Fort Canning Park Revited 再游福康宁山

My last visit to Fort Canning Park was on 19 Sept 2010 and it was an event organised by LAS
http://dexterine.blogspot.com/2010/09/just-went-for-guided-walk-of-fort.html

This time my friend, May Lang, made an arrangement with National Park and invited me to join the morning guided tour which started at 9 am today.

I was surprised to meet Ms Lee Wei Ling, the former guide at the meeting point.  As other tour members did not show up, the walking tour was conducted exclusively for both of us.

With the lively introduction of Wei Ling, and my links with her from the last visit, we have a very informal tour of the park and took a lot of photos along the way!

Here is the write up May Lang did in Chinese:

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值得再游的新加坡福康宁山
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/yongyala/article?mid=435&l=d&fid=16

福康宁山是新加坡的历史宝山，这里每逢周六都有义务导游为游人免费讲解，我们通过电邮预约，29/7/11星期四早晨9点在讲解员的带领下，上了一堂宝贵的历史课。沿着花草吐露芳香的山径漫步，我们找回失去的童真，拍了许多充满喜悦心情的照片。初次认识这里曾经拥有或尚存的护城河、温泉、灯塔、炮枪、炮台、城堡、香料园、蓄水池、墓地、考古坑等，我们的心顿时亮了起来！

    

    福康宁山由于位置险要，早在英国人登陆前这里就是兵家必争之地。从福康宁山顶远眺，新加坡河口、红白相间的救火局；白色纯净的百年教堂以及傍山而立的国家博物馆等狮城重要的历史地标，尽收眼帘。山顶花园登山梯阶处，有数块砂岩壁雕，展现殖民地之前的新加坡一路走来的艰辛历程和曾经的繁华；王宫的宏伟和市井小民的挣扎求存形成了强烈的对比。 

在这里，不费分文便可以尽情地享受天地的宁静；走近孕育我们成长的历史。有时间真的要常邀家人和更多好友一起徜徉在这一片由古木参天的树林所环抱的天地。

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First Trip To Singapore City in 1953

First Trip To Singapore City in 1953
By James Seah
http://blogtoexpress.blogspot.com/2011/07/first-trip-to-singapore-city-in-1953.html

I just read the above post and find it interesting. 

I was not born yet in 1953.  Nevertheless, Singapore did not change much in the 50's and 60's.

During my childhood time in the 60's, I walked to school.  Hence I hardly had any trip by car or by bus.

As I also had motion sickness, car or bus ride was something like a nightmare for me.  I will avoid it if I could!

I really cannot recall my first trip to town or anywhere in Singapore by car or by bus!  How forgetful I am... maybe that is my nature!

Here is what I responded to the post which I like to share here:

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Hi James,

Enjoy reading this post.

I think at my childhood time, anywhere we cannot walk to was considered far!

Distance have a different meaning since we measured by how far we can walk!

If our family members need to take bus to reach a place, I usually will not follow my family members as I have motion sickness!

Occasionally, we may take taxi and that was a big event, like "Ching Meng" as the tomb was at a far away location and no bus will drove us up near the hill.

If were are in the taxi, I could only have a great time going out with family members if the driver drove slowly and my motion sickness never gave me and others any trouble.

I remembered taking taxi was rather rare as most of the time, it was "Ba Wan Che" (illegal Private Car converted to take passengers) that help us to save cost in travelling. I think it was still in operation in the early 70s.

Any way, car ride at that time was a luxurious treat! If we could, outing in the evening after dinner in somebody's car, would make us feel really joyful.

Air-con is not on most of the time and we like the breeze of cold air caressing us. Hence, window seats if our first choice!

Most of us call the outing "Je Hong". It means let the wind be our evening treats as we are just going no where and doing nothing in particular when we take the ride.

At that time, we were joyful to be offered a place in a car full of kids and adults. One car can take up to 8 passengers and we do not need to put on safety belt as no car had it anyway!

The place that I remembered as a must for "Je Hong" is the Merdeka Bridge where we can see the two big stone lions! Unfortunately, camera is something we cannot afford then and I have no photos for most of the outings!

Dexterine
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WSQ/LAS Level 2 Support General Reference Course

As one of the trainers for "Support General Reference" course, I think it would help answering some enquiries on the course by providing the following details:

Library Association of Singapore (LAS) fifth run of the WSQ/LAS Level 2 training for Support General Reference is schedule on 2 – 3 August 2011.

This 2 day course will be held at NTU@One North, a short walk from Bouna Vista MRT Station.

