Results from a survey conducted in Europe revealed that consumers are still very much reluctant to try and are wary of meat from cloned animals.

Europeans are generally opposed to meat from cloned animals, feeling not enough is known about the long-term effects of eating it, according to an EU survey published Thursday.

- Todayonline, 10 Oct 2008, http://www.todayonline.com/articles/280568.asp

While most think that it is justifiable to clone animals of endangered species, it takes a lot more for them to actually accept cloning as an alternative source of food production.

Personally, I think there is heightened consumer awareness in food safety, especially after the tainted milk scandal which was a rude awakening for people all around the world. It is true that there is much uncertainty in the safety of cloned or genetically modified food and food safety is one area that should not be compromised.

Labels: Food safety

by Ms Lim HM @ 2:12 PM - 0 comments





I had read an article in the local chinese newspaper, regarding the recent tainted milk issue, except that for the particular article, the focus was on taiwan and its parliamentary issues.

Apparently, the opposition party attempted to exploit the opportunity to sow discord.

As quoted from the Young PAP,

Allowed Level of Melamine
American dog food: 0 ppm
Chinese pig fodder: 2 ppm
Taiwanese human food: 2.5 ppm

Taiwanese opposition MP said Taiwan's health authority had treated the Taiwanese people worse than how American dogs and Chinese pigs were treated - 台湾人猪狗不如。

Interesting how the examples the opposition MP picked fit so snugly into the analogy.

However, the wonderful thing about us human beings is that we’ve got a much higher tolerance for contaminants as compared to smaller-sized animals. 0.5ppm is hardly going to be of much biological significance when consumed. Theoretically, the opposition's argument doesn't make any logical sense and it's no cause for alarm.

I guess it’s not surprising judging how this is coming from a country famed for its parliament fistfights.

Labels: Food safety

by Ms Lim HM @ 8:49 AM - 0 comments






by Ms Lim HM @ 7:01 PM - 0 comments







The experience of being a facilitator was pretty enjoyable (thank goodness their questions weren't too tough). My 'students' had attended FCS' Vday cookie-making workshop, so they were looking forward to the muffin workshop and really stood by to chope their places when the workshop was open for signups! We are really popular huh. They were very impressed with our spanking new equipment and utensils. Good investments indeed!

I probably won't touch a muffin/cupcake for the next... goodness knows how long.

Labels: Baking, Muffins, SLF

by Ms Lim HM @ 10:27 PM - 0 comments





There is another news worth to note from the Straits Time yesterday, 26 Aug 2008 - Public burst with green ideas

Sustainable Singapore

The whole idea about being sustainable is about fully utilizing our resources in the best and efficient way. Our ministry has put in tremendous effort to set up this website, about a month ago. It serves to gather all the minds of Singapore to brainstorm and feedback on ideas from various perspective like an individual Singapore to the government body. I think this campaign will definitely bring about great impacts to our lives.

(This chart is directly taken from this website)

1) Live and play - Lifestyle
2) Work - how business is run etc..
3) Commute - transport etc..

We have to take into consideration the people factor - the values and behaviour of our citizens. I feel that at the moment it is extremely crucial to create awareness because I feel that the people in our country are still not taking enough initatives and are quite inconsiderate. An example that I am sure most train riders will face almost everyday - people squeezing hard into the train when half of the passengers are still stuck in the cabin!

The next factor is the limitation of our current technology and resources. Ms Johannah Soo often mention about being sustainable. This word may seem vague but like the latter factor, we have to consider our inadequate land + resources. Our growth is mainly governed by talents and this means we have to be self-sufficient.

Creating awareness through education could be one of ways. Incorporation of NE and sustainability into our classroom lessons and hopefully our next generation will make a big leap. They will fight skyrocket inflation and greater challenges (Check out today's straits time here as well on food and transport). Perhaps at that time, who knows... the young and brillant ones might even contribute to our economy when everyone develop new innovative ways and sustainable technology for enterprise.

Getting greener.... Are we? It is not just about going solar and encouraging cycling blah blah blah... but it is certainly one wise step as a nation.

