While I was trying to sleep.....

Over the weekend, I've made some action plans for the next 4 months for this year. Something about spending the weekend at my Mom's and being able to work in the garden under the hot sun made me think and had a brainstorming session while trying to sleep.

Now I can't tell, whether I couldn't sleep because I was brainstorming or I was brainstorming because I could not sleep.

First action plan will be to reorganize the Management Team. I'll still be the Chief Instructor, under me, will be, Maths Department, English Department and Administration. Maths will be divided into 2 sections. 1-higher level studies which will be headed by Miss Environtmental and 2-lower level which will be taken care by Mrs Mommy. I will also head the English Department and Ms Italiano will assist me. In order to do that, I'll have to get Maths Assistants to do feedback for me. I'll not be seeing the students, but i'll keep the handshake before you leave tradition with "all" the students.

Since I started that handshake tradition early last year, I feel certain closeness towards the students. I can't forgo that!

Administration will be under ... who else???? Mrs Admin. She's just so good at it. At times, I wonder how I managed without her years ago. Teaching + answering calls + answering inquiries + Accepting fee payment + attending to under aged students with their antics.

That leaves.... Abang, who happens to be my dearest brother. yes yes yes, he ain't heavy, he's my brother. That's what I call responsibility. He's been our security man and janitor, but most of the time, he's the clown in the classroom. However, now, I'm going to give him a heavier task. I'm going to put him in the classroom.

I think I'll survive!!!!

My aim now......to get back to 200 + students, in enrolment!

The pain

My never ending staff problem is back. Well, I don't actually know if I have a problem anymore or not. I fell all numb now when it comes to problem relating to that. Anyway, the good news is, Miss Environtmental has decided not to look for another job until next year when things have settled down. I made her an offer a few months ago, but didn't want her to feel that I was stopping her from getting a better job. Having graduated as an engineer and all. She's been to many places looking for a job. She was offered a few, but nothing seems to make her happy there. She said she can't find a better place than our centre. I was actually glad to hear it.

I'm interviewing this Monday and Tuesday, but now thinking about it, I might as well fully utilize my existing staff. I have to really make use of My brother. He's working there, and he's not been given a real big responsibility and I'm paying for his car for goodness sake! I just have to work harder during the 1st two weeks of September.

I actually made a loss in August. I hope I'll recover in September and months after that.

Lost in Numbers

Once a month, instructors are advised to attend a tutorial session at the head office. I have not been attending, but today, decided to give it a try. came in, didn't conquer and.....left. Didn't leave the room, but my mind did.

Now I know what it's like to be in a tutorial room when your heart is not in it. I salute some of my students for still coming in twice a week after years and years. Let me imagine myself having to do that.

When I first started the centre, I was actually forced to learn back all that I've learned in Maths from many years ago. Everything went smoothly ... until... 4 transferred students came. All the way from Hong Kong. Panic attack!!!

I called my manager, I called my General Manager, I called my "clever friends, I called, I called, I called, in the end, I just had to calm myself down. I made an attempt on factorization from the very basic, learning from examples. 1st page ... good, 2nd page ... ok, 3rd page ... struggled a little bit, ... now ... 4th pg is a whole different story. By that time I was calling out "MR. JAPANESE BOSS!!!!" I need help.

I was desparate, I was in need of a helping hand, HE came. HE spent 1 hour to go through from page 1 to page 10. One by one. Step by step. GREAT!

From all that commotion, I learned that I should have taken a deep breath, then make an attempt on every each question and if things get difficult, learn the easy ones again and try the next question after understanding the easier ones. Examples should be copied a few times if it's still not understandable. The most important thing is somehow PRACTICE and has to be done regularly. Try ... I can assure you that this remedy will work.

Heart of steel

This whole week is the government school's holiday. It's the whole week of everything going haywire. It started on Thursday where students came and asked for the whole week's homework.

August isn't a busy month at all. Which is fine. I'm just preparing for September, where a lot will come back from the summer break. As far as I can remember, most of the students that go away for summer will come back chubbier and tanner. It's usually nice to see them again after so many weeks.

I can't wait to see Little Miss Punjabi. She's only 5 but is tall and big. She can pass for 7 years old. One time she came in wearing a nice short pink skirt that has Barbie Doll's face all over and was wearing a purple stoking. When i complimented her on her beautiful attire, she was proud. To my surprise, she was actually very proud of her new purple stoking that goes all the way up to her waist. Can you guess how she showed me???? "all the way up!!!!"

Last week, I felt like I could collapse from heart attack when "Ketul" came back on Friday. DOn't really know why his mom sent him two days in a row. He was acting up real good. He even cried in the end. Thank god his maid was around, so I just had to leave him to her.

