i got a feeling
that this English project's gonna be a good good one

Five people in the group,
-Anthony
-Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
-Zul
As a group, we will be doing a project on Graciousness.
Our mission statement is
"We plan to change the mindsets of typical Singaporeans and to teach them the importance of being gracious. We want to make Singapore a better place for people to live in whereby most of the population will learn how to be gracious so that they can teach their future genrations how to be gracious and also to attract more foreigners into Singapore to help boost it's economy."




THINGS-TO-DO

*Watch the videos
*Comprehension articles (Theatre slobs) [group]
*Argumentative essay
*Intervention drama
*Project planning [group]
*Debate/Forum
*Formal letter [individual]
*Project blog [group]
*Video [group]
*Posters [group]
*Self and peer review [individual]

Blog

!1st reflection
- Anthony
- Dan
- Jezelyn
- Steffi
- Zul
!2nd reflection
- Anthony
- Dan
- Jezelyn
- Steffi
- Zul
!Argumentative essay Intro
- Anthony
-Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
-Zul
!3rd reflection
- Anthony
- Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
- Zul

Assignments
*Argumentative essay
- Anthony
-Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
-Zul
*Argumentative essay re-write
- Anthony
-Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
-Zul
*Formal letter
- Anthony
-Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
-Zul
*Individual report
- Anthony
-Dan
-Jezelyn
-Steffi
-Zul



layout by leen. © leen. 2009 - ∞.

CLOSING POST

This project had made us realise how important it is to be gracious and what are the consequences that we will face if we don’t. The impacts of ungraciousness do not only apply to us but also to other people. They will also receive the consequences. There are obstacles that we face during this project for example; anthony and zul do not cooperate with us much in the beginning of this project although they still do not cooperate much. But it is not as bad as the start of this project. They cooperate with us well during the making of the video. We also had a hard time to meet up during the weekends; we could not find a suitable timing for all of us to gather to do the project. Therefore we did not have enough time to make our project the way we wanted. But we did not give up and we made a few changes to our plan so that we had enough time to do it. Lastly, we want to thank Ms Raine for letting us did this project and guide us step by step until we finally finished the project. We are also sorry for all the troubles that we were giving Ms Raine. This is our last
We have done our posters and videos. Our first poster is showing clean and dirty toilets. The clean toilet indicate what a toilet would be if students are gracious and have good habits. While, the dirty toilet indicate what a toilet would be if students were ungracious and do not have a good habits. This poster is drawn to make students realise how nice and useful it is a clean toilet would be rather than a dirty one. That is why students need to have a good toilet habits. Our second pictures show a very dirty cubicle. This poster purposes is to show students the consequences if they do not have a good toilet habits. Our videos started with a greet and then explanations about graciousness and what are the consequences is someone does not do it as well as how to instill good toilet habits to the students body. We also have pictures in our videos about ungracious behaviors. We have fun during the making of the videos even though we have quite a hard time to make the videos. We had to re-do the videos again if something goes wrong. But I think it’s fun to make the videos. The making of the videos is not the only thing that is fun I think the whole project is beneficial to me. I also not so gracious previously but now that t know the consequences that I will receive if I’m not gracious I will try to change my ungracious habits. Also, thank you Ms Raine for letting us to do this project and helped us through out this project. I hope that this will help the student body in our school to be more gracious.

byes,
Steffi.
So far as a group, we finished making the posters and videos. For our posters,the first one has two different aspects: graciousness and ungraciousness. On the graciousness sides, it obviously has clean and user-friend toilet. On the other hand, on the ungracious side, it obviously has dirty, awful and disgusting toilet. This was drawn to show the comparism of the good and the bad example of toilet. The second one describes the dirty and unpleasant toilets. The purpose of drawing these posters of toilet is to let the students know what is the consequences we will be facing with if we continue to have the ungracious toilet habits. For videos, we started out with the narration of five of us and we recorded down the example of ungraciousness acts and graciousness acts. Through making the posters and videos, we had a lots of fun, and we learned a lot of things such as we cannot always rely on the cleaners and we cannot always expect others to clean up while i am not doing it. It was quite challenging to gather up together to take the videos, to make the posters and to share the thoughts of the gracious acts through the discussion. Overall, I believe that this project was very useful to everyone in our class to know what exactly the word "gracious" means. Moreover, we learned how to carry out those acts. Lastly, i would like to thank to miss Raine who guided us how to carry out the project step by step and gave us the opportunity to do this project. I hope that our efforts will make a different to our school and even Singapore.

DAYZ,
Dan


By
DAYZ

People should know that Graciousness is about being compassionate and concern
to other people. They must understand that this is an act of love to other
people so that they can be happier.



