Rachel, a budding athlete

My princess was telling me today that if she goes to practice volleyball for 3 weeks in December, she will stand a chance to be part of the Selangor school volley ball team. 👍👏👏👏

Yes, my little girl is grown up now. I'm struggling to accept that she will soon be reaching puberty. I kinda cringe at that hahaha. Guess it is also telling me I'm getting old. However, I do try my best effort to maintain young physically.. I will tell my story next time.

My girl is tall and skinny. I guess she takes after me as I was also tall and skinny when I was her age. This is where the similarity stops. I was an introvert.. Hated sports, didn't like the sun. She is passionate about sports. Just this year, she told me that her teacher said she is the only one who participated the most sports event.. 100m running, shot put, high jump, school volleyball.. And now she added on badminton and basketball. I asked her.. Isn't that too much to handle.. How can you focus? She said quite innocently that she can focus when she is in the game. Now.. That wasn't what I meant. I explained that she has to do well and even master (if she can) one thing at a time and then only move on to the next. I guess she is too young to fully understand. I didn't stop her but let her try it on.

I have become very active physically in the last 3 to 4 years. In a way, I think she uses me as a benchmark... And she proudly tells her friends that her mummy is not thin but has muscles.. Hahaha!

Back to the part about being in the Selangor team. She is ambitious. I love that. It gives me the opportunity to push her a bit further. She knows the techniques but lacks the strength. She said she knows that and her teacher told her so. I told her I can train her if she wants... Even her friends 😉‼️ That's the incentive. I further guided her to motivate her teammates as it is all about teamwork. Be a leader who lets everyone in the team knows that they are just as important. It is not about individual glory. She told me then how she encouraged and motivated her friend today when her teacher scolded her friend for a wrong move. I praised her for that. She is on the right track. A good start! I'm happy but let's see after this.

What I noticed and I would like to share is that if you show that you excel in something and your child's interest ties to this something, it is easier to help your child understand and push further. This is simply because she can see it in you and use you as a benchmark.  My daughter talks to me about her sports and shares with me how well or not she does each time. Great bonding sessions!!

2013.. Fast forward to 2019

After 6 years.. It has been a really long time since I have last blogged. My kids are alot grown now... 2 of them teenagers now - 15 and 13 years old.. and my girl is 11 years. Life got carried away and I neglected my blogging. I was just Googling randomly and came across my very own blog. Thought why not start again since I have time. I am not working now.. between jobs actually.. so I guess I have time. Much to say so I will go slow. So Hi again to all 😊

My little girl will be going for a surgery

My little girl..and she is only 4 years old going on 5 this year will be going thru a minor surgery tomorrow to remove a cyst in the inside of her bottom lips. I seem to be in state of daze? Shock? Because I can't seem to come to terms with my baby going for surgery no matter how minor it is. I don't like the idea that she has to go thru general anesthetic so that she will go to sleep when the doc performs the surgery. I don't like that someone will insert a knife and cut a hole in her inner lips. I don't like to think that she has to have suture after that. And I will worry myself senseless while waiting for the lab to come back with the results of the cyst after removal. I worry and worry. And... What if she is allergic to it? What if she goes into a fright and clings to me before the surgery? What ifs what ifs. I guess I'm the one with a trauma. I'm scaring myself silly.

My little girl fell down hard on her face some months back. I didn't check if she hurt her lips of teeth as I saw no blood and she didn't cry much. Two months back, I accidentally saw some white specs in the inner lips and thought it was some rice or food and I wanted to wipe it off. It was then I discovered that it was something protruding out from the inner lips. My girl then said no pain. We took her to the paed and she told us to leave it alone and ignore it as it will go. Said it is a cyst due to blockage of saliva glens. Gave us some med to apply. I didn't go off. Took her to the dentist and she looked damn blur and gave some passing remark that 'perhaps we should remove it'. Took her to a normal GP, she asked me 'what is it? Never seen before'. Then the Daddy tried to apply some salt to 'help burst the cyst' and to some success it went down by half. Two weeks later, it came back and bigger. Got worried and immediately took her to Columbia Asia to see Doctor Cheok who referred us to an ENT specialist in the same hospital, Dr Megat. Nice and patient guy. He explained that it is cyst and it could be due to trauma or blockage of saliva glens or what else as it is hard to say but don't worry, it ain't anything dangerous.  Phew! But still, he recommended to remove it since it has been there for some months. Ermmm... In fact, I agree as it is already affecting Rachel as she kept biting on it accidentally and causing it to hurt. So, quickly we scheduled for tomorrow to perform this surgery.

