My experiences during JXP and reflection on my current life--Xu Bohan

The final glimpse of the River Valley High School mingled with a faint tiredness and reluctance to leave. The five-day JC visit has just finished, but the experiences in class, in the playground and in the canteen with my buddy and friends are still clear in my mind. There are three things touched me profoundly during this experience: their busy and tiring life, and in contrast their energetic state of mind, and finally our privilege to be provided so convenient facilities and considerate services.

During our five days staying there, they have three exams to take and another one in the following Tuesday. I am a bit surprised of their tight schedule that they even do not have adequate time to prepare for the test. What the teacher covered on the previous day could be included in the test on the following day. There is no full-day break for them to prepare for the test as my high school occasionally did. In addition to test, school begins quite early and the morning classes proceed one after another, almost without intervals between two classes. Moreover, unlike Chinese high school students who are getting used to taking a nap after lunch, JC students don’t have such time. Shuttling from one class to another constantly is what their everyday routine is like.

On the contrary, students there are always awake and energetic both during and after the classes. Most of them get up around six a.m. every day, which schedule they kept for more than ten years. Unadjusted to this schedule, I was not entirely awake in the morning classes and was rather exhausted in the afternoon. Every day on the bus back to our hostel, we were silent because of lacking strength to chat but nap on the seats. My buddy told me that during the period busy with co-curriculum activities, she could sleep as late as two am in the midnight, resulting in only four hours of sleep. How could they ‘survive’ in such afflicting and exhausting schedule? But indeed, Singapore students make it. In view of this, I admire their strength of will to keep energetic in this so packed daily routine and also feel pitiful for them to be a sleep-deprived generation.

Meanwhile, I feel it privileged to be provided such living and study condition: living inside the campus with no more than ten minutes’ walk to the lecture theatre, varieties of restaurants providing diverse flavors, convenience stores located nearby the classroom, as well as gyms and swimming pools opposite to the hostel. We are the pioneer batch to have the chance living inside the campus directly during the bridging course, facilitating us to immerge into the university atmosphere, but with a less packed schedule and less studies burden compared to college students. I genuinely feel that bridging course period is incomparably wonderful, given that our friends in China are still striving for the university entrance examination and local JC students are ceaselessly engaged in their busy studies and activities.

In a nut shell, despite further integrating into Singapore culture through the in-depth immersion, I feel more of our privilege as scholars. Cherish my live now and make endeavor!

My JC visit (lessons learnt)_Zhi Yiwei

When the classes ended and I walked out of River Valley High School, all those emotions mixed up in my mind. To be honest, I was glad that I could get back to my ordinary life track. But at the same time, I felt so unwilling and sad about leaving RVHS for all the delightful experiences I had there. It evoked my memory of high school life so strongly that when I stepped out of the school gate on Friday, I was really emotional and thought, "Yeah, now my high school life has officially come to its end."

JXP has assigned each of us a buddy, and asked us to go to whatever class our buddies attend. As I had classes with my buddy and his classmates, all the touching memories came back to me, and I felt like being in my high school class again. In high schools, everyone is keeping their dreams, no matter how tough it might be to reach those dreams, we don't feel desperate. Because we are not fighting alone, but as group. Unity brings us the sense of belongings, making us feel that the whole class is a family that support each members no matter what. Although getting prepared for college entrance test (or A level) is not that easy, with this belief, learning becomes much easier, and no difficulty seems to block our way towards our dreams. 

This is where it gets emotional for me. As I have already left my former high school and my class, and in our bridging program, we don't have a class that could unite and motivate its members. Only after four months, I would get into college and really depend on my own. At that moment when I walked out of RVHS, I almost burst into tears, because I never really cherished my high school time before; more importantly, I realized that I have already grown up.

Yes, I have already grown up, and I have to learn to be my own support and motivation. To all the moments that have passed, I should say "thank you": Thanks to all the sweet and encouraging ones that once brought me joy of life and wills to fight; thanks to all the bitter and discouraging ones that once made me see my flaws and later made me stronger. I would keep all of them in my mind and cherish them, while still focus on my current life which also has its charm – so that I won't regret when I look back again. I should learn to make the best of every moment that I am having now. I should always remember to push myself forward to make it a step closer to my dream, just like what my class has done for me in the past.

Zhou Chuyu_2

In addition to the "hardware" of RV, what I value the most is the "software" of the school, which is the cultural reflection of the school. From my buddy Nicole, I know lots of details of the Junior College student's life, the hardness to survive in the tests and the happiness to study in this wonderful school. What is more, lots of the details in the school also reflect the attitude of education in Singapore.