The 2 day programmes fee is $330, registration will close with maximum of 17 registrants.
If your library is sending support staff for training, please register at:

https://wis.ntu.edu.sg/pls/webexe/REGISTER_NTU.REGISTER?EVENT_ID=OA11063015413271

For more details, visit:

http://www.las.org.sg/wp/blog/2011/07/04/wsqlas-level-2-training-support-general-reference/

LAS WSQ Level 2 training for library support staff

Being one of the 10 ACTA certified trainers and assessors, I am being asked by many friends and library counterparts on the details of the courses run under LAS/WSQ Level 2 training for Library Support Staff. Here is some information I extracted from LAS web page http://www.las.org.sg/wp/training-development/for-support-staff/:

Brief Information

"Since the closure of paraprofessional courses at Temasek Poly some years ago there has been no formal avenue for skills development and recognition for support staff in Singapore libraries. More and more support staff undertake responsibilities which are crucial to library operations and yet have few opportunities in relation to external training."

"LAS has, over the past few years, participated in the development of Library and Information Industry competency standards as part of the mapping of Singapore creative industries under the Workplace Skills Qualification (WSQ) initiatives of the Workforce Development Authority (WDA). LAS applied for, and has been granted the status of Approved Training Organisation (ATO). Last year a group of LAS members also undertook to complete the WDA approved Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA), which is a pre-requisite for all those who wish to develop, train or assess in programmes operating within the WSQ framework."

The five Level 2 WSQ courses are:

Support General Reference and Information Enquiry

Support Collection Maintenance

Acquisitions and Serials Work

Provide Loans and Membership Services

Support Bibliographic Control

They will usually be delivered each month at NTU@One North or NLBA training facilities at Toa Payoh by ACTA recognized trainers.

Here is the schedule for 2011 Aug - Dec (please visit LAS website to get updated version if you are enrolling for the course):

August 2 - 3
Support General Reference

September 6 - 7
Support Collection Maintenance

October 4 - 5
Support Acquisitions and Serials

November 1 - 3
Support bibliographic Control

December 13 -14
Provide Loans and Membership

"Anyone who has been assessed as competent and received Statements of Attainment issued by WDA and LAS for all five programmes will be eligible to receive a WDA Higher Certificate in Library and Information Services. LAS hopes to “graduate” the first participants with the Higher Certificate just after the end of March 2011."

"To date the courses have only been advertised to LAS member but will be given a wider advertisement over time. The Training and Development Committee wishes to thank the developers, trainers and assessors and those who have contributed administrative support for getting the programme established.

The future plans for LAS are to continue and improve the Level 2 programmes so that, no matter where library support staff are, there are on-going opportunities to learn, share and enjoy entry level programmes such as these."

"Another group is working on developing Level 3 standards with the intention that the supervisor level of support staff may also, in due course, have access to recognised training."

Watch the LAS website events announcements for details.

For more details, please contact:

las.tnd@gmail.com


Source of information:

http://www.las.org.sg/wp/training-development/for-support-staff/

http://www.las.org.sg/2011ScheduleWithCosts.xls

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling Around the World and Its Relevance in Singapore and Asia (report by Angeline Koh, keynote speaker at June 2011 International Digital Storytelling Festival, Wales)

Angeline Koh, Digital Storytelling Asia, a Singapore-based social enterprise share her passion on digital storytelling with 20+ participants this evening at NLB.

Date: 5 July 2011
Time: 7 pm – 8.30pm
Venue: visitor’s Briefing Room, Level 1, National Library Building

If you like to hear her on the similar subject, you may attend the sharing session on 6 Sep 2011 or 8 Nov 2011.

"What is digital storytelling?
Digital Storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. It weaves traditional oral storytelling with a spectrum of media like photos, graphics, music, and author's voice to tell your personal, family, community, and ministry stories."

I enjoyed the evening as Angeline is very enthusiastic and passionate about creating storytelling movements and empowering ordinary people to tell their stories.

Here is what we view in the video this evening:

“The sharing of stories at the digital storytelling workshops give me rare opportunities to cross race, language, and religious boundaries. We connect with each other as one human being to another. We talk about our mums, our dads, siblings, work, struggles, our likes our dislikes, our concerns, our dreams…Cultural boundaries fade…I can see digital storytelling filling up a lot of our social gaps,” said Digital Storytelling Asia (DSA) founder Angeline Koh at her keynote speech at the 6th Digital Storytelling Festival (ds6) in Wales."

Angeline talked about “Digital Storytelling in Multicultural Singapore”. She presented the huge potential of the use of digital stories in Singapore with its technological advancement and critical need of discovering, preserving, and sharing the stories of its people.

I see the potential of digital storytelling and I am sure she will make the movement a new trend in Singapore and the region.

Source of information: http://digitalstorytellingasia.com/

If you miss the talk and like to get helpful techincal hints on digital story telling, visit:
http://digitalstorytellingasia.com/resources/

For those who like to learn how to use movie maker and start their first trial on digital story telling, I would recommend:

Movie Maker Video Editing Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXK68NS7gU
 
I think if you have two computers or a computer with two screens, you can view the tutorial and do the task step-by-step. It will be more effective than view it first and doing it later approach!  With that, you will turn this youtube tutorial, your digital tutor!

After you master the technical part, you will start to explore more on storytelling which is the core of your pursue in digital story telling!

Cheers!

Dexterine Ho