Discovery Learning Lab conducted science activities for PD and MD students and their parents. Turn out was great. My presentation was a rush through what with all the hand signals from the back asking to stop. What a distraction. Jessica of DLL and Head of School had taken a great portion of the time allocated for the talks. My jaw almost dropped when the teacher who liaised with DLL for this event, bent over to where I was sitting waiting for my turn to address parents on the Singapore ducation experience, to tell me that my address had to be dropped BECAUSE WE WERE RUNNING LATE!! Goodness it was only 10 to 15 minutes behind schedule. Dr Vanitha and I were assigned by Director of SIS, Mike, to deliver this address and both of us had taken pains to plan for this. I dont know if Dr Vanitha was also asked to cancel her talk. I just had to put my foot down and asked that I run through my slides and was told to take 5 minutes when I said I will take 10. Quite distressing actually. I moved over to Dr Vanitha and told her of the situation and she also mentioned that she had to rush through and rush through we did. Both of us took less than 10 minutes! Hope this did not leave parents with a bad impression that we were simply paying lip service to SIS, Mumbai. We need to prioritise given the importance of the Singapore speakers. In events like these, there will be parents who will complain that the talks are taking too long. In the end we were only 15 mins behind schedule but our talk was a real let-down. Anyway, at lunch all was forgotten and the parents approach us for questions on the Singapore education scene. Guests and students enjoyed the ice-cream making and the water rocket events after lunch.

Head of School, Mr Suparman had assured parents that their children's education will be well looked after in SIS. I think he delivered a very thoughtful and convincing speech that SIS will grow from strength to strength and will become an institution to be proud of. The fact that he mentioned that he would be bringing his daughter to join the IB class here in November, 2007 won the hearts of many parents! From the interactions with many parents, I sensed that parents are assured that their children's future is in good hands in SIS. And I sincerely believe so with the wonderful support from the owners and Directors, students and their parents, a great campus and the highly qualified staff, which with continuous teacher development, will certainly propel SIS into the elite class of educating the youths of India and the world! Greenviewans, or for that matter Singaporeans, want to come over to join SIS? Seek me out and I shall help you get here....

A piece of good news for all Greenviewans! CEO of SIS has tentatively agreed to send 20 SISites to GVSS in 2008. I shall plan the programme with the Head of School, along the lines of our twinning programme with Suankularb in Thailand. So Sec 1 and 2s who are reading this and wish to join in this twinning with SIS, Mumbai....start saving now! You may have to fork out quite a sum if your MOE subsidy is small.

I have also started to write my first draft report on this attachment for MOE. I kept writing on and on and it's almost half done. I planned to complete this before taking my flight home as once back in Singapore, it will be back to reality.....100% workout..in school lah. There is the school's strategic planning at the SMC Retreat, School Cockpit roll-over tasks, staff deployment for 2008, Sec One orientation and registration, wa...no end lah... AWOL in Mumbai? Haha..no way man! Singapore is still my greatest place on Earth, believe me! Having visited so many countries, there is no place like my sunny, beautiful, sweet-smelling and super-clean Singapura, The Lion City! Alamak, I think I am going nuts.....Seriously, I don't mind coming back to SIS, Mumbai bcos' I think it's a great institution to work in - the owners of SIS, the teaching and non-teaching staff and of course the lovable students from Kindergarten to IB students...they are all simply a joy to be with. They brighten up your day, so to speak. I will write more about this just before I leave in three weeks' time. Lots of post-exam activities have been planned for next week.
For the PD and MD classes, there is the Harry Porter Week, where students will take part in some 'magic' as well. MD students and above will participate in a Rangoli Competition and taking part in a traditional ethnic design competition and a Poster painting Competition in preparation for Deepavali. And the theme of the competition? FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS ! .... my suggestion was adopted ....wow! There is also the Diya Decoration and Flower Rangoli decoration for the PD classes. Then on Friday, there is a cricket match between staff and students! I am definitely going to be in this event although I know nothing about cricket! Softball, anyone?
Infact post-exam starts tomorrow, Sunday! All parents have been invited for an Open House and I will be making a presentation on The Singapore Education experience together with Dr Vanitha Saravanan from NIE, who is also on attachment at SIS. She will speak on the IPW project while I will focus on curricular, co-curricular and other programmes with TSLN, I&E and TLLM as the backbone of my presentation - had spent the whole of last night and this morning preparing the slides...haha. And then after lunch, took my usual two-hour walk through the streets of Mumbai...amazing ! ..you'll never feel a dull moment watching those people and traffic manoevering and avoiding each other through the constant bottle-necks and jams.
Three cheers to Mumbai! Hip, hip, hooray! (3 x)

Head of School conducted his very first staff meeting today. This morning prepared SIS Staff Particulars Form for him, which all teaching staff need to complete...my contribution for the day.
CA exams are still on. SIS teachers are busy invilgilating and preparing their students progress reports. Their progress reports are a vast difference from ours in Singapore. here the students are given detailed profiles patterned along the requirements of the IBDP. The usual grades for all the subjects and the homeroom (we call ours the form teacher) teachers' remarks are shown.

Mr Superman took teachers through the mission, vision and core values of SIS to remind all the roles teachers need to accomplish for SIS to become a premiere institution.

SKN....WELCOME TO GVSS !!!

