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!

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!

Phonics or Words Recognition... and Sight Words??

I learnt something new... and all from this new kindergarten parents briefing at SuperFun Learners. If you have been following my blog, I have always been trying to figure out whether Phonics or word recognition is the better way to teach my son English. My husband and I came from the old school as with all of us in our generation. We used to read and memorize and horrifyingly used Malay Suku Kata to help us pronounce English words. We didn't have Phonics. To this day, I hear friends pronouncing English the Malay way - eg. 'auto' as 'owto' (imagine suku kata). So, my hubby has been arguing with me about why not teach my son our way and here I am trying to tell him, Phonics is the way now. Then, the struggle came when some words do not work with Phonics. How? I used word recognition. I got Ryan to memorize with writing and spelling. Works well. But I was still confused as to the right method.

Guess what, the kindy briefing to parents answered this question for me. The good news is that I have not been wrong in teaching my son BOTH Phonics and Word Recognition. As we already know that there are some words that don't follow the Phonics rule. And my husband has always been saying that there are also words that he should already know without attempting to blend the sounds. And of course, I'm also arguing that he still needs to learn Phonics so that he can read new words. We are both right. We learnt from the briefing that there are SIGHT WORDS around. If you are like me, still trying to figure out what works best for our kids, then this is an eye opener. The English teacher in the kindergarten explained that preschoolers will learn Phonics, sound blending AND over and on top, sight words.

What are Sight Words? There is a comprehensive definition in Wikipedia (just click on this link) or you can Google for more. But here is a short and sweet one here. Sight Words, sometimes referred to as the Dolch Word List, are some of the most frequently used words in English. Once upon a time, before I was born, a guy named Edward William Dolch introduced a new way to improve the way reading was taught to new readers (mostly preschoolers to young children). He compiled a list of words that cannot be pronounced phonetically or even illustrated in pictures. But these words >300 in all are words that comprises about 50-70% of any reading materials, particularly children's books. There are 220 'service words' making up of pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and even verbs... plus another 95 common nouns ... all arranged by grade level. Sorry, I have given back to school the definition of some I have just mentioned :). In short, this is just common, frequently used words in books, that must be taught by sight, ie memorize. But by itself it cannot use in isolation. It is a supplement to balanced reading program. Hence, Phonics is important too. arguably, some says that there are words in the list that are no longer frequently used words since this was created in the 1940s. To me, who cares!

What prompted me to look this up. Of course, the kindy teacher answered my question. Then, I was looking up to download a Sight Words application to my new iPhone. The applications in the iPhone have brief description about this Sight Words thingy..then one thing leads to another... I checked it out further and now blogged about it. If you have iPhone, I suggest that you take some time and download Sight Words Flashcards too. It helps when you can flash it to your kid as and when ... like I did it to Ryan in the restaurant today. My kids find it cool to touch the screen and move the flashcards too. Makes the learning a bit more exciting.

I found a site that gives me all >300 words in a page, printable. Sharing with you. Click here.

Bedtime Stories to Build Knowledge

I have been using flashcards and some phonic books, like Clifford Phonics Fun Series and MyBig Book of Phonics to teach Ryan how to read. hilst it is good to assist him in his reading capability, I noticed that it does fulfill one other objective - GENERAL KNOWLEDGE! These books will only be teaching him how to read through phonics and some word recognition, with some simple stories to add some flavour to the lessons. What about knowledge? I just realised this not too long ago and I have decided to throw in some bedtime stories after our lessons. He is not required to read with me. Just listen and know.

I bought quite a few Scholastic books for him and Raymund. I had a recent order which I had just received. It was actually during the order of these books that I realized this 'knowledge' thingy. Sad but true :( So when it is not too tiring for him, I will put in some time to tell him some stories. I have already read and explained some stories about 'what he wants to be when he grows up' and about the human body. I have more children's books about manners, moral, chinese culture, animals, popular fairy tales, nursery rhymes, etc.

His kindy also encourages story reading with parents. Every week, he gets to choose a book from his school library and bring it home to read with his parents. I have to admit that I have been neglecting this last time. So many opportunities missed... especially when these are the books that he chose for himself...and he told me about it each time. Really feel bad! It's still not too late. He just brought back a book about 'Bats' last week. We had a good time. He enjoyed his stories and what he learnt about bats. I should be thankful that Ryan love books.

