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awugslife-blog · 9 years ago

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Guide to LMS: CCA Edition

Happy National Day to all! We hope that your first day of school went well yesterday :)

Amidst the Pokémon Go craze welcoming Singapore’s 51st birthday, there are many important decisions to make this week (other than which starter pokémon to choose or which team to join) as the NTU CCA Fair is coming up!

I’m sure that the first question most of you have in your mind right now would be, “is it compulsory to have a CCA in university?” In order to help you make that “I choose you” decision, here is a guide to CCAs in NTU!

To answer the question previously, it is not compulsory to have a CCA in NTU, but there are many benefits to having one. If you want to secure a spot in hall for the next year, CCAs will help you to earn points towards that. If you want to show your future employees that you are more than just your GPA, CCAs will help you to boost your resume and give you a competitive edge over others. However, you have to be prepared to put in extra time and effort once you have a CCA, while ensuring that you are still able to cope with your studies. At the end of the day, you need to prioritise and determine which is more important to you!

If you have decided to join a CCA, the list below (not comprehensive) highlights some of the important clubs/societies that you should know:

1. Student Union

All CCAs are under the Student Union, which is made up of 15 academic constituent clubs and 3 non-academic constituent clubs. The council consists of the Presidents of all Constituent Clubs, Vice Presidents from Non-Academic Constituent Clubs and the NTUSU Executive Committee.

2. Academic Constituent Clubs

These are essentially the clubs that manage each individual school e.g. ADM, NBS etc. Since LMS is under HSS, the only relevant club here is the Humanities and Social Sciences Club.

3. Non-Academic Constituent Clubs

For non-academic CCAs, there are the 3 major clubs (and their respective sub-clubs) namely:

Cultural Activities Club (CAC)

Sports Club

Welfare Services Club (WSC)

4. Miscellaneous Clubs and Societies

Here are some other student organisations:

Academic

Arts & Cultural

Religious

Special Interest

5. LMS Society

For those of you who attended the session on 1 August, I’m sure you have already met some of us! We are a bunch of seniors who are passionate about making a change in the LMS community, mainly through organising events and proposing new initiatives such as this blog! As we are revamping the club this year, you are in store for many brand new and exciting changes! If you would like to be part of our family, do keep a lookout as we will be sending you our recruitment email soon!

As always, if you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask us and we will be more than happy to help :)

- Glenn

#guide to lms #lms #ntu #cca

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awugslife-blog · 9 years ago

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Guide to LMS: Getting Around - Part 1

Hi there!

Welcome back to our new series - Guide to LMS! Today, we will be covering all you need to know about getting around NTU. In Part 1, we will cover the general NTU facilities as well as the areas where we LMS students often go to for our lessons.

NTU is made of two separate campuses - the main one, located in Pioneer, is also known as the Yunnan campus; the other campus is the Novena campus. The main campus is further split into two main areas, affectionately called the North and South Spine.

(Adapted from here)

North Spine is usually where most of the events are at, and it’s also newly renovated with all new sparkling food stalls and shops. At North Spine, you will find both a food court as well as a shared seating area for McDonald’s, Subway, Starbucks and etc. KFC and Pizza Hut can be found here as well. Other shops, such as Dunkin’ Donuts and a couple of restaurants can be found here too, with a Prime Supermarket just beside the carpark.

You will also find that most larger-scale lectures are held here in North Spine, where most of the lecture halls are found. Do note that some lecture halls are found in the upper levels of North Spine, and they are accessed through the lifts and stairs! The two separate blocks at North Spine cannot be accessed on upper levels, so cross over at level 1 or the basement if you need to! Tutorial rooms located here are usually older, and most of them will have a TR in their names. Here, you will also find the main library, Lee Wee Nam library (LWN), as well as the Student Activities Centre (SAC). North Spine is home to most of the engineering programmes’ offices, and you will find a building called The Quad just at the very end of North Spine, between the two spines.

At the Quad, you will find NTU’s only fully halal food court, so do take note! It’s also usually extremely crowded. You will also find the School of Biological Sciences and College of Sciences around this area. Nanyang Auditorium is also found here, just opposite Coffee Bean along the walkway.

