Reader's Response Draft 1

                 In a Euromonitor blog post entitled “Global Digital Divide Persists but Is Narrowing” (2011); it is asserted that the gap in internet accessibility between developed and developing countries is getting smaller. Even though consumers in developed countries have a greater access to internet connection than those in developing countries, the number of consumers with access to internet in the latter is increasing over the past few years. This blog post has also noted that internet usage and access have significant implications on the internet users.

            Firstly, I agree with the assertion made in the blog post that there are various positive impacts on the consumers such as social and economic due to increased internet accessibility as stated in the article “Email and Internet access, especially through social media, allows people to communicate in new ways” (Euromonitor International, 2011). This is particularly true in my case. Gone were the days where telephone was the only mode of communication, today with the invent of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp we are ever more connected.  I still remember back in my primary and secondary school days, project meeting hard to change as if we had to communicate with one another rather than communicate as group but today the situation is quite different as groups can be easily created on Whataspp and communication is made much easier across the group. Such inventions in social media have to be attributed to increased internet accessibility.

               Secondly, another point made in the article is that, the narrowing digital divide has “arguably add to a social and cultural globalization with consumers all over the world able to access a wider choice of things like music, entertainment, brands and products” (Euromonitor International, 2011). Again I find myself nodding to this statement as today almost everything is done online from signing up for credit cards to buying clothes. Five years ago , if you someone asked me, if I shopped online my answer will be a “no” as I preferred going down to the shops to get them , but today due to the very hectic lifestyles we are leading I prefer buying them online. Indeed I will agree that the narrowing digital divide has resulted in a “cultural and social globalization”.

               Lastly, the article mentions that “The availability of information on the Internet provides a major learning resource for consumers, both in terms of awareness of current affairs but also for training and remote learning. This could help reduce the divide in education and literacy levels between developed and developing regions as well as helping to narrow rural and urban divides” (Euromonitor International, 2011). I agree with the above claim as I believe there is vast amount of information available on the internet for us to use. With a click of a few buttons we can be connected to possibly any part of the world and be aware of what is happening there at any point. However, I do not agree fully with the claim made that, with vast amount of information available on the internet it increases consumer’s awareness to a point that it could help reduce the divide in education and literacy rates between developing and developed as not everyone can use what’s on the internet wisely or rather know how to use it to their advantage.

                In conclusion , some of the ideas brought out in the article, made me think further on how the narrowing global divide is of advantage to everyone living in both developed and developing countries but more so for those in developing countries.  However I feel that the benefits of narrowing global divide will vary across countries as it is dependent on each country’s own development.

Bibliography

Euromonitor International. (2011, February 11). Retrieved from http://blog.euromonitor.com/2011/02/global-digital-divide-persists-but-is-narrowing-1.html

           
 An event that shaped my life will be when I decided to join Student Council in my Junior College.  Previously though I had experienced being in various CCAs back in primary school and secondary school I thought I didn't have much opportunities to develop myself. As part of being a councillor I had to an opportunity to be the overall in charge for food during the orientation camp for incoming JC1 students.

                 When I was given the opportunity to lead a team of councillors to plan the meal plans for the 3D2N camp, it didn't seem so much of a daunting task until the actual day of the camp itself.  It was during the camp that I learnt the difference between being a leader and a follower. As a leader, I had to make sure all my members knew what was happening at every point of the camp in terms of the logistics and manpower.  Prior to the actual camp I had to meet my team several times a week to come up with proposals and alternative meals plans. And on one of the actual days of the camp, it was a very chaotic situation as food from a particular vendor didn't arrive on time as expected and campers were waiting for their meal.  It was that point when I was forced to work with what I had and solve the problem of  food shortage for approximately 500 campers.

                 Thus, I will say that joining student council impacted me as a person and it definitely  contributed in shaping the person I am today, as it was through such circumstances where I learnt to work with what I had and mostly importantly it helped to develop the “people skills “ in me.

