30 May 2010: Coming Home

A gentle reminder to all parents:

Our teachers and pupils are scheduled to return to Singapore on board
SQ833 (16:35/21:50) from Shanghai. Kindly check the flight schedule with Changi Airport 1-2 hours before their arrival in order to find out the landing Terminal.

29 May 2010: Visit to the Shanghai World Expo

The highlight today is our visit to the ongoing Shanghai World Expo. We had the opportunity to visit the Iran Pavillion. As usual, we took a lot of photos of the buildings around us.

In Shanghai: Updated Room Nos.

Dear Parents,

Our pupils and teachers arrived in Shanghai as scheduled and the
updated room nos are as follow:

Group A1: Rm 712
Group A2: Rm 719
Group A3: Rm 720, but Lavinia in Rm 706
Group A4: Rm 725
Group A5: Rm 728
Group B1: Rm 512
Group B2: Rm 519
Group B3: Rm 520
Group B4: Rm 521
Group B5: Rm 526
Group C1: Rm 527
Group C2: Rm 420
Group C3: Rm 426
Group C4: Rm 427
Group C5: Rm 428
Ms Teh: Rm 706
Mr Ken Lee: Rm 432
Mdm Rita and Mdm Teo: Rm 511
Mdm Rasidah: Rm 720

28 May 2010: Goodbye Hutai Foreign School!

Today is our last day studying at Hutai foreign School. We truly enjoyed our stay in the school. Not only did we learnt a lot from the teachers, we have also made many new friends. As a farewell treat to our friends, we decided to sing our favourite song "Home". Afterwich, we took some group photographs and then exchanged gifts with one another.

27 May 2010: Our Visit to Hanshan Temple

Today, we made a visit to the famous Hanshan Temple located on the outskirts of Suzhou, by a small canal and accessed via an old humpbacked bridge. Green foliage cascades down over the saffron walls. Its beautiful scenery has inspired many poets throughout history to write memorable poems. It fact, it owes its fame to the poem "Overnight Stay at Feng Qiao" by Zhang Ji, a Tang Dynasty poet.

We learnt that the temple has a history harking back to 1500 years. It was built by Han Shan, a Buddist poet. It was rebuilt about 200 years ago. Do you know that the temple was burnt down five times in the past?

We loved the scenery so much that we decided to take lots of photos.

26 May 2010: Cruise down Grand Canal & Visit to Silk Factory

Today, We took a boat ride down the Grand Canal. This canal was artificially created during ancient time. It starts from Hangzhou and ends at Beijing. We learn that during the olden days, a lot of people lived besides the canal and all of them used the water from the canal. However, nowadays only old folks are left behind, as the young people prefers to stay in apartments. One possible reason is because the houses near the canal are very small, about 15 to 30 meter square. In addition, the water in the canal smells foul in Summer.



Next, we visited the silk factory. After the briefing on the production of silk, we got to know how silk is being made. And we also know how to differentiate between the real and fake silk. Do you know that silk worms need 42 days to grow? By the way, we saw how they made silk quilts too!

25 May 2010: Visit Suzhou Industrial Park

Our pupils attended lessons at Hutai Foreign Language School. They enjoyed the lessons and are all very impressed by the learning attitude of the Chinese pupils. They are so eager to learn and are so well disciplined.


In the afternoon, we visited the Suzhou Singapore International School at the Suzhou Singapore Indutsrial Park. The school started on 1996 Sept 11 with only 22 pupils. Now they have 1200 pupils from 43 countries. The school has classes starting from nursery to grade 12. The facilities in the school are wonderful. Our pupils were really impressed!

Subseqently, Ms Teh, our Vice Principal, presented our pupil's art work to the Principal of Suzhou Singapore International School.

24 May 2010: Lessons in Hutai Foreign School

Today, we started our first school day at Hutai Foreign School. Everyone was excited about the new experience. We look forward to the lessons and our first lesson of the day was Mathematics.

