Tag Archives: Education

Sunny Memories of Melbourne

March 8, 2009 – 12:55 am

: Image by Combined Media via Flickr

A few weeks ago my grandmother and my aunt flew off to Melbourne for a week long holiday. Also flying out with them was my cousin who would be doing his matriculation studies there at one of the university.

Turning back the clock to more then a decade ago I can still remember the fond memories I had when I was studying at Melbourne University. Going to school by tram and train. It was certainly an experience which I couldn’t have if I was doing my degree here in Singapore.

Picture by Flickr

I really enjoyed myself studying in the Old Arts halls of Melbourne Uni and seeing pictures of it brings back fond memories of sitting outside on the lawns and having lunches with friends.

Living and studying abroad widen my exposure and knowledge about different cultures and lifestyles. I also got the opportunity to bond with people of different backgrounds and nationalities.

It was the place where I met and fell in love with my hubby.We hope to bring the boys there when they are much older so they can enjoy the rich and diverse culture of Melbourne.

Where will you be going this holidays?

Tags Colleges and Universities, Education, Melbourne University | Comments (2)

Educating Junior

March 3, 2009 – 7:53 am

: Image via Wikipedia

Education has always been a key point of worry and concern for most parents. From the day your child is born you start to plan which childcare/kindergarten you would like to send him to, which primary school should you aim to send him to.

If you are aiming for a prestigious school like Eton House or ACS/Singapore Chinese Girl’s school be prepared to join the alumni, become a parent volunteer or even move to within 1km of the desired school in bid to increase the chance of your child entering the school.

Parents in Singapore, like the rest of the world, place a heavy emphasis on getting their child in good school. I myself do hope that my child enters a reputable school so that he would be able to get a top notch education and will not “lose out” in this education race.

There are a few established schools in my neighbourhood and I do hope that my boys get into one of them. To increase the chance of him getting to my preferred choice of schools I have used my ” special pass” when I returned to work last month.

I have just updated this book which I wrote last year and strongly recommend that you get a copy as it lists down in detail all the factors that you will need to consider before you register your child for Primary One.

You can purchase this book here

Tags Education, Primary school, Singapore | Comments (3)

Multilingual Parenting- A sharing experience

January 30, 2009 – 3:56 pm

Last year I started on this project. I had this idea of documenting my experience of teaching the boys to speak, read and write in three or more languages. However as the year progressed I got caught up with other projects that this particular one got shelved.

This year I am taking it out of the cupboard and shaking off the dust on it. Hopefully even with my more taxing work schedule I will be able to complete this e-book by Christmas 2009.

Just a run down on my experiement so far. My boys have been introduced to English, Mandarin and Cantonese since birth.

Ryan can now speak and read very fluently in English. He too knows how to read and write in Mandarin. His Cantonese, however, is not as good. He does understand perfectly well when we speak to him in Cantonese but is very hesitant to reply in the same language. He often opts to answer in English as he is more comfortable with it.

He will be learning Japanese this year with Roy and will be taught how to read and write Japanese while I will only focus on spoken and recognition of Japanese words with Roy.( No writing till he is 3.5 to 4yrs old)

Roy can speak and read English. He understands when we talk to him in Mandarin and Cantonese too. I feel that he has more affinity with Cantonese as he is more willing to talk in Cantonese as compared to Ryan.

I intend to introduce the boys to other languages like French, German later on as they progress through elementary/secondary school.

I am looking for contributors to share their stories on how they teach their children in their native language/second or third language and the difficulties /achievements that they went through. If you are interested in sharing your story please drop me an e-mail at admin@dominiquegoh.com and I will get in contact with you.