Welcome to Greenview and Singapore, my Thai friends from Suankularb Wittayalai Nonthaburi School (SKN) especially to Siriwan Pothiti(Toy) and Nopawan(Aoy). I have known Toy and Aoy since 2002 when the two schools first come together in the Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Partnership (STEP) Programme. They arrived in Greenview at noon today and I couldn't help feeling lousy for not being in Singapore with them for the next 6 to 7 days. I have put a packed programme for our Thai partner school and certainly hope that they would enjoy their stay here.

Today I also received Mr Sin's email reply that we could start a twinning programme with Singapore international school in Mumbai! What an auspicious day it must be! The arrival of our Thai partner school in Greenview coincides with the birth of another twinning programme with our next partner school, SIS, Mumbai. I certainly hope SIS, Mumbai would be able to travel to Greenview in Singapore sometime next year and Greenview could also make a trip here with 20 students and 2 teachers. I have sent to Mr Nilesh, CEO and Founder of SIS, Mumbai and the Head of School, Mr Suparman Adam, a copy of Greenview-SKN visiting and hosting programmes for their study. I look forward to come back to SIS, Mumbai again on an exchange programme as early as 2008.

A meeting was held to run through the programme for this Sunday's Open House to be followed by 3 days of Harry Potter activities to be coordinated by a team specifically flown from Singapore. Dr Vanitha and I will be speaking to parents of SIS students on The Singapore Education Experience. It would be a real learning experience for me to address a group of mainly Indian nationals in Mumbai on Singapore education. My focus will be on the MOE's Teach Less, Learn More initiative. I may also speak on how Greenview carried out the IDPW programme as a follow-up to Dr Vanitha's talk on this.

Today's Add Maths Paper 2 was slightly harder than yesterday's paper 1, so I heard. But most of you should get an overall A. Well done, guys and keep going for the other subjects coming up the next few days. Soon you'll be on top of the world! (Hey, Andrius, cheer up and remain optimistic and a good grade will come by...not to worry at your little slip up.)

I continued to be amazed at the linguistic ability of the SISites, as students of SIS are known as.
As I was making my way to the dining hall for tea, a Grade 4 boy came in my opposite direction, stretch his hands out to me and said, " Have a nice day, Sir!". I was stumped. Such graciousness from a tender, loving kid. It is a real marked difference between the behaviour and attitude of the students here at SIS and in Greenview, or for that matter, Singapore. Perhaps these are kids raised by the elites or the children of highly educated individuals. Their dressing, manner of speaking and attitude clearly shows that SISites are in a class of their own. Can't help but compare them to a top British primary school.

MD teachers met John for a short while to discuss the progress report.

Students on msn tell me that the Add Maths Paper 1 was easy...hahaha, 4E1 and 4E2 if you are reading this, good for you all....looking forward to your As come January, 2008!

CA assessment week for SIS.

Took Mr Chander through on Scheme of Work for Sec 3 and Sec 4 and Maths and Add Maths as well as the resources used by singapore schools in Maths teaching. He had shown interest in improving his teaching pedagogy and methods of delivery for Year 9 and IB mathematics. Later in the morning, introduced him to Mr Suparman.

Sheela from Heymath visited SIS. Met with Mike to look into feasibility of SIS using the lessons. Set up a meeting with Year7, 8, 9and 11 teachers for a demo and discussion on using heymath. Strangely, internet access in the classroom was superfast today. It was real slow when teachers were trying to use these lessons a few days ago. Teachers were glad we are attempting to get this resource for SIS after Sheela showed the use of heymaths in class teaching and how students can benefit from the portal..

Mr Suparman Adam put forward an organisational structure for SIS and held discussions with Mike and Nilesh later in the afternoon.

Quite frustrated later in the afternoon when laptop was not able to connect to the internet. It kept giving error message 619: connection could not be established or that the comp port is closed. Tried to fastconnect again but the same problem occurred - comm port is closed! Called reliance support centre but was unsuccessful to get operators to help as they wanted certain information which I did not possess - MDN number, data card purchaser, etc. Exasperated, I gave up calling support. Kept checking and then all of a sudden, connectivity returned.
Spent time chatting with Bryan and Lynda on msn.

The usual Sunday walk but today walked all the way to Dahisar Station. And it was another walk down memory lane. As a teenager, I used to walk from my kampong at Whitley Road to Thomson Road/Balestier Road junction where Singapore Traction Company (STC) Bus service No 19 terminus was located and then along Balestier Road all the way to Jalan Rajah. The side of the road was littered with pasar malam makeshift stalls...here in Dahisar, Mumbai the road is congested with pedestrian shoppers and traffic, mainly the auto rekshaws. Stalls and shacks were set up all over the place alongside the road. Dahisar station was in an old building located at the end of one of the sideroads. It has with dirtied counters and signboards with people queuing for tickets. Surprised to see two computerised ticketing machines, like those found i our MRT stations. This is not an MRT-like train service but a land train line. Must try to take a ride in the train one day, perhaps to Mumbai City at least. Just wonder how the ride will be like.