I really love 5B, which is a united class. All the classmates are just like a family and I really enjoy the accompany with them these days. Especially my buddy and her closed friends, Gladys and Deborah, we always have chit chats during the recess and talk about lots of BAGUA.

It is quite funny that there are 3 students in 5B have their birthdays during my 5 days visit in RV, and their celebrations are quite cute. Because the name of class 5B sounds like fiber, students celebrate their birthdays with a fruit and candles. That is really sweet!

I observe a interesting stuff in RV-- rubbish bin! The lovely rubbish bin with lots of colorful painting add lots of  vigor for the school. It is a pity that I cannot photograph all the rubbish bins in the school, but the pictures already show how cute they are.

The last day in RV is their A level test release day. I went and visited how they got their results. RV really did well in the A level test. I saw lots of smile and cry that day.  I miss the University Entrance Exam in China, and this experience make up my study journey with getting one of the most important result in my life. 

Zhou Chuyu_1

Every time I think back to the days when I am in River Valley High School, lots of wonderful sceneries come up to my mind. Those are all beautiful days in which I can experience the different education environment in Singapore and make lots of new friends. When I sat in the classroom with my buddy, I really enjoy the wonderful classes.  

This is the beautiful school. The new buildings give off the thick atmosphere of studying. Walking in the school, it is really an enjoyment to breath the fresh air.

Classrooms here are full of funny decoration. When we have tutorials in the classroom, we feel active and energetic!

One of my favorites in the school is the CANTEEN. As a CHIHUO, I find the canteen in RV is really a heaven for me. I love all the food here, especially the mint chocolate ice-cream, the baked potato and the banana milkshake. Eating is another reflection of culture, and I really appreciate this part of culture.

My JC visit (education system) -- Zhi Yiwei

As the one-week long JXP to River Valley High School come to its end, I have found out that one important objective that MOE set for us has already been accomplished: Getting to know Singapore education system better. Almost all of those questions raised before JXP has got its answer. Based on my experiences, I have also developed my own understanding about the benefits and drawbacks of Singapore junior college education system.

Generally, Junior college acts as a transition between secondary school and college. It allows students to learn in lectures where hundreds attend, while arranges small group's tutorial for students to practice more and solve their doubts – which is the basic mode of college education. While at the same time, the school would set timetables for each students in advance based on what modules they choose. It also put CCA in a particular time of the day so that students could worry less about balancing time between CCA and studies – which is still very much alike secondary school education. The purpose is being quite clear – MOE hope that students could step out of their secondary years and get prepared for universities, and that they could become more of their own time manager.

In realizing the function of a transition, I think the system works well. Lectures and tutorials in Junior colleges are quite similar to the way universities conduct them. Starting learning in lectures from an earlier age could absolutely make students more used to this way, so that the good habit of fully participating in the lecture brings them higher efficiency. During lectures, students have their own tutorial teachers around so that they could ask questions easily. As many studies suggest, the efficiency when people first learn something matters the most. All these settings could ensure this point, as well as the good learning habit they could bring to college. Besides the studying part, CCA settings are also functioning well. Junior colleges provide more varied options which are closer to the ones in college, in order to make sure students develop long term interests.

However I would say, according to my experiences, the education system is not yet perfect. One big problem I have is about timetable settings. Firstly, it gives students a break once two hours or even more, leaving them very little time for refreshing. Secondly, it never give students a fixed lunch time – the lunch break varies from 10 am to 2:30 pm. For instance, on a Tuesday, I had a meal at 10 am. I was quite puzzled at first about why they don't wait until 12 noon, but later I found out it was because there was no break from 10:30~14:00 at all! My buddy told me that they have to eat 2 lunches on Tuesdays, and that he was not quite pleased with it. This arrangement is undoubtedly bad for students' health, which the schools really need to consider when making timetables. 

Anyway, no one is wonderful, and so does an education system. As long as it listens to advice and keep improving, it only gets better.

