How will you react if you discover your partner is still in contact with an ex flame?

Do you think language is a barrier in a relationship?

Razor TV takes these issues and more faced by the characters of Six Lives to the streets. Check out these clips!

Do You Tell Your Partner Everything?

Would you date someone who doesn’t speak as well as you? Find out what people have to say about the role language plays in a relationship. Also, do girls generally speak better than men, and would a girl date a younger or less successful guy?




No Use Crying Over Split Milk

What’s the weirdest diet you’ve ever tried? And would you marry someone who has suddenly put on weight? Does beauty really lies in the eyes of the beholder? RazorTV hits the streets to poll Singaporeans on these irreverent, yet vital issues. Also in this clip, the meaning to a common English idiom explained.




Her Laughter Makes Me Smile

Find out how these people react to Boon Huat’s love poem to Hui Min!




Will You Fall For Someone Who’s Not Your Intellectual Equal?

What do Singaporeans think of long distance relationships? And what’s the secret to getting your parents to like your partner?




Is a Single 35-year-old Woman Past Her ‘Expiry Date’?

Have you been scoring brownie points with members of the opposite sex? And how important is a good command of English when going for an interview?




On communication:

‘Communication is subjective to the culture and environment it develops in. in a racial melting pot such as Singapore, where English is influenced by a conglomeration of other native languages such as Chinese, Malay, Tamil – much of spoken Singaporean English can be a “rojak” of these Asian (sic) languages.’

On pronunciation:

“There was on incident whereby I spoke to a taxi driver in a crisp English accent – not by deliberately putting on such an accent – but by actually abiding strictly to the phonetics of the English language. The poor bloke had a problem in understanding what I was trying to say.”

Well, to be realistic, our local taxi drivers probably aren’t quite used to hearing a request to drive to, oh let’s say the Marina Barrage, in an eloquent, carefully enunciated complete sentence.

It’s true we do need to articulate our words accurately but it’s good to sound natural as well. Adopting a foreign accent isn’t really much help if it makes it more difficult for others to understand us. Besides, we’re Singaporeans! We’re proud of it and I’m sure we can still get our message across and pronounce our words properly without sounding any less Singaporean! Our newscasters are rather good examples of this.

(By the way, I think its quite cheeky how benjaminchew110478 chose to refer to the taxi driver as “bloke”, which is actually a British slang for guy or man!)

In the end, it’s all about being understood…right?

After all those thoughts about communication and pronunciation, benjamin110478 wonders about the delicate balance of speaking accurately to a T, and speaking in a manner that will be best understood by the recipient even though it might not be in Standard English.

He writes:

“Anyway, should we be English purists and attempt to speak English in its purest, most pristine form and in so doing, risk sounding elitist? Or should we seek to communicate effectively, albeit allowing our standards of English to suit the person at the receiving end?”

He’s definitely got a point there. Hmm.

What do you think?

Last Thursday, The New Paper met up with 11 of the women from WISH (Women Learning English) for an interview session at the Queenstown Public Library. Joan (our very helpful PR representative) and Jeanine were there to get the scoop on these women who have a passion for learning English.

WISH? What’s that and what do they do?

Launched in 1989, Women Learning English, also known as WISH, aims to help women pick up basic language skills over a period of two years through weekly courses and fortnightly reading lessons. Run by the Society for Reading and Literacy (SRL), WISH is made up by volunteers who put in time, hard work and patience to teach women who were previously denied the opportunity to learn the English language.

Meet the students!

• Madam Tan Peck Hua, retired Chinese Teacher, aged 70.

In school, Madam Tan often remembers failing the subject of English. During her time, she recounts, people were generally uninterested in learning English, and she didn’t have the motivation to do so either. After retiring, Madam Tan found time on her hands and decided to take up the reading classes offered by WISH. Besides having Mrs Lau as a good and encouraging teacher, another plus point about WISH is the relaxing and less intimidating atmosphere of learning English as the other students share a similar non-English background like her.

• Madam Tee Poh Eng, cleaning lady and devoted grandma, aged 66.

Besides the English lessons in primary school and the set of $550 English cassette tapes she bought in 1979 (which she admits put her to sleep), Madam Tee had no other opportunity to learn or practice the language. After being introduced to WISH by her son, Madam Tee is making steady progress. Probably the best benefit about learning English is that Madam Tee can now communicate with her 4-year-old grandson. Through the shared language of English, they have grown closer. This newfound knowledge is also helping her at work where can now better communicate with her non-Chinese colleagues and understand simple questions.

• Madam Lim Bee Lay, Housewife and youngest student at WISH, in her 40s.