Some unusual sightings:
1 A cinema house showing movies. Cinema is actually a shophouse dressed to become a movie theatre. Some were showing videos actually. And they were crowded with mostly men.
2 There were a number of mini-processions celebrating some festival or belief along the streets. There were drummer boys and men and women folks dancing on the road as the procession moved along. At times, firecrackers were let off freely. These were loud blasts indeed.
3 Vendors frying some delicacy in huge frying pots placed along the road and there were queues to purchase this...all in the dust.
4 There were stalls selling fish and prawns, like our wet market amidst the other stalls and you could smell that they were going stale. Still people were buying them.
5 Alongside the roads are drains and you could literary see men ease themselves and the foul smell of urine was quite bad on some stretches of the road.
6 Small time traders selling hard-boiled eggs
7 Makeshift barber stalls...yes people were having their hair done by the side of the road.

Mr Koh BL, Dr Vanitha and I went over to pick Mr Suparman and we stopped by at MacDonald's at Thakur Mall for lunch and then to SIS for a discussion. Later, John joined in and left. Then, the four of us went to Star Bazzaar Supermarket at Thakur Mall for our groceries. Boon Long returned to hotel for a rest before catching his flight home. The 3 of us had dinner at Papa Joe Pizza restaurant.

This morning Year 9 again had a good lesson in maths. The Year 8 class was yet again poorly managed in spite of all the handholding done. Year 7 had a revision test.
A Daniya dance was organised for the K1 and 2 classes. The tiny tots were dressed in their traditional outfits and were simply gorgeous. Cameras went into action when the dance started.

Teachers were invited. Many members of the teaching and non-teaching staff joined in the traditional dance holding two sticks.




I was roped into the act too, haha.




Staff meeting was called again to streamline CA exam invigilation schedule. Come Monday, students will take their CA exam papers. Boon Long & Vanitha picked me up at 9.30pm and together we went to receive Suparman Adam at the airport. His flight landed at 11pm but he exited only at about 12.30am. Went over to his apartment at Kandavali, 15 mins drive from my place.

Glad that Year 7, 8 and 9 teachers were given heymath trial accounts. Since my arrival I have been encouraging the teachers to use my trial account and they found the lessons a rich resource for the Singapore mathematics curriculum. However, the slow internet has dampened their spirits quite a bit. Lessons took quite a long while to load. SIS need to customise this resource to overcome this problem. Am real glad for SIS teachers that Director, Mike, has contacted Sheela from Heymath to come over to SIS for a meeting on this. In fact this morning at Year 7 class, I tried to download a Sec 2 lesson for Mr Rakesh but it just took too long to download. Also flash was needed to be installed. Got to get the IT guy, Som, to fix this for all computers in the classrooms before adoption.

Received Director, Mr Koh BL, at Mumbia Airport at 10.40am. Good thing I checked with Saloni, the Exec Director as to Mr Koh's car pickup as Sukriti, had to return to her hometown out of Mumbai, to attend her grandfather's funeral.

A meeting was held this afternoon to discuss examination procedures and rules and arrangements for the Open House. This being the first examination to be conducted by SIS, all teachers were briefed on these. Was glad that Director picked up my point on the need to remind invigilators to be on their toes while invigilating when he spoke on the subject.

A great day today. Sat in TOK class for round two of presentations by IB students for their CA.
Hand-holding of teachers the past few days paid off today as teachers were putting into practice the finer skills in classroom management and lesson preparation. IG and IB teachers were kept real busy, getting their test papers ready. Teachers were following closely the format for IGCSE papers. Managed to vet some of the IG papers and picked up some useful learning points in the IGCSE format and syllabi. Spoke to VP on setting a high standard format for all exam papers as had been done for the PD and MD. She then instructed all IG and IB setters to pass all papers for me to vet, "Sir being an experienced senior teacher" , so that SIS will have a common high standard in exam format. That was a great compliment indeed! Yes, I sincerely want SIS to set the right tone in examination style and format following the high standards of Singapore examination papers adopted by our schools and colleges.

I have been wearing my new pair of CLARK'S shoes since Monday and it is very comfortable and stylish..haha. I have also started to grille chicken parts for dinner since Sunday using the masalla seasoning as well as the Singapore seasoning packet. Now my dinner, in addition to that provided by SIS, is simply yummy lah.

Evening was spent on writing my reflections on my stay at SIS for the second issue of SPIRIT, the school newsletter. Tomorrow, SIS Director, Koh BL will be here and I will be meeting him at Mumbai Airport in the morning. He is carrying a special package for me from my wife in Singapore besides books for SIS. Much appreciated the kind gesture shown by Director Koh BL. He is indeed one great guy ....yup.. "a jolly good fellow that nobody can deny"....

Peer observation by teachers continue into the second day for the Maths teachers. Primary Division math teacher, Binu sat through a full hour in a Year 9 class. I took him through from start of lesson to end touching on classroom management techniques and lesson planning. The IB meeting was cancelled as the teachers had to get their CA papers ready for submission and vetting. You can feel that some of the teachers were quite stressed out. Yes, teachers everywhere face this especially during the period before their students' sit for the examinations.
Questions need to be sourced, moderated and set according to specifications outlined. Submission datelines for vetting, printing to be done, collating the papers take up a huge chunk of teachers' time. I guessed, being in service for too long, all this has become second nature to me...haha. Some of the teachers seeked help in formatting of the papers, setting the questions and some examination procedures to clarify. The CA Timetable was issued by the Office today to all teachers and students.

Started peer observation for SIS maths teachers this morning. Arranged for Year 7 and 8 teachers to observe one of the better teachers and at the same time go through the good and not so good practices observed in the classes. All these pointers were listed on paper, 22 points in all, and teachers were given a copy each. Call it on-the-job training, instant training, ad-hoc training or whatever but the teachers certainly did see through the finer points in the skills of teaching, good classroom management at work and progressive steps made in lesson planning.
They will be putting these into practice in the next few days. It would be great if the teachers could continue to learn from each other through peer teaching and observation.