Labels: Environment, News, Singapore, Sustainability

by Pei Yun @ 8:03 PM - 0 comments





Most instance when anybody 'googles' or search for lesson plans and resources, the website that would be guided requires sign ups and payment. Thus, to add on to Huimin's post on website review 2 - Teachnology, I would also like to introduce this website for teaching money $$ management http://www.safehealthyschools.org/family_studies/D1BasicEconomics.htm

Labels: Budget, Consumer studies, Review, Teachers' Resource

by Pei Yun @ 4:39 PM - 0 comments





The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is a government body that "ensures a resilient supply of safe food, to safeguard the health of animals and plants and facilitate agri-trade for the well-being of the nation". In short, AVA helps to ensure the safety of the food we eat in singapore.

How the website is applicable to HE


The main AVA page serves as an update page for highlighting the most recent food-safety-related happenings in Singapore, as well as other parts of the world. Taking for example, an outbreak caused by contaminated deli meats in Canada earlier this month. The main page of AVA is updated at once with the warning message from the Canadian food authority and continues with the reassurance that Singapore is free from such imports at present. In a way, National Education can be promoted to the students with the aid of this website as this is a demonstration of national security and is in line with the following 2 NE messages:

• We must ourselves defend Singapore.
  We are proud to defend Singapore ourselves, no one else is responsible for our security and well-being.
  
  
• We have confidence in our future.
  United, determined and well-prepared, we have what it takes to build a bright future for ourselves, and to progress together as one nation.

AVA and Food Safety Education
There is a section in the AVA website that is dedicated to educating the public on the safety of food. The Food Safety Education page carries useful information on what food safety is all about, the factors that endangers the food we eat, as well as tips on how we can prevent the food contamination. Tips on how to ensure food safety in school are also available and this can be beneficial information for the students. The information is presented in a table format and reasons why these practices have to be carried out are listed alongside, so students viewing the website will have a clear idea of the impact of their daily hygiene habits on their well-beings.

AVA and Food Labelling requirements
Under the Food Labelling section of AVA, students can find out the mandatory features of food product labels, as well as the restrictions that are imposed on food labelling. The explanations are explicit and suitable for use together with the assigned HE text/workbooks as instructional materials. Students can then observe and understand the practicality and applicability of textbook information in real life and learn about the importance of it.

Personal comments
I like the clean interface of the AVA website, because it allows for easy reading, especially since it is loaded with information that are relevant to the topics covered in HE and F&N. This is also a good website that can be recommended to the students as it's a platform for them to see how food safety is correlated to national security and we can easily incorporate NE into the lessons!

Labels: AVA, NE messages, QCX521, Review

by Ms Lim HM @ 11:46 AM - 0 comments





Teachnology is an online teaching resource for teachers. One of the main focus of this website is that it endeavours to provide teachers with the option of incorporating technology in teaching and learning easily. As such, it provides professional development consultation services for schools with the intention of developing customised IT-integrated programmes, original software products for teachers to create instructional teaching materials as well as original publications by experienced educators for teachers.

At present, Teachnology is a web portal that offers a wide range of free resources and more (if one signs up for any of their membership programmes). Of the free resources available, lesson plans and worksheets are available for downloading and they can then be adapted or modified for use in the classroom.

On top of that, other useful functions include "Teaching Tips" and "Teacher Tools", the latter of which is extremely interesting and you can actually create endless possibilities with the tools. The Crossword Puzzle Maker, for instance, helps in the creation of crossword puzzles which can then be used as a classroom activity in the reinforcement of the information learned under the topics in home economics. There is the Classroom Materials page as well, from which useful forms for administrative and instructional purposes can be created easily to save time. As we know, teaching often includes the administrative side of things and worksheets have to be crafted as well. If things like a Parent-Teacher-Meeting form or rubrics for a TLLM lesson can be created with the help of a webtool, it will save us a lot of time and effort which can then be better used on other areas of education.


Lesson plans, worksheets and such are categorised under the following subjects and themes. This makes it easier for one in carrying out a search for the relevant information. Besides the already-crafted resources, there are also message boards in place for teachers from all around the world to exchange ideas and interact with each other, adding on to the functionality of Teachnology.

All in all, Teachnology is an extremely useful teaching resource for us educators as it can help us to generate more ideas for use in the classroom!

Labels: QCX521, Review, Teachers' Resource

by Ms Lim HM @ 1:17 PM - 0 comments





1. Sewing At About

Sewing At About falls under one of the many subsidiary sites at About.comthat cater to a wide range of interests and hobbies, such as gardening, travel, electronics and so on. With the slogan "Guidance, Not Guesswork", you definitely need little help in guessing the purpose it serves.

