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This is the back page of ZB Now, the lifestyle section of Zaobao. The reporter wrote about my relationship with my kids and how I encourage them to love reading and writing. The article also talks about me writing Danger Dan with Lesley-Anne.
I must confess, with my limited Chinese, I struggled through the article and relied mostly on Kenneth to read it out to me. I thought the reporter was very complimentary - she made me sound much more fantastic than I actually am in real life! Helps that the Chinese language is so poetic - one or two words can hold so much meaning. You can read the article here.
The photographer was also super friendly and she experimented with different compositions until she came up with the brainwave of making Andre do a star jump.
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Did you notice the large Danger Dan poster on our wall? That was a gift from Epigram Books - signed by all the staff. They're a truly supportive and fun bunch. We love working with them.
Meanwhile, Danger Dan book 3 will be out 26 May! Titled Danger Dan Spooks the Peculiar Peranakan Pirate, it will see Danger Dan hurtling back to 1819 Singapore. Watch this blog or go to the Danger Dan Facebook page for updates!
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5 comments:
Hi Monica
This note is not related to your blog entry but I didn't know where else to fit it. I had chanced upon an article of you on educationpost and remain glued to the screen for the next 2 hours reading your blog!
I love your blog and the matters which weigh in your heart about education: about the process; about the marathon not the sprint; about misplaced values & priorities; about passion not merely practical utilitarian views on subject combinations; about character and learning not medals and kpis... You get the drift. It's a huge relief to know there are many more who agree on these takes... (From the many positive comments made).
My first child is currently in primary 2. Upon returning to Singapore in 2011, we faced difficulties in readjusting... to culture, to the pace of life and in particular, the demands by the educational system. By the end of Kindy2, the message I got from the teachers is that my daughter "doesn't measure up". And when we got to Primary 1, keeping up with the weekly spelling lists (in English and mother tongue) left us breathless. And I thought Kindy was bad. The rigor is admirable. But why should learning be defined by the weekly list? Or be defined by the week? (The stress came when I realized that she was one of the few in class who didn't get full marks.) As I mulled over my struggles (& my daughter's), I began to see that I have more than just one week to teach the list of new words. She has more than one week to learn the new vocabulary... Indeed, I have 6 years before the dreaded psle and 10 years before o levels etc... In fact, learning is a lifetime! Then the weight lifted and it was surely liberating.
Reading your blog sure passed on some of that "high". However, I must confess that while the theory sounds good, reality can be awfully hard to swallow. It's hard to run against the grain of culture... May God grant us grace to "run the course set before us" well.
Ok...thanks for reading... will be out to hit the shops tomorrow to get my hands on your books!
AP
Hi Monica
This note is not related to your blog entry but I didn't know where else to fit it. I had chanced upon an article of you on educationpost and remain glued to the screen for the next 2 hours reading your blog!
I love your blog and the matters which weigh in your heart about education: about the process; about the marathon not the sprint; about misplaced values & priorities; about passion not merely practical utilitarian views on subject combinations; about character and learning not medals and kpis... You get the drift. It's a huge relief to know there are many more who agree on these takes... (From the many positive comments made).
My first child is currently in primary 2. Upon returning to Singapore in 2011, we faced difficulties in readjusting... to culture, to the pace of life and in particular, the demands by the educational system. By the end of Kindy2, the message I got from the teachers is that my daughter "doesn't measure up". And when we got to Primary 1, keeping up with the weekly spelling lists (in English and mother tongue) left us breathless. And I thought Kindy was bad. The rigor is admirable. But why should learning be defined by the weekly list? Or be defined by the week? (The stress came when I realized that she was one of the few in class who didn't get full marks.) As I mulled over my struggles (& my daughter's), I began to see that I have more than just one week to teach the list of new words. She has more than one week to learn the new vocabulary... Indeed, I have 6 years before the dreaded psle and 10 years before o levels etc... In fact, learning is a lifetime! Then the weight lifted and it was surely liberating.
Reading your blog sure passed on some of that "high". However, I must confess that while the theory sounds good, reality can be awfully hard to swallow. It's hard to run against the grain of culture... May God grant us grace to "run the course set before us" well.
Ok...thanks for reading... will be out to hit the shops tomorrow to get my hands on your books!
AP
AP: Thanks for reading and I'm glad the blog struck a chord with you!
It's always infinitely harder to put into practice what we believe when it comes to education. It's something only parents can understand. When you're faced with red marks on exam papers, concerned teachers, reports that your child is near the bottom in class, it's tempting to throw the long-term educational philosophies out the window and go into "fix-it" mode, ie tuition, exam techniques and lots of screaming :D
What I hope you realise though is that the occasional lapse does not a bad parent make. One advantage of having written this blog over 6 years is that it's a journey in progress and at the point of writing those posts back then, I didn't have the benefit of hindsight. I often wondered if I was being foolish or making a disastrous decision by not going with the system. But now, despite the despair I felt at various points, I'd like to believe that for the most part, I did bring up my kids based on my values.
I hope that brings encouragement to parents like you - there are obstacles but it's doable! Just gotta think long-term and be with our kids in this journey.
Blessings!
When I get too crazy about the grades I just tell myself my kids can succeed at any age, it doesn't have to be 7yo, 12yo, 16yo, 18yo, or even 21/23 yo. But I only have one chance at values and character. Don't get me wrong, both can be cultivated at the same time, but the priority will always be values and character building. For example, I don't think parents should help with homework like Arts so that the kids can speed more time on examinable subjects (at primary level), or be let off doing chores because want the child to complete top schools' past years papers,etc. My kids have not taken PSLE yet. I have heard that teachers might pile them with many, many, many papers, during that period, I might excuse them from chores LOL. Though, I don't know how is it possible to finish that many papers.
Sometimes, I have this crazy notion that we are the ones killing ourselves. My crazy notion is, if we, the parents, just allow the kids to show what they can really do, without us helping with homework or pushing them with extra lessons, maybe then schools will set more reasonable papers, coming down to the true standards of the kids. There will still be top 1%, top 15% and so one but I think the standards will be more realistic. That's my crazy notion, not substantiated by any statistics, just my imagination.
Tan: Yeah, I agree that if parents weren't so involved, even to the point of taking over education (via tuition, coaching, etc), the acceleration wouldn't be so crazy and the teaching would be left to the teachers. Unfortunately, we live in a crazy, kiasu society that over-emphasises academics to the point of unreasonableness!
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