Module Review: GET1003

GET1003: Home

Time: 2015/16 Sem 2

Lecturer: Dr. Christopher Mcmorran

Tutor: Zane Kheir

This module talks about the multiple connotations of home, the different forms of home (as a physical structure, nation-wise or a state of being), the mobility and absence of home, destruction and rebuilding of home etc etc. Everything was very interesting and I’m so glad to have taken this module. It is kind of an anthropologic-geographic-some econs-ish type of module.

Mr Mcmorran is a very good speaker- he conducts his lesson in an interactive manner, whereby he will pass his mic down the rows and we will discuss what we’ve observed in the readings.  His sense of humour also keeps the class engaged. I also like how he did not just gave readings but also showed us “home” related songs, lyrics, ted talks too.

In order to participate in the lecture discussion, we will have to read through the readings before coming to class. Most of the readings are interesting (except for some…hmm). I never imagined that there could be so many implications within a seemingly simple concept of “home”, and how the many ways it could be shaped by one’s experience. The readings are separated into “required” and “additional”. It would be good to read the “additional” readings if you have the time, the materials have some good points.

Grading Scheme:

• Group project
• Individual project
• Peer marking
• Final exam

Group project:

We were required to go to a “home” related place in Singapore and apply what we’ve learnt during lessons, discuss the connotations of home blah blah blah. After that, we have to come up with our own research question, submit a research paper and present in front of our tutorial class. Our group chose to go to the HDB HQ and we certainly had fun looking at the furniture and showrooms. The organization of essay structure, the linkage to what we’ve learnt in class, the strength and logical flow of argument, and the citation consistency are all highly expected (i think) here.

Individual project & peer marking:

We can either critique a medium that depicts “home”, or to identify an object that reminds the student of “home”. I chose the latter. We had a draft submission, whereby our peers (3-4) gets to critique our essay. We gather these feedback, edit them and submit the final version to the teachers. It’s something fun to do, because we can self-evaluate and determine what the object really mean to us. I just find the deliberate attempts to include concepts taught in lectures can be a bit difficult.

Final exams:

For this semester, we were allowed to bring in a 2-sided sheet of A4 hand-written notes. Do make full use of it! The structure of the exam comes in 2 parts-A) given 3 key terms, define 2 of them. B) give a quote from one of the readings, explain/elaborate. There are a lot of key terms, so it would be good to note them down during the course of the semester, to facilitate revision. The key terms are quite broad, so they are looking out for alot of things, different perspectives, unique examples etc. Same goes for part B. Lastly, remember to leave a line and try to write legibly! My handwriting turned into a sprawl of utter messiness (as usual) towards the middle of the essay and the poor teachers had to go through all that…

This sem’s question:

SECTION A (70%; 35% for each key term):

• mobility
• homely home
• disaster refugee

SECTION B (30%):

Tim Cresswell writes: “Most people are familiar with the attempt to make somewhere feel like home… The creation of ‘nice places to live’ is one of the central ways in which places are produced. But take this activity beyond the seemingly innocent practices of decorating walls and arranging furniture and it soon becomes a political issue.”

Question: How can making a place feel like home be a political issue?

Module Review: LAF1201

LAF1201: French 1

Time: 2015/16 Sem 2

Lecturer: Monsieur Rachid Bendacha

* No tutorials for this semester. Instead they are replaced with 2 lectures (1.5hrs ea) per week*

This module starts from the basic french grammar to conversations and greetings in french. We also learnt a bit of french culture and geography. Although all students are learning the same things, each lecturer will come up with different styles of ppt. Mr Bendacha’s lessons are quite clear and he replies to emails fairly quickly. What I like is that he sometimes share french related things (a song or a poem) before class.

Grading scheme (100% CA) [non-official]:

• Writing tests [in-class]
• Listening tests [in-class]
• Oral test [in-class/take home]
• Group video
• Writing homework

The module focuses on 3 aspects of learning language – speaking, writing and listening. It requires alot of effort to do well in all 3 areas. We are expected to purchase a textbook and a practice book, and the tb includes this “ParcoursDigital” software too. It’s crucial to do the practices in all three in order to improve.

The writing and listening tests doesn’t deviate too much from the content taught in class, but one still needs to be fully certain of the conjugation forms and grammar variations – one wrong alphabet is a question wrong. We had one take home oral test, where we have to record us reading from a short paragraph that they gave us, and upload it to IVLE. The other oral test is a group test, whereby 3-4 of us were given a few lines of french, and we were supposed to come up with a 10 min  (?) conversation after 7min of preparation. The process was quite fun, just that none of us remembered what the key word “loisir” (leisure) meant. Luckily we made a correct guess and pulled it through.

For this group work, we have to go to our favorite place in Singapore and introduce them with the french terms that we’ve learnt (and no more than that). Our group chose NLB. The process was quite fun, as we tried to apply what we’ve learnt into real life. Just one thing to note- be careful not use phrases/expressions/vocabulary beyond what was taught in class. The same applies to the writing test.

The module is fun, I’ve learnt quite alot from it, and I find the textbook practices and teaching methods to be useful towards the learning process. It is also a nice experience to learn with classmates that hold the same interest as you in this language. Hope to be able to write a module review (french 3 maybe) in full french lol.

