NTU Course Review: LMS Year 3 Semester 1

NTU Course Review
Nanyang Technological University
LMS Year 3 Student (Semester 1, Y2018)
Linguistics & Multilingual Studies GER-PE Courses: Language Change, Intercultural Communications, Making of a Civilization

Other Courses: Cultural Intelligence: How to be an Explorer of the World 

Language Change
Course name: Language Change
Course Code: HG3021
Assessment: 
      ·         Two Written Tests           -              (25% & 25%)

·         Group Presentation        -              (15%)

·         Class Participation            -              (5%)

·         One Final Essay                 -              (30%)

Course Review:
Language Change is sort of like a continuation of Francesco (Jr)’s Level 2 courses; Etymology and Cryptology. For the uninitiated, fret not, because Francesco will spend some time to go through some of the Level 2 material so that the students are able to think through the lenses of Historical Linguistics (A very important perspective for Linguists, I am sure!).

Reading-wise, it is not too heavy probably about 1-2 research papers per week. Expect to learn more about Historical Linguistics, with more examples than what is found in the Level 2 courses. By the end of the course, you should be well versed with how the Italian town of Borgomale got its name or how the legend of Lamoling gave rise to placenames in the island of Alor. Do take note of the examples the professor went through in class as you can use them as essay examples during the 2 quizzes you have to take. Also, the Final Essay is very important as it could very well be the differentiator between your classmates and you, so spend some ample time to write the essay.

Intercultural Comms
Course name: Intercultural Communication
Course Code: HG2021
Assessment:

·         Two Essays         -                              (30% & 30%)

·         Group Presentation        -              (30%)

·         Class participation            -              (10%)

Course Review:
This was quite an interesting course for me, in particular because I have a growing interest in Intercultural Communication ever since returning from Summer exchange in Russia where I had many interactions with people from all around the world, giving me a new lease of curiosity regarding intercultural communication. That said, this course was loaded with knowledge, especially from a Linguistics perspective, on this subject.

A good thing about this course is the rather interactive way of learning. Stephanie, who is well-travelled, would fill her lessons up with her interesting life stories on intercultural communication and her wisdom regarding the subject. Sometimes, they even go beyond the reading material and I had a fascinating time trying to peer into the lenses of my prof. The lessons are also punctuated with discussion time regarding our own opinion or experiences on the subject matter, thus it was really quite fun. To do well, you do have to put great effort in your essays and be punctual in your submission. Also, try to work well with your group members and put up a good presentation as for this sem, other groups were really great. In addition to just a presentation, the group will also have to come up with a one page write-up on their presentation.

Making of a Civilization
Course name: The Making of Civilizations
Course Code: HH1007
Assessment:

·         2 Group Presentations (+ Class Participation)       -              (15%)

·         1 Archaeological Dig                                                        -              (5%)

·         Two Book Reviews                                                          -              (30%)

·         One Final Exam                                                                 -              (50%)

Course Review:
To be honest, this was a really really interesting module to take. And I even got to take it as a Linguistics Ger-Pe (Which has its Pros and Cons. Pros: Clear LMS Ger-Pe. Cons: You can’t SU). As you can see from the Assessments, there are a lot of things to do, and they all constitute small percentages. In fact, there was supposed to have been 3 Group Presentations before time stopped such lofty targets.

Nevertheless, for someone interested in knowing what a Historian or Archaeologist actually does or how history is recreated, this is the module to take. Each lecture is loaded with history and for someone like me who is very interested in History, I find every lecture very interesting. The Archaeological Dig was the icing on the cake, you get to go to Fort Canning Hill to a real excavation site and try your hands at excavating the site. Prof Goh will explain all you need to know about excavating, including the site’s history and how artifacts can tell us about history. Some students even found artifacts from the 1400s during our time excavating. That said, the Final Exam carries the most percentage in the course. It will make or break your result, so do study hard for it and listen to all the clues on how to answer them by the prof weeks before the exam. It will help.

Arabic Level 1
Course name:    Arabic Level 1
Course Code:     LA9001
Assessment:

·         Two Tests

·         Oral Presentation

·         Oral

·         Class Participation

Course Review:
I love learning new languages. I started off with Russian and over the years, have gained at least minimal speaking fluency. I went on to start learning Spanish and now Arabic. To the non-Muslim students, I have to warn that you will be at a huge disadvantage in Arabic Lvl 1. Almost everyone else already know how to read the Arabic alphabets prior to this class so you will have to do extra work to keep up. That said, the prof understands this and the module is really quite manageable in the end as the level is quite basic and the pace not fast. I have an exchange friend from Korea who did quite well. You will not be able to speak Arabic yet by the end of the course, but perhaps it is a starting point to learn the language.

As with good language classes, there is a lot of hands-on/ practical sessions so expect to move around class quite often. In the end, assessment-wise, I am actually quite disappointed with my end result especially because I had scored almost full marks for all my tests. Nevertheless, I understand the high bell curve for this class, so if you want to score well, my advise is to really not take this course. :x

Cultural Intelligence: How to be an Explorer of the World
Course name: Cultural Intelligence: How to be an Explorer of the World
Course Code: BU8641
Assessment:

·         Two Written Tests                           -              (20%)

·         Facebook Posts                                 -              (10%)

·         1 CQ Journals, 1 Final Reflection -              (10%, 20%, 10%)

·         Group Project                                    -              (30%)

Course Review:
I would say HANDS-DOWN, this is the best course NTU students should take. It is perhaps the chilliest (In the sense it is not all memorising, books & tests), most practical and useful course one can ever take in NTU. The course essentially aims to teach one how to interact and communicate with people outside of their culture. As mentioned before, I had an interest in intercultural communication and while my other course was, I felt, more theoretical, this course was 100% practical.