Graciousness shouldn't be an appearance. It should not be fake. It should not be
something that is put on just so that it will make you look better.



Graciousness should come from the heart.



By: DAYZ

'Let us not have a society that relies on rules to do the things we ought to
do out of goodwill and graciousness.'

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang



I agree with Mr.Yeo on his statement.



An action must be done out of goodwill and not on appearance and rules. We
should do it because of what we feel is right and not because it is right.



Everyone must be more conscious about this fact. When people can understand
this, they will start to be gracious and help each other out. Hence,
Singaporeans can be known to be gracious in near future.



By: DAYZ

We have been talking about being a gracious people for
many years with campaigns and leaders teaching and guiding the people on how to
be gracious. I think being gracious must be something good and desirable. It
speaks a lot about what a person is when the person is being complimented as a
gracious person.



Straits Times Senior Correspondent, Lim Siew Hua, wrote an article about how
gracious McCain was in his concession speech after losing the Presidential
Election to Obama. Or was it American graciousness rather than the graciousness
of a single man? Al Gore was equally gracious when he lost to George Bush. And
that incident was particularly disturbing and veered towards the element of
fraud or misdeeds. It would be disastrous if it happens here. So were the other
losing Presidential candidates. They all had kind words to say about the
victors.



But graciousness is not only from the losers. The victors were equally gracious
and magnanimous to their defeated opponents. They only have praises for them and
could have hugged and kissed them once the election is out of the way. Obama
talked about what a wonderful man and hero McCain was. And after the election it
begins a healing process when both parties come together as one people.



There will be post mortems, but not to find out what wrongs were committed by
the other party and to settle scores. No one is going for the butcher knife.
That is the graciousness of a people of a great country. But America has more
than 200 years of history to learn how to be gracious. It takes time to learn
the nice things about life. Learning to be an expert in expletives, in being
bad, is easy. In fact it is so natural that no learning is required.



To be gracious is a difficult thing to learn, and to be.

Source: MySingaporeNews.blogspot

By: Dan.



This picture shows a parent playing with his daughter in the priority seats of
the MRT.

I think that this behavior deserves to be questioned.



It is very nice of the father to play with his daughter and to make this journey
a fun experience for his daughter. However, they are playing on the priority
seats. The seats designated to the elderly and those who need it more.



When such an action is done, the daughter is not taught the purpose of priority
seats. The father, being willing to play with his daughter, is indirectly
showing her daughter that it does not matter even if the seats are taken by
them.



This is very crucial because I believe that graciousness should be taught from
young.



By: Dan

Source Image: Stomp

These pictures show people occupying multiple seats on public transports.

These images are highlighting the ungracious side of Singaporeans. Apparently,
certain Singaporeans fail to understand that they should spare a thought for
others. They are not sensitive and do not want to feel for others.



Singaporeans should understand the need to be gracious so that they can have a
reputable stand in the world.

By: Dan

Source Images: Stomp
I agree that the government should be more gracious. With the ungracious remarks as an example, I think that the government will lose its influence on citizens in terms of being gracious.


For an accelerated outcome of Singaporeans being gracious, we cannot wait for the next generation and cultivate them from young. We need to start now to convince the parents to instill graciousness to their children. To do this, we require the government to teach the already grown-up parents.


If the government, themselves, are not very gracious, who else is left to
teach the parents?



By: Dan
At a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said that Singapore 뱖ill take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people?before we attain the status of a 멺racious society?



He also believes that Singapore will not achieve this in his lifetime.



While MM Lee may perhaps be right in his assessment, he failed to mention what could be another contributing factor ?perhaps the most important one ?which sets the tone for Singapore society.



This is the public words (and behaviour) of leaders in government.



In a small nation like Singapore where government leaders are seen and heard virtually everyday in the news, what our leaders do and say have an impact on how society takes its cue ?especially with a government which is all-pervasive, all-powerful and which is involved in just about every aspect of our lives.

Thus, perhaps government leaders should be more aware of the influence that they have over how society behaves.



The Man and His Tough Talk



MM Lee himself is known as a 뱓ough talker?at times. Some of his public comments still remain vividly etched in the minds of Singaporeans.



In the book, The Man and His Ideas (1997), MM Lee perhaps made his most candid (some would say alarming) comment on Singaporeans and Singapore society:

밒t뭩 like with dogs. You train it in a proper way from small. It will know that it뭩 got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate. No, we are not that kind of society. We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts.??Lee Kuan Yew on Singapore society, The Man & His Ideas, 1997



The analogy which MM Lee used is a most interesting one. Likening Singaporeans to 밶dult dogs? and using the example of defecation and urination, it is not only derogatory and demeaning, it is also well ungracious, to put it mildly.



