Math Motivation Workshops

It all started with Chinese, and ended with Math.

Little Boy flunked Chinese. I devised Potato Chinese (a method of learning Chinese that was pure unadulterated tedium). See post on Potato Chinese here. I know that there are many advocates out there for fun learning. You don't argue with that. When learning is fun, then kids want to do it... and they do more of it. You don't have to motivate the child to do what is naturally fun and motivating.

Unfortunately, Potato Chinese is, like I have already stated, PURE UNADULTERATED TEDIUM. If you don't believe me, you go try memorizing and reciting paragraph after paragraph after paragraph of Chinese text... for 7 hours a day, over 3 weeks during your DECEMBER HOLIDAYS. It was SO not fun, but it was necessary to help Little Boy accelerate himself through 3 years of Chinese in 10 months.

The task was so EVIL in its tedium that I had to really apply myself to motivating Little Boy. He worked hard at memorizing. I worked hard at motivating him. When Potato Parents started to message me on HOW to motivate, I ended up spending hours WRITING to people... and talking to them on the phone about HOW to motivate. Invariably, after reading and listening to me, they would go away with perfect understanding which did not however, translate into the motivating actions, words and responses towards their child. They came back and complained that their child was still NOT motivated.

Since I did not want to appear like I was selling koyok (i.e., being a quack), I invited a few parents to my house with their problem kids. I sat down WITH the kids and SHOWED the parents how it was done. Once I had started, I couldn't stop. It was so very gratifying to see parents' eyeballs drop out when I proved to them that their children weren't as difficult as they had described.

The last time, one parent's child assured me that her girl would never say "Yes" to the question "Do you think you can manage to recite TWO sentences?" without being coerced or tricked. This parent (KSP nick: poohbear) was convinced that her child wouldn't be willing to even memorize half a sentence. Poohbear had lied to her child saying "We are going to Aunty Petunia's house to PLAY." You should have seen the child's livid face when she found out that I was gonna make her memorize Chinese. When this same girl said clearly "I wanna do 2 sentences", I think her Mom almost fell off her chair.

Then, I started getting requests to help children who hate Math. My friend R asked me 5 times. Finally, she said "Petunia, if you don't help me, my child will have to do Foundation Math for PSLE". So I took the plunge for the first time today, half afraid that I would embarrass myself because I am about as bad at Math, as I am in Chinese.

I found out though... that Math Motivation workshop was even MORE gratifying then the Chinese one. Hee! *Rub Hands*

Today, one parent (KSP nick: bebebub) had assured me on the phone that her child had a motivation problem. The parent said, "My child will never choose a challenging task. She will always choose the more easy one." 1.5 hours into the session, after feeling out the child's intelligence level, I gave the P4 child a P5 book to read and internalize. Of course, the child ran into problems. I asked "It's difficult huh? That's ok. Let's stop this and go back to something easier." Bebebub's face froze in mid smile and her eyes went wide when her daughter said "I want to finish doing this." Well now... that gave me a chance to gloat at bebebub. "Errrrrr... did you say again and again that your kid runs away from every challenge?"

Man! That was fun! *Rub Hands Again*

Poohbear Wrote Me After Reading This Post

I just read your blog, esp with regards to my gal :)

Ok lah... i didnt really lie, did i .. ha ha. I just didn't state plainly the fact that the PLAY i meant was different from the PLAY she expected :) But the fact is , she ended up with more PLAY than hard memory work.

She was so happy tat day when she went home. She even said she wants to go back to "that Aunty's big house again" to PLAY!

That got her jie jie super jealous and was sulking thru that evening that i bring mei mei to PLAY not her. She wants to go again next time, and it should be her turn not mei mei since mei mei had her turn already.

I am ok with what is written. Having my nick there is ok too :) If you like to include what I hv written above as well, its fine with me too ...

Just to update, I am still doing the memorising with my gals, albeit once a week, one paragraph at time. XXXX is keen to do and does not put up ANY resistance to start at all :) We are near the end of the 1st essay. Let's hope both of us can sustain and finish up 10 essays tis year :)

Milo's Muddy Escapade

One always has to co-ordinate carefully with people in the house before pressing the remote control to open the big gate. Someone has to lock Milo up at the back of the house you see. Else, Milo will do his graceful wolf lope with so much elegance that he looks slow mo, but is out of the house before you can close your mouth. The Husband would call the house phone 5 minutes before arriving. Soon, Milo learnt to dash out at the sound of the phone ringing near 7.30 or so. He would wait at the gate and we had to grab him and drag him to the lock-up. Then The Husband tried pulling up silently at the gate and make hand signals. No can do. Milo learnt to keep an eye out. And since his senses are sharper than mine, he often saw The Husband before I did.

