I have to tell you this... before I call it a day. All ladies out there! Be on the alert. Kidnappers are not just out for kids but ladies as well.
A week back, a friend of mine was walking from her house to Kelana Jaya LRT station. It was the busiest time at 8am what with drive time traffic and all. She was walking along the road when she noticed a car had pulled up in front of her, blocking the walk way. She stopped and thought that it was suspicious that the car should block the walk way. She noticed a man was driving the car and there were two other Indian men sitting at the back. Then, the two men at the back got out of the car. My friend didn't wait but turned and ran. The men chased her all the way. She ran to a field where she saw some senior ladies exercising in a group. She shouted to them saying that the men were chasing her. The ladies also shouted and made quite a bit of noise. When the men saw them, they turned and ran away. My friend had a near miss! What would have happened to her if they got her? Rape? Kidnap for ransom? People are already talking about how easy it was to get ransom what with the recent case on the boy from Mont Kiara.
My friend was very alert and it definitely saved her life. I was thinking that if it had been me, I would have continued walking and go around the car. That will be goners, for sure!!!
So, ladies, broad daylight is still NOT safe! Look around and run at the slightest suspicion. Carry pepper sprays, personal alarm, whatever... for protection. Times are not exactly good.
Good night!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
PLECO helped my son study for his Chinese Spelling
Ryan was pestering over the weekend to get his tuition teacher to come over and help him with his Chinese Spelling ('ting seah' or direct translation: 'listen then write'). Actually, I'm not correctly saying this as there is no such thing as Chinese spelling since it is character learning. Basically, it really means listening to the character and writing it out again. I didn't want to call in the teacher this round. And I also felt that Ryan is too reliant on the tuition teacher.
I decided to try out PLECO. I talked about this application earlier. I was playing the demo version which didn't get me that far. Here is what I thought. It is cheaper than having an electronic dictionary and will definitely teach my kid to be more independent. So, why not? Then, it got me the next question. Should I buy the basic version which is for Chinese beginners, or the 'professional' version which caters for intermediate students? The catch is that I can't upgrade from basic to professional later but to buy add-ons by add-ons which may turn out more expensive. The cost for basic is US39.99 and professional is US69.99. I'm thinking that my son could be progressing to intermediate quite soon ... so what the heck.. just get the professional version. After all, shopping for a dress might cost me more than that. I decided not to get the OCR add on -- the one that you can hover the phone/iPad over the character and it will search for a match. Cool add-pn but more for 'syiok sendiri'. I feel. The package comes with handwriting which is good enough. Handwriting means you can draw the character on the iPad and a match will appear. Then you can get the meaning and even have the application pronounce the character for you. I just felt that OCR is just good to have but not necessary.
So, I tried it out with my son for his revision on 'ting seah'. I used the Flashcard function to save all the characters for his exam so that he can practice over and again. I was also able to check whether his strokes are correct. And then, emphasizing the meaning of the characters. Cool! Ryan was excited with this new 'toy' and he actually learned quite well from it.
Money well spent! And then, my husband had to say that we could have jail broken the iPad before I got the application. Grrrrr....
I decided to try out PLECO. I talked about this application earlier. I was playing the demo version which didn't get me that far. Here is what I thought. It is cheaper than having an electronic dictionary and will definitely teach my kid to be more independent. So, why not? Then, it got me the next question. Should I buy the basic version which is for Chinese beginners, or the 'professional' version which caters for intermediate students? The catch is that I can't upgrade from basic to professional later but to buy add-ons by add-ons which may turn out more expensive. The cost for basic is US39.99 and professional is US69.99. I'm thinking that my son could be progressing to intermediate quite soon ... so what the heck.. just get the professional version. After all, shopping for a dress might cost me more than that. I decided not to get the OCR add on -- the one that you can hover the phone/iPad over the character and it will search for a match. Cool add-pn but more for 'syiok sendiri'. I feel. The package comes with handwriting which is good enough. Handwriting means you can draw the character on the iPad and a match will appear. Then you can get the meaning and even have the application pronounce the character for you. I just felt that OCR is just good to have but not necessary.
