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21st Century
Literature from the
Philippines and the
World

Department of Education ● Republic of the Philippines

 st
21 Century
Literature from
the Philippines
and the World
Quarter 2 - Module 2
Literature Around the World

This instructional material was collaboratively developed and reviewed

by educators from public and private schools, colleges, and or/universities. We
encourage teachers and other education stakeholders to email their feedback,
comments, and recommendations to the Department of Education at action@
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Department of Education ● Republic of the Philippines

 Lesson

9 Asian Literature: Singaporean

Grade 12, First Semester, Q2 – Week 2

What I Need to Know

You will continue your journey in discovering Asian literature. This time
you will learn about Singaporean literature. Be ready to experience different activities
that are designed to help deepen your understanding about the country’s literature.

In this Lesson, you are going to:

a. Compare and contrast the various 21st century literary genres and
their elements, structures, and traditions from across the globe;
(EN12Lit-IId-25)
b. Produce a creative representation of a literary text by applying
multimedia and ICT skills; (EN12Lit-IIij-31.1)
c. Do self- and/or peer-assessment of the creative adaptation of a
literary text, based on rationalized criteria, prior to presentation.
(EN12Lit-IIij-31.3)

What I Know

Congratulations! You finished exploring Chinese literature. You were able to

compare and contrast two poems written by calibre poets. Now, it’s time for you to
move to another destination - a country which is just a neighbour to us in Southeast
Asia, but before we move on, let’s check what you now know about Singapore’s
literature.
. Read carefully each statement. Choose the correct answer, and write the letter of the
correct answer in your LITERATURE ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.

1. The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by Singaporeans

in any of the country’s four main languages namely, English, _______, Malay and
Tamil.
A. Singaporean B. Chinese C. Malaysian D. Indonesian
2. The poetry of this Singaporean younger generation is often politically aware,
____________ and cosmopolitan.
A. global B. transnational C. national D. hierarchical

3. What is the predominant mode of expression in Singaporean literature?

10
A. novel B. drama C. poetry D. song
4. _____________ writing in English did not start in earnest until after independence.
A. Poetry B. Narrative C. Fiction D. Novel
5. Who remains a pioneer in writing novels?
A. Catherine Lim B. Goh Poh Seng C. Kuo Pao Kun D. Robert Yeo
6. At what point of view is The Taximan’s Story is written?
A. first person B. third person C. second person D. omniscient
7. The passenger of the taximan in the story is a ____________________.
A. woman B. teacher C. doctor D. tourist
8. In the Singaporean story The Taximan’s Story, what is the irony?
A. The taximan picks up young girls and their foreign boyfriends in his taxi to make
more money, but his son also hangs out with his foreign friends to make money.
B. The taximan stated that he must sweat a lot, so he could support his family while
he just lets his daughter stay in the house.
C. The taximan talks to his passenger about his life as a taxi man, where he had
been driving the taxi for 20 years, but he said that his life has no improvement.
D. The taximan picks up young girls and their foreign boyfriends in his taxi to make
more money, but his daughter also hangs out with foreign men for money.
9. The passenger of the taximan wants him to take her to the ________________.
A. National hotel of Singapore
B. National University of Singapore
C. National museum of Singapore
D. National airport of Singapore
10. What is the theme of The Taximan’s Story?
A. lack of moral values among teenagers these days
B. the problem of the taximan about his daughter
C. the financial struggle of the taximan
D. the dishonesty of some students towards their parents

11
 What’s In
Before we move on, let’s check what you’ve learned about Chinese
literature.

Fill in the blanks with word/s that will complete each statement about Chinese
literature. Write your answer in your LITERATURE ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.

1-3. Modern influences on Asian literature include ___________ movements, war

and ________________, and influence from the ____________.
4-5. Asian regions that have produced literature through the ages include East Asia,
____________, Central Asia, the Middle East, and ______________.
6. __________________ wrote the poem Battle.
7. On the Threshing Floor, I Chase Chickens Away was written by ______________.
8. The theme of the poem Battle is ______________________.
9. ____________________ was a 20th century scholar who translated numerous
Chinese and Japanese classics.
10. On the Threshing Floor, I Chase Chickens Away was originally written in Chinese,
but it was translated by _________________ to English.

What’s New
Create a semantic map about everything you know about Singapore
and its literature. An example of a semantic map is given below. You may create
your own. Write your answer in your LITERATURE ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.