Updated Hotel Rm Nos in Suzhou:

Dear parents

Please find the updated hotel rooms as follow:
Group A1: Rm 103
Group A2: Rm 104
Group A3: Rm 105, but Irrynna in Rm 122
Group A4: Rm 106
Group A5: Rm 107
Group B1: Rm 112
Group B2: Rm 113
Group B3: Rm 114
Group B4: Rm 115
Group B5: Rm 117
Group C1: Rm 118
Group C2: Natasha in Rm 120 and Lim Kai Ying in Rm 105
Group C3: Rm 123
Group C4: Rm 124
Group C5: Rm 125
Ms Teh: Rm 120
Mr Ken Lee: Rm 305
Mdm Rita and Mdm Teo: Rm 121
Mdm Rasidah: Rm 122

Birthday celebration in Suzhou

Hello everyone!We have arrived in Suzhou.

In the afternoon, we visited the "West Side Retreat & Reflection Garden".
This a historical place in Suzhou designated as a World Heritage Centre for Culture. All of us enjoyed the scenery in this private garden of the ancient people, especially the design.

By the way, today is Mdm Rita and Michelle Wei's birthday and we celebrated their birthday together. Look! they are blowing the candles on the cake together.

23 May 2010: Off to Shanghai & Suzhou

Wow! Lots of excitment at the airport today.
Our group is finally off to Shanghai & Suzhou.

We will keep everyone updated on our learning through this blog.

Hello Suzhou & Shanghai !

On 23 May 2010, our group consisting of 30 pupils and 5 teachers
will be leaving for a 8-Day Twinning Programme to Suzhou &
Shanghai. We are all very excited about the forthcoming trip
and are really looking forward to it.

The itinerary is as follows:
23/5 Sunday (Day 1)
5:30am Assemble at Changi Aiport T3 SQ group checkin counter (ROW 10)
for flight SQ828 (0805/1325) to Shanghai. Subsequently transfer to Suzhou.
On route, visit Tongli Ancient Water Tower.

24/5 Monday (Day 2)
Lessons at local primary school.
Visit Master-of-Nets Garden,
Ci Xiu Research Institute & Lanli Yuan.

25/5 Tuesday (Day 3)
Lessons at local primary school.
Cruise Grand Canal &
visit Silk Factory.

26/5 Wednesday (Day 4)
Lessons at local primary school.
Visit Suzhou Museum, Hanshan Temple
& Shiquan Street.

27/5 Thursday (Day 5)
Lessons at local primary school.
Visit Singapore Industrial Park,
Little Bird Nest, Harmony Times Sq.

28/5 Friday (Day 6)
Lessons at local primary school.
Proceed to Shanghai.
Visit Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

29/5 Saturday (Day 7)
Shanghai World Expo.

30/5 Sunday (Day 8)
Visit Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.
Proceed to airport, board SQ833(1635/2150) back to Singapore


Our staff accompanying the pupils are:
Miss Amanda Teh, Vice Principal
Mr Ken Lee, Overall Teacher-in-charge
Mdm Rashidah
Mdm Teo SH
Mdm Rita

Our pupils are:
Group A (Teacher-in-charge: Mdm Rasidah)
1 Foo Hsien Li & Teo Shen Anne
2 Zhao Feiyu & Jesslyn Tan Jie Lin
3 Lavinia Jade Tay & Irrynna Arianti Binte Ramlan
4 Kyra Joyce Yeo Junyi & Nur Nabilah Binte Abdul Salim
5 Er Ming Yong & Muhammad Zulhilmy Bin Ahmad


Group B (Teacher-in-charge: Mdm Teo SH)
1 Ooi Qiu Jia & Chng Jingyi
2 Wei Rui Ting Michelle & Jin Xinlin
3 Benjamin Yoap Rui Kai & Muhammad Nabil Bin Fataurahim
4 Lee Shi Jie & Farisah Binte Fadil
5 Matthias Lim Boon Han & Muhammad Danish Bin Shahul Hamid


Group C (Teacher-in-charge: Mdm Rita)
1 Low Jing Qi & Lim Xiao Zhen
2 Natasha Koh Bin Rou & Lim Kai Ying
3 Isabelle Tan Yu Zhen & Nur Atiqah Binti A Rahman
4 Ang Yu Ning & Nursyafiqah Binte Azan
5 Toh Xue Wang & Muhammad Amsyar Bin Ahmad