After lunch, I popped into a TOK class as I learnt that IB students will be doing their CA presentation on the topics they have selected and researched for the past two weeks. Topics as diverse as Dreams Appreciation, UFOs a Myth?, Is there GOD?, etc were discussed and presented. They were of high quality and standard as expected of IB students. One thing though is universal, yes, Greenviewans...you are included, too much reading off powerpoint slides!

A meeting was conducted for all IGCSE teachers by VP pertaining to filling up of progress reports for Year 9 students. IB teachers will meet tomorrow to discuss the progress reports for their students. PD and MD had already completed their early but teachers have yet to be briefed on filling these up as the principal wants to make some modifications to it.

Sunday, 14 Oct - Got up at 7.30am latest since my arrival at Mumbai! Must be the tiredness after spending the whole day at EsselWorld yesterday. It was really wonderful that Sukriti, HR/SIS called us on Friday night, to tell us that a car would be fetching us there at 7am on Saturday without us booking for it. Thanks to Sukriti for her great understanding. Also thanks to Elvin and Dr Vanitha for providing hints to her about EsselWorld.

The ride was an eye opener indeed. The car took us down to end of Mira Road, which was fairly well developed with modern buildings and brand new apartments. Then it entered a small road and we were in the middle of a slum! Yes, really poor people live here....makeshift tents and shacks lined the road. People were just sitting by the roadside, some having a bath (yes, in the open but clothed lah!), some cooking and children having fun. These people were indeed carefree and happy. Clearing the slum, we continued along a narrow, meandering road all the way to EsselWorld, which took us about 45mins. Along the way, we stopped for breakfast at one of the many bed-and-breakfast type "hotels". The place really reminded of my kampong days again, haha!! It was really nostalgic....when as a boy, I used to walk through a forested road in the midst of a Chinese cemetry, to reach a small provision shop to get groceries for the family. Got the creeps? Not me, lah...I remember studying hard, like many of the graduating students in Greenview now, for my O levels ( was known as School Certificate then) in one of the graves next to my attap hut! Now, you all know how poor I was then back in the 50s and 60s !!

OK, back to the present...EsselWorld is a theme park, like Disneyland, but not as grand! Entrance ticket costs s480 each (about S$20) including all rides but excluding Water Kingdom, like Sentosa's defunct water theme park, Fantsy Island, closed down after a fatal accident there some years back. I was surprised that the park was kept clean. It was real big and literary took us a day to walk and went on the rides. Yes, there were the roller-coasters, many rides which make you want to throw out, a water ride which plunged down to a pool and got fully drenched! ( yes, many rides were similar to rides at Wild, Wild Wet at DowntownEast but more terrifying).

Dr Vanitha, Elvin, Siddarth (our SIS Support Staff and guide) and I really enjoyed our stay there. Elvin and Siddarth especially as it was their first time on many of the terror rides. Both took some time to recover their water balance and composure, but did not, like some student visitors, throw out after the rides. Dr Vanitha was the wise one as she stayed away from these, but poor from the experience, haha! Also, the three of us, guys, played 4 games each in their 6-lane bowling alley. Yeah, I had the highest score at 137 ! There was a free discotheque next to the bowling alley and Elvin especially and Siddarth had a wonderful time boogying to the extremely loud music...even Dr Vanitha got into the act for awhile, haha! Believe it or not, I did not get to the dance floor....maybe miss my wife lah....haha hope my "laupor" is reading this, hahaha! The pics are in Elvin's camera and will post them once I get them. For lunch we had chicken bryani and it was yummy, just like ours, but the helping of chicken meat was meagre!

In the evening, we wanted to go to The Taipan, a chinese restaurant we saw earlier, for dinner but it was closed by then...what a pity. Siddarth and I had bryani again while the other two had some veg meal, as all the other restaurants were closed. That was the opportunity cost we had to pay for all the dancing. After dinner, it was to the open air concert where a Dandiya festival was organised. Dandiya is the 10-day of festivities before Diwali (Deepavali). There were dances by performing artistes and there was supposed to be some Bollywood performances but we did not stay to watch these as it was getting late. We got out of the park at about 8pm but the driver was not able to come into the entrance by the security. So we had to walk about 300metres to the security gate-post but I took the opportinity to jog this stretch. It was a wonderful feeling really... jogging in the faintly-lit road to the car where our driver had been faithfully waiting for us.... the past 10 hours? Speak of dedication and devotion to duty, this is it, Bublu! .hope I got the driver's name correct! The ride back was ANOTHER NOSTALGIC experience....driving through a dimly-lit country road littered with the occasional village huts, pedestrians and motors.

It was a real exhausting Saturday and the Singaporeans must indeed thank the kind and wonderful hospitality our Indian hosts shower on us. Three cheers to Sukriti! Hip, hip, hooray!!!

So this whole Sunday morning was just resting and blogging. Just prepared my own "larp cheong" rice with "bak-hoo" & egg for lunch. hmmmm...taste great, man!!!