What if a teacher has a weak heart?

This is me...

In running a centre, a person must always be ready for difficult situation. That person must also enjoy the time when something fun is happening.

Once in a while that person must also know how to have fun.

Can a person who feels that an instructor is successful only when he or she has a lot of students? A lot of students will enable an instructor to learn more about human behaviour. And when an instructor has learned a lot about human behaviour, that's when he or she can be a good judgement on what is best for his or her student.

Anyway, in the last 8 years, I think I have come across more than 2,000 students. Maybe more, maybe less. Students come and go. They make their choice. They have their preference. We have always opened our doors if they decide to come in.

Many times, I ask myself , what sort of centre do I want mine to be. I keep telling myself, there can never be two centres alike. And there can never be two instructors alike. In my early days, I always feel like I have to be like another instructor. Thankfully I've changed. Let other instructors do what and how they feel is best. Mine is the best in my eyes! and the most important thing is, how it makes me proud to say, I'm the owner of "this" centre.

By the way, how about green and yellow for my wall???????

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Looking at the naughty ones today, it made me wonder, what kind of individuals will they become when they grow up. I sometimes find it difficult to be fierce. At times, i don't know how to start. At times I feel upset with the student but I sometimes feel it difficult to be a real tyrant.

I deal with them the way I know best, through diplomacy. At times I look at them in the eyes and talk to them like an adult.

Today I had to deal with both "Ketul" and 6 year old little Miss Fantasy. Both needed my attention at the same time. Trying to get one to recognize numbers and the other one demanded attention to deal with her additions. I almost went insane....but "ketul" hugged me before he left, so that made my day.

Today I learned a thing or two about "respect".

In the classroom today, the "loud" brothers could not keep their focus on the work to be done. I heard giggling, I heard voices and I heard noises from the stationery. It went on and on for 10 minutes before I decided to pull one out of the classroom and sat down with him at a corner in our "not quite done" preschooler area. I took 1 minute to talk to him. I had to reason things out with him. I told him how difficult for the others to concentrate when they're making all the noise. I just had to go on and on about how imortant it is to just have a little bit of focus.

Anyway, Big Brother "loud" got his act together and completed his work real fast. I wonder if he did it out of respect or out of fear! or probably because he understood that's what he has to do.

Little Brother "loud" did his English with me. It was quite fun to play the memory game from the worksheets. I always find Little Brother " loud" a little bit difficult to deal with. However, today he wasn't bad at all.

I am not sure how a mother would want their children to respect them. To me, as a teacher, I want to be approachable and also it's good if they can talk to me kindly and think of me once in a while in their prayers.....maybe a bit too much to ask for the last one...but ...

I know how it's like to respect someone who has taught me in my life. I keep them in my prayers and tell my students about them whenever I get the chance to.

2 favourite teachers I can still remember : Mrs Anne for teaching me how to sing Jinggly Nona and Cikgu Ali for giving me a chance to learn Bahasa Malaysia in a fun way! Grammar, Stories, Essays.....Oh what fun!

To be or not to be...that is the question!

Today we did a major change in the classroom again. The last time we did, we separated the English area from the Maths area, but after seeing a centre in Bangkok and how effective it is to separate the preschoolers from the bigger students, we decided to make that change. So today, we managed to first move some bulky cabinets to another area, and to our surprise, the classroom is now bigger. Ms Italiano is no longer lonely at the English classroom all by herself.

Tonight I got some ideas to get all the preschoolers to come in at certain hours. Yes...I'm going to do just that. So, preschoolers only come in on Tuesdays and Fridays from 3:00 to 4:00pm. If they join in this session, they'll get to learn something extra once a week, like singing or getting to know flags and other.....we'll come up with something. And with this session, I will let my staff to come at 11.00 and they will have to join in the session as well. Great...I'm getting ideas and sharing it here.

Yesterday, a few of our students cried. Funny isn't it? When one decided to cry, a few will do the same too. The first cry came in right after we opened our door. Little Baby Talk 5 year old came in looking sad. He was brave enough to come straight to me and told me that he wants to "QUIT". I didn't give him the "surprise" look, instead, i held his hand and looked as sad and using the same tone of voice said, "you want to quit? why? you don't want to do your homework?" without giving him a chance to talk, i went on...."What if I give you half of what you're doing now?" again, without waiting for his respond, i went on..."but if you quit i'll have to give you double!!!" without hesitation and a little smile...he nodded and agreed! he he he

A few hours after that, little miss 5 year old cutie came in with her teary eyes. Looking confused with her bag, she came to me. My Mrs Admin whispered to me to tell me that she's been crying. Ok, after Little Baby Talk's incident, I knew what was coming. I asked cutie "Why did you cry? Is it because of your homework?" She shook her head. I was confused, but I think she was confused with my question. I asked her the same question again....again she shook her head. When I rephrased the question twice, and when she finally understood me, I was right. She was having problem with the workload. And guess what I did???? I used the same script!!!!!!!! and it worked!