So, I tried it out with my son for his revision on 'ting seah'. I used the Flashcard function to save all the characters for his exam so that he can practice over and again. I was also able to check whether his strokes are correct. And then, emphasizing the meaning of the characters. Cool! Ryan was excited with this new 'toy' and he actually learned quite well from it.
Money well spent! And then, my husband had to say that we could have jail broken the iPad before I got the application. Grrrrr....
My son's exam - my stress or his stress?!
Finally my son's exams are over. Phew! It does sound like I'm having exam too, isn't it? Anyways, those 3-4 weeks of review were quite tiring. In fact, it was definitely harder on my son, Ryan who had to go thru 2 to 3 rounds of tuition plus school everyday. In fact, he was asking for the tuition teacher to come in the morning session before he went to school and right after school. After that, it was followed by my session with him. You see, the tuition teacher and I split work. She took up all subjects in Chinese and I took English and Bahasa Malaysia. I focused quite a bit on BM - going very slow, word by word making sure he understood each word. I wasn't expecting him to remember all but at least 80%... that's quite demanding too, I guess. Towards the last week and exam week, I did a lot of practice with him using KSSR workbooks and UPSR workbooks. I thought like what I used to do in SPM, practice makes perfect and hopefully, the teachers would use some of those questions from the published workbooks. I know that in my days, my teachers used to copy questions from different workbooks to make up an exam paper.
A word of warning though. Don't rely on workbooks that mention on covers that they are on KSSR syllabus. Some publishers just used KBSR books and put a cover saying that they are KSSR books. The syllabuses between KSSR and KBSR are very different. You know what I did? I used my iPhone and snapped my son's text book's content page and then, went to the bookstore and check the workbooks book by book before I bought them.
So, what I did was, after reviewing a few topics on text books, I gave him practice the same topics on a few workbooks. I aim for repetitive learning. Within reach was a dictionary which I train my son to use. So, it was a very slow and painful progress. When exam came, I found that Ryan had quite some confidence. I'm very happy. I'm not expecting 100% but an above average grade will do so that at least some subjects will help to pull up his overall grading.
On the last day of his exam, I rewarded Ryan with 2 sets of encyclopedia which he loves. This time, I bought him encyclopedia in Malay language. I found it by chance in Sogo. I'll take some pictures and show you next time. Too comfortable now in bed, blogging.
Actually, I was pretty much in dilemma just before his exam. I knew I pushed him very hard and he has been a good boy trying to please me by studying hard even though he was very tired. I felt very heartsick to push my 7+ year old like that but I asked myself if I had a choice. Two days before exam started, Ryan said to me just before bedtime that he was very worried. Worried what if he couldn't do well in his exam. Worried what if he didn't know how to do. I told him to try his best and try not to make careless mistakes. He told me that he wanted to be a good boy and he wanted to do well. My sister in law also just told me that Ryan told her that he was stressed a few days back. I felt really bad. Have I pushed him too hard? I told him that he has improved a lot already. Even if his results are not as good, he has already improved. He can always try to do better in the next exam. My husband told me to relax a bit. On the extreme, we don't want him to get depress like those children we hear in the news who went into extreme actions like committing suicide. That got me real worried. Straight away, I sms-ed the tuition teacher telling her not to push too hard. I relaxed a bit on my coaching method as well. And I prepared a reward on the last day of exam to boost up his spirit. Actually, it wasn't so bad. He was pretty confident with BM and English. So, let's see... the results.
I don't know I was lucky or not that I don't need to coach Raymund and Rachel. At last minute, about a 2-3 weeks back, there was a notice that MOE abolished exams for preschoolers. I'm not very sure I'm that happy about that. I feel that these children will get quite a shock when they move to primary school. My son Ryan has gone thru both environments - kindy with exam and without exam. I feel that kindy with exam is preparing preschoolers better for primary school. They will have enough shock going to a new school .. much bigger.. stricter ...and definitely, with teachers with less personal touch and care.
