Tuesday, December 07, 2010

125 + 207 = eeerr ???!!!

I have been medically certified to be allergic to Ampicillin and all antibiotics in that family since 1986. However there is a greater allergy I have. An allergy to mathematics.

It has gotten so bad that my mind goes into freeze mode whenever a situation arise that requires me to add, subtract, multiply or divide. It is not so much that I am bad at mathematics (I was a below average student in Maths but have never flunk any papers) It is just that my mental ability to process numbers is somehow not developed.

My husband calls me plain lazy to think and although deep inside I agree with him, it has become almost a physical thing. My brain goes into freeze mode and I get into a frantic state where I either whip out my mobile to use the calculator when I am alone or look helplessly to my husband to provide the answer (cue “I’m a Barbie girl” song)

Part of the reason is perhaps I have never had a good foundation in Maths. When I first started learning Math in school, I always hear everyone around me say “I’ve never been good at Maths” and “Eee I hate Maths. Good luck to you” “So far no one is our family is good at Maths”. It was almost inherent that I kind of self prophesize that I will also be horrid at Maths. I’ve heard of stories where a person hated Maths but because she/he had an exceptionally inspirational teacher who made the subject interesting he/she develop an interest in the subject. Unfortunately I never had such a teacher or role model.

More than anything else, I have never had the interest and repeated wrong answers kind of broke my self confidence in the subject and wilted any motivation I had to do well.

I once met an ex-classmate who said he was majoring in Mathematics at the Uni. I remember looking at him like he was an alien from outer space and thought to myself, “Why would anyone want to major in Mathematics ? “

I realize now that Mathematics is very essential and it is very disadvantageous if we do not have the necessary skills for it. Now that I am a parent, I would very much like to ensure I do not prejudice my child against any set of knowledge. I want them to be the very best they can be and will do anything within my power to provide the necessary environment for them to excel. Which is how I come across Kumon.

I have done quite a bit of research into this. I like the methodology for the following reasons

a) It starts off the child at a manageable level and allows the child to build their self confidence.
b) It is one to one & customised according to the child’s ability, very much similar to the Montessori method which I strongly adhere to.
c) It is a daily thing (this has its cons too)
d) It instills independent learning and will allow the child to learn to solve problems on their own
e) it develops the child’s mental capability and gives them the advantage to master arithmetic, the very basic of a lot of mathematics concepts.
f) It is independent of the school syllabus and allows the child to learn concepts beyond those taught at his age in school

I have reservations on this methodology because of the following
a) It is very tedious, requires lots of repetition in order to achieve mastery and can be very boring for a child with an inquisitive mind.
b) It gives the child a inflated sense of confidence when they progress beyond their school level and can bring rise to arrogance and over-confidence & in its worst case scenario, confuses the child when he is taught the same lesson in school
c) It kills creativity and can rebound & cause said child to HATE Math (unlikely though, it seems)
d) It is expensive and will take a sizable chunk of my disposable income (something I hope the hubby will subsidise) It will be worse when my Muzaffar comes of age to join Kumon classes
e) It involves very detailed parent involvement to monitor that the child does his worksheet every day w/o fail and I may drop the ball when work and family commitments comes to the fore. (thinking of family vacation )
f) I know that Kumon will be beneficial for Maths but I have my doubts over the English syllabus (more on that later)
I have gone for the Parent orientation and like what I see for now. Tonight I will be sending my 4 year old boy for the diagnostic session to see which level he should join.

If I may make an unbiased assessment of my son, I would say he is above average but he has a very short attention span. He also thrives on praises and positive encouragement in order to motivate him to do well and take the next step. He is discouraged very easily when he meets a roadblock. I hope that Kumon will give him a head start and his bolstered self confidence will spur him to want to explore and reach his full potential.

I have been told that the first 3-6 months is the most difficult as the child needs to get into the routine of doing kumon worksheets daily and resistance is to be expected.

I will provide more periodic updates on whether I actually go through with enrolling my Mubarak into Kumon and how he (and I) fare with time.

The journey to Phone Hell and back

Ok let me put this straight. I LUURRVEE my phone. As in Love Love Love. I waited forever to get it and once I got it (Thanks to hubby for the birthday gift) the phone and I are inseparable. I take it with me everywhere I go, even to the loo. Yes I am not kidding. I do everything on the phone. - Read my e-books, play angry birds and other useless games, download recipes, check for currency xchange rate online, plan my finances, read the news online, update my twitter and facebook statuses. I use the phone to keep my kids quiet on public transport and long car rides. I even have an anti-mosquito app that I turn on whenever we are back in Malaysia to make sure my kids are not bitten.