Singapore

12
 What Is it
The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by
Singaporeans in any of the country’s four main languages: English, Chinese, Malay
and Tamil. A number of Singaporean writers such as Tan Swie Hian and Kuo Pao Kun
have contributed work in more than one language.
There were varying levels of activity in succeeding decades, with poets in the
late 1980s and early 1990s including Simon Tay, Leong Liew Geok, Koh Buck Song,
Heng Siok Tian and Ho Poh Fun. In the late 1990s poetry in English in Singapore
found a new momentum with a whole new generation of poets born around or after
1965 now actively writing and publishing, not only in Singapore but also internationally.
The poetry of this younger generation is often politically aware, transnational and
cosmopolitan, yet frequently presents their intensely focused, self-questioning and
highly individualised perspectives of Singaporean life, society and culture. Some poets
have been labelled Confessional for their personalised writing, often dealing with
intimate issues such as sexuality.
With the independence of Singapore in 1965, a new wave of Singapore writing
emerged, led by Edwin Thumboo, Arthur Yap, Robert Yeo, Goh Poh Seng, Lee Tzu
Pheng and Chandran Nair. Poetry is the predominant mode of expression; it has a
small but respectable following since independence, and most published works of
Singapore writing in English have been in poetry.
Drama in English found expression in Goh Poh Seng, who was also a notable
poet and novelist, in Robert Yeo, author of 6 plays, and in Kuo Pao Kun, who also
wrote in Chinese. The late Kuo was a vital force in the local threatre rrenaissance in
the 1980s and1990s.
Fiction writing in English did not start in earnest until after independence. Short
stories flourished as a literary form, the novel arrived much later. Goh Poh Seng
remains a pioneer in writing novels well before many of the later generation, with titles
like If We Dream Too Long (1972) – widely recognised as the first true Singaporean
novel – and A Dance of Moths (1995). (https://www.scribd.com/document/412634387/21st-
Century-Literature-of-the-Philippines-and-of-the-World-1)

Below is the text “The Taximan’s Story.” Read the text and identify the points in
which Singaporean literature is similar with Philippine literature and the points in which
they differ.

The Taximan’s Story

By Catherine Lim “Little Ironies” : Stories of Singapore

Take me to National University of Singapore, please make it fast cause I got a

meeting to attend and I need to be there on time. Very good, Madam. Sure I will take
you there in plenty good time for your meeting, Madam. This way better, less traffic,
less car jams. Half hour should make it, Madam, so not to worry.
Have you been taxi man for a long time? What did you say, Madam? I said
have you been taxi man for a long time? Ha, ha, Yes, yes. I’ve been taxi man for 20

13
years now, Madam. A long time ago, Singapore not like this – so crowded, so busy.
Last time, more peaceful, not so much taxi men or so much cars and buses.

Oh, you must been working so hard! Yes,Madam, I can make a living. So so.
What to do? I must work hard if wants to success in Singapore. People like us, no
education, no capital for business, we must sweat to earn money for wife and children.

Do you have a big family? Yes, Madam,quite big family–eight children,six

sons,two daughters.Big family! Ha!ha! No good, Madam. In those days, where got
Family Planning in Singapore? People born many, many children, every year, one
childs.Is no good at all. Two children, three children, enough, stop. Our goverment say
stop.

Lucky for me, all my children big now. Four of my sons working–one a
businessman, two clerks, one a teacher in Primary school, one in National Service,
one still schooling. My eldest daughter, she is twenty plus, stay at home, help the
mother.
Is your daughter already married? No,not married yet–very shy, and her health
not so good, but a good, obedient girl. My other girl– Oh, Madam! Very hard for father
when daughter is no good and go against her parents. Very sad, like punishment from
God
Today, young people not like us when we are young. We obey. Our parents say
don’t do this, we never do. Otherwise, the cane. My father cane me, I was big enough
to be married, and still got caning. My father he was very strict, and that is good thing
for parents to be strict. If not, young boys and girls become very useless. Do not want
to study, but run away, and go to night clubs and take drugs and make love. You agree
with me, Madam?

Yes! I absolutely agree with you. Today, young people they are very trouble to
their parents. Madam, you see this young girl over there, outside the coffee house?
See what I mean, Madam? Yes. they are only schoolboys and schoolgirls, but they
act as big shots, spending money, smoking, wearing latest fashion, and making love.
Yes, that’s true. Even though you’re just a taxi man you are aware about the behaviour
of the teenagers today. Ah, madam, I know! As taxi man, I know them and their habits.