I don't know I was lucky or not that I don't need to coach Raymund and Rachel. At last minute, about a 2-3 weeks back, there was a notice that MOE abolished exams for preschoolers. I'm not very sure I'm that happy about that. I feel that these children will get quite a shock when they move to primary school. My son Ryan has gone thru both environments - kindy with exam and without exam. I feel that kindy with exam is preparing preschoolers better for primary school. They will have enough shock going to a new school .. much bigger.. stricter ...and definitely, with teachers with less personal touch and care.
Monday, May 7, 2012
All for my Children's Safety
It's late and I'm still blogging. Tomorrow, I am definitely going to suffer at work!!!
Just thought I'll cover another topic - some thoughts about children's safety.
The recent ordeal over the kidnapping of the Dutch boy has certainly shaken up the nation. My friends and colleagues who are parents felt it too. I just can't imagine what the boy's parents were going through while they were waiting for their boy to come home. Around the same time, my husband told me that near his boss' residence, there was also an attempted kidnapping of two boys - similar age too. Luckily, the kidnapping attempt failed as the boys were shouting and putting up a fight. Their shouting alerted people who came out to see what was happening. The boys were so lucky. They are also private school goes.
I just received a note from my residential community telling us to tighten our security as there have been cases of burglary and snatch thieves armed with parang within our vicinity. Scary!! It sure seems that the economy is not doing that fantastic. Immediately, I told my maid to lock all doors and not let my kids play outside the house during the day. You just don't know who are the bad guys.
My eldest boy is learning Tae Kwon Do. I have all intention to send my second son to martial arts learning too. As for my girl, I don't quite know yet. My initial rationale is for discipline and some sort of self defense knowledge. With all that is happening around us, it is not a bad idea after all.
I'm going to have some bedtime stories with my kids in the next few days centering around the topic of what to do when there are bad guys, creating scenarios whether at home, in school, out shopping and so forth. This is long overdue but never too late. In fact, I told them today that if they encounter bad guys, shout as loud and make as much noise as possible. The first rule of defense.
Ok! Time for bed! Nite, nite!
Just thought I'll cover another topic - some thoughts about children's safety.
The recent ordeal over the kidnapping of the Dutch boy has certainly shaken up the nation. My friends and colleagues who are parents felt it too. I just can't imagine what the boy's parents were going through while they were waiting for their boy to come home. Around the same time, my husband told me that near his boss' residence, there was also an attempted kidnapping of two boys - similar age too. Luckily, the kidnapping attempt failed as the boys were shouting and putting up a fight. Their shouting alerted people who came out to see what was happening. The boys were so lucky. They are also private school goes.
I just received a note from my residential community telling us to tighten our security as there have been cases of burglary and snatch thieves armed with parang within our vicinity. Scary!! It sure seems that the economy is not doing that fantastic. Immediately, I told my maid to lock all doors and not let my kids play outside the house during the day. You just don't know who are the bad guys.
My eldest boy is learning Tae Kwon Do. I have all intention to send my second son to martial arts learning too. As for my girl, I don't quite know yet. My initial rationale is for discipline and some sort of self defense knowledge. With all that is happening around us, it is not a bad idea after all.
I'm going to have some bedtime stories with my kids in the next few days centering around the topic of what to do when there are bad guys, creating scenarios whether at home, in school, out shopping and so forth. This is long overdue but never too late. In fact, I told them today that if they encounter bad guys, shout as loud and make as much noise as possible. The first rule of defense.
Ok! Time for bed! Nite, nite!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Electronic Chinese Dictionary vs Online/Apps for Chinese 'super' Dictionary like PLECO and NCIKU
I don't know about you but I'm hopeless and helpless when my boys ask for my help with their Chinese. I am good in spoken Cantonese but I am as good as illiterate when it comes to reading and writing Chinese.
In one of my previous posts some time ago, I mentioned about an online Chinese dictionary called NCIKU that is very useful for people like me. Besides the usual look-up, I can use the mouse and 'draw' out the character on the space provided. NCIKU will then try to match with the characters in their base. Once I find the right character, I can just click on it and the han yu pin yin and meaning will be displayed. There is an option for the computer to pronounce the character as well. Very useful! Check it out at www.nciku.com. It was a lifesaver when my son was desperately trying to do his Chinese homework one of those days. It took a long time but I was able to help my son. That's what counts... at least during emergency.
