What are your views towards this? We will discuss this during class tomorrow. :)

Foreign students face loneliness and stress

By Shuli Sudderuddin , Estelle Low and Teo Wan Gek

Cambodian student Sopheaktra Phann sometimes feels so lonely here that she just wants to drop everything and go home.

The bubbly 20-year-old, a business student at Singapore Management University (SMU), said it has not been easy to make friends as she feels that Singaporean students are not always friendly.

'Sometimes, when I'm alone in my room, I can get emotional and have thoughts about just quitting school and going home,' she said.

Ms Phann has lived here for five years. Previously, she studied at Anglo-Chinese Junior College.

She is not alone in feeling the blues here. A friend, another foreign student, was so lonely and homesick that at one point she stopped attending class and stayed in bed.

'I got very worried about her and had to check on her every day till she felt better,' Ms Phann said.

The pressure that foreign students face in coping with their studies and living in Singapore came under the spotlight a week ago.

An Indonesian student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, died on campus after falling four floors. Earlier, he had stabbed an associate professor during a discussion in the latter's office.

Widjaja, who had had his Asean scholarship revoked, cut off all communication with friends two weeks before his death.

A Ministry of Education spokesman said foreigners comprise about 20 per cent of the 49,000 students in the universities.

They make up about 4 per cent of the 521,000 students in primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and centralised institutes; and about 8 per cent of the 91,000 students in the polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education.

In a Sunday Times poll of 100 foreign students, 58 per cent said it was common to experience adjustment problems, ranging from stress over studies and finance to the language barrier.

National University of Singapore (NUS) computing student Zhang Shuai, 22, from China, said: 'I could not understand what the teacher was talking about for the first six months.

'Once, she asked me to do an assignment but I did not do it because I did not understand her instructions.'

On the financial concerns that foreign students may face, Mr Choi Kwan Bun, a 22-year-old Korean who is a physics student at NUS, said: 'I get a fixed allowance in Korean currency from my parents. So when the Singapore dollar rises, I have less.'

Counsellors and psychiatrists said it was not unusual for foreign students to experience problems in adjusting to life here.

Mr Timothy Hsi, a university counsellor at SMU, said half of his clients are foreign students.

'Issues like the language barrier may seem superficial but they are a worry to some foreign students.

'As a result of stress, we see students who engage in self-harm by cutting themselves or bingeing on alcohol. However, they are not the majority,' he said.

Dr Cecilia Soong, head of the counselling programme at SIM University, said students may feel guilt or shame if they cannot perform academically, or they may feel lonely or depressed if they cannot mix well with locals.

Some students might even drop out. An NTU spokesman said about 4 per cent of its foreign students have dropped out of school over the last three years. As for SMU, a spokesman said the number was confined to a few isolated cases. It has about 5,500 students, about 20 per cent of whom are foreign. NUS did not respond to The Sunday Times' query.

All universities and private schools contacted by The Sunday Times said they have counselling programmes and activities to help foreign students assimilate better.

For example, NUS, whose foreign students make up 20 per cent of the student body, has a team of counsellors, doctors and psychiatrists who work with staff and students.

Said Dr Ann-Marie Lew, head of counselling and psychological services at NUS' University Health Centre: 'Counsellors create awareness among the students about support services, as well as (hold) workshops for staff to help them identify students with difficulties.'

NTU has counsellors, medical professionals, mentors and supervisors who can be approached by students for help. In SMU, apart from its professional staff, there is a peer helper system in place.

However, even with such help on tap, things may not always fall neatly into place.

One second-year NTU student said he went for counselling when he was depressed and thought of cutting himself. However, he was told by counsellors that his problem might not be kept confidential as he was deemed to be in danger of self-harm.

Said the student, who declined to be named: 'Counselling is not enough. When they said they might need to tell others, I was not comfortable with that, and they lost my trust.'

Psychiatrist Ang Yong Guan, who sees three to four distressed foreign students a month, said in such cases, an intervention must be staged carefully without alarming the client.