Previously working as a florist, Madam Lim handled many enquiries over the phone. While she could understand customers who spoke in simple English, Madam Tee always had to pass the phone to her boss when she came across more difficult words and complicated requests. Reflecting back on these times when she was unable to communicate with her customers, she feels sad. After joining WISH for two years, Madam Tee is now able to speak to her in-laws who speak English most of the time. Madam Tee also used to bring her daughter for the classes, something that has benefited both mother and daughter in learning English.

Meet the teacher!

• Mrs Lau, full-time housewife and dedicated teacher at WISH.

To Mrs Lau, there is no end to learning no matter how old one is. During the classes, Mrs Lau teaches the ladies basic conversational English that includes consonants and vowels. She also uses library resources and books related to each topic during her lessons. The popularity of Mrs Lau is evident as she shared that some of the ladies’ husbands are also eager to join her reading lessons, however she has to turn them away as the classes are strictly for ladies. What’s more, the 11 students who were there for the interview read out a prepared speech to Mrs Lau as a surprise halfway through the interview! “Mrs Lau has volunteered a lot of her time and effort to help us learn English. She is a good teacher. We would like to thank her. Thank you! Mrs Lau!”

Enthusiastically reciting their prepared and heartfelt thank you speech for Mrs Lau.

Mrs Lau (standing) making sure that her students receive all the guidance and encouragement they need to learn the basics of reading. Seated from left: Madam Tee Poh Eng, Madam Lim Bee Lay and Madam Tan Peck Hua.

Shree Ann Mathavan (left) from The New Paper interviewing the students of WISH.

Do you know of anyone who would benefit from the WISH programme? Contact WISH at 6455 1218 or email wish@srl.org.sg.

Here’s what he had to say:

Talking about what he read in the newspaper one Saturday,  B!gBEN reflected on the final year NUS chemical engineering student who was jailed and caned.

He also highlighted another article – “Keeping Singlish at Bay” by John Lui.

Similar to what G blogged about, B!gBEN agreed that “that sometimes when people strive to speak good English with good diction, they end up being deemed as preposterous, ridiculed and worse, ostracized.”

B!gBEN also talks about how it isn’t easy to enunciate words perfectly!

He writes “As for enunciation, it simply means you gotta [sic] start working that tongue and mouth the right way – when it’s time to TH, you TH; when it’s time to -ed a word, you jolly well -ed it. Of course, it’s truly not easy! Especially the TH – if you don’t do it correctly, it simply sounds crap and poser-rish [sic].”

As they say, practice makes perfect!

B!gBEN himself admits that his English isn’t perfect. He says, “Btw, I want to qualify that my ‘England is not as powderful’ as you think…DO NOT hesitate to correct yours truly when you hear me speaking wrongly.”

That’s the spirit B!gBEN! Sometimes, we don’t realise that we are not speaking properly until someone else tells us. Sounds a bit like Boon Huat, doesn’t it? Boon Huat has probably been speaking the way he does all his life and never really had anyone correct his English. And then one day, Hui Min came into the picture. As much as they are like chalk and cheese, Hui Min seems to be getting Boon Huat moving the right direction and of course, providing the much-needed motivation to improve his English! They say opposites attract, but it seems like there’s someone else vying for Boon Huat’s affections as well….

Find out what happens next on Six Lives!

So on a sweltering hot Tuesday afternoon, Jeanine and I (Aloy didn’t come along because it was “too hot”) dragged ourselves out of our comfortably cool air conditioned office and headed down to the Bedok North Bus Depot.

That’s ours! – no, not the dog.

Despite the heat, we made sure to check every side of the bus. ?We must have circled the bus at least 5 times over (we were that excited).

Left – Impress Inspire Intoxicate!

Right – Six Lives. One Language.

Front and back. Do you take the no. 12?

We were later met by Wendy and her colleague from the production department of Moove Media, the people behind the bus ads. And since we were waiting for our rep from the advertising agency to arrive, Wendy offered to take us on a mini-tour to see how these ads, which are actually very large pieces of stickers, get onto the buses.

After walking through an empty canteen and a narrow walkway, we came to the back area where all the maintenance work is carried out.

A bus waiting to be dressed and rolls of “stickers” waiting to be pasted onto the buses.

We entered the enclosed area and manoeuvred our way through the tools on the ground, old scraps of what looked like old ads and well-worn ladders on wheels, to get a close up view of the men at work.

They use a penknife to “burst the bubbles”…

…and then use hot air to soften the sticker and stretch it to make sure all the little cracks and crevices are covered.

