What is your Dream?

I had just started teaching in RI. I'm teaching 4 classes of Secondary One students Physics. As a new teacher in the school, I really would want to know my students better. Hence, I have asked some of them this question "What is your dream?"

Some of them actually said they have no dreams. Or maybe they're too shy to share.

Personally, I believe that it is important to have dreams. The dreams that we have can shape our lives, develope our potential and guide us on the right path. We should know (at least partially) what we want to aim for in life.

There's this story about Charlie Brown that I'm reminded of.


One fine day, Charlie Brown decided to do archery. He took up his bow and arrows.

The strange thing is that, he did not have a target board. He just shot his arrows, and wherever an arrow landed, he would walk up to it and drew a circle around it, indicating a hit.

Lucy was observing him from the side. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Charlie Brown! That's not the way to do archery!?! You have to have a proper target board!" exclaimed Lucy.

"No Lucy, you don't understand. If you do archery MY way, you would never miss your target."


Well, when we aim at nothing, of course we will never miss. If we have no dreams or visions for ourselves, our lives would be pretty haphazard and purposeless.

My dream is to be able to speak into the lives of young people and transform their lives for the better.


So, what is your dream?

"We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true."
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of America

Chalet @ Aloha Changi

I just finished a 3 Days 2 Nights chalet cum church retreat at Aloha Changi. It was really a great time together with all the youths from 4 different cell groups. Everyone who went were tremendously blessed.

Yeah, and I would like to give thanks to the people who has blessed me personally during the stay.

Kelly Chia, Dun Lin and Stephen (the other 3 cell leaders)
Thanks for partnering me to put together this little retreat. Without you all, this wouldn't be possible.

Kenneth, Jarrell, Kevin, Glenn, Clement and Adlar
Your very presence is a great encouragement to me. And I know that each of you are really growing in maturity. It was really fun interacting with all of ya.

Yingxin, Venelyn and Yingzhi
Thanks for the kopi-talk. It was really interesting. I will help you all keep a look out. If next time, got those nerd nerd and honest type, I know who to intro. If got those handsome and humorous one.. also will intro. =)

Sherry, Felicia, Siokyit and Shermaine
Thanks for all the laughter that you all produced or induced throughout the chalet. Your joy was really contagious. (Btw, I'm really 26, not 36.... & I DONT act cute lah..)

Many others who came to the chalet
Really really thankful that you all make the effort to come down, even though some of you were really busy. Wonderful youths. Thank you. =)

Muar - A Place of Peace

I just came back from a little retreat with my church family at Muar. It was really a great place, away from all the city lights and distracting stuff like computers, internet and handphone.

Yah, we just spend a day or two in almost total peace. Really thank God for that.

Muar is such a peaceful and simple town.

Anyway, on the second day, we decide to play some kind of 食字路口. We have to find places or food that can string together in words. We started with the word Muar.

Muar House

House of Joy

Zoysia (a kind of grass)

Xia-mi (shrimp)

Mi-lo

Lo-ti (Roti)

Tea with Ice

Ice Teh-O

Otah!!

Ta-mee (eat noodles)

Mee Siput

Muar House -> House of Joy -> Zoysia (means grass) -> Xia-mi (shrimp) -> Mi-lo -> Lo-ti (Roti) -> Tea with Ice -> Ice Teh-O -> Otah -> Ta-mee (eat noodles) -> Mee Siput

小孩不笨

Last Sat night, I was watching 小孩不笨 for the first time on Channel 8. It was really quite a meaningful show, besides all the laughter. The 3 stars - Terry, Guobing & Wenfu acted really well. They brought so much life to the movie.



The movie brought about 2 things that I really felt deeply.

1. The Chinese language is no longer valued nowadays.
In the movie, Jack Neo's boss was so proud of himself that he couldn't speak a single word in Mandarin, and yet he could succeed in the advertising world.

I'm a Chinese. To me, it is very important to be able to converse in Mandarin. It is our roots and our heritage. But sad to say, many young people today dislike speaking in Mandarin. They have problems putting Chinese words together to form complete sentences. We really don't need to talk about 成语 (idioms) or 谚语 (proverbs).

I really hope that the MOE would put more emphasis on the Chinese language. They must really help promote the language. It is a scary thought to envision Chinese in Singapore unable to utter any words in Mandarin.

Let me be frank. I can't write Chinese characters well. But I'm quite confident of speaking in Mandarin.