'Depression has taken over his decision-making process, so you must intervene before he disappears and not come back. Or he might do something more sinister,' he said.

Another common problem: Many are ashamed to seek help.

'As Asians, we still believe that counselling must mean you have a problem. So there is a group of students who need help but don't seek it,' said SMU's Mr Hsi.

He added: 'We're slowly trying to change that by reaching out with peer helpers and I think it's working. Previously, students would not approach these peers but now they're becoming more open.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

From: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090309-127248.html

I have just completed a first draft of a work report, at the ungodly time of 12.37am. It is in these quiet, serene moments that one tends to have the clarity of thought to think.

The weekend has been extremely good. While the vivacious Bollywood dance moves was as captivating as the feel-good theme in Slumdog Millionaire, I enjoyed mingling with the late-night movie-going crowd on a Saturday night. It is always nice to meet chums over a nice meal of mussels and fat fries, all while dining alfresco in the not-so-quiet evening. After so long, the ones you really let your hair down with seem to be the ones who first saw you in your mushroom-head hairdo when you were all of 13 years of age.

I am bracing myself for a long three weeks ahead. It's great to be alert, alive and ready to munch my apple (yes, I know, I'm weird) before drifting into dreamland.

1) ungodly
2) serene
3) clarity

Dear 408, keep at your commenting on your friends' posts.

Hi dear students

Thanks for your posts about CNY so far. They have been really enjoyable to read.

Please ensure you have added all your classmates as friends. If you don't know who they are, add them from my blog. Their usernames can be found under my blog's user info webpage.

Some tasks for this week:

1) Post comments on 5 of your friends' blogs by this coming Friday, 13th Feb.
Do remember to present opinions. e.g.: "I think this was well-written because..."
, "Why did you think...", "I agree/disagree with you when ..."

Don't just say silly things like, "you rock!"

2) Please look through all your friends' entries for CNY and vote the top 5 blog entries based on
- fluent and appropriate use of language
- interest value

and write them in a separate post on your blog by 13th Feb, Fri.

You post should look like this:
Title: (your name)'s VOTE!

My vote:
1) XYZ (because she told us about her hilarious aunty who... It was quite interesting)
2) ABC (because I enjoyed reading her descriptions about...)
3) TRE (because her use of the words... helped me visualise the scene of the accident happening in cny more vividly)
4)
5)

(Feel the love with the written word!)
(This is the advertisement for one country's Post Service)

Chinese New Year was quite different for me. As with previous years, all of us secondary school friends will gather at one of our houses to "bai nian". However, this year, I sorely missed one of my friends who's currently working in Hong Kong. In the midst of all the revelry in the festive season, I decided to write her a card. I'm not sure about you, but I have not been writing cards or letters for quite some time. In this age of Internet, blogging, emails and web messengers seem to be the most convenient way to communicate with the ones around you. However, I've to say that nothing in the world beats a handwritten card. Somehow, seeing one's unique scrawls on a card is heartwarming. Knowing that your friend has decided to take some effort in writing you his thoughts and feelings feels much better than receiving an email or MSN message in emotionless Times New Roman or Arial font.

If you miss someone, or would just like to say hi or cheer someone up, why don't write him a card instead of sending that umpteenth sms?

:p

1) revelry
2) scrawls
3) umpteenth

Please blog about your
1) thoughts/reflections about Chinese New Year
2) focus on describing and analysing one person you met over CNY (relative, old friend etc.)

Deadline: Next Friday (6/2)
Minimum no. of words: 200

Please also comment on 5 of your friends' posts by next Monday (9/2). Please be constructive in your comments. I trust that you will not type something as frivolous as "wah nice" or "GG"!

You know what I mean.

Looking forward to seeing your posts and comments!

(To the 5 of you who have not added me as a friend, you are going to be in trouble soon.)

Violetdush03 wins the blog post of week!

I soaked in the Chinese New Year festivities at Chinatown today.

As we jostled with the crowd, I cannot help but wonder what is going to happen to the businesses of some these stall owners when Chinese New Year is over. Selling Taiwanese snacks, Red lanterns, stickers and other knick knacks, surely few people would want to buy these things when the festival has ended?



