So, someone asked me about what I thought of the SGEM’s online drama, Six Lives. Since I’ve read all the 3 episodes up so far, I figured I would note down my thoughts on it.

• It appears to be an interesting concept. I was somewhat intrigued by the first two episodes but I felt the 3rd one was quite bland.
• I don’t really like English lessons interspersed inside things I read, although I understand why they are there. Perhaps there are others who would learn from these mini-lessons.
• I like how Singlish-guy has perfect spelling. (Ok, not really. It just amuses me. I think he might spell better than me.)
• The story so far, really isn’t all that exciting. So two of them are getting married and their friends are helping out in the planning. Yeah … that’s about it. Sure there are some tiny conflicts here and there but hey, it’s episode 3 already and nothing much has happened aside from some minor grumblings from the poor, I-can’t-tell-my-bride-anything groom. Doesn’t make me want to follow them. Doesn’t make me care about what happens to them. I’ll probably read the other episodes only if I am really bored.
• I still fail to see how this shows me the intoxicating-ness of the English language. I suppose I am impressed by how all of them write in perfect standard English and even bother to correct one another but it’s not really inspiring me to improve my English or my communication skills (but then again, I am not the target audience I suspect). Maybe the intoxicating will come when the Singlish guy writes his poem for the wedding.
• What I think should be most worrying is the lack of anything in the Singapore blogosphere about Six Lives. A quick google only comes up with 3 pages of results, mostly from the Six Lives’ blogs and the SGEM website. If no one is talking about it, doesn’t that suggest that (a) no one is reading or (b) no one cares? Or maybe everyone is interacting on Facebook and Twitter.

Overall, I  guess it is a good effort to gain the attention of their target age group. It does use the tools that many of them are familiar with. I should ask my students if they have heard of Six Lives.

Perhaps it will appeal to some people. Perhaps it might even encourage them to examine their own command of the language and seek to improve on it.

Personally, I think the reason people need to learn Standard English and be able to use it well, isn’t so we can communicate better. We all communicate well enough without Standard English and communication is dependent on more than just the words or sentences we spout. We need to learn Standard English because of the symbolic power it has.

Nocturne has his own take on Six Lives here.