So imagine my despair and utter despondence when upon my return from celebrating my son’s birthday on 1st Dec, I realized the phone wasn’t on my physical self and was not in any of the bags I was carrying. I turned the car upside down in the hope it had dropped into the crevices and searched all the family members' bag in case it somehow went into theirs.

Lucky for me, my husband is not the kind who berates. He could see how dejected I was and consoled me by telling me not to think too much and accept the fact it was gone. He called the operator to suspend my line and arranged for me to collect the replacement SIM card. I did my due diligence and called up the places we went, to see if any kind souls found the phone and reported it to the management. It was a very long shot as I honestly did not expect anyone to do anything else but pocket the phone. After all it was a brand new HTC Desire and was less than 6 months old.
Out of the blue on Sunday evening, I received a call from a Miss Asmunah of the Snow City asking if I had visited the premises recently. My heart was beating out of my chest as I waited for what she had to say. It seems she found a phone on the snow slope (no less) and held on to it, hoping the owner will call up the phone or if the owner would come back to claim it. When a few days has passed and the phone was still in the lost and found box, she actually went through my contact list and called up the number listed as “Home”.

To say I was over the moon would be a gross understatement. Needless to say within the hour I was over at the Snow City to collect my phone.
What impressed me most was that
- She could have pocketed the phone but didn’t
- She is sure to come across a hundred lost items in a day but she took the effort to follow up to look for the owner of the phone she has found.
- She could have left it in the lost and found box to rot or until the grace period is up and then give it to her colleague/kid/ whoever.
- My phone has a PIN lock. She actually took out the Sim card, put it in her phone and searched for my Home number. That takes effort. I am not sure I would have gone through all that effort if I was in her place.

I thanked her profusely when I met her and took down her details. I was determined to highlight this gesture she has done for me and show my appreciation to her. The very next day I googled all the email addresses of the management of Snow City and sent them an email to highlight what she has done for me.

I will be sending a bouquet of flowers and some chocolates to her as well.

I reproduce the email below as well as the reply from the management.

Dear Sharifah, thanks for taking the time to write and letting us know the incident. We will convey our thanks to Asmunah for what she had done.
Regards
Michael Chay
Executive Director
Snow Venture Pte Ltd.

To: hr@snowcity.com.sg; contact@snowcity.com.sg; gohcc@tsparchitects.net; wee_heng_tin@moe.gov.sg; qgimpew@dso.org.sg
Cc: asmunah@snowcity.com.sg
Subject: A Bouquet of Thanks to Asmunah Selamat

Dear All,
I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation and thanks to one of your employee, Ms Asmunah Selamat. I am sending this to you to highlight what a gem of an employee she is to your organization and hopefully you will express to her my thanks and recognize the value she has brought to your organization.
My family and I visited the Snow City on 1st Dec 2010 for my son’s birthday celebration. We had a marvelous time there and it was only when I reached home that evening that I realized my mobile phone was missing. I had no recollection where I had misplaced it or if it had dropped out from my pocket.
I called the Snow City to enquire on 2nd and 3rd Dec 2010 if there was a phone reported as found. It was a longshot enquiry and I was not surprised when the person I spoke to said no phone was found. I had given up all hope and was deeply saddened as the phone was very recently purchased and contained various confidential and personal financial information.

Imagine my surprise when on Sunday evening 5th Dec 2010, a lady, Ms Asmunah, called from the Snow City to enquire if I had visited the premise recently and lost something. She said she had been waiting for someone to call the mobile or come to collect the phone but when no one did, she took her own initiative to look through my contacts and called the phone number listed as “HOME”.

That was not all that she did. She stayed behind to meet me well after her working hours on the same evening when I came by about 9pm to collect the phone.
I acknowledge the effort and initiative she has showed. She could have just as easily pocketed the phone, or dumped it in the lost and found box until someone came looking for it. Her honesty, conscientiousness and great initiative is something I truly appreciate. I hope you as her employer will do the same.

Please send my regards to her and I hope you highlight this incident to her. She is not just a model employee but a model human being.

I will not hesitate to recommend Snow City to my clients and family members not just because it is an interesting tourist attraction but because of the value of the employees found there.

Should you need to reach me, you can call my mobile at XXXXXXX or my number below.

Thank you very much.
With my best regards,