South Spine is home to Koufu, the other food court, as well as an events area where there are pushcarts often selling items at a steal. It is also home to the bookstore and the Eight Flags Computer Shop. Lecture halls can also be found here on the first level, and more tutorial rooms are found on the upper floors as well. South Spine houses several engineering programmes’ offices as well as the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the famous Nanyang Business School (NBS). Just outside Koufu you will also see the School of Physical and Mathematical Science (SPMS). The HSS library is also located in South Spine, and it is located at Block (S4), the first building on your left when you go down the long stairs outside Coffee Bean. The bookstore, on the other hand, is slightly out of sight. You will need go to the same block (S4), and take a lift to the lowest level (B5), or the stairs will do as well. This is where you will need to go if you require textbooks (especially for your foreign language classes)!

If you head out of South Spine, you will find yourself just before the famous “dimsum” building in NTU - The Hive. Here you will find sparkling new tutorial rooms and lecture halls, and it’s where your orientation was held as well. Most language courses are conducted here, but some are also held in South Spine.

Wondering where’s our home base, the School of Humanities and Social Science (HSS)? It is located just beside the Hive, and yes, it’s that shiny modern looking building (apart from the ADM one you see next to North Spine). Located beside the Chinese Heritage Centre (CHC), it houses the offices of all HSS programmes, as well as the offices to our LMS Division. This is where you need to be for your consultations with the profs, and where you will find Gongcha as well! There are some tutorial rooms and computer labs here as well, mostly location on the lower levels.

For LMS students, our lessons are often held at the areas near HSS and in South Spine and the Hive. Sometimes, there will be lectures held at North Spine as well. In recent years however, most lessons are now held around the areas mentioned above. As a result, most of us tend to take our meals in the nearby food court as well. Do note that there are several schools around and the food court is usually crowded at meal times!

The National Institute of Education (NIE) is located just opposite LWN Library in North Spine, and there is a food court and a Popular bookstore here as well. Most of you will probably not visit this area unless you enroll in NIE courses that are available as GERPEs and UEs to you (the food is quite good though!).

There are also several printing shops around if you require their services. Most of them are available in the libraries. There is larger printing shop located in North Spine just beside the toilets. There is also another one located in HSS B1, just beside the lifts. The HSS building also has two computer labs where you can print your documents through paying with your Ez-link cards. The Chinese library is also a good place for you to print your documents - located in Block S3.2 just behind the Hive, it’s much more convenient since it’s just a few minutes walk from the Hive. Head straight after exiting the Hive (area near the water cooler), go through a sheltered corridor and go pass a glass door and you’re there!

There are several bus routes available to all NTU students, and two of them are the public services 179 (red on map) and 199 (blue on map). Do note that both services do not serve all the bus stops - 179 serves most of the bus stops located along the academic buildings and some outside the student halls, while 199 serves some stops along the academic buildings and most of the student halls. 179A skips all residential stops outside of NTU, so if you are rushing for time, this is the best option! However, do note that only 179 serves the bus stops at Pioneer MRT. There are also several campus shuttle buses, read about them here.

Do take note of the way levels are numbered in both North and South Spine! Most freshies and even us seniors are still confused by this. As NTU is located on a hill, North Spine was built on higher ground whereas South Spine was built on the lower ground. As a result, the levels are numbered differently in both spines. When you visit North Spine, you will see that levels are numbered B1 or L1 or L3 for those on upper levels. However, once you are at South Spine, you will find that L1 actually refers to the highest level. The rest of the levels are labeled B~; in other words, they are ‘basement levels’. This is due to the fact that NTU labels the levels on a uniform basis, and you will see that L1 at South Spine is connected to North Spine’s L1 - just see the area near Coffee Bean! This also accounts for the long flight of stairs just beside Coffee Bean.

If you ever need to find where your classes are held at, do look it up here!

Cheers to you for reading this far, and we will see you soon!

On behalf of the 7th LMS Society, Dulcia

Have more questions? Ask us!

#lms #guide to lms #ntu #gettingaround

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awugslife-blog · 9 years ago

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Guide to LMS: An Introduction

Hi there!

If you are looking at this, this means that you are now part of the LMS community here at NTU - welcome! As freshies, you are probably most anxious about how different university life will be compared to your previous schools, or even confused about the horde of seemingly important (but tedious to look through - we know how you feel) information you need to know all about university life and your major. Worry not! Your seniors (and that’s us) are here to help and guide you through navigating all these information and help you settle into university easily, so do read on!

First things first, what is linguistics? What exactly have you signed on for?