The house-maid came to clean the apartment at 4pm as usual. At about 5pm, set out for my Sunday walk. This time around, I chose to walk on the opposite side towards Hotel SunShine Inn, which supposedly was to be my place of stay for my PDL stint but was switch to this apartment at Timber Green Homes. It was a better walk than the other routes taken. There were lots of shops and eateries in better shape than on the other side of the road. also happen to come to an auto rekshaw makeshift passenger terminal...haha! Rekshaws were lining up neatly in a long line barricaded off on one side of the road and passengers at the end of the line queued to board and off they go. Believe this! They ride against the flow of very heavy traffic on the expressway and somehow managed to cross over to the opposite and correct side of the highway! Speak of dare-devils and these rekshaw riders take the cake anytime! Inspite of all the dust and dirt, I remained rooted witnessing the scene of chaotic criss-crossing of passengers and rekshaws on the supposed expressway. What an experience! On the way back I had to cross this expressway and the dare-devil in me simply had to take over and then found myself on the same side of my abode. Bought a bunch of 13 big, green bananas for Rs18, dirt cheap lah.

Dinner was again my own larp cheong, bak-hoo and tomato with white rice as no SIS dinner was delivered. Thank God, I was prepared with these "imported" products from my beloved Singapore.

Below, some good read............

Balance Sheet

Our Birth is our Opening Balance !
Our Death is our Closing Balance!

Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets
Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset
Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account

Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade
Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behaviour are our Goodwill

Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend
Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents
Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account

The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.

Some very Good and Very bad things ...

The most destructive habit......................Worry
The greatest Joy...............................Giving
The greatest loss................Loss of self-respect
The most satisfying work...............Helping others
The ugliest personality trait.............Selfishness
The most endangered species.........Dedicated leaders
Our greatest natural resource...............Our youth
The greatest 'shot in the arm'..........Encouragement
The greatest problem to overcome.................Fear
The most effective sleeping pill........Peace of mind
The most crippling failure disease............Excuses
The most powerful force in life..................Love
The most dangerous pariah..................A gossiper
The world's most incredible computer........
The brain The worst thing to be without................... Hope
The deadliest weapon.......................The tongue
The two most power-filled words...............'I Can'
The greatest asset..............................Faith
The most worthless emotion..................Self-pity
The most beautiful attire......................SMILE!
The most prized possession................Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication.....Prayer
The most contagious spirit.................Enthusiasm
The most important thing in life..................GOD

Accompanied the PD classes on an outing to Byculla Zoo at Mumbai City. The ride to the city took nearly 3 hours due to the usual Mumbai bottlenecks everywhere. The students enjoyed the ride in the SIS bus though. The zoo was nothing compared to our Spore zoo, similar to the one in Bangkok where the Greenview STEP and Twinning students went to in June this year.

There are few animals there. Whereas the animals in the zoo at Bangkok were livelier, the ones here were either sleeping or lethargic. There was a large aviary where the birds flew freely. The kids love to watch the storks, pelicans and emus. The return trip was smoother as it was non-peak.
Once back in my room at SIS, the teachers pounded me on their papers for final vetting and printing. So it was back to work and was glad to have vetted all the format for most of the papers for Years 7 and 8 and some PD Maths papers.

Greenview Seconday School Graduation Ceremony today!
Greenviewan graduates, see below the messsage I posted last night

Quite an achievement today...managed to hand-hold SIS teachers individually on the papers they have set. All had proper cover page and they were well typed out. All the Maths and Science teachers had reverted to use of the MS Equation Editor to edit their questions set. The teachers had shown professionalism and care in the questions drawn up in their papers. I dare say SIS examination paper format is now in place and will take pride in its annals in years to come.

Also principal, John had adopted my suggestion that the exam papers after printing are kept in envelopes, labelled (Name of Setter, paper, Year, Date of Exam), sealed and kept in the principal's office under lock and key for safe keeping and secrecy. Yes, exam procedures had been put in place...yes, some semblance to Greenview exam committee procedures, or for that matter, procedures adopted for any typical Singapore school for exams.

There was a surprise item in the lunch menu today - Singapore noodles! Although it does not contain any meat ingredients, the noodles was well prepared and I dare say it is comparable, if not better, than the one I had eaten at the Inorbit Complex food court. There was that smell of Hokkien mee with lots of vegetables. With tomato ketchup and Tabasco chilli sauce, it was real yummy...believe it or not, I had 3 big helpings! Never had I eaten so much at lunch in Mumbai. I got the uneasy feeling that the Indian teachers and students see my appetite as simply outrageous. What to do, this is our local fare in Mumbai! Cannot help, lah! As if that was not enough, big and crispy triangular-shaped samosas were served at tea break. Add ketchup and tabasco, it was simply delectic. Then I was brought back to reality when dinner came. It was the usual veggy affair but who cares, I already had my fill in the day!

Yes, today was the best day in SIS - exam procedures in place, yummy food, great day!

To All Graduating students in Greenview Secondary....

Congratulations on your Graduation Day on evening of 11th October!

You have come a long way, four to five years in fact.
You have worked hard all these years
Your teachers have great faith in you
I am confident that you will do very well in Os
Do continue to strive for the very best, work doubly hard
And, as the saying goes, you will soon be laughing all the way to the bank (not in terms of money but in results, haha...)

God Bless!

A number of Mathematics teachers were away today and I took the opportunity to do some revision work with the Year 7 and 8 classes. Gave the classes questions from Greenview's 2005 mid-year papers! Yes, Secondary 4 people reading this, note - you did this paper when you were in Sec 2 and Sec 3 people, you were in Sec 1 then when you did this paper for the mid-year examinations. Yes, the Indian students find them tough! So those who did well then, you must be proud of your math capability...hahaha.

