National University of Singapore

This course introduces students to the forging of the Chinese Singaporean community by observing the changes in linguistic data over time. Drawing linguistic data from different aspects of society and entertainment (eg. food, movies, theatre, and so on), the course aims to reveal to students how the Chinese community has evolved from being a community with multiple languages to a single, unified language. Influential professionals in their field of expertise will also share from their personal experience the evolution of the Chinese community, and how the Chinese Singaporean community fits into Singapore’s multiracial society.

This module enhances students' proficiency in the four basic skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Vietnamese. Students are exposed to more language functions and a wider range of topics. Through reading formulaic authentic texts, students are introduced to the language in written form as it appears in daily communicative situations to achieve further understanding of the country, its culture, and its people. At the end of this course, students are equipped with a sound foundation of the language to maintain communication on topics relating to their personal and immediate environment.

This course explores the ways that Hollywood has used film form to create a naturalized style and viewing experience. It studies its conventions as well as the variations and deviations that push the envelope or constitute alternative constructions of the realistic. 

This course introduces the use of telescopes and data collection in astronomy. It covers how to set up and competently operate a telescope, how to plan and conduct astronomical observations for scientific purposes, and how to process and analyze astronomical data.

This course offers a work and labor-based perspective on the contemporary global economy, which is still predominantly studied from the viewpoint of firms and states in the social sciences. It profiles the vast range of work types and conditions that constitute the economy, and their wider societal implications. Moreover, it develops an explicitly geographical perspective, using the lenses of place, space and scale to reveal the inherent spatialities of worlds of work.

This course provides a study of psycholinguistics and the complex psychological processes underlying the use of language. It investigates the processes that take place in our minds when we use language as well as how these processes develop in children. Language impairment, for example in patients who have sustained brain damage, or in children with atypical language development, is also discussed. 

This course explores the nexus between media, culture and society in the digital age. It examines the developments in digital transformation and its implications on everyday life, with emphasis on media/cultural industries, connective media, new media art and design, civil society and public cultures. It provides an understanding of how digital media and culture are being transformed by networks, convergence and algorithms, and the training to approach and make use of digital media critically, creatively and productively.

This course focuses on theories of family and social change, by examining perspectives on families, drawing on literature from history, anthropology, sociology, and demography. The course seeks to answer the following questions: What is a family? What is the relationship between family and household structure and economic, political, and cultural change both historically and in contemporary time? How do couples allocate their time and money in relationships? How do families vary by social class and race/ethnicity? How have attitudes, expectations, and behaviors surrounding childbearing and childrearing changed? Theoretical perspectives on the family are supplemented with case studies of change and variation in families and households.

In this course, students use design principles to develop their creative potential and practice design thinking using a people-centered approach to solve problems and create new possibilities. Through practical activities, students discover tools and mindsets that guide them in navigating ambiguity in a creative process, observing and learning from others in unfamiliar contexts, and generating and experimenting with ideas quickly.