iPads in Singapore classrooms

One of my first stories in Reuters was about iPads being used in Singapore classrooms. I followed a TV crew to Nanyang Girls' High back in January. Both the text and video is published around the world. You can view the video here, done by fellow Reuters journalist Christophe Van Der Perre for Reuters TV.

It is also aired on NTDTV and shown on youtube:

Here is the story I wrote:

Apple's iPad enters Singapore classrooms

By Xue Jianyue

SINGAPORE | Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:53am EST

(Reuters Life!) - If Oprah can do it, so can schools in Singapore.

Two schools in the wealthy city-state have begun handing out Apple iPads to students, relieving them of the need to carry satchels full of bulging text books and notes.

Nanyang Girls High School has spent S$135,000 (about $100,000) to buy 150 iPads for 140 students and 10 teachers in a pilot project. Users connect to the Internet using the tablet, and download books and course material.

They can take notes on the iPad, and use worksheets.

"It's much more convenient," said 14-year-old Chloe Chen, sitting in a classroom with her iPad in front of her. "Teachers can just tell us to go a website, and we can immediately go and do our work.

Last year billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey gave staff at her magazine an iPad and a check for $10,000 each.

Seah Hui Yong, dean of curriculum at Nanyang Girls school, said the iPad was chosen because it complemented a new method of teaching under which students are given more freedom to learn themselves, instead of relying solely on the teacher in traditional classrooms.

"It's not so much about the iPad," she said, adding that if some other better device comes along, the school could switch.

"If you talk to the girls you will realize that they practically don't need training. I think if anything, the joke is the teachers are probably taking a little bit longer time in getting used to it.

Safeguards are being put in place as well.

"There will be some concerns - making sure that the girls are going to appropriate websites, also making sure that the girls don't get addicted to the device and use it too much," said Physics and Information Technology teacher Mark Shone.

Nanyang Girls is a secondary school, which means the youngest students are 12. Other schools in Singapore using the tablet include Tampines Secondary School and teachers at Nanhua Primary School. A fourth, Dunman Secondary School, will use iPads in project work in the future, a teacher said

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

My Wavehouse story on Spectrum TV

Together with my project mate Jeremy Oh, I made a TV news clip about the Wavehouse Sentosa in Singapore. It is put to air on the campus TV station, Spectrum TV, for its 6th and last episode of the semester. My story can be found from 7.10 - 10.30 in the episode.

Nanyang Spectrum Season 5 Episode 6 from ntuspectrumtv on Vimeo.

It was an enjoyable experience at the Wavehouse as I got to talk to the manager, the competitors representing Singapore and gain an insight into how the artificial waves are produced. It was my best TV news story for the COM229 Broadcast Journalism class and I'm proud to present it here. 

Live Tonight!

I was part of a team of 9 journalism students who produced this 15-minute newscast, Live Tonight, as part of the final project for COM 229 Broadcast Journalism class at NTU. Our newcast theme explores the growing live entertainment industry in Singapore. Enjoy!

We took about 1.5 months to plan, shoot, edit and upload the final product into Youtube. It was quite a challenge because members of the team had difficult timetables,abilities and priorities in schoolwork. But we succeeded in the end.

NIE director's race

I was sent to this assignment for Nanyang Chronicle just before recess week. It was the NIE Director's Race on the 60th anniversary of the teaching institution. I camped for pretty long at the start point, before taking a quick shot when the horn blew. It was a split second moment because the runners set out so fast. But I guess I got a picture worthy for publication:

Memories of USA

I miss the USA pretty much. The 5 months I spent there was unforgettable, travelling to many cities and meeting many people. It was definitely an eye-opener for someone aspiring to be a foreign correspondent. Here are some previously unpublished photographs I took during the first half of 2010. Enjoy.

A little child looks back at me while on the Chinatown bus. The bus is the cheapest mode of inter-city transport in the USA and I use it extensively while at the east coast.

Missouri was freezing when I arrived there. The land was covered in snow. This is a photograph taken outside Hawthorn Hall. The lights are beautiful because they come from the floodlights at a football field nearby.

Hollywood drama. I took this photograph at the Universal Studios in Los Angeles. They were demonstrating to me how some action shots are taken. 

The bean at Chicago. I like this picture because it reminded me that USA is a kind of parallel universe. Many things are similar, and yet some other stuff are just so different. 

A couple at the benches in MIT. At these Ivy League universities, groundbreaking research is done and changing the world we live in. 

Degree-holding Iraqi refugees start from zero

By Xue Jianyue
May 8, 2010


Iraqi refugee Kamal Mohammedali delivers the Columbia Daily Tribune to them stand in the middle of the night, earning a meagre living in comparison to his days as a civil engineer in Iraq.

Just as most Americans in Missouri are preparing for bed, Mr Kamal Mohammedali, a 51-year-old Iraqi refugee from Baghdad, heads to work at midnight, delivering the Columbia Daily Tribune to the newsstands across Columbia.

Even before the sun rises, Mohammedali starts his second job at 4 a.m., doing maintenance at public schools here.

Both Mohammedali and his wife, 49-year-old Bushra Faris, are overeducated for the jobs they currently hold - Muhammadali holds a degree in civil engineering and had helped the Iraqi government construct dams for many years. Faris holds a doctorate in Obstetrics and Gynaecology but works as a medical interpreter in Columbia.

"Our degree certificates are not recognized in America," he said. "We are expected to start from zero."

Head kick!

I was an official photographer for the Singapore Taekwando Federation during the National Taekwando Championships for the first half of September. The action took place at Yishun Sports Hall and I saw it as an opportunity to practice.

Samuel Lee from NTU receives a kick in the head from his rival at the Taekwando finals. Despite his efforts, he eventually lost 11-22.