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I learned how to make games in scratch
The restrictions brought about by using block to make a program (made it challenging).
The limitations brought about by the blocks allowed me to learn creative ways to solve problem. In the future, I will be able to think out of the box when faced with problems.
It confirmed to me that I should learn a proper programming language one day.

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Making a Tamerlane Chess Set (Davis, 22MI02)

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Making a Tamerlane Chess Set (Davis, 22MI02)

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For my SIL, I decided to make a Tamerlane Chess set. It’s a chess variant played by Timur the conqueror. Essentially it’s Chess on a larger board(10x11 instead of 8x8) with more pieces, like siege towers and war elephants.

My design is flawed, as the pieces should not occupy most of the square’s space; the pieces can knock into each other and make the game messy. Tamerlane is an interesting variant, even though it’s chess it doesn’t feel like traditional chess. The variant is slower paced, and more objectives are needed. Additionally the army is much larger, so co-ordinating between the pieces and making combinations is very disorienting.

I think that my experience with making the board will now teach me to consider the size of the pieces. It also gives me a more in depth appreciation for Chess variants, as we can use the techniques and mindsets when we play other games.  For example, Tamerlane lacks traditional castling which will put the king is some danger. I then realised that we can actually use the theory behind some Shogi(Japanese Chess) Castles, which are formations of pieces to protect the king.

I thought that the game would be pretty fun, but the length and piece sizes have actually made the game frustrating and boring to play. I am still interested in the game, but I think that I will only play again when I get a pair of scissors and start trimming the edges of the pieces.

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1. I baked a 6-inch thin-crust pizza with mayonnaise tuna topping.

2. Initially my pizza turned out to be quite watery, but I got it rectified by not adding too much water when mixing the ingredients.

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1. Cats
2. Start simple, trust the process and take risks
3. 3D is difficult

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- i learnt one to two korean phrases everyday for the past week for my SIL which are common phrases and words that tourists use when they are in korea
- i think it is quite difficult to pronounce the words perfectly like how a native korean would
- i already knew how to say some of these phrases and words but i learnt new ones as well and how to write them out

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I have took up an “Intro to Forensic Science” on Coursera as part of SIL. What I have done for my SIL is reading up on the lecture materials and completing a short MCQ quiz after each tutorial.

Something that I had found interesting is the topic on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The result of PCR allows you to repeatedly duplicate the part of the DNA which you’re interested in. And those 25 to 35 cycles of PCR will give you about 1 million copies. This means that very, very small amounts can provide DNA that can be analysed.

Link: https://youtu.be/5zFAUbXsppc

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I have took up an “Intro to Forensic Science” on Coursera at the very start of the SIL. I have such interests in forensic science ever since I had submerged myself into different types of criminal cases over all years ranging to even cases back in BC. This interest had blossomed over the years and even deepened after meeting a fellow friend who studied this subject at NUS.

What I have done for my SIL is just quite simple, join the course, download the slides, watch the video of the professor explaining and write down notes etc.

I actually finished this course around semester 3. Decided that I should just review it again, and type out the transcript for easy reference.

What I find it interesting is that, how this science is able to make a dead person “speak” out their story, even after so many years. Understanding what they have been through and deduce what had really happened. In other words, speak for the dead and serve justice to the dead. In future, I think this knowledge would really comes in handy if I could really get into SPF CID. My knowledge of different cases would surely help too.

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During the SIL, I’ve get to learn how to do crocheting. Initially I wanted to make a tote bag, but halfway through it got too complicated for me so I decided to make a water bottle bag carrier which was much more easy to understand and to crochet. I even tried to mix around the different yarns to have a combo colour, which turns out alright I guess…

The most challenging part about crocheting is trying to read and decode the instructions on the different crocheting styles that I had to do. But, I did get some help by watching YouTube videos which is way better than having to learn it from stretch and trying to understand it from the website itself.

One interesting part was that I didn’t know we could mix different colour yarns to make the product more prettier with the different colour combos. I’ve seen in one of the instagram posts to get some inspiration which I realised they had used different yarns to make such a beautiful colour.

I think from what I have learned from crocheting is that we should not easily give up so easily when things get hard. This is because trying to learn how to crochet turns how to be quite challenging for me as a beginner as I need to learn how to do the different techniques of crocheting to get the pattern itself. Hence, in the future, if I encounter any difficulties or problems we just have to be more patient and preserve on to get over the hurdle.

From this SIL project, it helps me grow as a person to not be easily give up when a challenge is being thrown at you. At first, I thought crocheting would be easy because I observed that everyone has taken up this as a hobby however not everyone will face the same experience. Thus, it took me longer time to understand and also to complete my project.

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Punch Needle Embroidery (Insyiraah, 22MI08)

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Punch Needle Embroidery (Insyiraah, 22MI08)

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For my SIL I learnt how to do punch needle embroidery. During HBL days I would practice punch needle embroidering on a stater kit that I bought from shoppe. Some of the things needed for punch needle embroidery is a punch needle, thread, fabric  and a hoop. Initially, I thought punch needle embroidery would be easy however after trying it out I realised that there were many small details that I had to be careful of to ensure that I wouldn’t make any mistakes and my embroidery would turn out nice. Some of the things that I had to be careful of is the way I hold and move the punch needle. I also had to make sure that the gap between each punch were not too far apart.