I tried with little Raymund some time ago. He is still too young to sit still and listen to stories. I'll start on him much later after he begins his kindy. At the moment, he is picking up a lot from Astro Playhouse Disney. Is it a good thing or not? I really don't know.

Sometimes, I really don't know how much time I can put in for my kids' studies. It is only Ryan and Raymund is soon to start. I can't imagine when Rachel is old enough. I feel lazy at times. When I work, I get very tired when I come back. How do I balance my time? I hope my new job is flexible enough so that I don't neglect my children.

More Flashcards

I have been slacking for a while now. Not very diligent in my quest to better my son's English. And not very proud of it. Just started to pick up on it again as I realized that Ryan has been getting away with excuses like 'Mummy, I'm tired' and escaped studies.

The homemade flashcards that I mentioned in the earlier post worked very well on him. He is very proud when he recognized some words that he had learnt from those cards during his story reading session. A while ago, I bought a set of double sided word cards by 'Your Baby Can Read!' series.

Now I'm using this in combination of my homemade flashcards. The only problem around here is that the usual phonics that I was teaching Ryan didn't work here - at least at his basic phonics level. So, I have just left it for 'word recognition' instead. With these cards, I'm teaching him how to combine more than 1 syllables to make a word eg. 'twin-kle' or 'um-bre-lla'. Slow but steady, with lotsa encouragement and praises. With the old homemade cards, I'm 'challenging' Ryan - trying to make it fun for him - to read me the words as fast as he can. I don't know about other kids but my sons love to race. So, that did excite him a bit :)

Prewriting Skills for Little Raymund

Every time I coach Ryan, little Raymund wants to join in. I thought that it is a good time as any to start on him too. I have just introduced little Raymund to some easy prewriting exercises. At this stage, I'm trying to get him to draw vertical circles, horizontal lines and circles. Not exactly perfect but a good start. I used a lined exercise book and got him to draw lines between the printed lines. For vertical lines, I would just turn the book 90 degrees. When he managed to draw lines without touching the printed lines, I would praise him, gave him a tick and a star. He has seen how his 'kor kor' Ryan gotten stars for good work and he was happy that he has stars too.

There was once I got him to draw lines... After a while, he closed his book, looked at me, gave a dramatical sigh .. then announced 'Finish already' and walked off. Yes, my little boy tends to be quite dramatic :) and its quite amusing to watch him ... if he doesn't get me mad! At 3 years old, I do not want to sit him for too long. Just to give him a feel about doing 'homework' and studying (he has not started kindergarten yet). And he is too active to sit still.

Raymund can doodle with both left and right hands. I'm not forcing him to use his right hand like some people esp old folks do (some pantang about it, I think). I leave it to what comes natural to him. Personally, I believe left handers are smarter and more creative - or at least my left handed friends are.

I'm about to start him on simple numbers and ABC recognition. Raymund has a good memory. He can recite 1 to 20 and A-Z but yet to recognize the numbers and alphabets. Using the same method with Ryan, I intend to use those 5 inch by 3 inch index cards (see post on 'My Homemade Fashcards' at http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-homemade-flashcards.html) as flashcards to help him. It is gonna be a challenge with my hyperactive Raymund.

Good Learning Session with Ryan Today

Ryan has made good progress with the flashcard method. In my earlier post, I mentioned that I bought this 3in by 5in index cards to make word flashcards for my boy. And I store all the flashcards in this IKEA container with a lid that I bought in the children's section in IKEA. Very handy. Anyway, this part is 'syiok sendiri' only :) What I'm really happy about is that Ryan has shown marked improvement with this flashcard method.

Actually I did some variations to this. For certain familiar words on the flashcards, I get Ryan to write about 10-20 times. Then I would ask him to spell for me without looking at the words. So far so good. Now I'm getting him to try spelling new words by listening to the sound of the words. Slow but progressing. Praising that he is able to spell even new words helps to boost his spirit and interest. I also got him to read the new Clifford Phonics Fun series (see the post on 'Scholastic Books for Early Readers and Young Children') and he gets very excited when he recognizes some words that he knew from the flashcards. He would tell me 'Mummy, this word is in the cards'. At the same time, I would transfer some new words from these books on the flashcards to reinforce word recognition. I'm trying to get him interested in reading and it helps when he realises that he can read. Really proud of it too.