To put things simply, linguistics is the study of languages and how it is related to human behaviour, such as your thoughts and even social group behaviours. In linguistics, we seek to determine what makes certain aspects of language so unique, and find out if there are certain universal aspects amongst all languages. In some concentrations, we seek knowledge of how language is acquired, or even track changes of languages throughout history and evolution. In essence, linguistics is language science, related to both the mind and social behaviour of language speakers. You will be able to learn more about this in your lectures! To give you an idea, here at LMS in NTU, we study different aspects of language such as:

Language planning and policy;

Structure of languages and their grammar;

Sociolinguistics (aka the social side);

Methods of analysing language;

Psycholinguistics: language disorders, language and the brain, child language;

Documenting languages, etc.;

Special topics: such as forensic linguistics, humour and etymology, etc.

So just now many languages do you need to learn?

None, because it’s not all about learning a language or even languages. While the common question that linguistics students get asked are “how many languages do you know?” or “can you speak _?”, linguists are mostly interested in the science of language. However, knowing a few extra languages does come in handy at times!

As your major, you will be required to take at least 69 Academic Units (AUs) of linguistics related modules, and this will be covered in detail in upcoming posts. For now, all you have to know is that as your major, you will be specializing in linguistics as your field of studies. In NTU, you are also free to take a second major (provided that you meet the requirements and are invited to do so), or you could take up minors - where you study a little of another field(s).

The LMS division is made up of your professors and the lovely admins who manage the running of the division from day to day. There is the Head of Division (currently Prof. Tan Yingying), and there are your other professors in charge of several roles that you would need to know. There is also your mentor - a professor allocated to you and who will help and advice you should you need academic advice! They will get in touch with you by the first week of the semester through emails or in lecture, so do check your inboxes! At LMS, we also address our professors by name, not ‘prof’ (they hate it actually) or even worse, ‘cher’. So don’t be shy and just call them by name! It’s all about fostering a close community :P

Get to know your professors and the rest of the faculty here!

The lovely admins are your greatest allies when it comes to the infamous timetable registration aka STAR Wars - they hold the power behind your every desperate attempt to enroll in a module in case of lost wars. We have Nurazean (Nura) who is in charge of all things undergraduate, and Ann Marie, our academic manager. However, just don’t expect them to perform magic - they will definitely do their best to assist you though!

For most of you, one of the more significant concerns that would affect your choice of major greatly would be career prospects of linguistics graduates. While the field of linguistics in Singapore does seem to be rather small, the fact is that it is gradually growing as a field in Singapore, and many are becoming more aware of the subject. In addition, linguistics is already a part of our lives even if we are not aware of its existence. The choice of languages you use, the choice of words behind every single advertisement, even the accent you use affects your life in the tiniest way.

Many of our graduates have gone on to work in various fields, such as teachers, editors, speech therapists, researchers (read more here!). Even if they might not seem to be your cup of tea - fret not! Linguistics might seem to be a very specialized field, but once you get to know it, you will come to realise that it can be a very useful subject, and your future roles and jobs will benefit from your linguistics knowledge!

This is the first of our new series of posts for freshies, aptly named “Guide to LMS”, so do stay tuned for the upcoming posts, where we will cover more about your journey at NTU and LMS!

Cheers to you for reading this far, and we will see you soon!

On behalf of the 7th LMS Society, Dulcia

Have more questions? Ask us!

#guide to lms #lms #ntu #intro #welcome

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awugslife-blog · 9 years ago

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Guide to LMS: Survival 101

Hello freshies!

Welcome to the LMS family! We are so glad that you have decided to join us and we hope that all of you had a restful holiday ☺

Now that a new semester is about to begin, we understand that some of you may be worried about the demands of coping with university life, but fret not as we are here to help!

Speaking from the perspective of someone without a background in linguistics, things were a little daunting for me at the beginning. However, I managed to stay afloat with a bit of luck, a few areas of linguistic interests and A LOT of hard work. My advice is to keep an open and curious mind to absorb and explore any new knowledge presented to you. Of course, there may be times when you will dread taking certain modules that do not appeal to you as much as the others, but take this opportunity to learn as much as you can because the knowledge that you will get is invaluable! Remember why you chose this course in the first place and your passion for linguistics will make learning a breeze instead of a chore :)

And now, here are some tips to help you get through the semester (it works for me so you should give it a shot too!)