I was careless today. I honked and since Milo did not appear, I opened the gate. In no time, Mr Elegant Slow Mo Dog was off into the jungle. I'm in no condition to run after him so I left the side gate open and went into the house. I figured that he would come home when he had played enough. Kids always do, especially if you're nice to them. Milo is a big kid and we're mostly nice to him.

He came back home panting joyfully covered head to toe in mud. He tracked muddy paw prints all over the patio floor and sat down to make a butt print. Then he looked at me happily. I'll bet that he would have told me all the highlights of his escapade then if he could talk. Anyway, he can't and he was dirty. I grabbed him and gave him a good long scrub. He smells good and has soft fur again.

We now have 3 teens in the house... Milo, The Daughter and Little Boy. They all like to go on their own escapades. It's best for me to just wait for them to be done and then they'll invariably come home to be with me.

Bed Bugs and Parquet

We only knew we had bed bugs when we turned over The Helper's mattress and found them clustering along the mattress seams like round drops of dried blood. Some roused themselves sufficiently to crawl sluggishly away from the daylight. I suspected that the bugs might have come from the agency's lodgings when The Helper transited through there. I immediately worried for my own bed. The Helper had the habit of spreading out our clothes on HER bed to fold. Once the stack of clothes came upstairs, she would place them on MY bed before distributing to all the wardrobes.

It was a nightmare. The Husband's frequent itchy spots began to make sense. We had initially thought they were part of an eczema. So I swung into bed bug control. The mattress went... even though there was no infestation obvious to the naked eye. The Husband underestimated the enemy. He wouldn't throw away the bedframe. It was an expensive King-sized wooden bedframe with a Queen bed pull out. We loved it. The whole family bunked in together and it cost us $2000, which may not be a lot to some people but I think it was at that time, the most expensive piece of furniture in the house.

So, I sprayed cans and cans of insecticide on the bed, with the predictable result that the bed bugs picked up their legs and ran. Where did they run to? Into the cracks of my parquet floor. And there they stayed coming out to bite us in the night even after we threw away the bed frame and bought a new metallic one. I was using so many cans of insecticide that I felt sick. The room was always smelling and we would STILL get bitten!! Every week, I had to drag the metal bedframe out to the garden and pour hot boiling water all over it. And the bedbugs still came for us.

Eventually, I poured boiling water onto the parquet. I made sure the hot water seeped into every crack. Too bad if that was going to damage the wood. I didn't care anymore. I was half-crazed by the unremitting stress caused by these tiny creatures of the night who creep up for their dose of haemoglobin. They lay thousands of eggs so small you can't see them. Their young are born with a taste for blood and they're little transparent whitish specks of dust. You can't see them but they can smell you.

The new house has NO PARQUET and NO CARPET. The bedrooms have floor tiles. The bedframe is cheap. The mattress is of foam and therefore a fraction of what a spring mattress costs (and it offers far more support for my lower back than any other mattress I've had before). We have set all up for easy bed bug riddance IF EVER it happens again. The whole bed and mattress will go. The bedding will be washed and heated in the dryer to temperatures that'll kill any bug or bug egg. Then, I will use my trusty steamer and I will steam the floor and walls. Nothing kills bed bugs better than heat.

In USA, there is a bedbug treatment consisting of pumping hot air quickly into an infested room. This raises the temperature of the room FAST before bedbugs have a chance to go snuggle somewhere deep and cool. Both eggs and bugs die. We don't have that treatment here but I have my trusty steamer and my kettles of boiling hot water.

Since then too, I make sure I do spot checks on The Helper's bedroom, bed, wall and floor. I require that she turns everything out on a regular basis, irons her mattress and steams the floor of her room. I also want the room to smell nice... and I supply The Helper with a store of perfumed talc so that she will get used to being clean and smelling good.

At every hotel room, I do a visual check of the mattress. Suitcases stay downstairs till all the contents have been washed. I don't care whether clean or dirty. Everything is washed and tossed into the dryer. No suitcases are allowed in the bedroom. They stay under the stairs and when we pack them, we BRING our belongings downstairs TO the suitcases.

Bedbugs are a nightmare. I don't ever want to have them again.

Xiao Long Bao & Beijing Pork Pie

I found a stall somewhere in Toa Payoh. Oh dear... I dunno the address. I only know how to get there. It sells xiao long bao and flat pancake pork pies. It's Beijing street fare to be sure, but it is really very good.