It was packed, to say the least. I was highly amused by this female auctioner who was doing her job by auctioning off "real" jade pendants and necklaces at prices starting from as low as 10 Singapore dollars! She really got a crowd of people glued to the auction as she cajoled onlookers to place bids for the items. Judging from her speed of speech, I have to hold my hat of to her as she never did stop talking in the 10 minutes I was there watching her persuasive skills at work.

Here she is! I'm sure you can spot her.



If you have a chance, you should head down to Chinatown. A good alternative would be to go there on the night of Lunar New Year Eve where goodies will usually be sold at huge discounts!

1) jostled
2) cajoled

Blog of the week: Aaron's.

Please claim your "prize". :)

One of the most heartwarming reasons why being a teacher makes me happy is the news of how ex-students are growing up well. I have not been teaching for all that long, but long enough to have had a few batches of students who have since graduated from secondary school.

Mabel is my dramatic and ever-bubbly ex-student whom I still keep in touch with. Besides the fact that she likes to fill me in on news about her life on MSN, she surprises me with her occasional visits to school. I am mighty proud of her because she has grown from a noisy little student to a mature and measured young lady.

To my dear girl, who just said the following on MSN:
Mabel is a happy girl!! says:
HAPPY NEWW NEWW NEWWW YEARRRR

this post is dedicated to you, because you light up my life.

:)

I remember when I was younger and more rebellious (Oops), I resented my mother because of how I felt she intruded into my personal space. She wanted to know who all about friends I hung out with were! I even felt that it was a ploy on her part to "spy" on me when she kept asking me to bring my friends home instead of just going out to meet them.

They say that one is only really glad for his mother's existence when they grow up. I have to agree. For the past few years or so, I have been having these random chats with my mum about anything under the sun. I treasure her insights about things because it seems that she can see things from other angles which I cannot see from! I still think there is a huge generation gap between the two of us, but I am finally able to see that the sharing of her past experiences has given me much hope and strength to face the seemingly insurmountable challenges I face now.

I never thought I will one day feel this way about my mother, but I do!

1) intruded
2) insurmountable
3) random

A friend once told me that sharing food is a very Asian practice. Although I am not sure of the accuracy of her statement, practices we observe like having the Chinese Reunion Dinner during on the Lunar New Year Eve do involve the siting down and sharing of food.

I like to share food. In our weight-conscious society, it makes perfect sense to share food since we get to share calories and the guilt of eating (too) much! That aside, sharing food bears a more poignant meaning to me. The common experience of sharing a favourite dish with friends is the the most heartwarming experience of life. I took this photo when the group of us met at Chijmes after a dreary Friday. All the chatter and banter literally came to a delicious end when we ordered a variety of dessert items to share. What a better way to signal the end of a tiring work week than to dig into green tea ice cream and chocolate cake, leave a mess and go home refreshed and ready for the weekend?

**
1) poignant
2) dreary
3) banter

It sure does not look like a financial crisis is plaguing the world along Oxford Circus, London during the pre-Christmas sale. Even along the comparatively upmarket streets, people seem to not only merely stroll along the neverending rows of shops. They actually buy items; lots of them in fact!


the arms of a shopper

Making use of the falling British Pound, Brother and I decided to buy Mum an advanced birthday present eight months early. In my school days, my friends and I used to buy those cute little stuffed toys, that colourful note pad or ornament as gifts for our friends. Although they may be impractical, what was important then was that it looked nice! I remember buying a lamp in the shape of a cow for a good male friend once because it was so Nowadays however, the first consideration when buying a gift would be this: practicality. Would my friend use the gift? This change in perspective could be caused by how I look at gifts nowadays. I love practical gifts! A gift I receive could be the plainest thing on earth, like the dull brown-covered notebook I really like from a certain shop. What is most important to me now is that I like it, and it will not be some white elephant lying in some obscure corner of my room.

**

1) plaguing
2) white elephant
3) obscure