Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Racial Harmony Day Celebration
Topic: Chinese Dialects
Hokkien, Cantonese and Hainanese are several Chinese dialects that can be found here, in Singapore. However, it is obvious that they are not the only ones present in the world. In countries like China, I am sure that there are thousands of Chinese dialects, originating from many Chinese villages and cities.
Today, we have gone through a dialects course. In our experience, we have learnt about several Hainanese phrases (translated from the Chinese language) and have listened to several songs and watched some videos on Hainanese songs. Also, the teacher has shared with us a famous recipe of the Hainanese culture - the Hainanese Chicken Rice. She explained to us the various ingredients we had to use to make the Chicken Rice and the various secrets behind producing a good smell and taste.
I feel that this experience is unique for us as it makes me understandmore about the various Chinese dialects. I am not just limited to using mandarin as a second language (mother tongue) as I can also learn to use these dialects more often. In my free time, I hope that I can serve the net to know more about the various Chinese Dialects and hopefully attend courses to enhance my skills. I feel that Chinese dialects play an important role in our Chinese history as it is what sets us apart from each other. In my primary school, we hardly had many of these racial harmony day activities, other than an assmebly presentation lined up for us along with a performance of singing and dancing.
During next year's racial harmony day, I hope that the school can implement new activities that can allow us to bond more with people of other races, such as bazaars with stalls selling the various foods of the different cultures and maybe even people dressed in traditional costumes sharing about their culture and practises.
Overall, I am quite satisfied with the activity lined up for us today as it is a meaningful experience for me. I can see that the techer has put in a lot of effort in preparing this activity for us. I would like to thank the teachers, students and administrators who were in charge of ensuring this became a success.
Gabriel Tan Zhilong
Class 2B
Tanjong Katong Secondary School