Photo-taking continued today. The photographers came to the IB class and snap away. Chander and I were there for their Mathematics lesson. Yes, these were mock-ups but then both of us have been teaching these IB students day in, day out and we were all at home even with the cameras around. The students were angels really, participating actively in the shoot out.

I conducted a training session on the use of Microsoft equation editor for the Middle Division teachers. They are in the midst of setting the CA exam papers and I had arranged for this training as I felt that some professionalism and style needs to be put in place in SIS exam papers. And indeed was I satisfied! From all the Maths and Science teachers' reaction and questions, I can sense that they were very appreciative that I showed them the MS Equation Editor, like they have found a new toy to play with!

Also, I took this opportunity to impress on the teachers that the quality of the exam paper will definitely reflect on the standard and quality of the education we deliver here in SIS Mumbai. All papers, just like our Greenview papers, or for that matter, all exam papers set by Singapore teachers, will have a standard cover page with the school masthead on top , followed by name of exam , year, name, class and instructions for candidates. Some had already followed this as I had provided them with guidelines and sample papers from Greenview earlier.

Staff group photo was taken by a professional group today. So I took the opportunity to capture some shots on my camera as well.

From left:
Front row : xxx, anupa, poonam, siddarth, binu, henry (on PDL attachment)
Middle row : vinay, vijay, chander, john last (principal, secondary), paramesh, elvin goh, rakesh, neil....
Back row : shanon, xxx, arjana, shirley, xxx. irija, prita, robyn, vanitha (on attachment from NIE) ;
Absent : mullick sharonee (vp) , sumi

Year 9 class did a presentation on the Golden Ratio during their Maths lesson. Students presented their small group research on powerpoint slides. The standard of presentation varied as some groups were not thoroughly prepared.

After lunch, I sat in a TOK lesson for students doing Maths Studies. Mr Paramesh got the class to view a Bruce Willis movie and students were given several broad-based questions on their beliefs and understanding of "spirits".

Prepared document for training of MD teachers tomorrow on use of Microsoft equation editor after the tea break.

As usual, during each morning lessons, proceed with hand-holding teachers in the classroom. First lesson today, assisted Year 11 teacher in teaching of matrices. Later co-teach on simple interest and compound interest for Year 9. Assisted SIS teachers in formatting their CA exam papers after morning break. Vetted some papers. Had to hand-hold a couple of teachers as for many, this is their first time setting papers based on the Singapore examination format for most papers.

In the afternoon, the principal called for a short meeting. He would like to see teachers be in their places on duty during the breaks and during meal times. Also schedules were given to teachers to relieve classes under Sumi, who had to return to Singapore on an urgent family matter.

Yesterday, I shared on what I had learnt about the subject, Theory of Knowledge (TOK). Today, I shall touch on the other two core areas in the IBDP, namely the Extended Essay (EE) and the Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) programme.

Extended Essay ( equivalent to our JC students' Project Work )

The EE is a vital part of every student's Diploma programme. The aim is to teach students the research skills that they will need, firstly at university, and secondly, in the workplace. In many respects, it is similar to an undergraduate thesis in that it allows each student to pursue a course of research in an area of interest to them. This course of research is decided upon between the student and the subject teacher.

The EE must be no more than 4000 words in length. The essay should include detailed footnotes, a comprehensive bibliography and an abstract ( a brief summary of the main findings of the essay).

Students are encouraged to underake work in an area where they already have a firm understanding of the material. They should also consider areas of study which might be of most benefit to them in the long term, be that in anticipation of a particular university programme or career path.

Students will start research for the essay in Term 2 of grade 11 and are expected to carry out, independently, research into their chosen topic.

All students will have an EE Supervisor to provide support, guidance and expert information.
The EE will be tightly supervised to ensure that students manage their time effectively and do not fall behind.

The IBO recommends that a student devote a total of 40 hours of private study and writing time to the essay. The essay permits students to deepen their programmes of study, for example, by selecting a topic in one of their higher level courses.

Creativity, Action and Service (equivalent to CIP and CCA hours in our junior college)

Students in the IBDP have to fulfil a total of at least 150 hours of non-academic endeavour over two years. Weekly activities are conducted for students.

The three areas of activity covered are: Creativity (e.g. working in the school play or yearbook);
Action (e.g. sport); Service (e.g. community service both withinn and outside the school).
A log book (CAS Diary) must be kept documenting the components over the two years.

At the end of the 2 years, each student will complete a self-evaluation form, which includes a description of the activity and the student's view on how he or she has personally developed from engaging in the activity. Some elements to include in the evaluation are:
- evidence of initiative, planning and organisation;
- the amount of commitment and effort displayed;
- personal achievement and development as an individual, taking into account attitudes and
skills at the start of the activity.

Oh yes, I prepared my own wonderful lunch today - instant beehoon, scrambled egg, a grilled chicken thigh, lettuce, tomato and MacDonald's chilli sauce! ..wah, shiok, man! (sorry, greenviewans and friends, "talking" to my wife and kids la..)

