Singapore River 1

Reflections by Ngiap Hui

I initially thought I had known Singapore rather well enough, especially her historical past, but realised I was rather wrong after having gone through this intensive and purposeful Heritage Trail. I did not know that the Singapore River was that long. I did not know the existence of the 6 bridges across the river and also the names they bore which some appeared so foreign to me during the trail (Read and Ord Bridge). It took our group about 5 hrs to complete our trail and surely it was one of the longest walks in my life, but quite fun and enriching given that knowledge and awareness were acquired along the journey (the time capsule and the locations of various interesting statues etc). I appreciate this arrangement for the groups to embark on this learning journey which was tailored but not imposing on the dimensions and possibilities for us to learn. Had it been a classroom-based lesson, I suppose many of us would have been bored to death or switched off before we could absorb everything.

Apart from some fun garnered from the trip, I was also inspired on the future possible History lesson I could conduct for my students. Although it won't be that easy to get them to embark on their own Heritage Trails, this idea is still a possibility requiring some arrangements though. The blogging idea is good also, given that students are given the freedom to present their findings anyway they like and could, and which is accessible to all. Surely not every knowledge could be acquired in the classroom. There are definitely some which may be learned more effectively if we were to bring them out of the 4 walls and boundary to explore the historical wealth that lays beyond.