All that tedious work got us wondering: have there been any mistakes putting up the bus ads?

Wendy told us that it has been good so far. It also helps that all the stickers are carefully and accurately labeled. She also explained that the correct terms for the left side of the bus is “near side” and the right, “far side”.

As of now, the bus ads have been approved and are already on the streets!

Remember to look out for our Six Lives buses and who knows, you might just be sitting in one on your way to school or work. (:

Eye-catching!

I need a new camera phone!

Some people have told me that the Six Lives ads are also at the bus stops at Youth Park, Marriot Hotel, and the hotel opposite Far East Plaza!

Has anyone seen the ads anywhere else? This is like a treasure hunt.

In a nutshell, this is what G said:

In the midst of blogging about her ‘A’ level examinations and wondering what to study in university, G recounted an unpleasant encounter where her French friend “seemed to be mocking Singaporeans because of our English” and made her feel very embarrassed!

G feels that she really wants to speak proper English more often, but “it feels weird to be the only one who’s speaking proper English and all the rest are not”. She also believes that to be understood by the uncles and aunties in shops, she needs to speak Singlish to them.

Have you had the same experiences as G?

If you’re feeling kind of left out like G is, don’t give up! Keep on trying your best to speak good English even when your friends are speaking Singlish. Who knows? You might just be a positive example and influence on them! You could also try speaking slowly to shopkeepers in clear and simple sentences. They might learn a phrase or two from you as well.

This reminds me of Hui Min and Boon Huat from Six Lives. Hui Min is the English graduate who speaks well and seems to be nitpicking on English mistakes made by others (though I’m sure she’s not doing it for the sake of being mean). And Boon Huat, on the other hand, is your typical ah beng who speaks Singlish and drives a WRX. However, he is slowly being inspired by Hui Min’s good command of the language and is taking steps on his own to improve!

Will Hui Min’s crush on Boon Huat develop further? Will Boon Huat finally muster up the courage to confess his feelings for Hui Min to her?  Follow the love story on Six Lives to find out!

Thanks EVERYONE for coming down. We hope all of you had a super time at our launch too! And we hope you all got your T-shirts customised and your caricatures drawn!

And of course we can’t forget everyone who helped to make the launch of both the Speak Good English Movement 2009 and Six Lives go so smoothly! Many hardworking people spent many, many days and nights to get Six Lives up and running. From what we know, countless nights (and showers) were sacrificed so that everyone out there could get to meet Hui Leng, John, Hui Min, Anna, Boon Huat, and Norman on Friday.

A stage and carnival stalls rose out from the ground, advertisements were conjured from thin air, episodes of the story appeared in bursts of smoke, and a whole new universe was pulled out of a hat right under our noses. I don’t know about everyone else, but it sure seems like magic to me.

But of course, as with all amazing magic, many toiling elves were working hard in the background out of sight. So, awesome teamwork everyone!

Now, on to Six Lives!

p.s. I’m kidding about the sacrificed showers. No, really.

We had an afternoon of fun-filled activities lined up for the launch, held at LASALLE College of the Arts. And we had our guests to bring their inspiring, impressive or intoxicating quotes along to the launch for the activities.

Guests were given t-shirts with an empty speech bubble on it and our illustrators were on hand to help guests write their inspiring, impressive, and intoxicating quotes in them.

We also passed out martini glasses with word magnets in them which guests used to form their own creative quotes on our whiteboards! Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean used the magnets to form the poignant line – “From what we remember of family and friends grow tiny, sweet, sad and tender memories”.

Guests also queued patiently to get their caricatures drawn by our three caricature artists. Some even had their caricatures drawn by all three!

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, our Guest-of-Honour, launched the Speak Good English Movement 2009 and Six Lives, a 12-episode online drama at
http://sixlives.sg. Guests had the chance to get a first look at the first episode on laptops after the launch.

This year, we are using familiar social media platforms such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook to bring you Six Lives, an online drama series that follows six very different friends as they plan for a wedding. Over the series, the six friends will uncover secrets about each other that will change their lives forever!

Six Lives will show the importance of communicating well and demonstrate how one can use language to impress, inspire and intoxicate through the familiar and sometimes humourous situations the six friends get themselves into.

Watch the Razor TV coverage of our launch:

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean launches the Speak Good English Movement 2009 and Six Lives!

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean speaks to the media.

Watch the rest of the Razor TV videos of our launch:

• Speak Good English Movement launches with a bang
• Excerpt of Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s speech
• Excerpt of Chairman, Mr Goh Eck Kheng’s speech