In the same book, he also spoke about writer Catherine Lim, who had written an article titled 밫he PAP And The People ?A Great Affective Divide? published by The Straits Times in 1994.

밪upposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister꿙he would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul de sac꾿nybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no other way you can govern a Chinese society.??SM Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Ideas, 1997



The above two quotes give one an insight into MM Lee뭩 thinking on two fronts: One, how he views (or viewed) Singaporeans and Singapore society as a whole, and two, how he reacts to being challenged politically (even if it is only a perceived challenge).



In both instances, the words he used ?which must have been selected with some thought ?are telling.

Perhaps the MM Lee quote which would summarise his entire philosophy in government and in politics would be this one:



밄etween being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I뭢 meaningless.??Lee Kuan Yew, 1997, South China Morning Post.

It is also interesting to note that the above 3 quotes were made in 1997, 10 years ago. Has MM Lee mellowed since? Have his words been more measured since 1997? If the General Elections of 2006 were any indication, one would have to say no.



A gracious People뭩 Action Party?



Singaporeans will remember how MM Lee was at the forefront of the attacks on The Workers?Party (WP) candidate, James Gomes, during the elections in 2006, in the hotly contested ward of Aljunied GRC, over the issue of the missing minority forms.



In an election period of just 9 days, MM Lee trained his guns on Gomes for most of those 9 days, even after Gomes had apologized and the WP had wanted to move on and focus on the bread and butter issues which Singaporeans were concerned about.



밯hen I call a man openly, you뭨e a liar, you뭨e dishonest, and you do not dare to sue me, there뭩 something basically wrong. And I will repeat it anywhere and you can뭪 go and say, oh, I have apologised; let뭩 move on. Can you commit a dishonourable ?maybe even one which is against the law ?an illegal act and say, let뭩 move on because I뭭e apologised? You may move on but you뭨e going to move on out of politics in time.??MM Lee Kuan Yew on James Gomez, Channelnewsasia, May 2006



MM Lee further went on and accused WP secretary general Low Thia Khiang and its chairman Sylvia Lim 뱋f trying to cover up for Mr Gomez and asked its chairman Sylvia Lim to 밹ome clean?on the entire episode.?



Singaporeans were disappointed, to say the least, at the incessant attacks on Gomes by the PAP and particularly MM Lee himself and unease at such behaviour began to have a negative impact on the PAP뭩 campaign. On May 4, two days before polling day on May 6, the PAP finally said that they will deal with Gomes after the elections and that the PAP would focus on other issues from then on.



PM Lee Hsien Loong said:

밯e have taken the matter as far as we can for now. After the elections, there will be time and opportunity for a proper public resolution.?br>
 

Gomes was immediately detained by the police on 7th May, the day after Polling Day. Curiously, the police 밺ecided it would let Mr Gomez go with a warning instead as he had been cooperative and had not committed any criminal offences before.?




In the heat of the moment?



PM Lee himself was caught by his own words during the elections in 2006. At a lunchtime rally in UOB Plaza on May 3, PM Lee said:

밨ight now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I뭢 going to spend all my time thinking what뭩 the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week뭩 problem and forget about next year뭩 challenges??



Singaporeans were aghast at PM Lee뭩 use of the phrases 밼ix the opposition?and 밷uy my supporters votes? The next day, the press secretary to the PM 밹larified remarks made by Mr Lee at the lunchtime rally?




Explaining Mr Lee뭩 remark, his press secretary said Mr Lee had meant to say
that if there were many more opposition MPs in Parliament, the government and
opposition would spend all their time and energies countering each other, and
Singapore would be worse off for it.



Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong뭩 remarks labeling Singaporeans who decided to leave Singapore for greener pastures is also vividly remembered. In his National Day Rally speech in 2002, then-prime minister Goh said:

밊air-weather Singaporeans will run away whenever the country runs into stormy weather. I call them 몈uitters뭶 Look yourself in the mirror and ask, am I a 뱒tayer?or a 뱏uitter? Am I a fair-weather Singaporean or an all-weather Singaporean??




Singaporeans, particularly those who had left, did not take too kindly to the remarks. It was seen as unreasonable and unbecoming for a prime minister to ridicule fellow Singaporeans.




D??vu



In more recent times, government ministers have also made 뱔ngracious?remarks.