1/3 of the class is allocated to exchange students and my group of 6 had 2 exchange students in them, an Indonesian and a Swiss. The class is mostly hands-on, in the sense that in the seminars, we learn the theories about practical Intercultural Communication (like legit the things that are useful to holistically develop one to be great intercultural communicators). But the things learnt was really to test it out when working with our intercultural friends when we work on our project as well as when we go out and bond with them. Also, did I say that 2 of the classes are GELs, Group Experiential Learning, where you and your group pick two dates to go out and just spend time with your groupmates. It sure was a really fun and useful module, one that increases my confidence when interacting with someone from a different culture.

This course review is my view and take on the modules I took up this Semester which I hope may be of use to you who may have plans to take up these modules. It is entirely subjective and the course structure itself may change over the next coming years or semester! Thanks for reading! Спасибо Болшое!

A Singaporean Road to World Cup Russia 2018 Part III

This article is about my journey and virgin experience of watching a World Cup in a foreign country. Helming from Singapore, this is how my experience went.

The atmosphere was deafening. The chatter of thousands could be heard resonating through the stadium ground and they were in all kinds of languages; Spanish, English, Russian and a plethora of unidentifiable languages. They were excited, jumpy and full of anticipation. Beers were passed, and hotdogs handed out. On the pitch, when the two large Panama and England flags unfurled and the players emerged from their dressing room, the roar raised a few decibels.

I, too, couldn't stay down in my seat. In my mind was, THIS IS THE WORLD CUP. I excitedly chatted up with the woman sitting next to me, a Russian as it turns out, from Nizhny Novgorod itself, the place where I was watching the World Cup live. Russians turned out in droves, partly due to the cheaper tickets but to also revel in the football. I knew several Russians who do not watch football on any other day, but during the World Cup season, everyone does.

When the national anthems of the countries played the respective fans sang to their hearts. In particular, due to the numerical superiority of the Panama fans, I could feel the plastic seats resonate when the Panama national anthem played out; a reflection of the pride of the people of Panama whose country have long been unrepresented in the World Cup. The end of the national anthem was accompanied with more clapping and cheering and the occasional sounds of plastic horns.

Kick Off

And before long, the players went to their respective positions in anticipation of kick off. The countdown commenced with the crowd shouting with the stadium announcer; 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... PEEEEP!

The cheer rang out and reactively I let out a primal shout and started clapping wildly. The emotions were running wild. Everyone was expressing their feelings on the match as blatantly as possible; when a foul was committed, the crowd whined, murmured and some booed. When a player was clearly adjudged to be feigning a foul, the crowd murmured. I too couldn't help but talked, sometimes to myself, "That's not a foul. Come on!" and other times to the people seated around me. The crowd, it turns out, is really impartial. Everyone was in the spirit of the game in essence. And the players duly delivered.

The score line is as it has been immortalised; 6 - 1 but it was no means a one-sided defeatist style of play from Panama. The Panama players attacked from the get-go with enthusiasm and gusto. They had their chances with their quick lightning counter attacks but at the end of the day, England's quality and excellent football tactics gave them a deserving win. At half-time, it was 5 - 0. 
After each England goal, the iconic "Football's Coming Home" song by The Three Lions played across the stadium. There was only two England fans near my seats, and they celebrated wildly after each goal, pumping their beers in the air, spilling them and hugging each other. Then they would jump around and sing to the iconic lyrics. In truth, England had a decent shot at World Cup glory in Russia in 2018, as they had a decent team and formation under Gareth Southgate plus a lot of the major contenders were eliminated early on. But, as it turns out, they were outplayed in the Semi Finals.

Half time came and a large proportions of the stadium visitors went to get a refill of their beers or buy a hotdog snack. I went out to the toilet but I also got myself an ice lemon tea and a hotdog from the counter, setting myself back by 400 roubles (about SGD$9). Buying myself a set enabled me to take home a limited edition World Cup drink cup. There were three different kinds though for different kinds of drinks; a non-alcoholic, a Budweiser and a Russian branded beer. By the end of my World Cup stay, I had collected to of them. After getting my due refreshments, a must after such an exhilarating match, I went back to my seat to enjoy the music and crowd in the stadium at halftime.

The Panama fans did not get disheartened after each goal was scored against them. They still cheered on every counter attack and possession their team had with enthusiasm and their team's perseverance and attacking philosophy prevailed in the end with the team scoring a solitary goal towards the end. That resulted in the stadium erupting. Even the England fans were congratulating the Panama fans. It turned out that it was the first Panama goal in the World Cup! History was in the making!

End

At the end, the people left the stadium with almost the same enthusiasm as when they had arrived, having seen a breathtaking and memorable match. The same official entertainers entertained; the drummers, the cheerleaders and the volunteers. I strolled past them, took photos when I had the opportunity and just soaked into the atmosphere. As I walked with the crowd, a portion of them sang out in chants and cheers. A popular one was "Ros-si-a! Ros-si-a!" After meandering with the crowd, we made our way to where Ayub was waiting,  at the place where he had dropped us off. He had watched the match on his phone (phone data being cheap here in Russia) and with large help from a translating app, we talked about it as we drove the long journey back to Moscow.