Give, Give and Give

Give a child the chance to learn
And let him have the life he deserves
Give a child the strength to dream
And let her reap the fruits of her work
Give an instructor, the belief to coach And she'll find the wisdom to guide
Give a parent the love to nurture
And we will turn the tide
* Give yourself a strong sense of mission
And make Kumon achieve its vision
Give anyone a dream for tomorrow
Give it all, let's make a difference
Help them shine and help them grow
To give peace and chance in this world*

So then, every child
Can find his place, in this world.
So then, every child
Finds his place

1 + 1 = 2 ???

Back in the centre, this is the latest update....

number of staff : 2 full time instruction staff - but 1 is on maternity leave.
2 full time admin staff - one is my brother...so I have no choice.
3 part time instruction staff - 1 was leaving but decided not to....yipee!!!
1 will be with us till end of August and after
that will come as and when he's free....
1 will be available till middle of, just about
the time the one on maternity will back. She makes lovely lovely cakes and cookies..
In the process of looking for 1 more full time staff, but can't really afford one at this moment. Decided to wait till September.

number of students : Mathematics : 149
English : 45

I'm trying to look for a formula to cut down on cost, and increasing the income.

Plan 1: Distribution of flyers - done but not much response
Plan 2: Gearing up for the Free trial campaign in October for an additional of 50 students. Changing the centre layout. Trying to get the best and most appropriate layout plans. Ideas are still welcome.
Plan 3: Letting my staff to come later, for lower electricity cost.

still planning.......................................................

Bangkok Heat

The land of smiles. That’s what they call it. 5 days in Bangkok for an Asian and Oceania Conference was a big break for me. Although I missed being in the centre, well…a little bit, it was so much more than words can say when meeting friends from other countries, and have not met for almost a year. Everyone changed a little bit every year. A few got slimmer, a few got chubbier, some got older, and so many got more and more colorful, with their hair. However it was truly nice to see all of them back.

Back in year 2003, I made a good friend in Sydney, Australia. We didn’t really keep in touch. The year after that, I met her again in Cairns, Australia for another conference. We somehow bonded well as a friend. Our only common ground was that we’re an instructor. I met her again this year and realized how connected we are.

We did a lot of sharing and changing of ideas. Every year, during conferences, it made me realize how important it is for us as an educator to build the nation. It’s a far fetched line to use, but don’t you think every leader in this world started their journey by being in a classroom? In the classroom is where it all started. People learning how to share, learning how to live side by side with each other, learning how to solve little crisis in life.

I was privilege to be given a chance to visit a centre there. It was an established centre with the instructor who has a great heart. It’s funny if I’m being asked how would I know if a person has a great heart. You can just tell by the way she speaks and how her eyes smile when talking about what she’s passionate about.

During the conference we did a lot of networking. It’s amazing to see how much one common language can do to bond friendships of people from different countries. I just love all the different accent and ways people speak at the conference. There were presentations and they were all in English. This time no interpreters were needed. Every year, more and more people are speaking English. How much confidence knowledge can bring. I remember in year 2000, I participated in an International Conference and we were not really talking to one another. We just attended the conference and enjoyed the sight seeing tour and that was it.

I love conferences. I take it as a good break from my ordinary classroom days and it’s always nice to see all my international sisters…. 99% of us are women!

Next year…..we’re going to have it in Malaysia.

Consider this...reporting or sulking????

Every year, during summer break, many of my International School students have plans to travel. Some of them travel for many weeks. This year, as a teacher, I feel happy that a lot of them are taking a break from the hustle and bustle in the city of Kuala Lumpur. However, as an entrepreneur, I feel like I've just been struck by lightning. Right in my heart. The problem about the business that I'm running is, students pay on a monthly basis. So, if they don't have plans to attend the classes for the month, they don't have to pay the fee for that month.

I have to say that in the month of August, I have to stop eating!!!! On top of that, there are overheads to tend to. Salary, rental, utilities, some other miscelleneous charges and of course the royalty to our parent company.

One of my staff just got offered to another company. She's a qualified Environmental Engineer. She's worked for me off and on during her semester breaks for almost 7 years. I sure am going to miss her. Having someone so reliable. However, I'm happy that she's pursuing her career. Just like how I'd be when my students have achieved what they have worked hard for.

Ok....I have to put everything on hold for now. Tomorrow....off to Bangkok for 5 days. Can't wait to meet my instructor friends from all over the world.