Yan Yixuan3

  Other things impressed me most in the JC journey are the ghastly amount of P.E class and the delicious food in canteen. I enjoyed P.E class most in high school, but I found that the P.E class was so different in Singapore. Running 2400m is divided into three times, and 4 minutes a time and other exercises are more unbearable, such as 4 sets of acute exercises. However, when I thought that maybe it was the last chance I tried my best to run on the track, I felt nothing but the enjoyment of this journey. With the whisper of the wind, I ran, ran, and ran. With the thought, youth is wonderful; I rushed to the final line and listened to the high-frequency heart beats, exhausted. In addition, the food in RV canteen is really fine to me, regardless of the delicious ice-creams, the main dish such as baked potato, salmon, bak kut teh, Muslim food, vegetarian food, while the snacks and drinks such as chocolate chips and bubble tea are also my favorite. The luckiest thing was that we have two 30-minutes break, which meant that we can eat two times for lunch, so I almost tried all the food in RV. What a wonderful journey! 

Yan Yixuan2

  During the JC journey, I made a lot of friends. Firstly, my buddy, Yueling, is a very cute girl studying hard, and her CCA is hip-hop. It is a pity that I have no chance to see she dancing since her CCA has not begun. When we took chemistry lab lesson, she told me the process patiently, and gave me chance to practice it. When we took economy lesson, she taught me some academic words so I can enjoy the fun of economy. Her best friend, Jiawei, is also very kind to me. Besides, Jiawei is a member of student army, and she told me the process of the examination, which she took 2 years ago. It sounds cruel since it required students to load heavy stones and kept running about half an hour, and during the running students were also asked to find some clue to get the last check-point. In fact, I kind of like this interesting CCA. I also made friends with two girls from China, and all of us enjoy exciting movies such as thrilling movies and all of us are interested in life science, and one of them is quite interested in cosplay, which is also my interest. We three decided to watch movies next week, and enjoy the delicious food in Singapore. 

Yan Yixuan1

  It is really a rare experience for me to wake up so early and take bus to school, but I still experienced a pleasant journey. I enjoy the feeling lying on the seat, without thinking anything, and just enjoy myself and sometimes reflected something or thought about the future. And I also enjoy the beautiful morning glow, a blob of red coincident with the slightly dark blue. When I first time saw it, I almost jumped up and screamed to my friend. When it comes to the raise of flag, together with the beautiful song of <Majulah Singapura>, one or two black birds flash across the light blue sky, leaving no trace. After school, I always take double-bus 198 back to RVR; double bus is such an amazing thing that no matter how many times I take it, I feel nothing but excited and interested. Especially when I seated on the first line of the second floor, observing pedestrians walking fast with an anxious face, or the tall trees passing by me, or the fancy things I saw during the journey such as “see real snow in Singapore”. In fact, the scenario I saw during the JC journey really brought me a pleasant mood. 

Huang Chao 3

After these few days living most of the day with Singaporeans, I find myself more immersed with them. It is really an interesting experience to get close to them and see what Singaporean peers do.
First of all, they are very humorous In class, they can telling jokes with teachers; therefore, their classes are much more interesting.
Also, they are friendly to each other and become a warm and harmony family. In every class the number of students is good enough for them to get acquainted to each other as much as possible. I can see their deep friendship between boys and boys, girls and girls and also boys and girls.
Last but not least, thank you for my buddy's care very much!

Huang Chao 2

    Looking backward to my JC experience, now I want to share some opinions about Singapore education system.

    The biggest difference with China's education system is that Singapore pays a lot of attention to help students become a completely good person. The reasons for me to draw this conclusion are simply that they should watch their national flag rise five days a week; also they need to choose a compulsory CCA. 

    However, China's education is not really so bad that every time we think about it we should criticize it. In fact, China has a good result of cultivating talented students. Though a great percentage of them are not good at creativity, they can still seek for chance to become creativity! It is not such a case that if their basic knowledge is concrete so that they will never become creative. 

    Instead, I also find a shortness which I think maybe Singapore education system has. It is about the study. I have never imagined JC classes sometimes can be so fun. However rather than laughter, which help students to get a good result and become intelligent is teaching and learning that knowledge. However in my eyes, lectures seem to be too broad and simple for students to master all the knowledge used in the tutorial classes. Does that mean Singapore students prefer to learn by themselves at home referring to lecture notes? Does Singapore education system want to cultivate their independent learning skills somewhat on purpose?

    This is a big question in my mind now. I hope some day I can find out Singapore students are really good at their study as well. But at least one point I must learn from them, that is their personal integrated qualities.