Grand Dad Speaks

I was putting Little Boy to bed when I sighed. I wasn't even aware of my own long sigh for it escaped me like air from a deflating balloon. Little Boy sat up and hugged me. Then he said "Why are so worried, Mom?" So I finally confessed my heart to my son. I was sad for him because he had worked so hard and in the recent test, he didn't seem to have gotten anywhere. I was also afraid for him because if he continues to score in the 70s, he might end up in Normal Technical stream, and head to ITE.

Then Little Boy lectured me on my lack of composure. He said...

Mom! This kind of anxiety is like running very fast on the spot. You expend a lot of energy and you get nowhere. We have a plan, don't we? It's a good plan, isn't it? Let's just follow the plan slow and steady, and we will end up where we will end up.

I think very soon, I will have to call my son "Grand Dad".

World Class But Also Barely Literate

Picture sourced from here: http://theonlinecitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Meritocracy-1024x735.jpg

I write so much about the educational system and in the end, this picture says it all. Indeed, I am not even sure that the disadvantaged students get a "basic education" (as depicted in the picture above) because MOE's teachers mark work and make mistakes that students don't make. See below.

Note that Teacher spelt trooping with TWO Ps. And instead of what should rightly be "seating myself", has taught Little Boy to use "sitting myself". Please note that the Teacher's name is not published to protect his/her identity. This post is not meant to shame him/her but to highlight ways in which the system can support weak Teachers like him/her. In the light of

(1) insufficient textbooks (make them more comprehensive, for this is what is happening now... http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=725764#p725764)

(2) patchy collections of essential study notes... some schools have them and others don't (make sure all schools give out good notes if textbooks cannot be enhanced)

(3) a system wiith incentives that discourage sharing of educational resources across schools and between teachers... such that teachers who don't write their own resources have little to teach with (change these disincentives to sharing of educational resources).

(4) high standards of literacy expected in tests and exams... standards that surpass the abilities of Teachers (see errors in spelling made by Teacher above)... hence, demand of students only what Teachers can deliver.

(5) exams that test beyond what the school is capable of adequately teaching and reinforcing (don't test beyond what has been taught which happens increasingly often... http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=26571&start=190)

(6) absence of electronic databases (in this internet age) to allow Teachers to share resources across the nation in such a way as to quickly generate homework that is flexibly suited to each child's individual needs (develop such a database so that weak Teachers can be helped to deliver good teaching)

(7) no metric of teaching effectiveness (measure this so that Teachers know they are accountable for good teaching and not for writing good reports and winning at CCAs)

... a child from a disadvantaged home has a lot stacked against him in his path towards academic success, because his parents cannot afford the enrichment and the extra resources that palliate the problems above. As a result, MNCs  prefer to hire foreign talent who can communicate well in English ( See here: http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120303-0000029/Skills-imbalance-due-to-education-system) instead of ADULT Singaporeans who write so poorly there is no way to clearly discern what they are trying to say...

The song titled “Over There” is describing a man’s desire to leave his wife to a place that brings him the sense of achievement.

If learning has to happen outside the classroom, and schools content themselves with testing HARD, then the gap between haves and have nots will widen... because the haves who have access to high quality tuition and educational materials, will hit world class. But the have nots will be barely literate, as in the example above (which happens quite often), because they have no one else except school teachers who make spelling mistakes to learn from. How can all schools be good when they differ on 4 important criteria (1) the quantity of notes given out to make up for insufficient textbooks, (2) the quality of notes given out to make up for insufficient textbooks (3) the quality of teaching, marking and feedback, (4) the quantity of teaching, marking and feedback. The picture below illustrates.

Shoo Birds!

The Little Greenhouse

The Eyes

My new garden attracts birds of all sorts. I used to have 3 sunbirds in the old garden who would drop by for a chat in the mornings when I am sipping tea. The sunbirds were very civilized guests. They were well-mannered and dainty. They didn't leave droppings all over my patio. They didn't pull my seedlings out of the soil.

The mynahs and the pigeons are intrusive. With them around, it was impossible initially to raise any seedlings to maturity because once the tender shoots appeared, the naughty birds would kill them. I rather felt like killing those birds. In fact, on more than one occasion, I had imagined them completely naked and sitting on a bed of potatoes and broccoli.

The Husband however went and procured a dozen of plastic snakes. This reduced the seedling massacre by a fair bit but not completely. Then The Husband got me a mini greenhouse and 3 balloons with huge eyes. The birds don't like those big eyes staring balefully at them. And they can't get at my seedlings in the green house at all.