Tonight, I had him spell and write out short sentences for me on lined papers. These are words that he would have seen in the cards and books but now, I told him to string them together and spell them out for me. Not bad! I'm proud of him. I can see that he is a lot more confident now.

I intend to use the same method to teach him Malay. But first, I'd get him comfortable with English first, amongst others.

My Homemade Flashcards

I've recently been on Mead Johnson forum and there is an ongoing topic around how to make flashcards for our children - I added my 2 cents worth . I for one tried palm size flashcards for easy handling, and that allows me to form simple sentences for my son to attempt. See this post if you are interested:

Homemade Mini Flashcards for Phonics & Word Recognition @ http://bit.ly/3R2FEj

Later the sourcing of cardboards and the measuring and the cutting exercise got to me. Truth be told, I was getting a bit lazy. At the same time, the imperfect cutting resulting in ununiform flashcards also irritated me. Can't help it - sometimes I'm a perfectionist haha! Then I started hunting for precut palm sized cards. I thought of using blank name cards but the size is too small. Perhaps at later stage. And it is not exactly easy to find. I found one in TESCO but it was in gawdy purple - quite a distraction!

Finally I found the perfect one - at least for me. Cut at 5" width by 3" height, it is just perfect for handy palm sized flashcards. They are actually quality index cards (branded 'Besform') for office use. I got mine from Kinokuniya at only RM3.50 for a pack of 50 pieces. Later, I found that they are also available at Isetan stationery section (KLCC Level 2). The cards are lined as are index cards and I feel that it works to mine advantage as I can show Ryan how the words should be written. Here is a picture of the ones I bought.

BTW, if you are interested, the Besform index cards are available in different sizes - the ones I got are the smallest at 5" x 3" and there are bigger ones like 6" x 4" and 8" x 5". Take the one that suits your needs.

I choose to write the words on the flashcards. It is faster and I can add words for Ryan there and then whenever I find that he can take on more. At the same time, I thought that it would be good for him to recognize words from handwriting. The printed words can be reinforced with books.

His stack of flashcards is piling higher. He is so proud that he can recognize so many words. Now, I have actually progressed him to the next level where I get Ryan to write and spell some words from the flashcards a few times and then, I would get him to spell them out to me without refering to the cards or his sheets. It worked! And not just for that time, he could still remember them till now. For this, I'm going slow. Actually, what I really wanted to do is to train his memory power, but at a more relaxed pace... slowly getting him ready for primary school.

Homemade Mini Flashcards for Phonics & Word Recognition

Lately, I have tried out another method to help Ryan with phonics and word recognition. I have decided not to teach him solely on phonics. To speed things up, I have decided to get Ryan to recognize simple and frequently used words. Adding phonics into the mix to help him remember and recognize the words did help. At this stage, he has yet to learn the full fledge phonics like the sh, oo, ou and different sounds for the same letter. I have decided not to wait for the school to teach. So, I have blended in word recognition. Why did I do this? I believe that both phonics and word recognition are beneficial to the child but not in silos. Some easy words, will have to be recognized easily and with the help of phonics to pronounce and 'remember' the words. Some enrichment classes like Vital Years use word recognition to help children with their reading skills. Kindies like my son's emphasize on phonics. No right or wrong I think but I feel that my sons should get the benefits of both methods.

Initially I started off pasting flashcards on my cupboard. (See: http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/05/pasting-flashcards-on-my-cupboard.html) The freshness and the fun to it was dying down. So, I had to think of something new to engage my son especially at this age. I cut up some small squares from hard papers and wrote easy common words. I would flash the cards out one by one to get him to read and spell out the words to me. If he gets stuck, I'd ask him to try using phonics to remember. Along the way, I would put several cards together to form sentences and get him to read out the sentences to me. Another way to repetitive learning. The last game is to have all cards laid out on the table and Ryan gets to collect the cards by taking the cards that he knows how to read. The goal is to collect all and he gets a reward (stickers :))

After a few nights, I noticed that my son improved a lot and gained new confidence. I'm advancing to the next step by giving him more words and reading storybooks with him. He recognizes some words that he learnt from the flashcards and he is very proud of his ability to read them. Ryan is a child that needs a lot of praises and encouragement. Not sure if it is true for most kids. But encouragement and praises give him more confidence and enthusiasm to learn more. I feel bad for pushing him and I'm trying not to get too hard. But Ryan has a late start and in another year, he will be in a chinese primary school. I get so worried for him that if he can't follow, he would become depress and lose his self confidence, just like when he first started kindy (see: http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-son-was-slow-in-speech-development.html). I hope I'm doing the right thing.