JC Immersion & my uncompleted school life(Sun Zeyu)

One pleasant thing with a little shallow sadness is that JC immersion successfully reminded me of my life in my primary school, secondary school and middle high school. It brought me back to that stage of my life, which is never coming back; which I shall never experience; which has become a permanent past tense in my whole life. It abruptly occurs to me that the reason why so many people want to live their life for a second time is not because of the things they regret; it is because of things they treasure. The past pleasant times, which were not enjoyed fully by them, always passed too fast for them to get them back. They passed so fast, so quietly, so mercilessly, leaving only the memory. In my mind, in-school education can be taken as a part of one’s whole in all dimensions. Primary school, secondary school and middle high school is one part of one’s educational life stage, while university is another stage. In university you can never have a close bunch of classmates with whom, closely, you share your smile, your tears, your flag-raising site, your horrible exam marks, your head-teacher assembly as well as nearly one sixth of your life.

The moment when I notice the hyper-active atmosphere in physics class, I felt like I suddenly fell back into the best time of my school life-last year in secondary school. It is amazing how much fun these JC guys can have with each other in physics class. They hide their desk-mate’s stationary, pass it one by one; just wait the poor guy to shout and all of them laugh together. It sounds childish; however, everyone who has attended a basic education can form this picture in mind since it is so popular internationally among our energetic, active and hyperactive students.

So, send my sincere gratitude to this JC immersion. No doubt that man can never walk back into his history, just like arrow never turns its head. However, I had an illusion of re-experiencing my first stage educational life-the part always standing for purity, immaturity but naively happiness.

Past happiness can only be re-tasted in memory, which is the fated sadness of all human beings. JC has assisted me to comprehend it in a deeper way as well as a wiser way.

Forever Memory In RVHS (Qin Kun)

Yesterday, we finished our one-week JC immersion. I felt both sad and happy. I was happy because I made many friends in RVHS. I was sad because I would not go to RVHS for class and I could not play with my new friends every day.

Although I got up at 5:20 am every day last week, although I complained that I felt tired every day, I still love  this immersion which gave me a unforgettable experience. Students here were very friendly and kind. Teachers always care for us very much.I love here.

The school motto of RVHS's is still in my mind: 立德立功，化愚化頑. This motto will also remind me all the time to study hard and do better.

Bye Bye! RVHS-- my good River Valley High School!

Chemistry Lab (Qin Kun)

On Wednesday, we had a chemistry lab. Before I came in Lab, I had already been thrilled. I imaged what did lab look like all the time. When I got into lab, I was shocked by its advanced apparatuses which made me more excited.

Then, my buddy Wenxuan and I began our lab together. We washed all the apparatus first, weighed some  sample, and took back some solution. Wenxuan did first and I looked at him. He did it very well and everything went well. He successfully made an accurate solution.

 Next, I tried again in different condition. However, I found it was difficult for me to do it.  Maybe I did not do a experiment for a very long time. My hands was shaking and I could not get accurate solution. Finally, I finished my experiment with Wenxuan's help.

 In China, we have few chances to go to lab. Because we spend most time on "paper". But Wenxuan told me that they would have chemistry and physical labs every week. Thus they did not feel so excited like us.Maybe this is different education system. I enjoyed this lab very much.

Huang Chao

    Instead of showing off my shallow understanding of Singapore's education system, I prefer to share some interesting findings in the past few days.
    One of the most important findings is that some SM1 students in my buddy's class have almost behaved like a Singaporean totally including the accent and appearance. I hardly believe that 3 years can even shape a guy into another kind. Maybe many changes have taken place in my minds, behavior and beliefs as well, as I can feel now. But all in all, I hope every change in my body and mind can help me proceed in the right direction.
    Also, I feel very comfortable staying with my juniors. Year 5 is Senior Middle 2 so that it is the first time most of my classmates are younger than me. My buddy is a good and handsome boy who speaks Chinese very frequently with me. I also know about some of his classmates like the class monitors. The following photo of me and my buddy was taken when we were conducting an experiment. And some other photos were his classmates.

   I am looking forward to the coming 2 last days of my valuable JC immersion. I hope to build up tighter and more harmonious friendship with them, my dear juniors.

Expecting JC immersion (Zhi Yiwei)

Tomorrow I would start my one-week JC immersion in River Valley High School, and frankly speaking, I am very exited about this coming experience. Back in 2008, I have stayed in a secondary school as an exchange student for also one week. That one week was an interesting and impressive one which I could still recall even now. I have seen various kinds of active classes, club activities, and the unity of the whole school. So for this one-week JC immersion yet to come, I am expecting not only those I have learned about 5 years ago, but I am also hoping to see all-rounded education and the thoughtful students that it brings.