Managed to chat with "Liu Tai Tai" before she left for Grand Copthorne to meet Boon Long and Mullick Sharonee. Was told by Marcus on msn that she will be driving there in heavy rain... .. alamak! Then got sms that she has reached Robertson100, parked the car and waited for rain to stop before walking to the hotel. So my Tai Tai has met up with Sharonee. Thanks to Boon Long!

Took an exercise walk in the other direction towards Borivali after lunch. The route was strewn with run-down shops where people conduct businesses. There is a row of shops dealing with marble slabs, many shops engaging in repair of buses, lorries and motor rickshaws. Although the area looks dilapidated, the people were generally happy going about their businesses. I do get the occasional stares here and there (what's a china man doing in a place like Mumbai haha!) I managed to cross the highway the Mumbian way...just simply walk across like you are a vehicle and the real vehicles will negotiate past you....frankly I got the scare of my life!!! Phew! I dont think I will ever do that again but you see it being done and no one got grazed not to mention get knocked down...surprise!

Ok, now I want to write about what I had learnt about TOK....not the TOK, TOK mee-pok man selling noodles of a bygone era in Singapore...but Theory Of Knowledge...a subject all Year 11 students at SIS must take for 2 years ( like Knowledge and Inquiry and General Paper taken by our JC students). Click on Theory of Knowledge on the right to learn more.

Yesterday I had posted that we would have to stay put in our apartment or hotel this weekend as "drivers need to rest and the city is too far way". Then my SIS colleague, Elvin, called to say that a car will be sent over to pick us up as we wanted to go to Thakur Mall. After the mall, Elvin requested for car to to go to Nehru centre at Worli where a Travel Fair exhibition was on. Permission was granted and so we were off. Poor Sumi and Dr Vanitha! If only arrangements could have been confirmed yesterday, they would have been in the party.

At Nehru Centre, we picked up lots of brochures to many exotic destinations in India but may not have a chance to visit these places. We walked to the Nehru Planetatrium but the English version has just ended. What luck! We decided that we shall visit this place again with the rest of the Singapore team perhaps when Director, Boon Long is here.

As we were in the city, we got the driver to drive us to Taj Hotel and to look for the chinese restaurant, the SIA general manager had recommended. The driver helped asked the locals if there was a restaurant here selling Singapore food...no one knows but when we mentioned chinese restaurant, one pointed round the corner. We walked through the streets lined with vendors (just like Pratunam in Bangkok, but not as congested) and found The Imperial Palace and went in for dinner. There wasn't any Singapore dishes here except for the commomn Singapore noodles! Must check with the SIA Manager again for the right one and bring the rest of the Singapore team for authentic laksa, chicken rice, kway teow, ....walau, do they have all these? Really missing on our local food liao!!! Got the Bongo drum for Marcus for Rs200!

Strange feeling today...did the usual handholding of teachers at the school..felt feverish late morning.....eyes were droopy..nearly fell asleep on the comp! Not that I did not sleep well last night....something was just not right...anyway.. wanted to write about TOK , that's Theory of Knowledge, a subject the Year 11 students are taking for their IBDP. But really not in the mood to dwell on this...perhaps on a better day.

In the evening, I made a request to arrange for a car to fetch us to the city but was discouraged...reason being on a Saturday, the drivers need a rest? Earlier, Dr Vanitha, Sumi, Elvin and I thought a good idea we visit this chinese restaurant (was told that Singaporeans call it a home away from home...must be the food what else) in the city (recommended by SIA Station Manager in Mumbai) . So we have to stay put this weekend then.

Yes, it was a lousy day alright.

Here are the four pages of SIS very first newsletter named SPIRIT . [You can read by pointing the cursor on the picture and double click and drag to the corner you wish to read].

The SPIRIT has been the brainchild of Director/SIS, Mr Mike Thiruman and alot of work was put in by Miss Sumithra Kalidas, the school's Primary Division Coordinator and English teacher. She had worked feverishly meeting datelines with the printers and at the same time vetting all the articles. In fact she had to miss our weekend outings in order to meet the printers twice!

Cheers to Sumi for a great job. Well done, SIS!

This afternoon, many teachers worked hard at setting their CA test papers. It was indeed a pleasant sight to see teachers cuddled together round a table discussing their table of specs, the format and the questions their papers. I have helped various subject teachers identify resources for their lessons as well as test and exam papers since I arrived a month ago. I had vetted two sets of papers today. One was the PD paper for Year 4 and 5 for Maths and the Year 7 paper for Business Studies. My professional advice was sought for the form the paper was to be set, the layout of the questions and the marking scheme. The Singapore standard was applied for all papers in the primary and middle divisions. For English Language papers, teachers sought Dr Vanitha's advice.

Teachers have until 10th October, 2007 to submit their papers for vetting. Tests begin on 22nd Oct during their subject periods as far as possible.

SIS first newsletter was released today. Although only four pages long, it is colourful and is of a high quality. I was featured in the section welcoming new teachers to the school..haha.

A short staff meeting was called to iron out details in connection to the coming CA examinations. Letters will be sent to all students to inform them of the dates for the various papers. Subject tests will be held during lesson time from 22 Oct 2007. I will be helping to vet all papers for the PD Maths papers and all Year 7 and Year 11 papers to see that it is up to the mark and that the format matches our Singapore standard. Years 9 and Year 11 will stick to the IGCSE and IB standard respectively and will be assisting the teachers in vetting the Maths papers.