At Sewing@About, it's all about sewing!

The resident guide is Debbie Colgrove who has won awards in many sewing competitions and has more than 30 years of experience in sewing. She has had 2 publications on sewing and believes in the use of visual cues to help beginners in the learning of sewing. Naturally, you can expect an extremely guided and comprehensive learning journey over at Sewing@About if you are interested in picking it up as a hobby.

How it is applicable to HE lessons

As our students are namely noobs when it comes to sewing, they will need to learn and understand the basics before they can even start on any sewing project. Over at the LearnToSew page, it is divided into 4 main categories - Sewing Terms, Basic Sewing Techniques, Sewing Machine Techniques and Beginner Projects & Patterns. Each section is then further broken down into sub topics and comes with illustrated diagrams such that the student will find the information easier to digest. Sewing@About can serve as a useful revision site for students whereby they can refresh their memory on the sewing relevant information and at the same time, pick up extra knowledge on topics that are not covered in class.

For sewing lessons in class, the activities often include sewing projects in which the student may be required to brainstorm on little items that they can construct. The teacher can also gather ideas on what is appropriate to be taught in class for sewing projects. As such, Sewing@About offers some simple projects which come with step-by-step guided instructions. Of these sewing projects, a number of them e.g. hair scrunchies, tote bag, pillow covers, are things that the students may be interested in making. At the Project Index, the projects are classified under different skill levels, which makes it easier for the students to sieve out projects that are suitable for themselves.

Is that all to Sewing@About? Of course not!

Sewing basics form just one of the many subtopics at Sewing@About. On the main page, one can find hyperlinks to other areas such as Home Decorating, Sewing Fabric, Costumes, so on and so forth. Under Holidays And Occasions, especially, the students are likely to be very interested in the different valentine's day projects that are available. Information on the applicability of various fabrics and the comparisons between each are also given. Thus, if a student is required to work on a fabric-related project for lower sec coursework (for example), this website can be a good guide for them at the research stage. A simple ICT/TLLM lesson can be constructed and students can explore the various avenues in sewing.

Besides, Debbie Colgrove blogs regularly at Sewing@About where she will post her most recent seasonal sewing projects and ideas, so it is interesting to take a look at how one can constantly come up with new ideas on what can be done. Readers can exchange ideas with Debbie by leaving comments in her blog. A sewing forum is also in place, so students can make use of this platform to inquire more about the topics or clarify their doubts with the sewing experts out there, outside of the classroom. Sewing enthusiasts from all around the world will upload their completed projects from time to time and most of them are very functional items. Therefore, students can get a good insight on how textiles and sewing is relevant in our daily lives.

(picture credits: sewing at about)

Labels: QCX521, Review

by Ms Lim HM @ 7:27 AM - 0 comments





Online shopping is a growing trend among many, however there are still many people like me who prefer the traditional methods of shopping which is to visit shops and make payments on the spot:). I am the type that would prefer to feel the texture of the clothing, try out the size, look at the colors and of course being able to ask refunds and exchanges by just returning to the shop!

I am sure that many other 'traditionalists' would still prefer to visit shops. I have gone through some sites exploring the possibilities of online shopping and tried out this particular clothing shop called 'Boden' -UK. Before I started looking through this portal, I set some standards which I have gathered from previous experiences.
Image taken from http://www.boden.co.uk/

A brief introduction to boden, they started in 1991 in menswear and slowly ventured into womenwear and childrenwear. Their first website was for the UK in 1999 and subsequently websites for USA and Germany were launched. And today, there are two store outlets in UK.

Delivery / Shipping cost

Labels: Boden, Online-shopping, Review

by Pei Yun @ 11:50 PM - 0 comments

Jacqueline
Peiyun
Huimin

• Miss Chin
  
• Wendy Liyun Joanna Madeline
  
• Clarissa Kamisah Salwa
  
• Nufail Nuradila Fadzila
  
• Janet Michel Louisa Lydia
  
• Shuli Yili Germaine Felicia
  

• Health Promotion Board (SG)
  
• Ministry of Education
  
• The Straits Times : Mind Your Body
  
• All Recipes
  
• Epicurious (recipes)
  
• SustainAbility
  
• MOE National Education
  
• Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore
  

August 2008 September 2008 October 2008

Images: GettyImages