Last week I had the rare privilege of escorting one of my long time friends/students on a trip to Singapore. The idea was to try and negotiate our way around the city using English only. Here’s how it went…
Day One - Got up at 5:30 AM (about two hours later than my usual bedtime) in order to make it to the airport for 6:30 check in. Had breakfast in the VIP lounge, boarded the plane and for once sat upstairs in the 747. Quite a nice feeling actually. Arrived at our destination some four hours later and were picked up by the hotel bus sercice. Checked into the hotel on Raffles Ave. and then went for a walk downtown. The blend of colonial and ultra modern architecture certainly impressed me. Absolutely beautiful city. We quickly got lost though trying to find the Raffles Hotel as almost every thing in Singapore is called Raffles. Raffles Hotel, Raffles Street, Raffles Place… Shortly after this we got stuck in a tropical downpour in a little restaurant in Raffles place. That night we had dinner in the Muslim section. Over the course of the day my friend certainly started getting used to using expressions like “How far is it to our destination?” “How far are we from Taipei now?” “What is the temperature outside?” “How high are we?” “Where is the crosswalk?” “Excuse me, can you tell me where the MRT station is?” “I don’t know how to work this thing,” and the now famous “Push the button bob”.
Day Two - Took the cable car to Sentosa Island and actually walked much of the distance between the Aquarium and the Dolphin Lagoon. The Aquarium was OK but not up to the hype it recieves and the dolphin show would have been better if the dolphins were closer and there had beeen more time to see them behaving naturally and not just doing a bunch of tricks. Anyway it was quite nice and the walk back to the cable car was really pleasant as the road is surrounded by old growth tropical rain forest. That night we went on the Night Safari which really has to be experienced to be appreciated. There were lions, elephants, deer, rhinos, hippos…
As a language learning experience I think the most important thing my friend learned today was that while it may be quite simple to ask a question like “Excuse me, which way to the cable car?” the answer you recieve might not be so easy to understand as it may be delivered with a strong accent or may, in fact, not be an answer to the question at all, but may instead be some sort of advice, a philosophy lecture or an attempt at humor. Learning to cope with these eventualities with the profoundly useful phrases “Excuse me, my English is not very good. Please speak more slowly. I just want to know which way, please point,” is an extremely useful lesson indeed. I think he got it. He has rather a difficult time with English as would be expected as he is 48 and was an absolute beginner two years ago. He is quite smart though and perhaps even more importantly, extremely determined.
Day Three - Hiked the Macritchie Resevoir & Central Catchment Nature Reserve Trail. It was about 8K of hot, humid treking along paths through some truly gorgeous jungle trails. We both just about died. That night went for a delightful swim in the hotel pool.
Day Four - On the return flight I enjoyed a good two gallons or so of fine french cognac which was about the only drinking I did the whole time. My friend slept and I went over all of the English that we learned over the trip and wrote notes on those points that I thought needed clarification or review. When he woke up I got another gallon jug of fine french cognac and we reviewed the notes together. Perhaps one of the best English classes I ever taught…
expensive so I just 