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I been studying japanese for quite some time and did it as part of my SIL because I need to use it, in the future as well

I write on practice books aimed at local elementary children to work on recognition and replication of kanji/hanzi

From time to time, i refer to exam practices on books aimed at foreigners who take interest in taking jlpt examinations (language exam) which are somewhat a way for me to apply my knowledge and gauge my standard?

Apart from that, for vocabulary, I don’t really refer to any particular reference book and instead just prefer to search up words as and when I come across unfamiliar terms.

I also try out some translation practices whenever I have the time e.g commuting time

3)

the variations in the readings of characters are challenging but interesting enough for the learning process to be enjoyable.

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I started learning French despite knowing that it is one of the hardest language to learn as I wanted to challenge myself. I used the app "Duolingo" to help in my self-learning process. One thing I found interesting was that French is known as a romance language. Furthermore, while researching online, I found out that 29% of English vocabulary comes from French, such as "café", "restaurant" and "déjà vu". Learning French has made me appreciate their culture more and intrigued me to start picking up other languages too. Overall, I had fun communicating with my other friend who was learning french, where we tested each other to better improve ourselves.

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Despite what I had planned to do for SIL, I decided to involve myself in Muay Thai as a beginner. During the 3 lessons of Muay Thai, I have learnt how to perform basic punches(ect. uppercut and jab), Muay Thai Knee kicks, and Muay Thai Leg kicks.
However, I had to improve on my stamina through skip ropes for 15 minutes, which is required to kick with your legs and knees, and to punch. The most challenging part of the lessons was that it was difficult to consistently maintain your breathing while continuously skipping. While this "may" serve as a fundamental backbone for self-defense, it would be unrealistic as an application for self-defense during the 2 week period, until I attend more lessons in the future. Having experience the art of Muay Thai, I plan to incorporate the 3 week training with the self-defense training provided by the Kapap Academy at school (I think that's the name).
The link above has been provided as a reference for the basic actions as stated to bring a clearer interpretation as to what the Basics of Muay Thai have I learnt.

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It was about ten years ago when I first heard the words "Muay Thai Kickboxing" My kids had recently begun to take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes, and the UFC had gone mainstream just a few years prior. As I watched the kids take turns flipping each other onto the mat, I realized just how badly I needed to get into shape.

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Picture of me Bench Pressing on a Smith Machine.

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1. As part of the SIL, I decided to work on my Bench Press.  It may seem basic or something not exciting/just an exercise, but it is something that I can learn from which can be applicable in the real world.

2.
- Although it may just be an exercise, what I find challenging is beating my personal record. For instance, I hit 75kg today, upon looking through the videos recorded and the feeling while actually attempting it, I believe I could hit more. However, even though I gave my body a 2-day break to recover and rest, I attempted my own record again and able to hit it, but even adding a few kilograms, I still have trouble even pushing a quarter of a full rep.

- This goes to show that not everything is what it seems, it may look or feel easy, but when actually doing it, it is not. What you perceive may not be the reality.

-How can I apply this in the real world? to me, its discipline. Even before hitting 75kg, I hit 70kg about 2 weeks before, so throughout my SIL period, I actually work towards hitting more. I am able to apply this in the real world because it shows me the clear difference between expectations and the true reality. Even for me to push a few extra kilograms, it takes weeks and weeks of training to get stronger, this number will not go up if one does not remains disciplined enough to be consistent, perhaps, the number may even drop.

-Even something as simple as Bench Pressing can prove to you the power of being disciplined and that it is applicable in the real world, be it academically, in sports, or simply following a routine prior to a big event i.e exams, tournaments, etc etc

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- I learnt basic concepts of Psychology and how human brain works
☆Our brain’s storage capacity is considered virtually unlimited
☆The human brain can generate about 23 watts of power
☆Your brain isn't fully formed until age 25.

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93 day streak as of (17/8) & I have reached the Diamond league (highest league 😛)

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I took up the Korean language during HBL days. In order to learn and practice Korean, I used the Duolingo application.

I started practicing Korean daily as the application allows users to start a daily streak. Now, I have picked up some new Korean phrases like greetings.

Also, I took some time off to watch 'All of us are dead', a Korean horror drama.