Children this age must sleep thru the surgery. In fact, Ryan who has severe gastric and digestion problem and who is also seeing a specialist (sigh!!) was on standby to do a stomach scope and that doc also explained that kids have to go with general anesthetic as they can't keep still. Yep, I've been in and out of hospitals seeing specialist since Jan. So much so I asked a feng shui master to check what's wrong.

Rachel will also be given a local anesthetic on the cyst area so that it will help when she wakes up. And then after, she will go on antibiotic and pain killers while we watch for possible signs of infections. She will be in pain...arghhh!! So the doc told us to prepare ice creams as she can't hardly eat after. I also just bought her some toys to distract her when she wakes up after the surgery. She doesn't need to stay the night at the hospital, thank God!

Just yesterday, my friend told me that she will also be given the IV needle. Oh no! Sure Rachel will freak out! How to handle?! So, now you know... My trauma and my tension. Yes it is a minor procedure but face it, she is only a 4 year old!

Bracing myself! Luckily my husband will also be there. Coz I'm scaring myself silly with my imaginations and worries.


Joanne

Just testing ...

Yes, I know I said good night already ... But since  I'm holding an iPad, I just haaavvve to test if I can blog with my iPad. Now I know I can...with some limitations. Whee! That's all, folks. I'm sleeping now. Trow is work day... Monday, sigh!


Good nite!

The Wonders of Hazeline Snow .. even for my kids!

Why didn't I blogged about this? I have been using Hazeline Snow since I was a kid and I'm also putting my kids on it. I am a firm believer of Hazeline Snow and I'll tell you why.

Remember this ... long long time ago? 

Now, it looks like this. . But somehow, I like the old bottle better.

And I'm still using it. I prefer this yellow bottle version and not the green cap with whitening ingredients.

Cheap and good. And no! Unilever is NOT paying me to talk about it. I wish! I sorta heard that they may just discontinue the production but I really hope not. Anyway, I'm gonna stock up just in case.

Tried and tested. My brother went without it when he was growing (he didn't like it) and I was on it since I was 12 years old. My mum introduced Hazeline to me as she was also using it when SHE was young. The difference was I had flawless complexion and my brother had acne issues. I really used it everyday, every time after I wash my face... coz I stand the feeling of 'skin pulling' after I wash my face... erm... with normal bathing soup!! I like the oil free skin feel. Heehee! And did I mention, that I never use toner, facial cleaner and etc etc ... even now. The cosmetics promoters always gave me a horrified look whenever they tried to sell me toner, facial cleaner and the works, and I told them I have never used them at all. Just 1 mosturizer will do, Ha,ha! Partly also I'm just to lazy to fix on so many things. As I said, my latest is just good O Hazeline Snow. I love to put the bottle in the fridge (not the ice box!!) and it felt really good when I apply it on my face. Cooling!

Oops, I'm digressing... about my brother and I ... Of course, you can always say it  is because of different skin types. I still feel that since both my brother and I came from the same genes, it shouldn't be that much of a difference. Till today, at this age (I ain't telling) I'm still using it. Earlier, I was also firm believer of Estee Lauder for my skin care but of late, I have developed some allergies to some of its products. Could be the ingredients that they keep changing or just me and my hormones! So, I reverted back to Hazeline Snow, the yellow cap ones.

When I was a teen with raging hormones, even though I had most-of-the-time-flawless skin, I would occasionally be spotted with a big big pimple. It was those big and shiny and right on the nose type... and really reeaaaally painful type. Just one of it. What I used to do was to apply Hazeline Snow on it. Rubbed it in .. really massage it in... apply some more Hazeline... keep massaging it in.. apply some more until it forms a thick white powdery layer. I left the white layer on. Of course I only did this at night before I went to bed. The next day, voila!! The pimple was down by HALF the size and less red and swollen. Of course, I continued the application till the pimple was gone. Works every time!

