Verging All Teens JRL Singapore

Being the time of the year whereby students study for their exams, it was not surprising to see students gathered in every nook and corner of the library. However, there are still a few who are keen to take their minds off the stressful textbooks and find relief with other type of books. Thus, this special pseudo bookclub was held in the VAT room, a cosy and comfortable room located on the 4th floor of the library.

To whet the youth’s interest in this month’s theme, the facilitator, Karen, played several brainstorming games with the youths. The games session was one that killed two birds with one stone. Firstly, it managed to break the ice amongst the youths who did not know each other, creating a less tense atmosphere. Secondly, it allowed room for creativity and vivacious interaction. Chattering away in excitement, the youths had a short reading session with a special selection of books related to September 11. This was followed by an enlightening discussion session whereby the teens gave their two cents’ worth regarding the disaster.

“A lot of lives were lost. Many heroes also died, including firemen who went into the twin towers to save lives… It was indeed something very sad,” Mewleng, a secondary 1 student from a local school contributed, while Engjue and Isabelle, 2 other students, nodded their heads in agreement. “It was a clash of ideology…”

The discussion then led to the recent IMF in Singapore, and the youths definitely had a lot to share regarding this particular event. “This event has caused quite a lot of inconvenience to the locals… However it would probably increase the number of visitors to the country, bringing in much-needed revenue,” Elizabeth, a student from an international school said matter-of-factly.

In the cosy teens room...(itz not always a all girls event...oops sorry Kaiwen forgot that we've got you there too...haa...)

Karen then proceeded to introduce the September 11 project to the youths. This particular project was spearheaded by the National Library in conjunction with the International Literacy Day Campaign. In this competition, youths are encouraged to express their views about the September 11 disaster through poems, podcasts, audio and visual works. To encourage the submission of works, participants are given trendy wristbands with each piece of work sent in.

The youths then started on their mini project, penning down their thoughts on paper using drawings and poems. Some others decided to make use of multimedia to express their feelings, and set out to create powerpoint slides for submission. Despite it being a short amount of time spent on this project, it was indeed a learning experience for each and every participant.

At the end of the session, the participants were given cute wristbands compliments of the library. Eunice, one of the participants, exclaimed as she left the VAT room,“I look forward to more pseudo bookclub events held here at the library! It's just so fun and interesting!”

Video of the event! http://youtube.com/watch?v=SN3npIpdQC0

For more works for the September 11 project, go to....
youth.sg & www.theseptemberproject.org

May Fashion kickstarted with a cool hip hop dance item by 3 of our hippy volunteers. Following that was a fashion show which showed different genres of fashion such as retro, executive, punk, safari and hip hop.

 

We shared a powerpoint showing the process of making fashion shows. After which, Hakim, a Jurong Regional Library librarian, shared with us the icons, influence, significance of fashion etc. Participants voiced out their opinions about fashion, who influenced the way the dress, discussed in details why so and its effects.

Pseudo book club's april session was held on 15th april at V.A.T and it was pretty much a smashing success. More than 20 avid bookreaders turned up and joined in our lively discussions yay! This month's theme was on books that were made into movies so there were titles such as The Secret Garden , Catch Me If You Can , Howl's Moving Castle and of course, the ever popular Harry Potter.

 

The first activity was one which we had to guess the movie title from the screenshots provided. haha it was really nerve-wrecking trying to figure out all the movie titles and being the first to do so ! everyone simply had a great time during the first part of the session.

We read an excerpt of The Secret Garden afterwards, which was essentially a pretty nice read for a rainy afternoon. Our participants engaged in lively banter about the topics brought up in the text. No one was left out and we all took turns presenting our points.

We watched a short clip of the movie afterwards in a new perspective, literally. We had to view it from the ceiling haha. It was pretty refreshing to see the book come to life and be presented in a much livelier format. Everyone tried their hands at creating their secret garden prior to the screening and they were really really creative hahas.

Hardly anyone left empty handed and it was agreed that we had loadsa fun =D .

~ We are closing down the showteens blog. So here are the archival files ~

Since American Idol, the whole world seems to light up the 'Who wants to be famous next' signal attracting humongous crowds towards a share of spotlights and cameras. Singapore soon buy in the program and started Singapore Idol and I guess it was the response they got that make our national tele start the whole Super race.

Super Star, Campus Super Star ... and SUPER BAND!

Well, initially I was quite skeptical about all these contests until I caught a few episodes of Campus super star and I start to show respect to these fellow singaporeans. They are really something lah, especially when you realise that they actually care about what the judges say and put in the effort to make the relevant changes in their next performance.

Happen to watch selected ads of SUPER BAND, I got soooooo captivated and interested by some of them especially the a capella and dance groups. I decided to follow the progress and the first event I attended was the BIG JAM PROGRAMME at Suntec's fountain.

The judges emphasized on team spirit, stage presence and of course their singing.

From the night, I realised the importance of 'image' - costumes, hair etc. Yes, that's the superficial level but really! At least that's how you grab the attention and leave the impression. It's very important; how you dress. Stylo, sexy, loud, funny....as long as you leave the impression, you are half way through earning for the 30% (audience to vote) and attained one of the goals for joining the contest - publicity (public awareness).

Anyway, the event will be screened on 9th April and for those who are supporting, f.y.i. voting ends on 10th April. ok, enjoy yourselves and rock!!!

To Look Out for:
* Super effort to be saluted: Malay A Capella group who sang CHINESE SONG!
* Monster Inc. Randall (the lizard monster) look-alike *hiak hiak*
* Powerful group of only 2 voices ~ woo...
* The few SUPER BAND that brought up the atmosphere...

Foodies had their tastebuds well tantalised through food games, recipe sharing and picnic by the funky patio.

Teen foodies' views of a good food book:

Is :
. Colourful
. Well illustrated ~ mouth watering pictures
. Easy to understand
. Easy to cook
. Caters to an international audience (provides universal standard units of measurement)
. Concise
. Tried and tested to be yuMmALiCiOuS

Is NOT :
~x~ Wordy
~x~ Difficult to understand
~x~ Difficult to cook
~x~ Colourless
~x~ Gruesome

TRIED and TESTED yuMmALiCiOuS salad recipe ripped off our Pseudo recipe book - for teens, by teens of course *hiak hiak* ~

Celery 1 stalk (washed, sliced and diced)
Canned Pineapples 150g approx 4 rings(diced)
Pineapple syrup 3 tbsp
Tuna Flakes 1 can
Sunflower seeds 100g
Mayonnaise 2 tbsp
Lemon juice to taste

Steps:
1. Mix all ingredients in a salad bowl.
2. Serves 6 - 8 (Appetizer)

Pseudo bookclub
.. a fun activity-based book sharing session held every 3rd saturday of the month at jurong regional library, singapore - for teens, by teens of course

.. a place where books you've made up can come alive and become part of a virtual bookclub! ebooks, audiobooks, slampoetry, blogspeak...you name it.

If you know a book that should be in the library but isn't, submit it and we'll post it on this site with credit given to you!

Verging All Teens (V.A.T.) is a space for teens, by teens at Jurong Regional Library, Singapore, with a vision to create a dynamic environment where teens are inspired to live their dreams, express themselves and explore opportunities.