the his3site

 

 

 Group photo just before ROC trip

 

 

Around 1985... 

 

 

Sponsored by COLGATE 

 

Christmas at Orchard Road

Wishing one and all a great 2008. 2008 started out with a big bang for me - I had a reunion dinner tonight with 5 classmates from the Montfort Class of 1978!!! That's a good 30 years ago. Met Vincent Lee, Francis Tng, Patrick Chew, Michael Koh and Francis Tan. Wish there were more to join in. 3 decades!!!! Just flew by like it was 3 years ago. 30 years ago we were concerned about hairstyle; today we're happy if our hair stop dropping or turning white :( How time has changed our priorities and outlook in life. Looking forward to a second gathering - hopefully not 30 years later.

I have started registering a company in Singapore which will be used as an investment vehicle to start my school in HCMC. I know it will be a long hard road for me but like I always say, "Don't try, won't know". This time round, I am thankful that I have my wife and children behind me, and that makes a whole world of difference.

1 Dec 2007

I'm starting a "twips" in Jan 08 aka teeny weeny international primary school. Will be moving to HCMC in Jan 08 to start the application process for a school. Wish me luck and pray for me. Will keep you updated of the progress.

For those travelling to HCMC and are concerned about safety, have a look at this 2007 report on safety in HCMC.

1 Sep 2007

I've started a wiki to share EL papers among schools to prepare our kids for the GCE 'O' levels. So far, the response has been overwhelming and we have more than 40 schools on board. Pse email me if you are a teacher and interested to join us. There's also a Humanities sharing wiki - email me too if you're interested. The wiki icon on the right links to my personal EL wiki. My e-mail is bennett2006@gmail.com.

1 Jun 2007

I've been back to Singapore since end Apr 07. I'll start work officially with CHR on the 1st day of Term 3 - 25 Jun 07. It's good to be home, as in my own home, and also home at CHR - first and only school that I've been with all my teaching life, which isn't that long anyway. Right now, I'm doing some projects for my Principal and will be taking a short trip to HK for a break in mid-Jun 07.

23 Apr 2007

It is time for me to go home soon. I will be completing my one year stay at SIS in HCMC. I leave with so many mixed feelings. I'm returning home for family reasons - I've found out the hard way that it is difficult to leave the family behind while I venture into a strange new land. From the bottom of my heart, I thank my wife Joyce for holding the fort while I'm away. It's been a long and difficult year for her and it's only right that I return home (that's a nice word!) to be by her side. At the same time, it breaks my heart to leave my 91 kids, 12 teachers, 7 staff and so many Vietnamese friends. For some strange reason which I am grateful and yet sad for, we have developed a strong bond in so short a time and knowing that I may not see many of them again makes it very painful to say good-bye. Where is the "good" in good-bye and the "well" in farewell? I wonder very much. To all who have been a part of my one-year stay in HCMC, thank you for making it so memorable.

My IVC friends brought me to Binh Quoi 1(a very nice and peaceful park) and we had dinner at Quan Tu Tri, a local Vietnamese restaurant. For a sumptous dinner for 6 adults with the waters of Saigon River lapping at your side, I think you'll agree that the bill of 290,000VND (S$29) is a steal.

Although I spent Chinese New Year in Singapore (HOME!), I did spend some time wandering around town before Tet and have posted some pix here. The place around my villa was dead - no food, no drinks, no shops opened. Had to go to Pham Ngu Lau (backpackers area) for meals. We celebrated Tet and Valentine's Day together at my school. Fun!
Yesterday (8 Mar 07) was International Women's Day - bet you didn't know that - and it's celebrated here quite big time. Lots of peddlars selling flowers (as if it's Valentine's Day) and my female teachers had bouquets of flowers from parents. A nice gesture I must say.

Had dinner last week with some of my local staff to send off Kenneth, who's on work attachment from NAP. The menu was quite interesting as you can see ....

Saving the best menu for last.

Told you they love dressing kids up...

Pity this Asian Santa isn't on his bike...
Zhang Ziyi's little sister?

Christmas light-up

Streets are jammed with bikes

I like their balloons

Baby is fascinated too...

Mui Ne. Mui Ne (something like Cherating Beach in Pahang) has a lovely beach that strectches for miles. We joined a local tour to visit the White Sand Dunes, Red Canyon (close to public now) and the Mui Ne Fishing Village. There are two places with sand dunes - the Red Sand Dunes and the White Sand Dunes. Skip the Red - you see nothing but footprints. Was lucky to be brought to the White (it's much further but the trip is worth it.)- you see natural patterns drawn by the wind. Spent a night at Mui Ne and it was another long 5-hour trip back to Saigon. (2.00pm to 7.00pm). Take note that if you stay away from "town", your place will be quite dead after 7pm; the only action would be in some pubs and perhaps local restaurants, if you're lucky enough to find one. We were lucky to find a local seafood restaurant near Sinh Cafe's hotel. Managed to get a decent meal after some pointing here and there. It's not so bad if you can ride a bike and move up and down the 20+ km stretch of road.

Long Hai. The staff of KKPS HCMC had a short but fun stay at Long Hai beach in Vung Tau in Nov 06. A nice beach there but not up to Mui Ne's standard. Here, have a look...

Finally it's me back again. Lost my password to my cpanel while in VN and didn't update this site for a few months. Also very busy with school work. Those of you who are familiar with running a school will know that big school, small school...same, same ... same work has to be done with the exception of the size of the student population.

SIS-HCMC has just completed Term 1 of the new Acad Yr 2006/7. Just had our International Day celebration before the end of term.It's sing-song time (karaoke!!) after the celebrations for my SIS staff. Was really nice to have KW-SCC teachers to join us...these are teachers from one of the other kindergartens.

I'll try as quickly as possible to just upload everyone's favourite PPTs so that you can be up and running with your lessons. Again, I appeal to every visitor to play your part and contribute whatever resources you have so that we can benefit from each other.

entre vous et moi : Vietnam here I come ...

That's French for "between you and me" I think, and the news is that I've left MOE to move up to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to take over the Singapore International School [SIS - that's the pix on the right] as the principal wef 3 May 06. It's not that I'm unhappy with school or MOE ... rather, this was an opportunity too good to be missed, and I'm sure you agree. SIS is a small school with 4 classes at the moment, mainly prep and lower primary. We'll be shifting into a brand new school by mid-2007 latest [see the pix below].
Right now I'm looking for retired and ex-teachers who are adventurous enough to try out a one-year teaching contract in Vietnam. You'll be teaching kiddos like those below. We've 3 schools in HCMC, 4 schools in Hanoi, 1 in Danang and 1 in Hue. All these VN schools are managed by KinderWorld Kindergarten and Primary School. Our intention in SIS is to promote the Singapore curriculum in Vietnam - so we need more Singapore teachers. In fact, we are one of only 2 education companies to be awarded the license by SEAB to conduct iPSLE.

For those who are interested in Learning Management Systems, check out MOODLE

For those who need help in sorting out computer problems, check out Cyberwalker. This site helped me to resolve my problem of clearing all the passwords that are auto-saved in my notebook. Good site.

Want to know which web-hosting sites are reliable and which are not, go to VistaInter.com.

How to do almost anything? You want to know - go to eHow.com.