Just last night, a mosquito got into the room and had a feast on my girl. She woke up in the middle of the night with 3 big bites on her face, 2 bites on her neck and 2 big bites on her hands. Yep, from only 1 very hungry mosquito which my hubby caught. Mosquitoes like my girl... heard it is those PH thing that my girl has and that mosquitoes like. The bites on her will normally swell and swell ... gets big time inflamed and very very itchy. She would scratch until her skin bleeds. Then of course, scars later.  So, what I did this time was the same thing. Took the yellow capped Hazeline Snow, scooped a big chunk and put it on all the bites. On each spot, I massaged in the Hazeline about 1 min. Then put some more and massage another minute and then add and repeated... for each bite. Then I left a thick layer on all the bites and left it to dry. Guess what!! The next day, the swell went down by half again. Towards afternoon, it was getting redder again (because we washed it off and forgot to apply it again earlier), I did the same application on her again. I kept doing this about 2-3 times today and I found them healing very quickly. In fact, the bites even stopped itching. And hopefully, no scars.

So, there you go! Try it. It works well for my family. 4 generations of us ... and I forgot to mention that my late grandma used to use it too, :)! I have started my kids already on Hazeline Snow since they were 4-5 years old. There are so many pollutants in the air nowadays that it is better to protect their skin earlier. And seriously, even the Unilever who produces this Hazeline Snow product may not even know the extent of its uses... protects the skin, heal pimples, heal bites, hahaha! Else how come never boast about it? I really hope they will keep this product on the shelves. Keep the price too! The biggest bottle is only less than RM11 (at NSK). If they are not, I'm gonna stock up!!!

Ok, I'm going to bed! Have a good week to all!
Nite, nite!


Joanne

It's time to enroll your kids in Primary again

I have been busy and forgetful. I received this notification from my boys' school to start enrolling kids born in 2007 and 2008 for primary schools. I kept forgetting to enroll for Rachel. How slack! When I just got down to it, I realized I need to check out some details - so postpone again. I will do it tomorrow!

Just so you know, the application for registering kids to Standard 1 is open for this month from 1 till 31 March. Expecting a crowd in school, better hurry. If you are unaware, log on to MOE website to check out the requirements. For Selangor, we do online first before we go to the school to submit docs and have the birth cert stamped.

The website is http://apps.moe.gov.my/eppsel/
This website is only for Selangor schools.

Fill up the online application and then print it out.
Bring this along to the school together with:
1.  Original and copy of the child's birth cert
2.  Parents' NRIC - original and copy
3.  Marriage Cert (or Divorce cert) - original and copy
4.   Proof of address with name of parents on it. Original and copy. Eg. electric bill, water bill, Land assessment, SPA
5.  A white envelope 4" x 9" with RM0.60 stamp affixed

Let's do this!!

Does Enopi/Eye Level work for my kids? Let's talk about this again.

Let's talk about Enopi, now known as Eye Level, again...

I knew I raved about its effectiveness a long while back when my boys were still young and in kindy. I'm  stillnot saying that it is not good but... yes, it has some 'Buts' now.

In my earlier post, I have quite a few comments from my readers about their opinion on Enopi and their recommendation of some other. Thanks so much :) !

Now that my boys are now older, I have to review some points here. At the start, Enopi for very young kids like 4 years and kindy has certainly helped them. My kids are still going there but Im having second thoughts for my eldest, Ryan now in Standard 3... and perhaps at later stage for Raymund who is now at Standard 1. Ryan is still practicing some additions and substractions but his school has gone much advance. The worse part is the method is not aligned to his school's. Children at this stage, if they can recognize that there are more ways to work out the Maths, it's good but I seriously think that it is expecting too much of them.