As recommended by Ms Steph, I might continue to learn Korean and possibly pursue my career in Korea 🥺

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Cooking and Learning a new Language (Shivani, 20MI07)

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Cooking and Learning a new Language (Shivani, 20MI07)

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My SIL included cooking and learning a new language i guess. I learnt some of my mum's recipes. I have loved her cooking since young and have always wondered how she does it and learning to cook her way has enabled me to just appreciate her more and with time I can say I am doing it better. Learning a new language was fun because I couldn't understand shows I watched so I just learnt it online and now I can understand the language more and appreciate it. Its shown me that just because something seems hard I should not give up but rather I can adapt and find ways to learn it myself and be self directed. :)

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Volunteering at an Animal Shelter (Sui Heng, 20MI07)

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Volunteering at an Animal Shelter (Sui Heng, 20MI07)

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Was involved in the organising committee to set up a volunteer program for fellow students to contribute at a Animal Shelter. Took on the role of Publicity Leader to help raise awareness of the need for volunteers and provided details of volunteer trips to the shelter. Help raised awareness of pets up for adoption to encourage the public to stop buying from breeders. This role and being involved in such projects allows me to understand and appreciate the work that goes into operating a Non-profit organisation, whilst providing me opportunities to hone my public engagement skills for a cause I strongly belief in!

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Creating an online course for NCDCC (Aini, 20MI07)

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Creating an online course for NCDCC (Aini, 20MI07)

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- MY SIL: I did a lot of external activities with NCDCC, mainly in the planning and creation of online courses for the cadets and community regarding SGSecure and HAZMAT.
-I made use of online programming applications such as Articulate 360 to create an interactive course that can be used by everyone. At first, it was tough for me to navigate through the programme as I am not that proficient in programming and visual arts. But I persevered and ended up creating an online course that is now implemented as part of the NCDCC syllabus. The online course was also part of my NYAA GOLD Project Initiative:-)

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I have been taking weekly electric guitar lessons for my grading exams. From this, I am able to balance my studies and the things I love to do. In the future I hope to play well enough to perform with others in a band :)

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Umpiring, volunteering for animal shelter and for healthcare sector + elderly + child

For the volunteering I've learn about how difficult it can be for the elderly especially if they are living alone and it’s hard for them to be moving around and some single parent living with their child , I've learned more to empathise and understand people in different stages and situation of their lives.

For umpiring I'm not sure, I have to remember all the actions and did fitness test and make sure i am always alert to give a fair judgement.

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Volunteering in Healthcare Sector (Shafiqa, 20MI07)

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Volunteering in Healthcare Sector (Shafiqa, 20MI07)

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My SIL - i wanted to gain experience of working in a healthcare sector. So I’ve decided to volunteer in a hospital (Jurong Health campus) and i learnt how the heathcare workers prioritise their patients and how they are very focused and determined to do their best for their patients . It made me more motivated to work harder to achieve my dreams❤️

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My SIL was Anglophonia: an English Language clinic that provided various resources to improve the standard of English of A-Level students (both within and outside of MI).

Something I found challenging would be the consistency of posting materials, as it can be hard to keep track of the dates posted/ being riddled with other responsibilities.

The link to my SIL is t.me/anglophonia

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I have tried the free application of MovIT Film making to try various videography effects/ transitions/ styles/ timings and learnt how to take better photographs of nature and life. I went to visit the Dover Forest and took a lot of natural images of the rare species of insects and trees and learnt about the glow-in-the-dark mushrooms. I learnt to take photographs varying from diff angles, diff lighting/ poses/ etc and created a scrapbook for the hiking group.

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Basic First Aid Skills (Najmus  Sehar, 20MI03)

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Basic First Aid Skills (Najmus  Sehar, 20MI03)

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1.My sil project was to research and learn more about basic first aid skills and sign up for a basic FA course at my cc and get certified.
2. I found my sil meaningful as it is useful to know FA skills because I feel it will come in handy incase of an injury and I could help the people around me
Challenge - it was a difficult  process to get FA certified because it took me awhile to practice the skills and my instructors were very patient.
I didn't realise knowing how to do First aid is actually  very useful and I think FA skills must be incorporated into everyone's learning and I believe everyone should be FA certified so that we can help incase of an emergency especially these days when everything is so unpredictable.

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Podcast: Hello How R U (Ikhmal Haziq, 20MI02)

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Podcast: Hello How R U (Ikhmal Haziq, 20MI02)

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I created a podcast (https://anchor.fm/hellohowru) where I had conversations with friends on relatable everyday topic we go through as young adults.
I found out that it was not difficult to produce high quality podcasts - while the process is tedious at start, it is effectively like uploading a YouTube video.
I might apply what I have learnt by being more involved in conversations with various groups of people - from friends to politicians even.
This process helped me realised that I should focus more on the process rather than be dampened by results.

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"Hello there, how are you?" This casual podcast would like to offer you a platform where you state your mind and we can have a chat :)

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2)Exploration of various nature of canvas painting, trying out different methods and environment to paint.
3)Interesting point: I realise i prefer to stand rather than sit while painting.
Challenging: When the space is limited and i have to paint within a very tiny area, I would get rather distracted and annoyed when i that the paint lines get slightly wavy.
-This is a new hobby that i have started to pick up during the circuit breaker period and i have found it a very useful tool for me to release my tensions as well as a way for me to take time for a short break. Hence ,i will be continuing canvas painting in the future as part of interest and definitely an avenue for me to progressively learn how to better manage my emotions .
-Through the past 1 year of canvas painting, I have learnt to better see things from different perspectives in life and surprisingly it has also allowed me to be more open-minded than before.