1. Attend all lectures

This seems like a no-brainer but trust me, your motivation to wake up for 9 am lectures will slowly dwindle as the semester progresses. It takes a lot of self-discipline to get yourself out of bed, but it will be worth it at the end of the day. Apart from covering essential topics to tackle exams/assignments/projects, lectures serve as the main channel of relaying information to the cohort, so that everyone stays updated on any changes in the module. Besides, it is a great time for you to get to know your professors and coursemates, some of whom you may not be able to interact with if you are assigned to a different tutorial class.

2. Prepare for tutorials

This is another self-explanatory point, but I cannot stress the importance of completing your weekly tutorial activities/worksheets enough. It consolidates your newly obtained knowledge in lectures and allows you to check your understanding of the various topics in a module. On top of that, make sure you participate actively in class discussions during tutorials, as they will help to challenge your thinking and encourage the exchange of opinions among your peers. More often than not, part of the grading system of a module consists of class participation (usually about 10%) aside from your weekly attendance, so this is a great way to earn some points!

3. Complete assigned readings

One thing that I struggled with originally was the readings (usually textbook chapters or journal articles) assigned each week. Similar to lectures/tutorials, they are manageable at the start but can get difficult to handle as you go along the semester when work begins to pile up. They are not compulsory so many of you may feel that it is redundant, but it certainly helps you to further your understanding on a given topic. Furthermore, you will be able to get used to the style of research writing through journal articles (you will need this later on for projects), and score when you get test questions related to the readings. Pace yourself so that you will be able to cover everything, instead of ending up in a situation where you have to pick what to read/leave out the rest (been there done that, 10/10 would not recommend)

4. Plan your time (using course schedules/outlines)

Continuing from the previous point, time management is key throughout your university education. With so many things going on at once (hall/cca/studies/or even work), many of you may find it tough to juggle between these commitments. For those of you who tend to be forgetful or do not have the habit of using personal planners, you are in luck! Every module will usually release a course schedule/outline at the beginning that breaks down topics to be covered/assignment deadlines/assigned readings according to the week. All you have to do is simply mark the dates down on your calendar/set reminders on your phone and you will never miss any important deadlines anymore!

5. Organise your course materials

What is time management without proper organisation? As you advance each week into the semester, course materials such as lecture slides/tutorial worksheets/additional handouts will accumulate gradually. Even if you do not print them out (go green!), your desktop will probably end up in a mess by mid-term. A possible way to keep these materials organised is to cultivate the habit of sorting them out into folders (physical ones for hard copies/virtual ones for soft copies) and label them accordingly. While technology makes learning more accessible and convenient, please bear in mind the risks of file corruption or system crash and back up every file whenever possible!

6. Pursue your interests (through unrestricted electives)

Unrestricted electives (UE) account for 30 AUs (10 courses) out of the 126 AUs in your undergraduate programme. That is about 1/4 of all the modules that you will be taking for the next four years before you graduate. Go wild and explore the countless options available! Are you interested in learning a new language? Or perhaps you are keen to try out a new sport? You can even choose to take up a minor programme like me, the possibilities are endless!

7. Be consistent in your work

As some of you may already know, universities adopt a cumulative grade point average (GPA) system out of a score of 5.0. This means that every single effort (remember that 10% of class participation, or even an essay/a mcq quiz; you get the idea!) counts towards your final grades. Some of you may be used to studying at the last minute in hopes of passing your exams with flying colours, but it is best to avoid doing this in university. Moreover, LMS is largely a coursework based degree, so make sure you give it your all in every quiz, assignment or project! You can read more about GPA here.

8. Make friends

To end off, this may seem natural for most of you, but it was tough for me since I did not attend any camps. (plus I’m just a really shy and awkward person who does not know how to start a conversation) Thankfully, I am fortunate enough to meet some wonderful people along the way, who has since been my main support system during stressful periods. For those of you who are attending the FOC currently, I am sure that you have already bonded with the people in your OG. I can only imagine the fond memories forged and the time spent together with your new friends! On the other hand, do not feel left out if you did not attend FOC! There will be plenty of opportunities for you to meet new people when the semester starts, and if I managed to survive my freshman year, so can you!

If you are still reading up to this point, thank you for your time and I hope that this has been useful for you! My only wish is for you to enjoy your four years in LMS, and may your journey in NTU be a fruitful one ☺ - Glenn

As always, if you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask us and we will be more than happy to help :)

#guide to lms #ntu #lms

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