Nowadays, technology has made it simpler for us what with smart phones and tablets and then, the creation of apps. Recently, my friend told me to try out an app called PLECO. I googled it up and found some postings saying that PLECO is the best Chinese dictionary around. Here is a demo on one of the coolest functions.
In one of my previous posts some time ago, I mentioned about an online Chinese dictionary called NCIKU that is very useful for people like me. Besides the usual look-up, I can use the mouse and 'draw' out the character on the space provided. NCIKU will then try to match with the characters in their base. Once I find the right character, I can just click on it and the han yu pin yin and meaning will be displayed. There is an option for the computer to pronounce the character as well. Very useful! Check it out at www.nciku.com. It was a lifesaver when my son was desperately trying to do his Chinese homework one of those days. It took a long time but I was able to help my son. That's what counts... at least during emergency.
Nowadays, technology has made it simpler for us what with smart phones and tablets and then, the creation of apps. Recently, my friend told me to try out an app called PLECO. I googled it up and found some postings saying that PLECO is the best Chinese dictionary around. Here is a demo on one of the coolest functions.
Basically, all you need to do is activate the camera function on the PLECO app, then point your iPhone or iPad or Samsung Galaxy over some Chinese characters and PLECO will search for a match in the base for the same word!! Then out comes the meaning of the character etc etc!
Only the basic PLECO dictionary is FREE. The rest of the add-ons like the above feature they call the OCR and all others are PAID upgrades. However, they have the demo versions which are FREE and they encourage us to try it out before we purchase the full version. That's good enough as I have downloaded it all to my Samsung tab. Let me tell you what it can do. Besides that cool stuff that I have just shown you, we can 'write' the character on the tab and a match will be searched. There are add-ons to have the app pronounce the character for you. Also, we can even 'speak out' the character to the mic on your device and it will then search for the app. I have yet to test out this last feature properly. Few times I did it, I was doing it in a noisy environment. Didn't work. Lastly, it can help create flash cards for learning. Haven't done that either. Despite all these, I'm truly amazed at what the world has advanced to. What used to be conventional thick books of dictionaries during my school days have now come to this stage. But I love it!!!!
Actually, I was on the verge of getting an electronic Chinese dictionary for my son as advised by my son's teachers and some parents. They said it will help him with his Chinese. I went to Popular and found that the cheapest and most basic one costs more than RM800!! And the reasonably good ones are way above RM1000!! And to get for my kids and KNOWING that what goes to them wouldn't last, it will be most painful to me. I didn't get one then and was still considering. Just as well!
Comparing, if I really have to pay for a full fledge PLECO. Well, there is no need to have the full full fledge ones as the advanced bundles are meant for adults and professionals. All we need is Pleco Basic Bundle US$34.99 which comes with the dictionary, full screen handwriting, doc (online) reader, flashcard system, stroke order diagram and audio pronunciation both male and female. And if we want the OCR, it is another US$11.99. I guess we don't need the one that lets us speak into it for the app to search. In the first place, I have to know how to speak it out first which I don't. All in all, it wouldn't cost even near to RM800 --- just a very affordable, very worth-it... RM143 !!! And it is just as handy, plus plus plus!!!
I haven't bought the full fledge version yet. Thought I will see if the demo version suffice. So far so good.
With NCIKU, the app only comes with the basic dictionary. They don't have the full screen handwriting yet ... unless I miss it out. So, here it is.. something to share.
The wonders of apps and devices!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Best English-Malay-English Dictionary for Kids..that I have found so far!
I've got something to share!
And yes! I'm probably one of the most irregular bloggers ever. Just the same old song... if only I have more time of my own.
