Dissertation????

Recently i was introduced by an old friend to her good friend. She hasn't seen him for a long time and wanted to catch up again. I came along just to enjoy the afternoon. Surprisingly, HE turned out to be a former student from my primary school. I almost screamed (not that I can scream with this husky voice!!!) when I found out we used to go to the same Kindy. What a small small world this world has become.

He is pursuing his Masters in Education and AGAIN!!!! I am at the right position to answer some questions for his dissertation.

I love talking about my work. My journey. My Joy. And the sweat and tears, of course. Last week, he gobsmacked me with his first question. My top 5 difficulties in running a centre.

My answers: (1)Managing Staff, (2)Communication with Parents, (3)Managing students from different age group, (4)Non-stop studying on instructors part and (5)As a big organisation, instructors are expected to participate in a lot of activities apart from our already busy schedule.

Patriotism

This morning, I woke up wanting some changes. I know today I'd be getting a new study table. I wanted to invest a little bit on a nice study table as I do a lot of my work at home. It's not here yet, but I'm preparing for its arrival.

While preparing, I'm now stuck at my existing table (an old dining table that I used as my students' table when I first opened my centre). I was reading a blog by Dr M. He's known as Dr M, but he was our former Prime Minister.

I cannot think of anyone more patriotic than he is. http://www.chedet.com/

Freaky Friday...

Today was a super busy day for me. We started at 1 and finished at 5. From 1 to 3.45, we were not too bad, but it all started when the students came in one by one non stop.

Today, we had a few more new transfers, an unhappy mom who wanted to talk to me because his son did not know how to do his homework (when the truth is, he hasn't been coming to the centre for the last 2 weeks!), and a dad wanting explanation on his transferred son, also earlier I had to spen 15 mins on the phone trying to talk to a mommy who wanted her son to go through the whole level just because she feels he's not PERFECT in his understanding. She rejected my idea of giving her son a trial test. Trial test is to see which area in the level the student still needs revision to deepen his understanding.

After 5, we left the centre and it was raining. In Kuala Lumpur, when it rains, the traffic is bad. I was caught in a terrible traffic for almost 90 mins.

After breaking fast, I just had to rest in a dark room with a movie on tv. I had to choose a terrible movie called Match Point....and it was a terrible movie. At the end of the movie, I felt it was a total waste of time.

At this moment, I've compiled a stack of work I need to do over the weekend. It's enough to keep me up for hours this weekend.

My journey goes on......

Music and Concentration

Growing up being an active child made it not too easy for me to concentrate when it comes to studies. I self-learned that if you put on music for you to listen while you're studying, it can increase your concentration. I started to like practicing Maths when I was 13. I was no where to getting As at Maths before that.

Music kept me company as well. Staying up till 3 am almost every night was at first quite scary, because it's so quiet outside. I remember listening to song dedication program on the radio with the dj called Janet Ambrose. She coloured and shaped my life with her Aunt Agony sessions.

Lately, I was reminded to those time because of my late night studies. The music has changed, but it's still the same old me, struggling and battling the night just to get some sense into my head.

Worksheet Studies

One of the most difficult task for an instructor is to keep up with all the levels. As for me, I have both the English and Maths Program at the center. Lately, my students are progressing higher and higher, and that means I have to equip myself to the higher levels. I've forgotten some of the topics I have to teach, so every night, with a mug of coffee and the study light, I have to become a student. This so much remind me of my school/college days. I also need music to go with it.

I'm trying to do 3 levels at one go at the moment. 2 levels in Maths and 1 in English. I hope I'll come out very clever after this. ;o)

Sponsored Child

Last April, I was introduced to a program from World Vision. This program enables people to sponsor a child from a chosen country. It's not much, so I signed up. Every month I only have to contribute around USD17. This will help the child to get proper education, clean water and clean clothes until she/he finishes school.

I was blessed to get a girl called Mouna Ali. She's an 11 year old girl from Labenon. I have mixed feelings at first about this whole thing. However with support from friends, I feel it's the best thing to do at the moment. I do pray that one day, I'll be able to see Mouna face to face, even if that means I have to travel all the way to Labenon.

4 moths to go!!!!

We've been quite busy at the centre lately. This morning, all the reports were submitted. For the first time in my career of 10 yrs, I hit 250!!!! in enrollment. It's not in numbers, but it keeps me on my toes on giving all the children my best!

For a start, we had a morning meeting on the first day of September. I gave all the staff a notebook for them to jot down the weekly's observation. I can't remember everything. I just wanted them to be more systematic.

I took in one more full timer, which makes it 6 now. It's a good time to expand and expanding is what we're looking into till end of the year.