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A Salute to Parents

We have just completed our thinkingMath™ Parents Workshop (Part I and Part II) and I went away inspired by the parents, our participants. It may be unthinkable for some that parents are actually going to the extent of attending workshops on primary school subjects yet I have gained insights to this supposedly weird phenomenon otherwise known as ‘kiasuism’:

1) Humility

Never mind their success, they have humbled to learn what their children are learning or need to learn. They spent more than 20 hours working through challenging sums as any primary school students would so as to experience and understand their children’s challenge.

2) Children before self

They made the effort to inconvenient themselves including taking leave from work to avail to learn in order to better guide their children. I am sure many were uncertain about parting with the money for the workshop because it could well mean a much needed spa treatment or the latest electronic gadgets. Still, they robbed themselves off their personal pleasure for they derived their joy not from material pursuit or comfort.

3) Engagement & Support

They are not at the workshop for a career change. It was not a “How to grow your $” or “Be an inspirational leader” seminar that promises wealth, fame and success. It was an unlearning and re-learning process for many who went through the same local educational system as their children except decades ago. They will walk-the-talk, they will participate and they will demonstrate the support for their loved ones with action despite the other commitments that are shouting for their attention.

4) Role Modelling

They could have complained endlessly about the system and the what-not that comes with it but they chose to work alongside towards an amicable resolution. They joined in the learning to understand and to conquer the Goliath. They showed their children what tenacity meant and the concept of ‘when there is a will, there is a way – regardless of age and the nature of the challenge.’

From these parents, I have learnt much. Thank you.

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Seven Secrets to Problems Sums for Parents

I was recently asked by one of my new friends, who is also one of our onSponge parents, how can she improve her problem solving skills with the aim of assisting her son in solving math problem sums.  Sound familiar?   So rather than demand a night on the town with a free flow of drinks in return for my wisdom, I decided to share my "Seven Secrets to Problem Sums" for Parents here instead.   But first, more on the issue ....

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Knights of Loyalty

Yes - Craig has recently been "knighted" - in fact his whole class has been (^___^)

At the last Parents-Teacher meeting with Craig’s P3 teacher, I was struck by how dismal his classroom looked.  It needed a fresh coat of paint to cover the smudges, footprints and other marks left on the wall due to sticky tapes.  Papers were stuck on the wall as the notice board was not big enough for all the subjects.  

And it wasn’t just me who felt this way.  A few like-minded parents then gathered together and planned with the form teacher to use the 1-week break to spruce the place up.  After all, a more creative surrounding = more conducive learning environment p (^___^) q

We used mostly recycled materials, so as to reinforce the message of recycling to the boys. The “knight” theme was chosen – as the class name “Loyalty” rhymes with “royalty” and well, the boys think that knights were pretty cool.  So Craig and his classmates are now "Sirs"!

A fresh coat of paint brightened up the class room and made it look brand new. For the notice board, there is a wall of bricks created where the boys’ artwork and school work can be displayed.  To cover up the unsightly bottom, a moat was added using blue cellophane and for the finishing touch, Craig drew a menacing crocodile. Chomp! Chomp!

Instead of a reading corner, we decided that a “speakers” corner would be more fun.  The boys can use it to practice speaking in front of an audience during show and tell. On the wall behind, a wall of fame with the boys’ pictures was put up.  The form teacher will use it to award merit points to incentivize the boys.

The effect was, as Craig puts it – “Wow!”

A big “Thank you!” to Pei Pei, Gerard, Linda and Polly! I think our boys will be really inspired by the dedication shown by their parents and will proudly tell the other classmates “Hey – my mom/dad did this, you know”

Of coz, thank you Mr Foo for “working” with us during your 1-week break.  I do feel that you have gotten the best out of this deal - you get to admire the lovely notice board at the back of the class while you are teaching! Hahahaha ….

Meantime – I can’t wait to see the boys’ faces when they start school on Monday!

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Foul language among children? Let's do our part to correct it!

Crude/obscene language is not uncommon to be heard among adults.

As entertainment like music and movies are essentially commentaries on real life, we have got it wrong if we start blaming the media and the entertainment industry for the use of foul language among the young. What these media do instead is to reinforce such usage (power of repetition!) and make it perhaps fashionable (!), but make no mistake as to its origins which is real life.

What's the effect on the young who are sponges at their age, absorbing all kinds of influences from their environment of unguarded adult communication? I would say the impact is incalculable but some of its symptoms can be felt.

Like when children start spouting in general communication crude/obscene terms that they barely understand. Occasionally, it can also be heard in anger among teens, and then again in electronic communication like emails and internet community forums.

On the internet, the use of crude and obscene language can be fuelled by a sense of anonymity, with the sender thinking that the recipient victim may not be able to trace the identity/location of a sender. How wrong an assumption that is, when everything leaves a digital trace on the internet?

Since language (spoken or otherwise) is an essential communicating tool, I would dare say that its disintegration in the form of crudity and obscenity makes its more challenging to grow a strong sense of personal morality in the young.

But I'm thankful to note that such usage is not prevalent among children here, up to and including the teens. Well, not least openly. We are thankful because the situation could be much worse but for the daily efforts of concerned parents, educators and related adult stakeholders, who help to form the so-called wall against such deplorable use of the language.

What can we do when we as concerned adults encounter such language among children?

Yes, we could perhaps stand back and do nothing or let it go with a shake of our head! And retreat into a conversational analysing of the circumstances surrounding the child that must have given him or her the tragic opportunities to pick up such bad habits.

Or we could act! That is, we should not regard it an accident that we ourselves happened to encounter it in a child at that particular time. It's instead to be seen as an opportunity to be presented to the child to learn to be better. Through our encounter, we fairly but firmly become that child's opportunity to be better.

How firm we should be is dictated by the occasion and our sense of fairness, noting that our educating response will echo into that child's future, and not immediately be seen to bear fruit.

Now, isn't that much like what parents and educators encounter on a daily basis with respect to their own charges?

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Learning about English...

I continue to be surprised at what I come across, about the "new" aspects of the English language (new at least to me!).

Recently, a friend mentioned this thing called "adjective order". That there's an order to apply adjectives (words used to describe a noun). However, I don't remember studying this in school. Or maybe it just did not register then!

Inspired by this, and at her behest, onSponge has posted a short article on it. See Adjective types: Your child knows this?

I was able to respond to a couple of her examples correctly, but I couldn't explain why I answered the way I did...I was relying on my "sense" of correctness. This I attributed to my love of reading.

One learns a lot about language by reading, and most of it becomes unconscious appreciation, that helps form a sense of what is right or wrong.

Of course, this is not fool-proof. Why? If we read badly constructed material often enough, we really are none the wiser!

On the conscious level, learning a language by drilling is so boring. Rather, start your child's language learning journey by getting him or her to read books/material that they like. If they are crazy about dinosaurs, get them books on those, or it could be on soccer, etc.

I know schools must have some drill to impart conscious knowledge of language structures.

It's in that context we have "adjective types" :)

So I live and learn something "new" everyday, a testimony that learning is an ongoing journey.

 

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Awesome site on parenting, dating, and more...

Great website for advice on:

1. Marriage & Relationships

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You MUST check out this website! Click on this link to get there: http://www.iquestions.com/

 

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