Madam, you are a teacher, you say? Yes. You know or not that young
schoolgirls, fifteen, sixteen year old, they go to school in the morning in their uniforms
and then afterschool, they don’t go home, they have clothes in their schoolbag, and
they go to public lavatory or hotel and change into these clothes, and they put make-
up on their face. Their parents never know. They tell their Mom go school meeting,
got sports and games, this, that, but they really come out and play the fool.

Ah, Madam, I see you surprise but I know, I know all their tricks a lot. as I take
them in my taxi. they usual is wait in bowling alley or coffee house or hotel, and they
walk up, and friend, the European and American tourists, and this is how they make
fun and also extra money.
Madam, you believe or not when I tell you how much money they got? I say!
Last night, Madam, this young girl, very pretty and make-up and wear sexy dress. She
told me take her to orchid mansions – this place famous, Madam, fourth floor flat –
and she open her purse to pay me, and I say! All American notes – ten dollar notes
all, and she pull one out and say keep change! As she has no time already.
Madam, I tell you this, every month, I got more money from these young girls
and their American and European boyfriends in my taxi, more than I get from other
14
people who bargain and say don’t want go by meter and wait even for ten cents
change. Phui!! Some of them really make me mad. But these young girls and their
boyfriends don’t bargain, they just pay, pay, and they make love in taxi so much they
don’t know if you go round and round and charge them by meter!
I tell you, Madam, some of them don’t care how much they spend on taxi. It is
like this: after 1 a.m. taxi fare double, and I prefer working this time, because naturally,
much more money. I go and wait outside Elroy Hotel or Tung Court or Orchid
Mansions, and such enough, Madam, will have plenty business. Last Saturday,
Madam, no joking, on one day alone I make nearly one hundred and fifty dollars! Some
of it for services. Some of tourists don’t know where, so I tell them and take them there,
and that’s extra money.
You surely know a lot of things. Ah Madam, if I tell you all, no end to the story.
But I will tell you this, Madam. If you have young daughter and she say Mummy I got
meeting today in school and will not come home, you must not say, Yes, yes, but you
must go and ask her where and why and who, and you find out. Today young people
not to trust, like young people in many years ago.
Why are you telling this? Oh, Madam, I tell you because I myself have a
daughter – oh, Madam, a daughter I love very much, and she is so good and study
hard. And I see her report cards and her teacher write ‘Good work’ and ‘Excellent’ so
on, so on. Oh, Madam, she my favourite child, and I ask her what she want to be after
left school, and she says go to University.

None of my other children could go to University, but this one, she is very smart
and intelligent – no boasting, Madam – her teachers write ‘Good’ and ‘Excellent, and
so on, so on, in her report cards. She study at home, and help the mother, but
sometimes a little lazy, and she say teacher want her to go back to school to do extra
work, extra coaching, in her weak subject, which is math, Madam.

So I let her stay back in school and day after day she come home in evening,
then she do her studies and go to sleep. Then one day, oh Madam, it makes me so
angry even now – one day, I in my taxi driving, driving along and hey! I see a girl
looking like my Lay Choo, with other girls and some Europeans outside a coffee-house
but I think, it cannot be Lay Choo, how can, Lay Choo is in school, and this girl is all
dressed up and mak-up, and very bold in her behaviour, and this is not like my
daughter at all.

Then they go inside the coffee-house, and my heart is very, very – how you
describe it, Madam, my heart is very susah hati’ and I say to myself, I will watch that
Lay Choo and see her monkey tricks. The very next day she is there again I stop my
taxi, Madam, and I am so angry. I rush up to this wicked daughter and I catch her by
the shoulders and neck, and slap her and she scream, but I don’t care. Then I drag
her to my taxi and drive all the way home, and at home I thrash the stupid food and I
beat her and slap her till like hell. My wife and some neighbors they pull me away, and
I think they not pull me away, I sure to kill that girl.

I lock her up in her room for three days, and I ashamed to tell her teacher, so I
just tell the teacher that Lay Choo is sick, so please to excuse her. Oh, Madam, how
you feel in my place? Make herself so cheap, when her father drive taxi all day to save
money for her University.

Is everything between you and your daughter okay now? What is it, Madam? I
said is everything between you and your daughter okay now? Yes, yes, everything
15
okay now, thank you. she cannot leave the house except to go to school, and I tell her
mother always check, check in everything she do, and her friends – what sort of people
they are…
Can you wait for me until my meeting is done? What, Madam? Oh, so sorry,
Madam, cannot wait for you to finish your meeting. Must go off, please to excuse me.
In a hurry, Madam. Must go off to Hotel Elroy –there plenty people to pick up. So very
sorry, Madam, and thank you very much. Oh, that’s ok. Here’s the payment. Thank
you for sharing your story to me.

