Group 2's post

Tipping is a good way to reconise good service when you see it and feel it. Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) is keen to study the tipping culture over in the United States. Tipping is widely pactised in many countries but it is still new in Singapore. At Food for Thought, a two-year-old cafe in north bridge road. It is one of a small but growing eatery that has no service charge of the bill, in order to be competitive. Customers that take that for granted tend to tip pathetically for good service.

What do you think about the article? Do you believe that we should tip?
I think that we should tip for good service and be generous when tipping instead of being stingy. I feel that the customers that give pathetic tips are very selfish because I think that the waiters or waitress deserved those tips.
Yes I believe that we should tip but not occasionally as there are some waiters or waitresses giving bad services. We should give tips when they deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should 10% service charge be abolished?
It should be abolished if singaporeans is used to giving tips. If not i think that if the 10% service charge abolished is very unfair to the waiter or waitress.

You think that singapore can grow a culture of tipping?
Yes i think it is possible if some singaporeans take the initiative to tip and other singaporeans will follow.

Would you tip for service if there is no service charge?
Yes, if i think that the waiters or waitresses deserved it because some of them don't give us good service or even very baddddddddddddd service.

I think that we should tip accordingly to how good the service is!

1)Observe the waiter or waitresses.

2) See what service they give.

3)Think about how much they deserve.

4)Check if u have enough money.

5)See if they pay attention to your orders.

www.itipping.com/tip-guide-restaurant.htm

307 EL READING BLOG (GROUP 3) .

The Sentosa Integrated Resort:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Resort

The Straits Times
Sentosa IR hotels to open http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_474043.html
Jan 6, 2010

1)What is the Sentosa IR and what sections does it consists of (eg. hotels , themeparks . etc) ?.

The IR would consits of casinos as well as hotel facilities, restaurants, entertainment, shopping centers, retail outlets, restaurants, clubs and theatre in a 500 metre stretch.

2)What benefits is the Sentosa IR believed to be able to bring to SGP ?
The aim was to attract tourists to the country , create more jobs and bolster the Singapore economy

3)What problems have been associated with the LR and what actions has the government taken to combat these problems ?

Debates among singaporeeans on the decision made to open the sentosa IR due to religious and moral problems . People were concerned with illegal loaning and gambling addiction . To solve the problem , the government hired safeguards to restrict the admission of Singaporeans into casinos, implementing a system of exclusions and establishing a National Council on Gambling with the aim to help people cope with their gambling problems.

Do you think the Ir will bring more harm or good to Singapore ?

Our reponse : We think that Ir will truely boost Singapore's economy due to the arising of the travelling industry and Singaporeans' monetary affluent. However, it brings us down to the issue of integrity, honesty and moral. So it affects Singapore in both ways but it might cause more harm than good. We think that implimenting the system of Singaporeans paying entrance fee is good and effective.

Reading Assignment #4 (Group 2)

Read the newspaper article given to you in class about tipping good service.

Summarise the article in 5 sentences. Do not copy wording from the article. Use your own words.

Answer the following questions:
What do you think of the article? Do you believe that we should tip service staff?

Should the 10% service charge be abolished? Do you think that Singapore can grow a culture of tipping?

Would you tip for service if there was no service charge?

Lastly, search around for some advice on tipping. How much should we tip and what for?
Write a list of 10 pieces of advice for tipping. Write down the website or websites you have found.

Group 4's comments (:

What is the International Space Station (ISS) and which countries are involved? How is it being built?

The International Space Station (ISS) is an internationally developed research facility that is being assembled in low Earth orbit.

Sixteen countries from around the world are involved. The international partners includes, the United States, Russia, Canda, Japan, Brazil, European Space Agency (Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland)

The United States and Russia are leading the effort by launching the components into the orbit. The real builders are the astronauts and cosmonauts are the ones who risk their lives to complete the assembling of parts in space. After the new modules are docked with the space station, crew members then will perform dangerous space walks ont he exterior to connect wires, deply antennas, and complete other maintenance tasks.