I'm planning to pull Ryan out of Enopi soon but Im leaving Rachel and Raymund there still. Enopi still gives them a good foundation. The practical skills in critical thinking and problem solving are also very useful and makes future comprehension of Maths easier. However, when the child moves to primary schools, there are obvious distinction in the teaching methods. I find my boys esp Ryan going on 2 different routes in learning Maths - in school and at Enopi. To say the least, Enopi is not helping with his everyday Maths needs for his school. And worse, I am beginning to notice that both his interest and performance in Maths is sliding. Is that what we want at this stage? Yes, if my child is super intelligent. At his point Ryan is really struggling. My experience when I was coaching his school work and Enopi is that the methods for each are trully not aligned and teachers in school are very adamant to use THEIR method. So, why stress my boy to learn 2 varying methods??

To point it out further, kids nowadays are already stress as it is with high level of difficulty in school (compared to my time really!) and time is not enough as it is. I for one have no intention of adding unnecessary stress to them.

Having said that, I am NOT degrading the importance of Enopi. Specifically for my kids, I feel that they have truly benefited at younger age and I'm still sending my youngest there to build her foundation. I still have no regrets over my decision to enroll them at Enopi at the younger age. But, I feel that I can put my older boy's time to better use and align it with his school's studies. Mathematics is a very important subject. At least, I'd want to reinforce his school studies instead of taking him to a different route. Moreover, he is still a banana going thru big challenges of a SJKC, both academically and emotionally.. sigh! That's another story.


Joanne

Hi! It's been a while!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

It's been a while since I last blogged. Much has happened. Now my kids are bigger. My youngest Mei Mei is already in Kindy Year 5, Raymund just started Standard 1 and Ryan now in Standard 3. This is getting more challenging for me with 2 primary school going kids. Can't imagine when my youngest goes to primary. I really don't know how I can split my time to coach them esp when I'm not a SAHM.

To be a SAHM is certainly a wish but it ain't gonna happen. But it's a nice wish to be SAHM plus of course, having a maid to help out :). Keep dreaming. In reality, it works alot better for my family to have dual income so as not to stress out any party and to have some stability.

Work has become more challenging as you climb the ladder. Of course, age is also not helping to ease as I don't have the never ending energy that I used to have. Gosh! Now I sound like an old hag. Kids are growing up and the needs are more demanding now. My husband and I have to keep thinking how to get the best for the family and the future. I make this sound very stressful. Is it? Not really but something everyone has to go thru. Is this what everyone call the start of mid life crisis, hahaha! Just blowing some steam here only :)

Contrary... I actually love to watch my kids growing up. How their characters are forming. Of course there are stress moments when we found something are not exactly going to the way we want it to. Then the challenge of trying to correct them. Life is not that tough. Our jobs no matter how challenging they are at work still allows us to have some quality family time. I have to say... our weekends are sacred!!! Strictly family time. I get very upset when it gets interrupted. Of course, it happens every now and then :(. Having a good boss is very important. A boss who believes that everyone must have work family balance... and not that we owe them our lives to work for them. We are so far pretty lucky in this regard.

This year, my husband and I are facing some new challenges. Raymund starting Primary.... Ryan to see if he can still take SJKC.. Rachel signs of some reluctance to go to kindy... Ryan some medical issues though not serious, ladiladila... Let's see. I'll slowly talk about them.


Joanne

Watch out, all ladies!!!

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!

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....

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

A Visit to Popular Bookstore

Following the earlier post... yep! I'm panicking. My children... nah!!

Reflecting.. I don't remember MY mum panicking during my time. Why ah? But then again, my kid's  Standard 1 syllabus now is my Standard 3 syllabus then. It is therefore no wonder why my mum can't understand why I'm so worried about my kids' studies. The pressure on young kids today is so great .. sigh!

So, I need to expand both my sons' Chinese vocab and literacy thru reading. And I need workbook practices of KSSR syllabus in preparation for Ryan's exam. I can only do English and BM for him.

So, that calls for shopping for books. I tried going to those local bookstores usually opened by Malay or Indian proprietors, thinking that KSSR for Kebangsaan schools and SJKC books are the same. Actually they are NOT. Coz I actually took a snap of the BM and English syllabus with my phone. Then when I was at the store, I checked the workbook's syllabus with my son's school books. They are not the same. The shopkeeper thinks that the KSSR syllabuses BM and English for SJKC are easier.

