:: Random ::

In another 14 days, I will embark on my practicum journey! Really worried and unsure of how it will be =( Have heard stories of people failing practicum and also heard people who were so stressed that they cried) ... Practicum is probably the hardest 'module' throughtout the whole NIE course. Not only do you have to prepare detailed lesson plans (of course when you become a full pledged teacher, you will still need to do this), lesson materials and the worst part is lesson observation!

After attending the practicum briefing made me even more worried..... there will be 10 lesson observations!! For those of you who does not know what is lesson observation, it is actually a lesson that you are teaching and you have 1 or 2 supervisors watching how you teach. They will assess how you interact with the class, how you manage the class as well as how you deliver the lesson. Your lesson should not solely be a powerpoint presentation style. There should be more interactions such as group work or something besides the usual teaching method.

One important thing is to establish rapport with students. However, for a normal average teacher, rapport building requires time and not in a time frame of 10 weeks (of course there will be teachers who are very effective and excel in establishing rapport (= ) I feel that this 10 weeks may be more for the students to 'test water', usually after this period, they know you better and will be more willing to cooperate with you. Thus classroom management is quite a problem for us at the beginning =(

Really praying hard that i will be able to adapt to the new environment and students as soon as possible!

Counting down.....

:: Allthingsbeautiful ::

For people who does scrapbooking or have attempted, have you ever encountered the dilemma of having to purchase materials in bulk when you only need one or two pieces?

Have you ever wished that there was a kit that have materials you need and you get to save the hassle of finding materials from store to store?

Now, you do not have to think nor look any further! We understand your difficulties and hence we have came up with a SCRAPBOOKING KIT!!!

This scrapbooking kit comprises of a cork board to be used as a base! Cool or what you call it, now you can create something different from the usual booklet form =D This kit also includes papers as well as embellishment such as buttons, flowers, felt butterflies and lace!

Shown here is a sample did by my friend.

Picture credits to allthingsbeautiful

Click on Allthingsbeautiful to access our facebook page for more information! Pass the word on =)

:: Random ::

Been reading chinese newspapers and watching news, got confused by different terms and it is getting on my nerves. For instance, from what i have learnt:

Indonesia has always been known as 印尼 and Australia as 澳洲

However, the recent usage of  印度尼西亚 for Indonesia and  澳大利亚 for Australia had really confused me.

I heard from one uncle that when he was still schooling, they were taught  澳大利亚 which is the chinese term for Australia instead of 澳洲. From from I have read from online, 印尼 is the "short form" for 印度尼西亚. Similarly 澳洲 is a short form for Australia. It is so strange that what i (or my generation) have learnt is different from what is used today. What surprises me is that I did not learn the proper term for the countries! But it could also be that now, they are trying to put in place the proper terms hence they are adopting these terms. So now you know,

 印度尼西亚 for Indonesia and  澳大利亚 for Australia  =)

:: Random ::

The most 'anticipated' moment arrived this afternoon when my friend, Eileen sent me a sms,

"Posting is out!! n u are going choa chu kang sec!!"

Haha.... hurried to my laptop and checked my posting. Yes, choa chu kang secondary. It was definitely a "shock" for me ( i mean, regardless of the school, i will still be in a state of shock haha).

It's mixed feelings.....i know that the chances of me being posted back to SPS is low but i also did not have any expectation of where they will post me too. Hence the "shock", i suppose.....In addition, it is accompanied by the worries/fears since i will be changing into a new environment. Starting to worry about my practicum 0_0

For someone who is residing in the east, i wonder how early do i have to get up and how long do i have to spend on travelling. Hopefully, i will be able to secure a flat soon so that when July comes, i will not have to travel that far.

I am so gonna miss my dear boys at SPS.......

:: Food ::

The shop i will be blogging about today is "The Cheesecake Shop". It is located near to Siglap Centre, situated at the corner of the shophouses. Shown below are two pictures of the interior of the shop. It has been revamped and right now it exudes a very vintage feel~  

As the name says, this shop is well-known for cheesecake! Being a cheesecake lover, i really love their cheesecake =D They offer a variety of flavours ranging from the usual blueberry, oreo to peanut butter and caramel cheesecake. Popped by during my birthday last year, come to think about it, been there twice for my last two birthdays haha....

Blueberry cheesecake

Decided to order blueberry cheesecake instead of my usual oreo cheesecake (; i really love their rum n raisin cheesecake too!!

Rum n raisin cheesecake

Their cheesecakes are really yummy!! Unlike some shop where their cheesecake may taste nice today but the next time you try it, it taste awful. Over here, their cheesecake's quality is definitely there! You can really taste the "freshness" of it. It always have a light weight taste that you won't feel overdose of cheesecake.

Another thing i will recommend to try is the coke float. Their vanilla ice cream is rich, creamy and smooth that compliments the coke (; What's more, i like their service and their boss! Their boss is always there and friendly too. Their waiter and waitress are also attentive and fast in their service. This shop only opens from 3pm and its always crowded at night. But if you have the time, do pop by at late afternoon before the crowd comes in. But finding carpark along the shophouses will be a difficult task. The nearest will be at Siglap shopping centre but you will have to walk abit. Nevertheless, it will be worth it! =)

:: Food ::

Went to this place called "Hatched" for brunch like 1 or 2 months back. It is located at Evans road, which is just opposite NUS Law school at Bukit Timah Road. It is a cafe-like eating place located within the building shown in the picture.

As the name reflects, this place is known for having eggs cooked in various methods like frying, poaching etc.

Tried out their egg benedict which i thought was average =x I wonder if they added sour cream as i thought the egg white tasted abit sour. I dont like the bacon as it was quite "fatty". This is my first time having brunch in such cafe and i think some people may not like it as the serving was rather small?

Besides egg benedict, I have also ordered their grilled bananas pancake that was served with maple syrup. For a moment, i thought the white stuff on the pancakes were flour "-_- it was icing sugar haha......I am not really a fan of pancake but i felt the pancake was yummy =) It was soft and fluffy. However, disappointment set in as i ate til the middle. It was uncooked with some wet batter. Thought the chef could have taken note of that or maybe it was supposed to be like this? No idea, nor did i check with the staff.

Personally, I felt the food was average and it was over hyped-up. But for those of you who are interested to try out at this place, perhaps you can google to check what are their recommended dishes before popping by (;

:: Random ::

Hi people,

it's been a long time since i blogged! Just to share with you something that i attempted to do weeks back. After learning the technique of applique, i went to buy materials and try out! =)

The first 'prototype' that is super amateur looking haha.....used the remaining napkin from my lesson and bought coasters as well as mod-podge from 'artfriend'.

Bought a stack of coasters but only used one =x painted both side with mod-podge first.

The back of the coaster

Decided to put a little beetle on the back of the coaster, so that it adds abit of fun to it =)

The front of the coaster

The front! Pasted a piece of yellow construction paper as background. If you have noticed, some of the blue background of the napkin has turned yellow =( This is because the background color was too dark. If you want to avoid such thing from happening, you can paint the area on the coaster where you will stick the napkin white. This helps to avoid "discoloration"

The rest of the coasters have been stored, will find time and do if i manage to find nice napkin!