From Xinmin Pri to Robin Hood School and vice-versa |
Dearest Ann,
My name is Baljeet Sandhu and I am a member of the Xinmin Primary School staff.I received a cc of your letter together with the letters of the children in your school.They sound extremely delightful and eager as all children are, curious to find out and learn more about other parts ofthe world.I was about to have a HUP (Helping Under-Achievers Programme) lesson then and I thought it would be a wonderful idea to have my children talk about themselves and have email-pals over there.
First let me explain a bit about the HUP bit here.It is a programme to help under-achievers attain the potential that is so inherent in them but,well, due to one reason or another,they are not performing up to expectation. My group consists of 10 children and they are a very pleasant lot, save for a slight problem of lack of confidence in themselves.
Anyway,I brought up the idea to them this afternoon and after the excitement had subsided,we then settled down to deciding what we could do.They would actually like to correspond with them (your pupils) on a one to one basis;if that's all right ,that is. They would feel more comfortable knowing that they were communicating with a person rather than talking about themselves in general.
[Down][Next] I would like to tell you a bit more about the school (other than what you already know about us from the Internet).
We are a large school with apopulation of about 2700 children in two sessions. You see, in Singaporewe run in two sessions; the morning (from 7.30am to 12.50pm) and the afternoon session(from 1.00pm tp 6.20 pm).Sounds rather hectic, doesn'tit? We have therefore two sets of teachers( about 86) working in both sessions. Well, generally we have the same lessons in core subjects, basically English, Maths, Science and a Mother Tongue language( which could be either Mandarin, Malay or Tamil).We also have subjects like Health Education, Physical Education, Moral Education, Social Studies, Art& Craft and of course we have our share of ECA or extra-curricular activities. This allows the child to participate in an activity of his or her choice and we find it builds a brainy and brawny child in our midst.
Examples of such ECAs are Brownies, Scouts, Science Club,etc.
I will get a few members of each club or society to perhaps drop in a few details so that you and your children would be able to understand a bit more about what we do here.
Who knows! We might even come up with a couple of snapshots! Akan Datang which in Malay, means soon to come).
Coming up next - some letters from my children for you.
The first one goes out to Lucy Karim from Emily Lim Sheue Chyn.
Dear Lucy,
I am Emily Lim.I am a girl.I have black haur and have black eyes.I am nine years old. My favourite subject is Science.I live in Hougang Avenue 4.I am in Primary 3C.I have a brother and a sister. My best friends are Lim Lay Koon and Ang Li Ching. They are both Chinese like me.I like to collect cards.I do not know about Boyzone or Spice Girls but my teacher told me who they were. She said she would bring a poster for me to see. My favourite is Zoe Tay. She is very pretty and very popular.I like potato chips but not toast.Could you please tell me about England?
Thank You.
The next one is for Lauren Arnold from Lin Yiling.
Dear Lauren,
I am a girl and I have black eyes and black hair.My favourite subject is Maths. I like swimming and collecting cards and stamps.I have three brothers and they are Jeremy,Jackson and Jacky. They are very naughty but they cannot bully me because my mother will scold them. This year I will be going to USA for a holiday. Maybe I will tell my mother about England. I ask my teacher but she said to find out from you.
This year for Chinese New Year, I got a lot of hongbaos. I will tell you what it is. Iget hongbaos ( red packets) with money in it. It is good luck for the Chinese.Bye.
The next is for Nida Khan from Siti Rohaidah.
Dear Nida,
I like your name.I am nine years old.I have black hair and brown eyes.I like Science and HUP. During Hari Raya I got twenty two dollars from my relatives.How did you like Hari Raya? Do you celebrate it too? I also go to my relatives houses and eat a lot of food and get a lot of money.I have new clothes to wear too.This was two weeks ago.Now we have our assessments in all subjects.I must study or my mother will get angry with me.I must also set a good example for my sister to follow.I like swimming and cycling. In Singpore it is very hot and I go cycling every day.Bye.
From Peh Zonghui to Daniel Black.
Dear Daniel,
I am Zhonghui.I am 9 years old.I have an older sister and her name is Shu Chen. My hobby is running, swimming, jogging and playing basketball.There are 44 children in my class. My favourite food is chicken rice. I like Sharks Fin Soup also. My girlfriend is Li Ching.She is very pretty. My best friend is Chee Kian.He is very clever and knows everything. My teacher says I am clever also.I am but I am lazy.I hope you and I can be good friends.
What is Easter? My teacher says to find out from you.I saw my school on Internet, did you see it too? My teacher's face is there.Bye.
To all the children from Robin Hood:
Snapshots of these our children will be on the way as soon as we can manage.(PS: They're be posted here at this URL http://www.moe.ac.sg/schools/sch1724/robinxps.htm too, so watch out for them, won't you?)I wish you well and hope to hear from you soon.
Mrs Baljeet Sandhu
Xinmin Primary School
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