My youngest daughter have a similar behavior. Similar like the other schoolgirls
that act like gangster since you’re a teacher, did you know something strange about
the girls? After school time, they don’t really go home but they go to hotels and other
places for sure.

If you have a daughter, don’t accept her trust. But you only do that when she
wants to go out just like my naughty daughter who really got caught. For that, I scolded
her so loud that I don’t even care so I just shout. ----end----
(https://www.scribd.com/document/412634387/21st-Century-Literature-of-the-Philippines-and-of-
the-World-1)

source: https://www.piqsels.com/sv/search?q=singapore%2C+stad&page=12

What’s more
Answer the questions below. Write your answers in your LITERATURE
ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.

1. Who are the characters presented in the story? Can you describe them?

2. What is the irony in the story?

3. What themes are discussed in the story?

What I Have Learned

Answer the following questions about the story you’ve read. Write your
answers in your LITERATURE ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.
16
 1. How do you like “The Taximan’s Story?”
______________________________________________________________

2. Do you think the characteristics and personality of the taxi driver is true for
all taxi drivers? Explain your answer.
______________________________________________________________

3. How realistic is this story? _______________________________________

______________________________________________________________

4. What do you think of the taximan? Do you feel sympathy for him?
______________________________________________________________

What I Can Do

Write a comparative analysis of the Singaporean story The Taximan and

a literary work from the Philippines. Your aim is to use defamiliarization which means
that your focus should be on the form and technique used in literature rather than in
its content. Write your analysis in your LITERATURE ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.

Rubric:
Criteria Description Score
10 points 7 points 4 points
The analysis is The analysis may be The analysis needs
Analysis comprehensive, given more thorough editing
exhaustive, and comprehension and for comprehension
logical. must be edited for and logic.
brevity.
Cohesion The paper is The paper is slightly The paper needs
cohesive and all cohesive and may thorough editing
ideas relate with need to rid of some for cohesion and
one another. ideas that do not logic.
relate to the
wholeness of the
paper.
Research The paper is well- The paper needs The research
researched. further research. presented in the
paper does not
suffice at all.
Score /30
Adopted: DIWA Senior High School Series, DIWA Textbooks, 2016, p. 187

17
 Post assessment
Let’s recall our lesson about Singapore literature. Read carefully each
statement. Choose the correct answer, and write the letter of the correct answer in
your LITERATURE ACTIVITY NOTEBOOK.

1. Poetry writing in English did not start in earnest until after _____________.
A. war B. independence C. World War 1 D. holocaust
2. The __________of this Singaporean younger generation is often politically aware,
transnational and cosmopolitan.
A. novel B. drama C. poetry D. song
3. The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by Singaporeans
in any of the country’s _________ main languages .
A. two B. three C. four D. five
4. What is the predominant mode of expression in Singaporean literature?
A. novel B. drama C. poetry D. song
5. Who remains a pioneer in writing novels?
A. Catherine Lim B. Goh Poh Seng C. Kuo Pao Kun D. Robert Yeo

6. The passenger of the taximan in the story is a ____________________.

A. woman B. teacher C. doctor D. tourist

7. The passenger of the taximan wants him to take her to the ________________.
A. National hotel of Singapore
B. National University of Singapore
C. National museum of Singapore
D. National airport of Singapore
8. What is the theme of The Taximan’s Story?
A. lack of moral values among teenagers these days
B. the problem of the taximan about his daughter
C. the financial struggle of the taximan
D. the dishonesty of some students towards their parents

9. At what point of view is The Taximan’s Story is written?

A. first person B. third person C. second person D. omniscient

10. In the Singaporean story The Taximan’s Story, what is the irony?
A. The taximan picks up young girls and their foreign boyfriends in his taxi to make
more money, but his son also hangs out with his foreign friends to make money.
B. The taximan stated that he must sweat a lot, so he could support his family while
he just lets his daughter stay in the house.
C. The taximan talks to his passenger about his life as a taxi man, where he had
been driving the taxi for 20 years, but he said that his life has no improvement.
D. The taximan picks up young girls and their foreign boyfriends in his taxi to make
more money, but his daughter also hangs out with foreign men for money.

18