I made a visit with my kids to Popular Bookstore instead. I got about 3-4 books each. This is so that I can do repeat practicing by topic when I coach Ryan. And while we were there, I got some Chinese books for Ryan, Raymund and Rachel. Ryan loves encyclopedia and we found a good one in Chinese. He has been holding onto it since that day and every day and sleeping with it :). For Raymund, I got some simple Chinese storybook reading with English translation and Han Yu Pin Yin as well. Rachel didn't want to lose out, so she got herself a small Chinese English similar book and a Disney Princess tupperware.

 

All my kids were happy. But that is just the beginning. I have yet to find time to read with them. Then again, I'm Chinese illiterate. So, I have to depend on my tuition teacher instead.

My next task now is to find children's encyclopedia in Malay. So far, I can't find any. And I don't know where to look for. To get Ryan to expand vocab in any language is to get him to read his area of interest... encyclopedia. I'm asking around still.

All these collections of books will be used to help Raymund later. Hopefully, he will share the same interest in knowledge. Ryan has managed to influence him a little. But Raymund is still young. He is still very attached to his toys :). He is very partial to pencil boxes and containers.

My Kids' Exam is coming...who is panicking??

My kids' exam is drawing near... in May. Yes, its another month's time but it is really not that far away. Now that all 3 kids are schooling, I don't know who to concentrate on first and whether I can cope for all at the same time. And I only have weekends to do so. My work is going crazy now too. Ryan is still my main focus since he is in Std 2 but Raymund is in his last year of kindy.

I was asking their tuition teacher about Ryan's progress. No doubt better but she thinks Ryan is still going to struggle in Chinese esp Science and Math where the questions are going to be in narrated. Ryan's school teacher also fed back the same. I have established a communication method with Ryan's school teacher. The same what I have done when my kids are in the kindy. It's thru the Message Book. It is worse in Primary school and especially so in Chinese school where the access to teachers is so very restricted. Practically little or no opportunity to talk to teachers. Yep, I may be a bit anal but I want to know my kid's progress. So, I tested to see if the teacher is receptive to notes to her thru the Message Book ('tung kau pu') and I got Ryan to pass it to the teacher to see. She is ok and in fact, my tuition teacher has also been communicating to her on Ryan's studies. Works well. And I recommend for mummies to try. During Std 1 days, I used to write notes on a paper and get Ryan to pass to his teacher but the Message Book is lots better so that there is a trail and consistent place to look out for messaging. Once even, his teacher initiated a note to me telling me that Ryan had not been studying for his spelling and was the only one with zero in the class. Since then, I was able to push for interest and good results from him. This 2 way communication proves to help either party to know where are the weaknesses that we can concentrate on for Ryan.

Because exam is round the corner, I dropped another note to the teacher to ask her where are areas that we should concentrate on. She advised to get Ryan to read more Chinese books to improve his vocab. She also mentioned that she has moved Ryan to front roll to 'watch out for him' knowing that he is not a 'Chinese based' boy. Cool or what :)

With Raymund, he is still in kindy. I'm less worried as he has been quite consistent with his exam results. That is 100% in all subjects. His teachers have been pretty responsive and when there is a problem, they will call me instead. The one piece that I have to concentrate for Raymund is reading. He is almost hopeless with Phonics blending. I noticed that this is a common problem in a lot of children. My colleagues' kids are having the same problem. His other problem is obviously Chinese!!!! Am I surprised??

Looks like I need to set aside time to guide my kids. The good thing about this is all my kids love it when I guide them ... even though I can be quite fierce when they are not concentrating :). I guess they want Mummy's attention.

I'm just worried I'll fail. Sigh!

Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre for Chinese & Bahasa Malaysia Enrichment

I have discussed at length on Bao Bei a while ago. You can check out this post 'Just Checked Out BAO BEI Reading Wonderland (Chinese Enrichment for Age 3-10)' for details. 


My friend told me that a comparable and perhaps better Chinese enrichment is this centre called Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre or 葉老師創意教學中心. I decided to check it out today.







Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre is not operating a franchise. This was one of the 1st questions I asked when I got there with Raymund and Rachel. I prefer that it is not a franchise. At least there will be more consistency in standards and offerings. 