Chinese Enrichment Class at BAO BEI READING WONDERLAND

I have heard so much about BAO BEI READING WONDERLAND.

I first heard about it when I was discussing with other moms in my son's kindergarten about how to help our kids in Chinese. They sent their 3-4 year old children to Bao Bei to master Chinese. It was claimed that 3 year olds can recognize up to 1000 Chinese characters when they attend Bao Bei.

My friends are happy with their kids progress in Bao Bei and the classes are actually quite fun. Their kids love it. They use flashcards, music, games, reading and a lot more to drum in to language. It is a 1 and half hour daily lesson from Monday to Friday. And they provide transport if needed.

I'm thinking of sending both Ryan and Raymund to Bao Bei in July or August. They offer 5 days free trial (Except for school holidays) and I'm looking at when I can take leave to attend a few lessons with them. My kids are so 'kwai lo' - their Chinese almost non-existence. And I can't even teach them as I'm Chinese illiterate. So sad and helpless! I hope Bao Bei classes can help them build their foundation for Primary school. I was told that the Sri Petaling branch is very good.

I'll find out more when I visit them and I'll probably blog about it later.

Teaching my Son Kindergarten Chinese

I'm trying to teach my 5 year old son Chinese but I'm almost Chinese illiterate (and so is my hubby). What I could remember was my kindergarten Chinese which at my time was not exactly difficult, and what I picked from my TVB series! I'm horrified at the depth of the Chinese language that they are supposed to know even at kindergarten stage. What then would be the level if he goes to a Chinese Primary School. While I'm still thinking hard whether to put him through a Chinese Primary School, I still have to find a way to teach him.

This is what I had to do. Every now and then, I would go through his Eduland Kindergarten work and try to do revision with him. His kindergarten also provides Chinese flashcards for him to revise at home. Problem is I don't have a clue what half the characters are. So I brought his Chinese flashcards to work and asked my colleagues to teach me so that I can teach him!! Haha! Now I have to go back to learning Kindergarten stuff - earlier I was also learning phonics!!!

Then, one of my colleagues gave me a wonderful website. It allows you to sketch the character (using the mouse) on the website and it will supply a list of characters closest to it. Once done, it will tell you the meaning ...AND THE BEST PART is... it has an audio section that teaches you how to READ it!! Coupled with another 2 websites that I have found, I'm able to come up with my own Chinese flashcards for Ryan :):)

If you have the same problem, check out these websites. They helped me a lot.

http://www.nciku.com/
- this is the one that I was talking about earlier :)

http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/ime.html
- an online tool that converts pin yin to chinese characters for you

http://usa.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php
- a Chinese English dictionary

My Sons' Cheap and Good DIY White Board and Flashcards

In my last post, I was sharing with you about pasting flashcards on my cupboard (http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/05/pasting-flashcards-on-my-cupboard.html). My sons seem to enjoy this. Kinda like a teacher student game and sometimes, we have our roles reversed for a bit more fun. Ryan has progressed and I have since changed the flashcards for newer words and sentences.  To encourage him further, I have also pasted up his latest sketches and praised his work.

Then I created a cheap but effective 'white board' :) :) Doesn't even cost me more than RM2!!

All I did was to paste a transparent hard plastics over white papers, and then fixed it on my cupboard. In fact, transparencies work best. Else you can also use the bigger and harder book wrapping clear plastics and paste over a mahjong paper (as base). Use whiteboard markers to write with. And tissue to erase. If ink gets too stubborn, just clean with a bit of nail polish. Easy!

This is perfect to teach Ryan how to read the clock. At the same time, I thinking of using this to introduce weekly new words to him. Even ask him to write on it. Its gonna be fun!

A Little Encouragement Goes a Long Way

Ryan wants me to post his latest handywork on his favourite character, POWER RANGER.