I had my Singapore secondary school exchange when I was junior one, which was organized by my junior school. The secondary school I went to was Northbrooks Secondary School, located in Yishun. During that period, I was assigned to a buddy who was also secondary one, and that I was required to attend all the lessons he was to attend in that one-week's time. During the daily lessons, I have participated in both science and arts subjects. The most important feature I remember about the lessons is how the teachers lead students to become an independent learner. For instance, students were assigned in groups to research and design posters about Asean countries' culture in English classes, and I joined one group to help present the their findings. Even as an outsider who haven't seen the whole process of their research, I could feel how their individual thinking ability and communication skills were benefited. Besides, I have joined some after-school activities. One interesting but practical one among them was an out-door surviving lesson, in which we were taught how to set fire and cook food for ourselves. I have also learned about making plane models and cooking Malay food. By learning all these various lessons, I have found out the secondary school education in Singapore could truly promote almost every aspect of a student.

Having the delightful exchange 5 years ago in a secondary school, I am now even more exited about this Junior college exchange. The one I am going to is River Valley High school, an IP school with excellent performance in both academic and activities. It was set up in 1956, aiming to uphold virtues and contribute to society, guiding others in the quest for knowledge and wisdom through personal growth. The school has outstanding academic achievements: it produces may outstanding graduates with high A level scores and wins plenty of nation prizes in each subjects. Its CCA performance is also great, sports like badminton and Wushu are its strengths. Therefore, I would like to go inside the real school life and discover why it could produce all these graduates with full package. I am also very curious about how RVHS students could successfully manage their time and do great jobs in school work and CCA. This experience would very possibly answer most of my doubts about Singapore education, enrich my language and technical skills, and inspires me about arranging time to balance study and CCA.

I am now ending my excitement with one sentence that I keep telling my self: Just enjoy.

Kangwei's first day of JC immersion

Getting up early, wandering in the bright moonlight, that is the beginning of my JXP.
Before coming to RVHS, I worried quite a lot about how to communicate with local students and whether they will have bias on us.
So I got very cautious initially, avoiding any troubles. However, after meeting my buddies, Yun Da, I felt great relief. Although he may not be so focused when studying, he is a very warm-hearted person. He showed me buildings in RVHS and introduced his friends to me as well. In the afternoon, we attended the experiment lesson together. Both of us were not careful enough and we made quite a large amount of solutions splashed out, but I really enjoyed the process of working with him and doing things with my own hands.
The PE lesson is not as horrible as what I anticipated maybe because the teacher today was very merciful to us. I found my buddy is really good at sports. After running 2.4 kilometres, he was also able to perform energeticly on the basketball court.
Anyhow, that was my first day in RVHS, there was still a lot of things deserving observing and a lot of people to interact with.

My first day in RVHS (QinKun)

Today is the first day that I start to study in River Valley High School (RVHS). Mrs Lim who takes care of us is very kind and friendly. She leads us to playground for flag-raising ceremony. Around 2500 students and 200 teachers stand together. Some students stand in front of us and take charge of raising flag and sing school anthem, which remind me of ceremony in China. Moreover, there are thirteen new teachers joining in RVHS. After that, we are leaded to meet our buddy.

My buddy's name is Chin Wen Xuan who is a very helpful and tall boy. He studies maths, physics  chemistry and economy. Our first lesson is chemistry lecture about chemical bonding which we have learned in both China and NUS. Students are very interested about who we are. Wen xuan introduces some friends to me . They are all friendly. The chemistry teacher also asks a few questions on our program. The second lesson is PE. Unfortunately, I hurt my ankle when I played basketball on Friday night. So I can only wait on side. To my surprise, Teacher asks students to run 2400 meters in ELEVEN mins which sounds very terrible. However, Wen xuan tells me that they do this for National Service which is compulsory for Singaporean.
   
Then we have a recess to eat or drink something. Following is a picture of canteen:

Students eat together and talk to each other. Wen xuan tells me that friends are always talking about their tutorial here. Then we got to physics lecture. Another funny thing is that students should change their clothes when they have PE class and  change to original uniform to go for other classes. Following is a picture of physics lecture:

The amount of students really shocks me.
Next, we have chemistry tutorial and general paper class. Following is a picture of classroom:

Finally, we close all classes at 3:20 pm. And my buddy need to go for training. On Wednesday, Wen xuan has his CCAS. I feel that time flies quickly. Wen xuan told me classes on Monday and Tuesday are a little boring. But I feel okay, the style is different from China. I enjoy the first day and expect the the rest of days.