their secrets face-down into the SecretNotes box in the middle of the circle, where it is later collected and collated by the teachers for an art display and exhibition at year end.





The students were told of the rules of the SecretNotes Project:

- Must be true
- Must be something that has never been shared with another person
- Can range from fears, regrets, desires, obsessions, etc

e.g. “The love I give others is a reflection of the love I seek for myself.”

“I never told my parents I already forgave them for never loving me enough as a child.”

“I always look away before the traffic light turns from amber to red – it scares me.”


The SWiSS SecretNotes exhibition will feature more than 100 notes that bring together the most powerful, poignant, and beautifully intimate secrets that the SWiSS school has in its grasp across the 4 levels.

~

Why is SecretNotes so appealing?

The SWiSS School intends to tap into the universal stuff of being human, the collective, often unconscious level of existence that defies age, culture, gender, and economics.

Addictively compelling, the SecretNotes project will reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions - and show the strength and universality of the human spirit and fortitude in our triumphs and celebrations of adversity and challenges: an extremely crucial concept, especially so for our SWiSS students, who need the outlet and platform for both self-expression and to make meaning of their personal experiences using both language and art.

Simply put - the SecretNotes is simply a pop art culture project to bring to the page and to show to the world what we SWiSS teachers can see, feel and experience firsthand with the kids everyday when we see them.

A student's smiles, laughter, attitude and words say a lot, but a picture and self-expression from the soul says a thousand words more. Learning to listen is something we all do - hearing what they have to say is something else altogether.

SecretNotes. A window into the SWiSS soul.

Look closer, and you might just be surprised at what you find.








Till we meet again, have a beautiful weekend!