my ajumma notes

Yay, the French Open has started! Cute picture. The boy on the far left, especially. The boy on the far right somehow looks like Federer, ha ha... (picture from Nadal's website)

Woo hoo! Nice to see both playing each other again. And nice to see Nadal winning again. Special mention to unheralded Rezai, who beat Henin, Jankovic and finally Venus Williams in the final, in her gold outfit. Didn't see her play at all but noted all her victories, with surprise. Moral of the story: hard work does pay (though not always equally)

Remembering my father, one year on... Fr Remi introduced this poem yesterday during Ascension Day mass. Think it reflects my father's world view in some way. One Hundred Years from now (excerpt from 'Within My Power' by Forest Witcraft) One hundred years from now It will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money was in my bank account nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a better place because I was important in the life of a child. There was a time when I could remember every detail of the four days during which he was unwell and finally passed away. I realised recently that I can no longer remember every detail and that made me really sad. But I think there's a lot more that's important than remembering every minute of those four days and what I certainly hope is that I, as part of his legacy to the world, am making it a better place. Incidentally, I found out that this Forest Witcraft was a teacher and...

Aiyah, why didn't they choose my brainwave? I found myself agreeing with quite a lot of a letter in yesterday's ST, 'Learning a language: Get priorities right'. Let me quote the best parts of the letter: There are three considerations in learning a language. If a language is to be used as a tool to teach other languages and subjects, that language must be mastered well. If a language is to be used as a means of communication to enhance business opportunities, a simpler level of teaching and learning it will suffice. And if the purpose of a language is to connect a person with his culture and roots, then the decision to learn it should be left to the parents, rather than as a matter of compulsory education policy. I agree! I also agree with his suggestion that secondary school students take a third language 'to reflect Singapore's multicultural society'. But knowing the fixation with grades and top schools, I doubt this idea will popular. Finally, I didn...

I read that reading and writing daily can help keep the brain active and so prevent or delay the onset of dementia. Hopefully, writing one's blog helps there. Back to the topic of Chinese, I have a brainwave, ha ha. If the weighting for Chinese in the PSLE is to be reduced (which, if it happens, had better be well explained with reasons much more substantial than giving children a better shot at getting into top schools), let it be reduced to whatever-it-will-be and then bonus points (and definitely much more than the measley 2 points currently given for good performance in Higher MT) be given to those who get A and better. Actually, I also see there is an argument for similarly reducing the weighting for Science but I guess the Minister for Ed probably doesn't want to go there... So let me keep my thoughts to myself for the moment though I cannot help thinking about it now that the idea of tweaking the PSLE scoring has been broached. After all, there are 'important...