Module Review: CL1101E

CL1101E: 汉语导论 (Introduction to Chinese Language)

学期：2015/16 Sem 2

讲师：潘秋平老师

辅导课：林欣怡老师

*这一课是汉语主修生的必修课之一*

这个课程主要是语言学入门，给同学介绍了一些汉语使用的国际音标(IPA)，语音语素音位词组、古今汉语、地域汉语之差等。课程内容非常有趣，学到好多好多东西。潘老师教得非常清楚，而且很有耐心，每次下课都在教室外回答学生的问题。课程整体安排有序，结构清楚，和辅导课的内容结合恰当。[kuo35 tɕi51 in55 piau55 xau214 iou214 tʂy51]!!!

评分方式：

1. 辅导课表现、课堂小测验（20%）：很有趣。小测验不是那种严肃的，而是可以互相讨论。基本上就相当于课堂知识回顾的复习。
2. 课后作业（30%）：老师出一堆题，给我们一段时间答，然后交上去。可手写也可打字，打字可以下载能打IPA的软件（开始有点难用但用顺之后就非常酷）。问题一定要仔细看，反复思考。当时我还觉得自己总体上答得不错，结果老师批完后才发现还有那么多可能性，我都没看出来，真是太遗憾了！
3. 期末考试（50％）：因为老师主要考我们的分析能力，所以这一年连字典和笔记都允许带入考场。要注意的是时间的掌握－第一题（5个小部分）不要花太多时间，导致后面的题没有足够时间做。

总体来说，这个课程可锻炼我们深度分析和多方面思考的能力，同时也让我注意起以前经常忽略的东西（如 语音、语调、发音）。况且老师也教的特别好，让我对语言学产生不小的兴趣。好老师＋有意思的内容＝非常圆满的一学期。可以的话不妨拿一下！

EDIT: 后来跑去找老师问关于期末考试的事。他说，其实若给足够时间，大家都能答得出来，很难分辨大家的水平。所以他就以时间作为衡量标准，谁能在有限的时间内（时间的压力下）答出大部分重点，那谁就得到更好的成绩。所以且请记住一定要掌握好时间！！！！！看一题先不要激动得立刻写答案，要知道老师在问什么，再去答！！！这样才会在 有限的时间内抓到终点！！！天哪我好激动因为我考试就是啰嗦地写了一大堆又没抓住重点！！！以后拿这堂课的同学加油！！！！

Module Review: CH2161

CH2161: 经史子集 (Traditional Chinese Taxonomy of Learning)

学期：2015/16 Sem 2

讲师：许齐雄老师

辅导老师：无。每周一次3小时讲课，无辅导课。

*这一课是汉学主修生的必修课之一*

*老师推荐先上另一个必修课：历代文选（CH2162），打好基础。其实若时间不允许，先上这个也无妨*

这个课主要给我们介绍四库全书中的经、史、子、集四个部分，讲解中国传统学术的分类方法、过程演变和归类原因。老师教了有很多基础知识，学到挺多东西。我们也略读四部下更细分类的类序，试读文言文。课的内容不像课名那么枯燥，读进去后会觉得很有趣。许老师幽默风趣的教学方法也让我们以轻松的心情吸取知识。老师很有耐心，我常常是一个电邮8-9个问题地“轰炸”他，但他都十分迅速的回答，就算考试前一天也是一样。

评分方式：

这课没有期末考试，评分全靠学期间大大小小的测验和作业。

1. 每周一次的小测验（10%）－老师会考一些中国朝代、13经、25史等基础常识，对我们学习非常有用
2. 个人报告（20％）－老师会把经史子集下的几类按照同学人数分，每个人阅读一篇类序，然后做ppt给大家解释。以下有几点请注意：1) 若类序有不明白的地方一定要早点和老师约时间讨论，不然连报告人自己都不懂类序的内容，对同学和自己都不负责。2) ppt 上的注解请用浅显易懂的方式解释，不要随便从那里抄来奇怪的解释，同学拿来复习时读得很麻烦。3) 类序很短，可以花个$1多帮全班同学各印一张，做笔记时会比较方便。4) 虽然大家都很忙，但是来上课之前若可以的话推荐先读读同学要报告的类序，把不懂的地方画出来，再准备些问题，这样在听报告时比较有效率，更能听得进去。
3. 期中考试（20%）－考 经部。注意！一定。一定。要。复习。学凡六变！！！！！！ 我上次不小心把这个漏掉没复习，这个考试差点不及格呀 呜呜呜 （这一题就占40分！）
4. 期末考试（20%）－考 史子集部。考史书类型、分类等一些基础知识。老师很可能会出一些陷阱，特别在史部，一定要对自己有信心，别…每个陷阱都掉下去。
5. 课后测验（20%）－老师出几个看似没头没尾的句子，我们要从四库收藏内找出准确的句子。从我们国大图书馆本身的四库全集收藏中找资料有些困难，所以我们可以用电子版。只不过僧多粥少，一般很难登入进去，我就是一整个学期不论早午晚从未成功登入过。另一个方法就是去向ctext.org之类的网站，把内容找到，再把书的大致页数找到，最后回到图书馆去翻仔细的页数。这样过程会快很多。
6. 参与分（10%）－ 嗯….嗯？嗯。