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TESTIMONIALS
“The subtxt team designed an engaging programme for our students’ enrichment as we wanted our students to be exposed to stop-motion animation and explore the experience of filmmaking. The enrichment was able to marry both academic discussion by considering how stories are communicated and the tools used to do so, together with the introduction of technical skills to help the students to consider how these two skills should be married together.
In the conduct of the workshop, Ain and Wei Li were patient facilitators who were able to keep the lesson going even when the girls fell behind with certain milestones related to the filming process. They were able to provide suitable advice for both the teacher and students on how to approach and submit their works for filmmaking competitions. The entire experience allowed the students to create meaning behind what they were working on and pick up a new skill. Some students also enjoyed the process very much and were inspired to consider animation and filmmaking as something they wished to pursue.”
Ms. Ong Sze Ying, Cedar Girls’ Secondary School
Humanities Head of Department, July 2024
“Wei Li and Ain are well-prepared and provide thorough materials for the students to experience and work on. The movie choices are relatable as well as interesting. The style of analysis taught dovetails well with the close reading skills in A Level Literature. Thus, it’s not only a fun workshop; it’s also relevant to the students’ intellectual growth.”
“subtxt‘s programme suited our learning objectives, with careful thought put into the choice of film and themes. The design of the activities was engaging through the use of hands-on activities that appealed to the students. Ain and Wei Li were well-prepared for each session and they pitched their instruction at an appropriate level, such that our students could understand the content with ease.
We also appreciate the extra-mile effort to consolidate the students’ works done in the workshop with feedback and made into a scrapbook to be shared with them. This is a nice take-away from the session. Thank you, subtxt!”
“We engaged Ain and Wei Li from subtxt to run an enrichment workshop “Teaching critical thinking through film”. In using short snippets from the movies, The Avengers and Zombiepura, the students were introduced to the importance of camera angles and sounds in influencing audience’s perception and feelings towards the scene.
In line with thinking more critically about national identity, students also designed a story plot, taking inspiration from Zombiepura. They became more aware on the various effects their drawings could have on the audience. With all these tools on hand, surely it will engage the students in critical thinking in the next movie they watch.”
“Ain and Wei Li’s enrichment talk on “Thinking Critically about National Service in Singapore Cinema” was excellent! It systematically laid a foundation for participants to engage critically with the films’ meaning and implications in exciting and thought-provoking ways. They also prepared really nice visuals and relevant clips that they used to explain key concepts. This is the second time that I have invited Wei Li and Ain, and I am sure that I’ll want to have them back, as they always do such a great job.”
“Ain and Wei Li conducted a lecture on “National Identity and Singapore Cinema” for the Raffles Institution Humanities Programme. The speakers demonstrated deep knowledge of the subject and were able to discuss issues on national identity using Singapore Cinema in meaningful and insightful ways.
Furthermore, the way the slides and videos were curated to engage the students showed great planning and were executed with precision. The Q&A session further raised the quality of engagement by broadening the students’ knowledge on the topic using a variety of activities and piqued their interest on Singapore Cinema. Overall, the session was intellectually stimulating, beautifully presented, and students had fun engaging with the speakers who were very friendly.”
“We engaged Wei Li and Ain from subtxt to run a history workshop for students as part of the college’s Subject Day where each Department had to introduce a facet of their academic discipline to a section of the student population. subtxt came on board, and helped to plan and execute a workshop on “War and Cinema”, whereby students were introduced to historical film as a medium to better understand the historical context and political ideologies of the period that the film was set in.The workshop was very well planned and executed. Wei Li and Ain helped to engage the students with relevantly chosen and educationally appropriate film material which was curated for the purposes of the workshop. Students and teachers in attendance were highly appreciative of the insights that they provided; especially in relation to the use of different Godzilla films to juxtapose varying political narratives from the Japanese and American perspectives, especially after the use of the American bombs on Japan to end WWII. Likewise the use of Rambo films to discuss pro-war and anti-war sentiments, set in the context of the Vietnam War, also allowed the audience to better empathize with war veterans who may have undergone the trauma of war and suffered from the Vietnam War syndrome.