I was browsing in the bookstore the other day. For some reason, I remembered a friend of mine was looking for English-Malay Malay-English dictionary for her 6 ear old son. So, I decided to browse along the dictionary section. My son is currently using Oxford dictionary for English-Malay-English references. Not exactly ideal as it is meant more for older kids and adults. I've been revising with Ryan on his Year 2 Bahasa Malaysia syllabus for his very-soon-to-come exam. To instill some interest and memory, I've been asking Ryan to look up words that he doesn't know from his dictionary. My kids' English is ok but their Malay is horrendous. With the Oxford, I felt that the words used are a bit too 'adult'. I'm looking for one which is for kids who are starting to get familiar with the language.
So, I was browsing. And I picked up this Collins dictionary and decided to flip thru a bit. To be honest, I always have preference for Oxford despite everything that I have said and I have always viewed the Collins is not exactly on par. It is that brand thing that gave me that sort of impression. No particular basis really. So, flipping thru, I actually liked what I saw. I wouldn't have appreciated it if I had not started revising with Ryan on his Year 2 Bahasa Malaysia. I went to the Malay-English section and found that the dictionary is meant for young readers. For each Bahasa Malaysia word, it indicates KATA NAMA (nouns) or KATA KERJA (verbs) or KATA ADJEKTIF (adjectives) etc. For example, for certain words like KATA NAMA, it proceeds to explain the meaning of the word and then.. gave an example of the usage of the word in a complete sentence... and not just that, it also proceeded with variation into KATA KERJA with examples on the usage of the word and so on. I should have taken a picture of the inside/content. Regret! I was so tempted to buy but Ryan has a dictionary already. I didn't but I'd like to share with you if you are looking for one.
It is not the regular Collins dictionary. Look for this one.
COLLINS EASY LEARNING
ENGLISH-MALAY BAHASA MALAYSIA-ENGLISH DICTIONARY
If I remember correctly, it costs RM39.90 thereabouts. You can find it in all major bookstores. I saw it at Popular Bookstore and Borders.
Hope this helps.
And yes! I'm probably one of the most irregular bloggers ever. Just the same old song... if only I have more time of my own.
I was browsing in the bookstore the other day. For some reason, I remembered a friend of mine was looking for English-Malay Malay-English dictionary for her 6 ear old son. So, I decided to browse along the dictionary section. My son is currently using Oxford dictionary for English-Malay-English references. Not exactly ideal as it is meant more for older kids and adults. I've been revising with Ryan on his Year 2 Bahasa Malaysia syllabus for his very-soon-to-come exam. To instill some interest and memory, I've been asking Ryan to look up words that he doesn't know from his dictionary. My kids' English is ok but their Malay is horrendous. With the Oxford, I felt that the words used are a bit too 'adult'. I'm looking for one which is for kids who are starting to get familiar with the language.
So, I was browsing. And I picked up this Collins dictionary and decided to flip thru a bit. To be honest, I always have preference for Oxford despite everything that I have said and I have always viewed the Collins is not exactly on par. It is that brand thing that gave me that sort of impression. No particular basis really. So, flipping thru, I actually liked what I saw. I wouldn't have appreciated it if I had not started revising with Ryan on his Year 2 Bahasa Malaysia. I went to the Malay-English section and found that the dictionary is meant for young readers. For each Bahasa Malaysia word, it indicates KATA NAMA (nouns) or KATA KERJA (verbs) or KATA ADJEKTIF (adjectives) etc. For example, for certain words like KATA NAMA, it proceeds to explain the meaning of the word and then.. gave an example of the usage of the word in a complete sentence... and not just that, it also proceeded with variation into KATA KERJA with examples on the usage of the word and so on. I should have taken a picture of the inside/content. Regret! I was so tempted to buy but Ryan has a dictionary already. I didn't but I'd like to share with you if you are looking for one.
It is not the regular Collins dictionary. Look for this one.
COLLINS EASY LEARNING
ENGLISH-MALAY BAHASA MALAYSIA-ENGLISH DICTIONARY
If I remember correctly, it costs RM39.90 thereabouts. You can find it in all major bookstores. I saw it at Popular Bookstore and Borders.
Hope this helps.
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