SIS Motto, Vision, Mission and Core Values

The motto of SIS is “Carpe Diem” which means “seize the day”. Simply put, it means making the most of each day having fun while at the same time working hardtowards achieving one’s goals.

Its vision is to become a vibrant, outstanding institution of learning recognised globally as one of the finest.

To provide quality international educationthat will groom students to become responsible global citizens, while retaining their Indian values is the school mission.

The school core values stands on 4 main pillars which are Engaging minds, Touching Hearts, Dignity in Action and a sense of enterprise.

SIS, Mumbai supports and actively engages in teaching the IB Learner Profiles (see picture).. The school curriculum, which is modelled on the lines of the systematic, scientific and practical aspects of the Singapore Education System, with affiliations to IGCSE ( “O” and “A” Levels). In addition, SIS will be affiliated to International Baccalaurete (IB) from Geneva, Switzerland for Grades 11 and 12, which is accredited by universities in India, Europe, America and Australia. Advanced placements and extra credits are given by many universities in the United kingdom, United States of America, Canada and Auatralia. Singapore International School is already a candidate IB school. The IB Diploma Programme is a challenging two years curriculum primarily aimed at students aged 16 years to 19 years. the programme prepare students for university and encourages them to ask challenging questions, learn how to learn, develop a strong sense of their own identity and culture and develop the ability to communicate with an understanding of people from other countries and culture.

Tomorrow I will give more details of the IBDP.

Today. India salutes and pays homage to the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

UN observes 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence . Yes, today is the first World Non-Violence Day declared by the United nations to mark Gandhi’s birth anniversary., a public holiday here in India named as Gandhi Jayanti.. The idea of promoting the resolution originated from the Declaration adopted at the International Conference on “Peace, Non-violence and Empowerment – Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century” convened in New Delhi n January 2007 to commemorate the centenary of Satyagraha.

Greenviewans, if you are reading this, this is history for you. If you need to know more about Gandhi, go to the internet and googlle on Gandhi. I am sure some of you have seen the movie of the same name. It really is a great movie you all must watch.

Here’s a little bit on the great Indian leader…Gandhi was born in October, 1869 in a town called Porbandar. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would go on to make history, rewrite geography and inspire philosophy among many other things. So today, the people of India thank the world for honouring the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. Indians rededicate themselves to carry forward his message towards creating a better world. The Times of India, one of the major newspapers here, carried a full page article “Why India Needs a Second October” on its front page today. If history can repeat itself, India is asking why can’t they have a second October, that is, why India can’t have another Gandhi? Read what Gandhi had dreamt for India and changed the world:

India of my dreams
“I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an india in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability, or the curse of intoxicating drinks and drugs. Women will enjoy equal rights as men. We shall be at peace with all the rest of the world. This is the india of my dreams.” – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Major leaders and movements have been inspired by the Mahatma’s philosophy and practice:
- Martin Luther King Jr : main leader of the American cilvil rights movement;
- Dalai Lama : in the forefront of a struggle to liberate Tibet from China using non-violent
means;
- Aung San Suu Kyi : worked for democratisation of her country, Burma. Won an absolute
majority in 1990 elections but instead of becoming prime minister, has been placed under house arrest since then by a military junta.
- Nelson Mandela : the first South African president to be elected democratically in 1990 whose political approach was influenced by Gandhi;
- Adolfo Perez Esquivel : an Argentinian who was among the founders of Peace and Justice who adopted non-violence as its credo at a time when the country was gripped by violent conflict.

Ironically, all the above leaders won the Nobel Peace Prize, something that Gandhi himself was never awarded.

OK, so much for a History lesson on India. This afternoon I took a walk again to Thakur Mall. Again, it reminded me of Singapore more than 50 years ago. I remember clearly when as a child I had walked from Beo Lane (my first kampong) to River Valley Road (my uncle's house) amid scenes of dirty tracks and shacks. Yes I was literary walking through my life as a child here! And the feeling was really one of nostalgia, a Singapore that was as carefree as Mumbai. I couldn't help feeling sad lah....the really poor people going about their businesses and dirtied old vehicles plying the roads.

In the late afternoon, I took my first walk along the approach road to the school entrance. I was pleasantly surprised when the security guards recognised me instantly with a "Good Afternoon, Sir!" Another surprise was in store when in the school building, the admin staff was celebrating Sukriti's (the HR Manager) birthday! What a vast difference it was last Saturday when only we three Singaporeans were in school. They were in school because the boarders stayed back in school as it was not a weekend. I was invited to join in the celebrations, small though it was but very thoughtful on the part of the staff, a true lesson on relationship building and bonding.

The staff room today was abuzzed with discussion on format of paper for coming Continual Assessment. Individual teachers were seeked out as to the the format of the papers they will be setting.

For SIS, the PD and MD classes will follow the Singapore examination format and I was tasked with making sure that teachers do that. At the PD and MD meetings last week, I had outlined for the various subject teachers what format each subject could take using my Singapore experience having taken charge of school examination committees in various schools over the years. Year 9 papers will follow closely the IGCSE format. As for the Mathematics Paper, Mr Chander will set two papers. As with our GCE "O" level paper, Paper 1 will contain short questions without the use of a calculator and paper 2 will consist of long, structured questions with use of calculator. Year 11 will follow the IB format directly under the VP's charge, as she personally oversees the IB programme.

I look forward to SIS setting up an examination committee as soon as possible to start planning for the end of academic year examination in May, 2008.