Wednesday, August 23, 2006

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.

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