The selling point for Teacher Yap CLC is that the teaching focuses on full attention 1 to 1 learning for children aged 3 to 12. They stresses that the learning levels depends on the child's capability. For the very basic level, they will start with big flash cards with simple to hard chinese characters. They will use interesting interactive ways to teach the child to absorb and remember the characters. The basic level also includes reading the Odonato 'red dragonfly' series. I have written about these Odonata book series which comes in series of 100, 200... all the way up to 1200 characters recognition. According to the facilitator, the founder Teacher Yap had put together various compilation of chinese characters initially for her own 3 kids. When she found that it worked on her kids, she proceeded to set up the Centre to get young children ready for Primary and thereafter. The Odonata is the reading series supporting the flash cards piece. The centre does not believe in teaching children long sentences and pushing them to go for difficult reading. Like Kumon and Enopi, children will know and familiarize before moving from level to level. The methods, they say, are very simple and easy to understand and fun to increase absorption. The teaching comes with some fun activities like drawing and such. At the beginning, the kids will be given 'homework' which they will need to complete in class. The focus is yet again on 1 to 1 teaching. The facilitator also stresses that it is important for us parents to talk to our children, particularly in the language that they are learning. Coupled with what they learn at the centre, it would be easier for the kids to apply, understand and speak. 

Interestingly, the Centre also provides Bahasa Malaysia enrichment. Parents get to choose to go for either 1 language or both. The teaching remains 1 to 1 as is their focal point. For BM, the basic level starts of with sounds and suku kata and so on. The aim is to get the kids ready for Primary KSSR. BM and Chinese syllabus for Standard 1 today is not what it used to be. In my time, what they are studying now in Standard 1 was our Standard 3 syllabus. Poor kids! It is no wonder that us parents are frantically starting our kids young. The stress on the young children! And a great investment opportunity for those who pursue their career in offering enrichment for children. 


Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre has centres in Sri Petailing, OUG, Bandar Kinrara, Bandar Puteri, Bandar Mahkota Cheras, Kota Damansara, Taman Segar and Taman Equine. The first centre was in Sri Petaling started in 2007. The contact is:


Sri Petaling: 26-1,Jalan 14/149L, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-9059 5991 / 016-2155 377




The minimum number of lessons per week is 3 and up to 5. Each lesson is 1 and half hours. Depending on whether you pick Chinese or both languages, it will still be 1 and half hour each lesson. 


Their fees structure for now looks like this:


  Registration fees = RM100
  Material fees  =  RM50 for 1 subject   or RM100 for 2 subjects


  For One Program, One Teacher  (ie. 1 language)
     3days/week  12 lessons/mth   = RM300 per month
     4days/week  16 lessons/mth   = RM350 per month
     5days/week  20 lessons/mth   = RM400 per month


  For 2 Program, 2 Teacher  (ie. both Chinese and BM)
     3days/week  12 lessons/mth   = RM350 per month
     4days/week  16 lessons/mth   = RM400 per month
     5days/week  20 lessons/mth   = RM450 per month




If you are interested in this, hope this info helps.


I have yet to decide as I have a main problem since I'm not a SAHM. Timing and Transport!! Sigh!

Sending a English-based Kid to a Chinese School - Is it a good move??

Kinda strange. When I resumed blogging, what is top most in mind is not just my children but their education. No, I'm not saying that this is not in my mind but the focus wasn't really there. Hence, I have somewhat slacked in that area. Now that I'm back, this piece is coming back in sharper focus. The guilt of slacking naturally comes with it.

I was having this conversation today with a friend. Her daughter will be starting school in 3 years time and darn, she is already wondering which school to send her to. She was asking my opinion on SJK(C) versus a private school. Is there a hard and fast rule to it?

A few months back, when my husband was coaching Ryan on his BM, he was real upset to see that Ryan's Malay literacy was and still is below par. In fact, his Chinese now is a lot better than his Malay. We started to question.. have we done the wrong thing by sending Ryan, an obviously non-Chinese speaking and pretty much a banana boy, to a Chinese Primary school. He went thru a very tough time during Standard 1.. to the extend that he dreaded going to school. His results other than English and Math, weren't encouraging then. His spirit was really low. Now that we realized that with this approach, we could be doing it at the expense of Malay literacy. Is it worth while? After all, we are living in Malaysia and Malay is definitely very important. Now, I'm not saying that Chinese is not important but should it be Chinese in all subjects? Our earlier decision to put him in a Chinese school was also because we wanted the strict disciplinary training that usually comes with the teaching culture. But what's my cost here?