In April 2006, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, was reported to have said the following, regarding the government뭩 plans for retirement villages for the elderly:

밠y personal view is, our land is expensive. But we have nearby neighbours in Johore, Batam and Bintan. The elderly want to reach their doctors within half to one hour. So retirement villages in neighbouring countries is possible, barring the cross-border hassle. It is best to find cheap land on short leases.?




Many Singaporeans, especially the elderly, were concerned that the government was thinking of 몊ending them away to a foreign country?to 몉etire? Mr Khaw later clarified:

밢f course it뭩 up to the market to decide, and the market means the families themselves, and if the families say no, we love our parents and we can cope with them at home, then the market is zero, but let뭩 be realistic.?




In what perhaps is perceived as the most insulting remarks in recent years, Minister for Community, Youth and Sports, Vivian Balakrishnan뭩 reply to PAP MP Lily Neo뭩 request for more to be given to people on public assistance, drew gasps from Singaporeans.




Dr Lily Neo:

Sir, I want to check with the Minister again when he said on the strict criteria on the entitlement for PA recipients. May I ask him what is his definition of 뱒ubsistence living? Am I correct to say that, out of $260 per month for PA recipients, $100 goes to rental, power supply and S&C and leaving them with only $5 a day to live on? Am I correct to say that any basic meal in any hawker centre is already $2.50 to $3.00 per meal? Therefore, is it too much to ask for just three meals a day as an entitlement for the PA recipients?




Dr Vivian Balakrishnan:

밐ow much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant??




On 27 August 2007, when WP Sec Gen Low Thia Khiang questioned the government뭩 denial of a permit for his party to hold a cycling event, Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee said:

밒f you listened very carefully Mr Low, I don뭪 know whether his hearing aid is with him because he wears one, I said there is a greater potential for law and order problems.?




Minister Ho뭩 reference to Mr Low뭩 hearing ability was regarded as below-the-belt and unworthy of parliamentary debate.




In all of the above instances, one thing stands out ?the ministers involved did not and have not apologised. If anything were forthcoming, they were mostly couched as 밹larification?and nothing more.




Hubris?



From labeling those who broke their government bonds as 밷ond breakers?and shaming them publicly, to threatening to withdraw public services from opposition wards, from denying opposition wards HDB upgrading, to alarmist remarks about 뱋ur women?becoming 뱈aids in foreign countries, foreign workers? from crude and trite replies from our civil servants (read K Bhavani), to sending in police riot squads to small public protests (read Odex), graciousness doesn뭪 seem to be a very important trait (or value) in our government.




However, having said all of the above, MM Lee could be right ?it will take a long time for Singapore to become a gracious society.


In reference to the British, MM Lee said:

밇ven the British, he said, were 뭩itting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society??




Singapore itself, through government policy, is experiencing an 밿nvasion?of foreigners. Will our own society be 밹oarsened? Time will tell.




For now, perhaps government officials should pay more heed not only to what they say in public but also how they say it. Words chosen have an impact on society, especially when they come from a government on which most Singaporeans still look to for direction.




A gracious society? For now, I뭗 settle for a gracious government ?and this, certainly, is attainable within MM Lee뭩 lifetime.

Source: TheOnlineCitizen


By: Dan
MM Lee Kuan Yew believes environmental consciousness among Singaporeans 'will
take more time to develop'.


ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when
they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.



But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee
Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the think-tank,
the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).



In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.



'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it, I wish you well,'
he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience
of diplomats, academics and government leaders.



Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore's progress in terms of social
graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds
economically. It will not happen so fast, Mr Lee replied.



'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.'



Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for
nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by
football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their
society'.



'So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's
very easy to bring it down,' he concluded.



Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly 'when
something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and
you are in trouble'.



On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - 'where people are
considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your
neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, Please have the
right of way' - was 'harder to come by,' said Mr Lee.



'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long
period of time.'



Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens
with them when they were resettled from kampongs into high-rise flats.



'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes
a very long time,' he said.



'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it. I wish you well.'




Source: Straits
Times




By: Dan
Well, so far as a group, we have completed our video but have yet to upload it onto the net due to some technical errors with the video codes. We have also designed and done up our 2 posters that illustrate graciousness. In my reflection, I will be going into the details and the meanings of the posters and also the video. Then, I will be sharing my personal experience that I had with my group, the obstacles we faced and how we overcame them.


Posters
We designed two posters
The first one, depicted two scenes in a toilet, one labelled gracious and the other ungracious. On the gracious side, it is clearly shown that the toilet is clean, neat and sparkly. Most importantly, the toilet is user-friendly. On the other hand, on the ungracious side, you can see that there is an overflow of water from the sink, most probably caused by the clogging of toilet paper. Also, there is litter strewn all over the place and the toilet floors have been stained.