There is his little finger pointing at his work :)

Actually, I'm also making use of this blog to encourage him to do more.

Something like an achievement board and he's so proud of it.

I have a physical board ALSO above my desktop to show off his latest sketches.

The encouragement works to build up his confidence and interest.

Pasting Flashcards on my cupboard

I've been thinking about how to teach my son English and Chinese; how to get him to be familiar with some common words and Chinese characters.

Flashcards is ok but then again I want something which is a bit more interesting and more physical movements. My son is active and getting him sit down for an hour is not exactly easy. I'd like to make learning a bit more fun - like a game.

One of the mum's blog gave me an idea. I decided to sacrifice my nice spotless cupboard (in our bedroom) and started pasting home-made flashcards on it. I also used mahjong paper to write some Chinese characters on them.

Then I get my son to read and spell them to me. We do some role plays. Sometimes I'm the teacher and and sometimes, I become the student. IT seemed to work :)

I would check up his kindergarten work and put up those phonics words and Chinese characters which coincide with his recent learning. And this become something like a revision for him at home.

Why I chose the cupboard and not a wall?

Simple! 2 reasons:

1. Its easier to clean plastic than a wall. Just use D-40!


2. When he wakes up in the morning, the 1st thing he sees is the cupboard right in front of him.

My Son was Slow in Speech Development

At the age of 4 (last year), my son was very slow in speech development. In fact, he just started to speak in short simple sentences, but couldn't really express himself. Pronunciation was not accurate and half the time, we had to guess what he was trying to say. We sent him to kindergarten then and was quite upset when we found that most of his classmates were already chattering away in perfect sentences and making a lot of sense. Because of this, my son who was usually very loud and active at home, became a totally different person at school. Quiet and reclusive as his classmates couldn't understand and interact with him. Other areas of learning were also affected and he was one of the slowest in class in terms of both academic and non-academic development.

Being concerned parents, we got really worried and started asking around for help and advices. I have even posted a discussion on Mead Johnson forum. Many moms gave me good advices. Thanks very much :). I was hunting for Speech Therapist to see if there was a medical problem. All speech therapist were booked up but managed to do some assessments! Frantic, we even checked him for mild altruism and hyperactivity and such. Thank God, he was fine. He was just slower.

It seems that this is a fairly common problem, especially when he/she is the first born. (My 2-yr old son speaks very well. He plays with his older brother and just copies him.) After my AMN posting, several moms also came forward with similar problems - including my neighbour's daughter! So if you have similar problem, should you be worried? First step, go for checks - audiologist, speech therapist, professional help, doctors or even psychiatrist (if it is behavioral issue) to rule out the worst. The faster you know, the faster you can seek medical attention for your child if you need to.

In my case, my son was just slow. I began coaching him in the evenings on the simple basics that he even had problem with then. Here are some of the things I did and some suggestions:

1. Do writings - numbers and alpha/phonics.
2. Use of flash card - random flash and sequence flash.
3. Playing games with flash card - eg. closing the cards and asking him to flip over and indetify them one by one.
4. Reverse teacher-student role by letting be the teacher. (I would intentionally make a mistakes so that he can 'correct' me. Works! )
5. He loves bedtime stories. I got him to read with me simple pre-school reader books. Made him pronounce words properly. And explain the meaning of some words to him.
6. Give him incentives (colourful stickers with his favourite characters) if he complete his writing or did something well.
7. Speak to him all the time and encourage him to describe things to me (even while we were on the road).
8. For some moms, they send their kids to music classes eg Musikgarten. It seems that this helps.


I shared coaching experiences with his teacher (and vice versa) and together, we pooled our efforts to help him. His teacher would update me on what were the current topics and where he needed more drilling. I would then find ways to revise and reinforce it with him at home. We saw marked improvement! As parents, we need to recognise that there is only so much that a teacher can do in school - with so many students and limited time. So parental involvement is the KEY. Just talk to their teachers and find out the areas that you need to reinforce in your child.

Today, my son is a different person in school than he was last year. No longer quiet. In fact, quite chatty and very much his own personality. He is still slower than a lot of students but I'm making efforts to help him. E.nopi Math helped him a lot. And through his playmates in school, at enrichment classes and at home (playground), he is learning to communicate more.

There still many more areas to pick up. My quest for his better future continues....