In fact, at this stage, I'm kind of stuck. Ryan can't go to a Kebangsaan school. He will be soooo lost especially with his weakness in BM. But can he strive thru all the way to Standard 6 in a Chinese school? I'm not confident about his grades. And I don't want also a Grade 2 if he does badly in BM next time. That leaves us with the consideration of a private school. Of course, the cost is real $$$. I have many friends in similar situation who ended up pulling their children out of SJK(C) and into private schools.

I was given so many opinions of private schools. Not all are favourable. There have been sweeping remarks that children from private schools tend to be spoiled and kinda self centred. And there have been some that said that it really depends on the school. I have yet to check out the different private schools. I felt that what's important when it comes to that is the parents' testimonial and the course structure/syllabus of the school. I'm in fact quite weary of the over-commercialized private school. Ryan was in such similar over-commercialized private kindy and guess what? I have get him out and raced against time to get him ready for Standard 1.

Frankly, I don't know where to start searching. At this point, I will be most happy for any recommendation to me :)

I'm not going to pull him out of SJK(C) just yet. Ryan is showing good signs of improvement especially now that he takes pride in his results and achievements. But it is still a long way to go. My husband and I agreed to wait for his term exam and see how he fares. The decision will come after that.

Sometimes, I feel really bad for Ryan. Whatever and whichever moves/decisions we make for him have always been a trial and error. And definitely, there have been glaring mistakes and he has to do quite a bit of catch up. Raymund and Rachel are more fortunate. That is probably why I focus a lot of attention on Ryan. Nevertheless, I'm pretty worried over my younger kids as well and whether they can survive SJK(C). My kids are all banana kids. My hope is that different kids have different pick up and learning capabilities. I still maintain that SJK(C) is still the 1st step. But I can always ram up their base first.... and therein lies yet another headache especially when I'm not a SAHM... coming up next...

Registering for Primary School Admission in 2012

It has been bothering me... how come there is no notice for me to go to Ryan's school to register for Raymund. I remembered that I have to get his birth certificate stamped by the school as part of the procedure of applying for a place in the SJK(C) school for him. I asked my colleague some time back and she said that she was also waiting for the same.

I knew I had done the online application via MOE for Raymund. I had also filled up a form brought back by Ryan that asked for Ryan's sibling who will be attending the school come next year. What I didn't remember was going to the school to submit the relevant documents, get his birth cert stamped and fill up some stacks of forms. 

March has gone and now April. I remember that during Ryan's time, the cut off date was March to do all this. I was definitely panicking. I had finally managed to get thru to the school and speak to the school admin. I had a moment of panic when she said she couldn't find Raymund's record despite my online application thru MOE. She told me she had to search thru 700+ records of application to search for his record and told me to call back. When I called back, she told me that she found Raymund's record and that I had already went thru all the procedures including getting his birth certificate stamped. Gosh! Must be old age! I seriously thought I didn't do it and I was so certain that I didn't even check his birth certificate. Whatever it is, thank God I did it!

I quickly then called my colleague. Her situation is different as her son is the eldest and going to Primary on his own. Raymund's situation is better as he is tagging in after Ryan. When I told her about the deadline being end of this month (that's what the school admin told me), she dropped everything and went straight to the school to get everything done. 

So, to all mothers out there. Please check that your children's admission into Standard 1 next year is in order. The deadline is THIS MONTH APRIL. I was also told of another situation. Having an older child in the school DOES NOT GUARANTEE a place for the younger. So, let's be prepared.

First thing first, I reckon that calling the school to check for your child's record may be a good step. Be prepared with your child's IC number as they will search by IC. You have to ensure that if you have children born in 2006 and 2007, the procedures for school application should be in order by now. Children born in the year 2008 will start registering next year - that's for my Rachel.

Lastly, for children's admission to Standard 1 next year, we can check the result online in Aug. Good luck to all of us!

Challenging My Sons... I'm still testing

It's 3am and I'm still blogging!