As for the second one, it depicts a dirty and unpleasant toilet in which, the rubbish bin is literally filled with trash, the toilet bowls have been stained. It is clear from the poster that no proper care and concern has been shown to this toilet.

The aim of our posters is to tell the students, that if they go on practising these ungracious toilets, this is the toilet they will get. If they want a clean toilet, they too have to do a part in keeping the toilets clean. And, they can do so by practising gracious toilet habits.

Video
In our video, the starting part of the video is narrated by all five of us. We basically give a brief background of the quality of the toilets right now in our school and, also a brief explanation of what will be going on. Our group came up with two more videos, one on gracious toilet habits and the other on ungracious toilet habits. We had to get permission from the staff before we could actually enter the man's toilet which was really difficult as, at that time, there was practically no one around. But rest assured, we were allowed to do the filming in the opposite gender's toilets.

In the ungracious video, it just simply shows what we classify as ungracious behaviour. In the gracious video, we showed how we as a student can play our part in keeping the toilets clean

Obstacles we faced

-Time management
-Planning
-Communication
-Contribution

These are the 4 most major obstacles

We failed to manage our time wisely, as we were always procrastinating. We only realized that we were so far behind time when Miss Raine and Miss Linna told us that our video and posters are dued soon. However, we planned our time wisely, and had meetings on Saturdays and Sundays to make up for the loss time. However, it was not really a success as sometimes, members do not come, and we are unable to film or record the needed items

Initially, we did not really have any planning, and we did not decide on the CEP project that we wanted to carry out. Therefore, we were in a dilemma when we went to the DIC and had to write our agenda. However, thanks to Dan and Steffi for their brilliant ideas, I was able to come up with a topic and we could carry on with our agenda. Then, we had good planning when it came to the posters and video, as we designated tasks according to who we thought would be able to do the tasks. It was a little unfair, as some members did less than other members. But, I felt, that since we do not have much time, we had to come up with a solution and this would be the best idea.

For me, I feel that i had a little bit of a tough time having to communicate with Anthony and Zul. I'm not sure whether is it because they're guys or maybe because I wasn't close to them. However, Steffi and I had no problems at all when communicating with Dan. He would always providing us with ideas and suggestions that benefited us a lot. So, as I had a little communication problem with the two of them, whenever we held meetings, only Steffi, Dan and I would turn up. So, because of that, we faced a little time constraint and could not do anything about it, as we cannot force them to come.

Contribution wise, I feel that it was a really big obstacle. Steffi and I had to stay up all night just transferring the videos to one another and recording the voices via the phone. It was really difficult, as we were not really prepared and whenever Steffi and I wanted to record and all the equipments were all ready, one of the member could not make it and then, when we have no equipments, everyone will have the time and hence, we had to film and record via different people's devices. So, Steffi and I had to try and figure out which ones were the one we were using and transfer them via email.

Personal reflection

I feel that, this project has taught me a lot. It had taught me that, if I want a clean and gracious toilet, I too must do my part in keeping the toilets clean, as other people too would want a clean toilet to use. Also, i learnt ( from Maha's group) that we cannot always rely on the cleaners to clean up after us. We always have to be responsible for what we do and learn to be independent. It was fun working on this English project even though we had a lot of disputes. Working with Dan and Steffi was really fun, as the three of us got along pretty well, and we could always find some way to inject humor into the things we did. Working with Zul and Anthony was not really a breeze, but a challenge that I had fun taking on.


So, in conclusion, i would like to say a big thank you to Miss Raine, for guiding my group in this project and also for slowly taking time to teach us what to do step by step. Hopefully our efforts pay off and we are able to turn the student body of Assumption English School into gracious Assumptionites.

Cheers,
Jezelyn.
DAYZ
IF THERE is one saving grace amid the seemingly ungracious demeanour of Singaporeans, it is that we now queue.

Whether for food, in stores or for taxis, Singaporeans can usually be counted on to fall into line.

It was different decades ago, when people crowded around cashiers and cut into lines, said Mr Courtesy himself, Mr Noel Hon, who has led the courtesy and kindness movements here for over 15 years.

'Eventually it (queueing up) became a norm because people were willing to express a desire for it. If you try and cut a queue now, people will tell you to get in line,'' he said.

All this, he said, bodes well for cultivating better behaviour and graciousness, without starting yet another campaign.

Mr Hon spoke of three elements - a willingness to act a certain way, a desire for others to do the same, and being unafraid to demand it - that if achieved, will make Singapore's quest to becoming more gracious - or as least more considerate - attainable.

