Armed with a copy of The Fine Art of Flirting, a stash of ‘dirty books’ and a precocious attitude, fifteen year old Pei Yi leaves her sheltered life in small-town Malaysia to accept an ASEAN scholarship at a secondary school in competitive—some might say kiasu—Singapore. Not since Adrian Mole have the growing pains of a geeky teenager been so painfully exposed to the rest of us! In My Kiasu Teenage Life in Singapore, author Ee Lin See weaves a charming tale of teenage angst and exposes the lighter side of Singapore into the bargain. A great read for adults and teens alike.

In an era, fraught with existential threats, Academic Framework for 21st-Century Schooling: Promoting Global Peace and Harmony answers the urgent call for a new path forward. The UN Secretary-General's recent address, echoing decades of warnings from UNESCO, has underscored the dire state of our world. Global warming, pollution, terrorism, unchecked population growth, discrimination, refugee migration, consumerism, and the ominous specter of weapons of mass destruction loom large in an age marked by nationalism and imperialism. The very fabric of human existence is unraveling, and even the UN's well-intentioned MDG and SDG initiatives are in jeopardy. This book, authored by esteemed scholars, proposes a transformation of global education as the antidote to this crisis. It champions the cultivation of a fresh generation with essential attributes like critical thinking, empathy, respect for diversity, and a profound sense of global responsibility. Schools are envisioned as the crucible for shaping these future citizens. At its core, this book offers a well-founded academic framework for global peace and harmony education, addressing the intricacies of 21st-century schooling, curriculum transformation, global best practices, and the vision of 'happy schooling.' It is a clarion call to scholars and educators to lead the way toward a world where peace and harmony are not just ideals, but the very foundation upon which humanity thrives. Our world and future generations depend on this transformative journey, one we must embark upon without delay.

To succeed in life, you must top your class, get Band One for school tests, and obtain four A stars for the PSLE. Or at least, that is the world according to Ling, a typical Singaporean mum who has made it her goal in life to help her children succeed in school. Ling’s older daughter, April, has all the makings of a model student and looks set to ace the Primary Six national exams. In the meantime, Ling’s younger son, Noah, is free-spirited and more interested in canteen food than what goes on in class. This (almost) kiasu mum records her journey diary-style, describing hilarious episodes involving crazy worksheets, assessment book overload and jittery parent-teacher meetings. Ling’s humorous take on surviving Singapore schools will have you laughing and give you serious food for thought, all at the same time!

This book is dedicated to Anna Wierzbicka, one of the most influential and innovative linguists of her generation. Her work spans a number of disciplines, including anthropology, cultural psychology, cognitive science, philosophy and religious studies, as well as her home base of linguistics. She is best known for the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to meaning—a versatile tool for exploring ‘big questions’ concerning the diversity and universals of people’s experience in the world. In this volume, Anna Wierzbicka’s former students, old and current colleagues, ‘kindred spirits’ and ‘sparring partners’ engage with her ideas and diverse body of work. These authors cover topics from the grammar of action verbs to cross-cultural pragmatics, and over 30 languages from around the world are represented. The chapters in Part 1 focus on the NSM approach and cover four themes: lexico-grammatical semantics, cultural keywords, semantics of nouns, and emotion. In Part 2, the contributors connect with a meaning-based approach from their own intellectual perspectives, including syntax, anthropology, cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics. The deep humanistic perspective, wide-ranging themes and interdisciplinary nature of Wierzbicka’s research are reflected in the contributions. The common thread running through all chapters is the primacy of meaning to the understanding of language and culture.