Summary of the Facebook Article

According to Leake and Wareen (2009), according to the findings of the researchers analysing the impact of Facebook usage on student in the “Ohio report” showed that students who did not use Facebook fared better in exams than those who did. And the negative impact was evident in the student's  grade point average (GPA).

In a Euromonitor blog post entitled "Global Digital Divide Persists But Is Narrowing" (2011), it is asserted that Internet access and usage has significant implications on consumers. According to trade sources, developed economics continue to have a much higher rate of broadband penetration compared to developing regions. It concluded that the growth in the Internet market is dependent on business opportunities available to different countries.

                   Let me begin by giving a little introduction of myself. I came to Singapore at the age of 2 1/2 years. I remember clearly struggling my way through much of kindergarten and even primary school.  Back then, to me English was just another subject. I didn’t see the importance of English being an important tool of communication especially in a country like Singapore which is multi-racial; English is the only common language. Till about primary 3, I had difficulty forming proper sentences that were coherent. Then soon enough I realised that English was just not another subject but it was beautiful language that I had the opportunity to learn.

                            In secondary school my mediocre performance in English continued but by then I started to appreciate learning English. But I have to mention that the drilling in secondary school for English was pretty mundane with teachers constantly giving us weekly journals, countless grammar and vocabulary exercise. I should say that I didn’t exactly enjoy the way English was taught to me, as much emphasis was given to scoring well in the subject rather than learning and enjoying the subject. Especially in secondary 3 and 4, English periods were something I didn’t look forward to as teachers would come in give us compos, and drill us on countless comprehensions. Somehow I managed to slog my way through secondary school life and passed my O level English with a decent grade.

                                Finally, I reached my A levels where English was called general paper.  I was fortunate to have a non-local English teacher for the first time, who brought life into the very mundane lessons. We used to go to the school library during school time to read newspapers, which was a break during hectic JC life.  He used to teach English in a very different way in the sense that he didn’t emphasis so much on grades, rather on the various ways to learn the language. Sadly, though I passed GP, the grade was insufficient to be exempted from writing QET and thus I am here!

                                 But I do look forward to ES1102 lessons as I hope to learn as much as I can from this module! And being in FASS where I have to take some essay based modules I feel that the skills acquired will be applicable.

Pavithra 

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My English Language Learning Journey

                                Let me begin by giving a little introduction of myself. I came to Singapore at the age of 2 1/2 years. I remember clearly struggling my way through much of kindergarten and even primary school.  Back then, to me English was just another subject. I didn’t see the importance of English being an important tool of communication especially in a country like Singapore which is multi-racial; English is the only common language. Till about primary 3, I had difficulty forming proper sentences that was coherent. Then soon enough I realised that English was just not another subject but it was beautiful language that I had the opportunity to learn.

                            In secondary school my mediocre performance in English continued but by then I started to appreciate learning English. But I have to mention that the drilling in secondary school for English was pretty mundane with teachers constantly giving us weekly journals, countless grammar and vocabulary exercise. I should say that I didn’t exactly enjoy the way English was taught to me, as much emphasis was given to scoring well in the subject rather than learning and enjoying the subject. Especially in secondary 3 and 4, English periods was something I didn’t look forward to as teachers would come in give us compos, and drill us on countless comprehensions. Somehow I managed to slog my way through secondary school life and passed my O level English with a decent grade,  as by then English was given much importance , as one has to pass his or her O level English to move on to Junior college or local Polytechnic.

                                Finally I reached my A levels where English was called general paper.  I was fortunate to have a non-local English teacher for the first time, who brought life into the very mundane lessons. We used to go to the school library during school time to read newspapers, which was a break during hectic JC life.  He used to teach English in a very different way in the sense that he didn’t emphasis so much on grades, rather on the various ways to learn the language. Sadly though I passed GP, the grade was insufficient to be exempted from writing QET and thus I am here!

                                 But I do look forward to ES1102 lessons as I hope to learn as much as I can from this module! And being in FASS where I have to take some essay based modules I feel that the skills acquired especially the writing skills will be very much applicable.

Pavithra 

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