He was responding to comments made by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, 84, last week that Singapore was not only ungracious, but this was unlikely to change in his lifetime.

Mr Lee's comments have set off much buzz. Views are clearly split, going by 35 people The Straits Times spoke to.

Those who agreed had no shortage of examples of bad behaviour to trot out, from rushing into trains to not giving way, and held up countries like Japan and Thailand as gracious examples.

'We have excelled in so many ways that one would think it would be natural for us to develop graciousness. But Singapore lacks people who are willing to make others feel comfortable out of goodwill,'' said lawyer Navin Kripalani, 33.

What is to blame? Sociologist Alexius Pereira of the National University of Singapore points to the 'me first' culture long fostered over time.

'The idea that we have to excel in everything has been ingrained in us for years... And we don't really see our lack of courtesy as being a problem in the first place,'' he said.

Some, particularly older respondents, say Singaporeans, while not entirely gracious, have come a long way.

'We have improved over the last 10 years...People are better about queueing, more civil and say sorry when they bump into others,'' said tutor Ho Soo Ping, 49.

Secretary Sharon Kang, 44, agreed, saying that travel abroad and exposure to other cultures have led to some self-reflection.

Indeed, there is less reference to the 'ugly Singaporean' these days, some said.

Most agreed that Singaporeans have not been found wanting when it comes to grand acts of kindness: they donate generously to charities and help in times of disaster, as they did during 2004's Indian Ocean tsunami.

Boorish behaviour showed up in the small, basic things, said Mr Hon.

Whether those polled agreed with MM Lee or not, the fact that his comments struck a nerve is telling, and bodes well, said NUS sociologist Paulin Straughan.

'If they cared to comment, they should want to do something about it. That is a positive sign.'

But how to get on, or keep going on, this gracious road? No more campaigns, all said.

The country has had no shortage of reminders about niceties since the National Courtesy Campaign was launched in 1979.

But campaigns are too 'top down', said production assistant Clarence Ng, 33.

Said Mr Hon: 'What we need is for every Singaporean to say: Excuse me, you need to return your tray, give way. Just like queueing, if we do it often enough, it becomes habit.

'If we can do that, we would have come a long way.''

http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Sto...ry_196259.html

This article is showing us how Singaporeans have improved in showing graciousness and the view of the coming campaign. The views spilit on 'ugly Singaporeans' but all agree a campaign is not the answer. why do they think in this way? we shall think about the reasons why Singaporeans think in this way.

Dan
Well, so far now in English class, we have finished up basically the planning of our project.
Which, well includes our viedo and posters along with the formal letter that we needed to do.


So, I'm just going to share this little story

Steffi and I, we went to Delifrace for lunch after school. Well, we were in our uniform and usually, school students do not exactly go to Delifrace. So, once we went in, we were just skimming through the menu and when we decided to order, we just raised up our hands. The waiter there clearly saw us but because we were students, we were of like lower priority than the other customers. So, the waiter attended to all of them first and came to us last. That to us, was an act of ungraciousness as a part of graciousness is to be considerate. After that, this family came into Delifrance, and they were being really noisy, another act of ungraciousness. As Steffi and I felt that they should keep their volume down, we told the waiter to ask them to do so. However, the waiter just listened to us and then walk away. After that, another family, sitting next to us told the waiter the same thing and this time, the waiter actually went up to the inconsiderate family and told them to lower their volume. So, just because we were students, we were prioritized lower than the other customers.

We witnessed many ungracious acts today. The aim of our English project is to change the mindsets of typical Singaporeans. So, after that experience, my group and I have decided that we will have to inculcate the most basic example of graciousness, good toilet habits, into the student body of ou school. As, we have to start somewhere right?

We will be posting our video on the blog, once it is fully completed along with pictures of our posters.
There is a need to teach Singaporeans how to be gracious.

Most everyone has good and bad habits, more or less, no matter where we come from or who we are. we have to be more respectful and considerate to each other. As now the society requires a lot of things, i believe that the first thing that we have to improve on is our personalities and the basic manners to get along with other people in the current society. Hence, i believe that there is a need to teach Singaporeans how to be gracious.