All in all, the workshop was very well run, and both Wei Li and Ain were extremely accommodating to requests made from the school in terms of customizations that needed to be made to the programme. Film was effectively employed as a means of historical exploration, and it provided a multi-sensory lens for our students to explore the perspectives of different historical actors. Its ability to draw on visuals and evoke emotions challenged students to probe deeper into the context of the times. We recommend it as a creative way to broaden students’ exposure to popular history.”
“Ain and Wei Li gave my science students a lecture on critical thinking as seen through the lenses of film. I was privileged enough to sit in for this. During the lecture, they introduced the students to a systematic approach for exercising their critical thinking skills in the realm of superhero movies. Despite my familiarity with filmic analysis, I still benefited from the whole experience. Indeed, the logical framework taught sat well with the students because it gave them a cogent structure to work with when unpacking the deeper meaning behind movies.”
“Ain and Wei Li from subtxt conducted a thoroughly engaging interactive session with the Year 5 and 6 Humanities Programme students in RI on “Critical Thinking through Popular Cinema” through an analysis of the critically acclaimed film, The Dark Knight. At the outset, they provided a very structured method to unpack the term, ‘critical analysis’, and a useful lens through which different scenes in the film were analysed.
It was a very intense and emotive session where students were challenged to consider multiple moral dilemmas in the film. There was a good mix of lecture presentation as well as small group student discussion. Overall, it was an enriching session and we only wish it could have been longer!”
“The subtxt team designed an interactive and well-thought programme for our students’ enrichment. We had requested for a programme designed with the intention of drawing out interdisciplinary learning on the theme of war and its connections between history and film studies. The subtxt team were very accommodating and took the time to customise their pre-existing offerings to meet our learning objectives and intent. More importantly, this customised programme was also well-pitched for our students and able to interest them, while stretching their thinking further.
Ain and Wei Li are extremely knowledgeable and effectively facilitated the workshops to deepen our students’ learning. The workshops were meticulously planned and they were able to systematically explain the methods employed in film to evoke certain portrayals and perspectives about the experiences of war. All in all, it created a very meaningful learning experience for our students, who all indicated that they enjoyed the sessions very much!”
“For our school’s sabbatical week, Ain and Wei Li from subtxt conducted a workshop on “Teaching critical thinking through film” to learn about the foundation of analysing film, as well as incorporating basic cinematic language. They were also able to step into the shoes of a filmmaker, and as a group, produce a storyboard that gave them a taste of how the pre-production process is like when it comes to film making. With their contemporary and relevant films such as local films that feature National Service, as well as the use of iconic pop culture films like The Avengers, our students were definitely very engaged and engrossed in the enriching activities planned for them!”
“Ain and Wei Li conducted an interactive lecture on “Thinking Critically about National Service in Contemporary Singapore Cinema” for our RECAS students. It was an insightful session that contained in-depth analysis of different films which enabled the students to think more deeply about how national service is presented in Singapore cinema and the implications of those representations. The activity worksheets were very helpful in keeping the students engaged, and both speakers continually encouraged students to think, discuss, and share their answers with the class. The slides were also very aesthetically pleasing which kept the students’ attention. Overall, students benefitted greatly from the session and took away a greater appreciation of Singapore film and a more critical awareness of how to question and unpack popular media.”
“Our students found “Critical Thinking Through the Superhero Film” both enjoyable and instructive. The subtxt teachers were excellent, and the critical thinking tool they used for analysis was very helpful and would be applicable to many other texts and situations.
The students were both challenged and engaged by the session, and will likely never see superhero films in the same way again.”
“Wei Li and Ain tailored their session to our specific needs – getting novice ESL academic writers to think critically. They gave them “ah-ha!” moments, helping them see American ideologies behind superhero movies; ideologies such as it being sometimes necessary for good people to bash up the bad guys to make them talk, or that superheroes are sometimes more a nuisance than a help, and need PR. They made thinking less scary.”
“The speakers were clearly well-prepared and did conscientious research for their talk. They gave a very concise talk well-suited for students of the demographic and age, and made difficult concepts easy to understand, and even enjoyable.”