2. Many students in S'pore have been 'marked' for failure at a very young age.
During my time, until even recently, in Primary 5, all S'pore students have to go through streaming - EM1, EM2 and EM3. Well, if you're in EM1 or EM2, you probably feel it's okay.

However, what about those streamed into EM3? In the movie, Terry and his friends were all in EM3. And sometimes, they were been laughed at by their friends. Sometimes, they just felt lousy about themselves. Even their parents also sometimes felt that they were useless.

Then, after PSLE, students at a young age of 12 are again streamed into Special, Express, Normal Academic (NA) and Normal Technical (NT). The perception is - if you're in NT, that's it. You won't have a bright future.

My personal belief is that every child has potential. Every child has his giftings. However, our S'pore education system is one such that it only emphasizes on Math, Science & Language subjects. But thankfully, we're already trying to change. That's why there's the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at NUS.

As a teacher, I'm quite convinced my role is to bring out the potential of my students, even if their potential doesn't lie in academic subjects.

You can find out more about your strengths by doing a simple online test at this website.

Happy & Blessed Birthday to Darren, Elkan & Stephen!

Last night, we celebrated 3 birthdays!! Here's a short tribute to each of them.

To Darren:
It's really amazing how God has changed you for the past few years. I really witnessed how you changed from a young & shy guy to someone who's mature & willing to rise up for God.

To Elkan:
You finally hit 30!! Haha.. Really thank God for your input into my life. You've been a good elder brother to me, guiding me and giving me valuable advice when I most needed it.

To Stephen:
Brother!! Don't laugh at Elkan.. you going to hit 30 soon too. =) Yah, you've been a wonderful blessing to me. Your simple faithfulness in the Lord has been a great encouragement to me and others. Thank God for you!

Darren, Elkan & Stephen looking like jailbirds..

Darren, Elkan & Stephen looking like jailbirds AGAIN..

Darren, Elkan & Stephen FREE MEN

Let's Play Doubles =)

Today, we had our 3rd tennis lesson at NJC. We learned how to play doubles today. We really had tons of fun!! All of the youths enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

Not to forget, after learning tennis, we went to Gameslab at our Cyberwellness Centre at Bukit Merah to have fun. We played games like DOTA, CS, NBA, etc. =)

Healthy Community of Gamers!

The Intense Look on Kenneth's face

Battlefield 2007

Last week, we had our church Youth Camp from Thursday to Saturday. It was really a great camp filled with many wonderful & exciting games. The name of this camp was Battlefield 2007.

The objective of this camp is to train up our youths to be able to fight the good fight, finish the race and keep their faith for God.

All the youths went through a grueling but fun camp!

Here are some photos of the camp. There will be more to come. =)

Wai Mun's Guys

Wai Mun's Guys (Funny!)

Luke Group

Luke Group (Funny!)

Our Best Camper - Mavis! (With Weng Yew & I)

I Can Serve!!

A photo of all the youths + coaches

Yesterday, I brought some youths to learn tennis from the NJC team once again. It's our second session. The purpose of this activity is to help youths balance computer gaming and healthy activities like sports.

Previously, during the first session, the youths learned how to do forehand and backhand shots.

During the second session, the youths learned how to serve. It's really amazing how fast some of the youths were able to serve like tennis professionals. Don't believe?? Check out the photos below:

A Call to Fight

Every guy looks for a fight, in one way or another. I'm not just talking about physical fights. I'm talking about challenges. Guys just like to have challenges.



Some guys fight it out at the basketball court. They really become competitive and want to win every single game.

Some guys fight it out in the classroom. They become so conscious of every single mark in their tests and exams that they always want to be first in class.

Some guys fight it out in the virtual world, either in Maple Story or DOTA or WoW. They want to be the best and own as many people as possible.

Guys, face it. We just like challenges. We like to win. And I really think it's nothing wrong, as long as the things we fight for are good. When the time comes for us to fight, we have to fight. If not, we will stand to miss out certain things in life.



For example, when I was in the BMT (Basic Military Training) phase of my National Service many years ago, I really wanted to become an officer. And to do it, I would have to fight for the limited places available. It was really time for me to rise up and fight.

Instead, I didn't really respond to the call to fight. I was a bit slack and tried to avoid doing too much stuff. To cut a long story short, in the end, I was posted to SISPEC (School of Infantry Specialists). My dream to become an officer was dashed.

Guys, when it's time to fight, fight. Don't run away. (Of course, please fight for the right thing)