*this introductions is subejcted to ammendments
For the past few english lessons, we have dicussed about the topic "There is a need to teach Singaporeans to be gracious." In my view, i think there is a need to teach Singaporeans to be gracious. Since Singapore is now recognised as a world first country, i believe that Singaporeans has to be more gracious as there is the increase of foreigners and tourists in Singapore. Also, Singapore is now constantly developing, so i think that Singapore should not waste this great opportunity to boost its economy.
With the improvement in economy in Singapore, i am sure that there will be more advantages and opportunities to develop Singapore by increasing the awareness of graciousness in Singaporeans. However, after much discussions during English lessons, i was also able to see that there is not a need to teach Singaporeans to be gracious,too. Since Singapore is working very hard to instill the graciousness to youths as giving the awards to students who are being gracious, i believe that the future of Singapore is very positive. Hence, even though, it will take a lot of time, if Singapore keeps it up, i take it that Singapore will be able to develop even grater than now.

For the progress, so far our group has finished writing our argumentative essay with the help of Ms.Raine's powerpoints and points. We are completing what we are supposed to do and we will try our best to work on it in a better way.

Thank you for your efforts to check the reflection, once again.

DAYZ,
Dan
Heading/title

Flush it.

Objectives

Our objectives are,
- cultivate good toilet habits among all the students.
- dispose of all kinds of waste properly.
- keep diseases at bay.
- clean up properly.
- Instill CHRIST VALUES of our school
* Compassion
!Students will be able to put other students first before themselves and hence, they will learn to spare a thought for other users
*Respect
!Students will be able to learn how to respect school property and also the cleaners who always have to clean up after them
*Sense of responsibility
!Students will learn how to be responisible for their own actions and also learn how to be responisible an dnot vandalize school property.

Deliverables
- Conduct a workshop for students
- Survey
- A place for soap/sanitizer as well as toilet roll in the cubicle
- Air freshener in every toilets
- Fix the rubbish bins in the toilet and have a small rubbish bin in every cubicle
- 2 posters
- Video

Target/Aim

Timeline
- August 06 >> finished abstract
- August 10 >> formal letter to be done
- August 13>> project planning
- August 14>> buy materials
- August 15>> posters
- August 16>> video
- August 17>> plannning for workshop
- August 18>> layout for survey
- August 22-30>> installation
- August 20>> students' workshop
- September 03>> Carry out the survey
- September 06>> read through the surveys
- September 12>> conclude

Things Needed
-vanguard sheet
-markers
-air fresherners
-dust bins
-toilet rolls
-handicam
-hand sanitizer
- art materials

Budget
Our budget is not confirmed
INTRODUCTION!

‘There is a need to teach Singaporeans how to be gracious’

From all the evidence that I had seen and introduced; I agreed with the statement. My essay will contain the needs and the do not needs to teach Singaporeans how to be gracious.

I will also place my reasons of why did I agree. The advantages if Singaporeans can be nicer to other people. The tasks that will be faced during the changes and what will happen IF Singaporeans are not gracious. The examples and my conclusion.

DAYZ,
Steffi
2ND REFLECTION.

During the English lessons we had discussed a topic about the need for Singaporeans to be teach about graciousness.
We have made a table that tells us why we do not teach Singaporeans about graciousness and why we should teach them about graciousness. From the table that my group made, the needs for Singaporeans to be teach about graciousness are more that the do not’s. There will be a lot of advantages if Singaporeans are more gracious. For example the Singapore economy will become better as more foreigner will come to visit or even stay in Singapore. Singapore will also be more recognizing all over the world as She is very clean, safe and most importantly gracious citizens. Who doesn’t want to live in a country full of nice people?

Therefore we choose to agree with the statement. Thank you very much for reading this reflection.

DAYZ; Steffi :D
1ST REFLECTION.

First of all I want to say that I agreed that Singaporeans are not very gracious and so they need to be teach about graciousness.

I am not saying that Singaporeans are not nice. They are nice if they want to, but I guessed they prefer to be ungracious. Singapore is a clean and nice country; it will be a shame if the citizens are not as nice.

The articles and videos that had been introduces to me during the English lesson convince me more that most Singaporeans are not gracious. For example some of Singaporeans tend to talk loudly in a restaurant and I do not think it is very nice to do that. I think restaurants are a formal place to dine therefore I do not think that we should act informally.

If Singaporeans is keeping this up tourist will not like it. They would think that Singaporeans are selfish. I know that Singaporeans are not selfish, it is just the way Singaporeans always be. But why do not we make a change? There will always be room for improvement. Singapore will be in the advantage. I am very sure that it is not only Singaporeans who are ungracious but why do not make the change first? Isn’t great to be number one? so I think that Singaporeans need to improve on their attitude towards other people.

I am really very sorry if this post offends anyone. thank you for reading.

