Recent Articles
Writer’s Workshop- Childhood Fears
Childhood fears are something which sometimes one is unable to grow out of. This week I am writing about one of the fears which I still have to battle on occasions - Dealing with frustrating situations
I really hate disruptions in my schedule. I’m a planner and love planning ahead so every person involved is updated and briefed of the upcoming events. I do make provision for last minute delays and changes but it always gets me frustrated that other plans have to be compromised in the process.
The most stressful thing for me is trying to get important information someone on the phone who is uncontactable. It is extremely annoying being re-directed to a voice mailbox and having to leave a message which you are unsure when it would get heard and attended to.
There have been rapid advancement in the communication sector with smart phones and the growth of the internet in recent years. However, communication networks can still be down and work schedules so hectic that they are not able to communicate with you when you need it the most.
Sometimes I feel like really yelling out loud to release the tension that I am feeling but it would be useless. The situation would not improve and be resolve until the party on the other side can be contacted.
I think that until and unless I am able to learn to let go of these uncertainties which I face this childhood fear will be lingering around for much longer.
What Childhood Fears still haunt you?
Toddler Talk Tuesday
 |
| A picture of Roy taken by Ryan on his camera |
Roy has been talking a lot lately. More complaining and whining about his brother then ever.
” I want to play the game that we played on the computer yesterday” he requested.
“Ryan is not sharing with me.. he is very selfish!!” complains Roy.
” I NEVER get to eat it!!” ( I really feel he overuses this word)
[ I try to correct him.. it is not NEVER.. you just ate strawberry ice-cream yesterday. You HAVEN'T eaten it today.]
When he is in a good mood he will come to you and ask in his sweetest voice ” Can I have XXX please mummy?”
” Okay Mummy, I’ll do it” he says immediately when I ask him to do something.
The nicest words I hear from him ” I love you mummy!!”
Weekend Reflections- The need for tution
Tution centres are a plenty here. A recent report which I read stated that there are 500+ different centres here on the island. It seems to be a roaring good business as many parents are supportive of having tutors for their children in bid to improve/maintain their academic grades in school.
There are many different classes available for a wide age range of kids in various subjects.
Some tution classes start as early as 2-3 years old which profess that they are able to teach your child to read. I am very skeptical about their claims that they were able to make a 3 year old read as their “advertisement” does not qualify what their meaning of “read” equates to. Does it mean reading independently 3-5 sentences of a storybook or just 1 word or sentence after being read the book several times? I personally do not find the claims fantastic as on average a 3 year old should be able to read several words and both of my boys are able to read from 2.5-3years old without such classes.
Many pupils in my class go for tution classes after school and in more than one subject. It is not surprising for a Primary 4 student to have tution in all four subjects- English, Maths, Science and Mother Tongue (Chinese). Some parents even sent them to tution centres far away from their houses as they have heard that that particular centre produces “results”. I haven’t seen a marked improvement in their grades even though they have had such additional help in their subjects.
It is true that the teacher doesn’t have time to go through certain concepts 1-1 in class as we have 101 things to do besides just teaching in our job scope.The irony is that some of my colleagues do send their own kids for tution as they are unable to find the time to personally coach their own children due to our busy schedule. It’s a real pain that we have to spend so much time giving additional lessons in school to our pupils at the expense of forfeiting the time to personally coach our own kids.
I strongly feel that our own kids should be the one to receive the bulk of our time and coaching instead of the students we teach in school as we do need to be there to be able to groom them in all aspects of their growth.
Some pupils may need the additional help with a tutor but to be totally reliant on one without making the effort to do the learning by themselves is totally wrong.
I’m not doubting the ability of the tutors to help the student in the understanding of the subject. However more then often these pupils get too reliant on the tutor to actually use their own ability to figure out the solution to the complex maths problem or actually think of how to improve on the use of language in their composition writing. They expect to be spoon fed and given the answers and easily give up before really attempting the questions given.
Some of them get very careless in their work as they skim through the questions on the exam paper instead of actually taking the time and effort to read through carefully. They assume that the questions asked are similar to those that they have attempted in their tution centre or with their tutor and that the answer should be the same. While in fact, there maybe a twist on the question and what was required in their answer is different from what assumed.
I know of a few students in my class who have tution for all subjects and are so bogged down with the extra classes after school that they start getting restless in class and do not pay attention when they are taught. They assume that whatever they fail or are not able to grasp in class will be filled in by the tutor later on at home. I find this notion very scary as firstly they should be trying their best to pay attention in class and get any misconceptions cleared instead of being so reliant on external help.
I personally would not want to overload my kids with all these “extra” lessons which I deem unnecessary if one had paid attention and understood the concept the first time around.
In the classroom we have to cater to students with different needs so it is not possible to ensure that every student is able to fully understand what is being taught. I do go through and revise the concepts if the majority find difficulty in it.
I feel that it is really unreasonable for parents to expect the teacher to be able to go through everything with their child one-on-one like a parent to a child. If they really would like their child to have such special attention it would be better if they are personally involved in educating/coaching their child as they would have a better understanding of their own child’s abilities.
It can be extremely frustrating for a child if he is pushed beyond his abilities as he is forced to”live up” to his parents expectation of academic excellence. Sometimes besides giving him pressure in hope that he will perform better the child may simply give up as he feels that it is no point trying.
In his mind he feels that no matter how good or how slight the improvement he has it is still not enough and his “greedy” parents forever want PERFECT grades to show off to the Jones instead of accepting him for his abilities.
What do you feel about sending your
kids for extra classes?
Writer’s Workshop- The Perfect Summer
This week on Writer’s Workshop I will be writing on Prompt #5-
What five images paint a perfect picture of summer to you? Put those five images together in a piece of writing.
If there was a Perfect Summer day it would start with having waffles with maple syrup and fruits for breakfast.
After breakfast it would be great to have a morning stroll in a “storybook” garden. It would be nice to breathe in the various scents and enjoy the beauty of the garden. The kids would love playing ball in the park and riding their bikes.
After time in the park it would be nice to sit down to an ice-cold drink and some lunch/brunch .
After lunch it will be time to hit the malls for a bit of shopping. The kids would love a visit to their favourite toy store Toysrus and I wouldn’t mind picking up a few items for myself in the process.
The day would be perfect if while making our way back home we could be able to stop and watch the sunset.
