Group+7

**Group 7**

Group Participants
 * Kwan Fook Seng
 * Dharma
 * Victor
 * Florence

**Original Lesson Title** - Construction of National identity


 * Original Lesson Description / Plan**

(15 min) Discussion of concept of state and nation through a review of 2 short extracts. Students to distinguish between the 2 concepts and list its separate characteristics and linking these to the concept of national identity.

(45 min) A)Follow Up Activity: Exploration of Identity Construction through powerpoint presentation. See []

Students to view the following websites on Singapore National identity for background ideas. See [] See Creating a Singapore Identity: []

B)Questions for discussion in groups: 1. Is national identity a social construction? 2. What role does the government play in the construction of national identity? 3. Whole roles do citizens themselves have in thei construction of national identity?

Lesson 2: Follow Up on lesson 1 Groups report on their responses. Analysis of 2 articles on National identity by Shirley Lim and Linda Lim

//__Extract A__// A state is not necessarily a nation. Harvard Professor Rupert Emerson, in his book, "From Empire to Nation", defined a nation as: "A single people, traditionally fixed on a well-defined territory, speaking preferably a language all of its own, possessing a distinctive culture, and shaped to a common mould by many genreations of shared historical experience." By this definition, Singapore is not a nation.

In Singapore, we have many pools of DNA. To build a nation out of these different pools is not easy. We can never remove totally the divide between the different races. The Chinese would not want to adopt Malay customs and culture nor do Malays and Indians want to be assimilated by the Chinese. The Eurasians too are happy to be what they are. But we can work to lower the divide. It is a long process. It may take us at least another one to two generations before we can confidently say that we have built a successful, multi-racial nation where the races will fight together to advance their collective as well as each other's interests. It boils down to trust - whether one race trusts another to protect its interests. We must try and build up this trust.

This cannot be done through nice-sounding slogans and motherhood statements. It will be forged only when we have gone through fire together, and have helped one another to survive. The older generation of Singaporeans have at least fought the communists together. They have also fought for Singapore's Independence. The bond between that generation of Singaporeans and their leaders is strong and unshakeable. That generation also feels an instinctive moral obligation to serve the country. But the younger generation of Singaporeans have had no experience of racial riots and external threats. Their lives have mostly been plain sailing. So their bonds to Singapore and their sense of service to the country are not as strong as the older genrestion's.

Nevertheless we must try and make Singapore work, and build a Singapore nation. This is a never-ending challenge. The task is not going to get easier. In fact, it is getting more complicated. To sustain our economy, we need to import foreign talent and offer some people permanent residence and citizenship. Our population will become more cosmopolitan. Newcomers every yeasr, have to be integrated into our society. We have to create in them the same strong sense of belonging to Singapore as the thorough-bred Singaporeans. Our task of nation building is enormous. But we must persevere. If we do, we will eventually become one family, one people, one nation.

In his book, "From Empire to Nation", Professor Emerson also qualifies a nation as"a community of people who feel that they belong together in the double sense that they share deeply significasnt elements of a common heritage and that they have a common destiny for the future". We can, over time, imbue in our diverse population a sense of community, trust in each other, a commitment to Singapore, and a passion to make it work. We can maximize the significant common elements of our different ancestral heritage as well as our common Singapore heritage, and together, build a nation where we will share a common destiny. We can create the Singapore tribe.


 * //Extracted from a speech by Goh Chok Tong in May 1999//**

//__Extract B__// To 'know thyself', as Socrates put it, is a fundamental human urge. Identity supplies a reassuring sense of coherence in our increasingly frenetic lives. From a socio-cultural perspective, it is a label which gives us a clear idea of where we belong, permitting us not only to recognise ourselves as part of a wider community but also appreciate differences in others. On a purely pragmatic level, it functions as a passport which permits social integration and a tool kit to facilitate the smooth conduct of our daily affairs. In a more profound sense, identity acts as a compass which not only directs us how to treat our fellow man, but also provides orientation in a dizzying world devoid of moral absolutes. Finally, on a philosophical level, identity acts as a kind of depth gauge, helping us to plumb our inner selves to discover who we are, endowing our lives with purpose and meaning. But in a rapidly globalising world, all those things that provided us with a sense of confidence in ourselves – nation states with distinct populations, well-established local communities, allegiance to history and tradition – are being challenged. All labels have become ambiguous and contentious. Think of the common label 'black'. It has no global connotation; there is no universal black identity. Being black in New York, is to be different from the whites, the Italians, the Irish, the Hispanics, while in Cape Town, it is to experience the frustration of being technically empowered and yet practically excluded from positions of power. It is not just our national and ethnic identities that are under question. What does it mean to be a 'mother' in a world where in-vitro fertilisation is becoming common? Or when surrogate motherhood is increasingly acceptable? What does it mean to be a 'wife' in a homosexual marriage? Or 'old', when you have rebuilt your 65-year-old body through plastic surgery and look like a young starlet? Identity, then, has become a perilous notion. It is multiple and ever-changing. And the most fundamental change is this: all those other categories through which we in the West defined and measured ourselves – the 'evil Orientals', the 'fanatical Muslims', the 'inferior races of the colonies', the immigrants, the refugees, the gypsies – are now an integral part of ourselves. It is not just that 'they' are 'here' but their ideas, concepts, lifestyles, food, clothes now play a central part in shaping 'us' and 'our society'. We thus have no yardstick to measure our difference and define ourselves.

We are in the middle of an identity crisis throughout the world. Most of us do not know who or what we really are. Some have impossibly romanticised notions of what they should be: they cling to an imagined "heritage", subscribe to the preservation of an unchanging "tradition", and are ready to kill and be killed to save some "essence" of idealised identity. Like football supporters, they need to belong to a rigidly defined and demarcated group, pledging their undying allegiance and fiercely defending their territory. Others have abandoned the very idea of a fixed identity: they change their identity with as much ease as they change their jacket. If we are to come to terms with our contemporary crisis of identity, we need to transcend simplicities. We can celebrate difference, but we do not need to demonise it. We can desire similarity, but not homogeneity. We can value traditions and customs but, if they do not adapt, they become instruments of oppression. Identity has historic anchors but it is not fixed to a limited, unchanging set of traditional signs and historic symbols. Identity is not what we buy, or what we choose, or what we impose on others; rather, it is something from which we learn how to live, discover what is worth buying, and appreciate what it is to be different. //
 * Adapted from Ziauddin Sardar, "Nothing left to belong to", 2002**. //

**notes from Chris ... **
 * is there a standard template in Singapore for displaying lesson plans? ... or is it totally up to individual schools or individual teachers?
 * are lesson plans mapped against particular standards in Singapore
 * are cross curriculum areas included in lesson plans ... e.g. ICT, ESL, multicultural, citizenship, special needs etc
 * are lesson plans mapped to the Sg General paper?
 * how is Assessment, Recording and Reporting integrated into Lesson Planning in Sg?
 * is this lesson plan for a specific time period?
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**Research** What research was done when designing the new lesson plan? Put live links to them if on the internet

Did you learn of any new tools, websites, applications .... or classroom management strategies ... put links to them if on the web .... also give an assessment ... useful or not ... useful in another situation.
 * New Tools and Resources**


 * New lesson incorporating ICT**


 * Assessment**


 * Copyright**


 * Other comments**

NOTE from CHRIS ...... ASK ME ABOUT BACKUP