I haven't been as attentive and as close to my sons' studies as in the earlier days. I'm relying on my tuition teacher quite a bit here as my work has been pretty demanding lately.

So, it came as no surprise that my son, especially the eldest, came back with bad results for exam as well as for his regular spelling, ejaan and Chinese listen and write (direct translation for 'ting seah'). It was most upsetting when his Standard 2 class teacher wrote me a note in his message book that Ryan was the only one in his class who got 0 for his spelling and that he was most unattentive in class. As a parent, I don't like to hear this. And Ryan wasn't (at that time) worried too much about having 0 result. He was too playful. My husband and I tried scolding and lecturing him. Didn't quite work. He was only bothered that I didn't sign on his book as he was worried that his teacher would scold. His school requires parents to sign on all their ejaan, spelling and 'ting seah' results. Later, I went to the extend of going a bit on reverse psychology saying that he upsets his mummy went he does very badly. Ryan is very sensitive about my feelings and he tries hard to make me happy. For this, I love my son very much. Even Raymund is the same. Both boys will always try to make me happy to the extend of 'satay-ing' me when I cook for them or something. The reverse psychology worked a bit. He came back with reasonable marks for his spelling, ejaan and 'ting seah'.

With this observation, I went further by challenging him to get 100% for all his spelling, ejaan and 'ting seah'. And that he is very clever and his parents will be very proud of him. Ryan loves to know that he is clever and he puts double effort to show this. I suppose this is because he had a hard time adjusting his Standard 1 in a chinese school in the year before. Since then, his record for all his 3 languages spelling equivalent has been 100% and graded A. He was very very proud. Once he came back with 1 wrong and he promised vehemently that he would get 100% next and he did!

Just this week, his tuition teacher couldn't make it to guide him with his Chinese 'ting seah'. Obviously, I can't either. He was most upset indeed as he was aiming high at 100% marks. He was pestering me the whole night to get someone to help him the next morning before he went to school. You see, at last minute on the day before, his school teacher had changed some characters for the 'ting seah'. Luckily, my neighbour was able to assist him. According to my neighbour, they didn't manage to finish practicing all. So, I didn't pressure for 100%. Today, when he came back, he was waiting for me to get in the house. In his hand, he was ready with the result of his Chinese 'ting seah'. It was 100%. I can still remember his face. He was proud and very happy. Naturally, my husband and I are very proud too. We fanned this spirit for perfection. We exaggerated our praise to him and even let him choose the venue for dinner. (Ryan loves to eat!!)

There is another observation. While he was putting in effort to achieve a consistent 100% in these various spelling for the 3 languages, I have also noticed that his memory power has also improved. Turns out very well indeed :)

While these were going on, my 2nd second, Raymund noticed the attention that his kor kor is having. Of course, he doesn't want to lose out. Raymund also started telling us that he has been getting 'all correct' for his spelling, ejaan and ting seah. Again, we exaggerated our praise. It became a friendly competition of who will bring back 100% for us. In fact, Raymund is kinda cute. A week back, I received a call from Raymund while I was at work. He sounded very upset. I was thinking perhaps he was sick or something. He then told me that 'Mummy, I got all correct for my ejaan...except one wrong'. He was most upset! I was trying not to laugh. Instead I asked him why not all correct and made him promised to give me 'all correct' the next round. He did! Later, his tuition teacher told me that she was in the house when Raymund called me. It was like this. When Raymund woke up from his nap, his tuition teacher asked him how he did for his ejaan. He didn't answer and looking very upset, he went straight to the phone and called me. Poor boy!

My colleague called me a 'Tiger Mum'. She told me that Tiger Mums are mums who wants and pressures her kids to get 100% perfection. Am I really? I seriously don't think so... though.. though I will be most happy if my kids are like that. In my situation, my boys are very playful and attention span is very short. Studies has not been something which is foremost in their minds. That's why the bad results on Ryan's part initially. Raymund is blessed with good memory - so, his situation is not that bad. Hence, this called for a bit more drastic action. A little strive for perfection and a friendly competition. Actually, I was really trying to stimulate interest and pride in their work. As for my girl, she is still a baby in the family :)


I am a proud mum!