DAYZ ;
Steffi :D

2nd reflection

Argumentative essay

For the past few English lessons this week, we as a class have been doing an argumentative essay on the topic "Is there a need for Singaporeans to be gracious" Frankly speaking, from my point of view, I think that there is a need. Singapore is now a rather well developed country that is recognized all over the world. Singapore aim to get better developed in the future. So, don't you think that if Singaporeans start to act more graciously, it will be able to attract more foreign investments while will then boost it's economy? With a better economy, Singapore will have the funds to better develop itself. So, I feel that there is a need.
However, after the discussions that we've had during English lessons, I am now able to see why there is also not a need for Singaporeans to be taught how to be gracious. I understand that if Singaporeans are taught to be more gracious, we will become a better developed country, also have a good impression on foreigners and the young generation that follows will also start to be gracious. But, what's the point is there are a handful of die-hard Singaporeans that just refuse to change? Also, graciousness is something that has to be cultivated slowly into a Singaporean, it is not something that we can change overnight.

Progress
So far, our group has now started on our argumentative essay with the help from Miss Raine and her pointers. We have also decided on our mission statement which is shown on the left-hand side of this page. We have also finished most of the parts of our blog that need editing. Right now, all we have to do for our blog is to add in some pictures on graciousness concept and also a timeline which will actually illustrate all that we will need and will be doing for our English project.

DAYZ,
Jezelyn
1st reflection

From the articles and videos that we have watched, i realise the importance of being graciousness and also i realise that the citizens' behaviours actually affect a lot to the reputation of their own country. Moreover, the video suggests us a few ways to be gracious, such as wait people to leave the train before you board on it, offering up your seats to those who need more of it. These are the ways that we can practice to be more gracious.

For the articles that we have read are theatre slobs, good toilet habits and table manners. Our group chose to do the theatre slobs, as we find that this is what we can understand easily and to find the solutions since we are youth who goes to watch movies frequently. The article basically was talking about how people create such a mess in cinema by bringing in the outside food which is not allowed to do so and left their leftovers behind. Hence, the cleaners had to clean up the results of their acts of ungraciousness, in a limited time. I felt that i, as a youth, can take a part to help the cleaners such as not bringing in outside food or drink and throw the leftover by myself. I have realised that such a small consciousness can help the cleaners a lot.


For the concept and progress, i was absent, hence, i was not able to join the discussions among my group. therefore i have no idea for them. However, i will definitely try to ask around for help to my group members.


Thank you for your time and efforts to read this reflection.



DAYZ,dan



1st reflection

Videos and articles

From the videos that we have wathced, mainly the Phua Chu Kang one, we can see that there is a need to teach Singaporeans how to be more gracious and also, we can see why being gracious is important. The video shows us a few ways to be gracious, such as letting people leave the train before you board it, offering up your seats to those who are more in need of it. These are a few ways that we can learn to be gracious.

The articled that we have gotten are mainly the three articles on the theatre slobs, good toilet habits and table manners. My group chose to do the theatre slobs, as we find that this is the main part of graciousness that we have to change when it comes to youth. The article basically was about how people left all their leftovers in the cinema, creating such a huge mess. And that the cleaners, had to clean up after their ungracious acts, in a limited time. We felt that we as a youth can do our part to help the cleaners, by not bringing in outside food or drink, throwing away all our rubbish instead of leaving it behind in the cinema and not throwing food around while the movie is going on. These might sound like such simple ideas but we have realized that just this small act from us and from every other youth, would help the cleaners alot.

Concept on graciousness

Our group's mindset when it comes to graciousness is,
1. A pleasant and at the same time benevolent behavior
2. It is characterized by good taste, comfort, ease, or luxury
3. Indulgence in a condescending way
4. Merciful and compassionate
5. Obsolete.

Progress

So far, my group has finsihed the article on the theatre slobs. We have also come to a common mindset about the word graciousness. Through the video, my group has realized that there is more than just one way to be gracious and also, we now know, that graciousness does not just revolve around being considerate or pleasant, there are so many other things that can be classified as gracious behaviour.
Examples are as follows,
1. Holiding the lift doors and pushing the buttons for others who come into the lift
2. A simple please and thank you
3. Not leaving anything left behind by your dog when you take them for walks
4. Giving way to others so that they can move or get out of somewhere
We have also done up the blog but have yet to come up with a proper mission statement, as we are still in discussion about that. Right now, we are in the midst of our debate for English class. A part of our group will be doing the proposition part and another part is doing the opposition part. This benefits us, as when we do a group discussion now, we will be able to take ideas and opinions from both views. That will really help us a lot in our argumantative essay. This is pretty much what we have progressed together as a group.



DAYZ,
Jezelyn