I think that the astronauts and cosmonauts are very brave to be willing to go out into space to carry out such an important and dangerous operation in the space as one mistake could be deadly.

How will the ISS benefit humanity?

Some people feel that the ISS's tremendous budget has taken funds away from robotic exploration and other science. However, the ISS is a resource that will guide us on our future human endeavors in space.

It is more than just an obligation to finish and then be disregarded. The planning and funding for its future should encompass the maximum utilization of its fullest potential.

How will the new "Tranquility" node benefit the ISS and why is it important?

Tranquillity is the third and last of the station’s US nodes which contains an advanced life support system to recycle waste water for crew use as well as to generate oxygen for the crew to breathe. Not only that,

the node also provides four berthing locations for more attached pressurised modules or crew transportation vehicles, in addition to the permanent berthing location for the station's Cupola.

Do you think the ISS is significant? Explain your opinion.

I think ISS is significant. With the presence of a permanent crew, the spacecraft itself would be managed very well. With that, scientists on earth would have immediate access to the data collected. The ISS provides a place whereby spacecraft systems are able to be tested out when it needs to be used for missions where great time is being spent to the moon and mars respectively. This would provide a experience for future improvisations. The risks taken would be greatly reduced and the capabilities of planning better spacecraft would be advanced. This programme, allows 14 nations to live and work together so as to provide multi-national missions.

With the help of the improvised ISS, I think it is definitely significant. Without it, we would not know what really happen in the universe and how does the whole universe thing really work. Thanks to the help of the space crew, we are able to live a worry-free life, able to know such as when meteriods or asteriods would hit us. ISS has play a important part in our lives. Hence, we should cherish the advanced space technology we have, and not take it fr granted.

By : Hongying, LiangHao, Jeslyn and Jiawen :D

Reading Assignment #3 (Group 4)

The ISS has slowly been built over the years with the cooperation of a few countries. Read the article and watch the video of the

International Space Station (ISS) crew doing a third spacewalk

Do search the internet for further information about the ISS and answer the following questions.

What is the International Space Station (ISS) and which countries are involved? How is it being built?

How will the ISS benefit humanity?

How will the new "Tranquility" node benefit the ISS and why is it important?

Do you think the ISS is significant? Explain your opinion.

Your response can be in the form of text, a podcast or a video.

Reading Assignment #2 (Group 3)

The Sentosa Integrated Resort (IR) opened over the Chinese New Year and there have been a lot of articles online and in the Straits Times about it as it is a significant event for Singapore.

Read one online source (Eg. This can be from Channel News Asia Online, forums, Youtube, blogs etc) about the Sentosa IR opening and cite the source in your response by giving the link and headline for it.

Also, read one article from the Straits Times about the IR and cite the date, page and headline of the article in your response.

Then, answer the following questions:

What is the Sentosa IR and what sections does it consist off (Eg. hotels, theme parks etc.)?

What benefits is the Sentosa IR believed to be able to bring to Singapore?

What problems have been associated with the IR and what action has the government taken to combat these problems?

Do you think the Sentosa IR will bring more harm or more good to Singapore?

Your response can be in the form of text, video, or audio.

Group 1's comments. :D

What is Oxfam and what does it do?
It is an organisation that looks out for disasters. It has underground systems that try to look out for on-coming disasters.

What happened in Haiti and why is there so much news about it?
There was a major earthquake that buried thousands of people, and Haiti, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, is devastated for help.

How do you think Haiti's economic status and environment has contributed to the extent of the disaster?
Haiti is already a very poor country, thus it has not enough funds to rebuild its country again. Haiti is also a very hard country to get access to, therefore, providing relief to the country might be a little difficult.

Do you think we should be concerned about issues like this one, that are not local, and why?
Yes, we should as of the fact that people out there are suffering, we should play a part to help, local or not. Even a small bit of help makes a difference.

By Group 1 - Ilin, Brenda, Shirley Toh, Li Xin.

:D