SHINING FRIENDS
Little faith brightens a rainy day
Life is difficult; you can’t go away
Don’t hide yourselve in the corner
You have my place to stay
Sorrow is gonna say goodbye
Opens up you’ll see the happy sunshine
Keep going on with your dream
Chasing tomorrow’s sunrise
The spirit can never die
Sun will shine, my friend
Won’t let you cry, my dear
Seeing you shed a tear
Make my world disappear
You’ll never be alone in darkness
See my smile, my friend
We are with you, holding hands
You have got to believe, you are my destiny
We’re meant to be your friends
That’s what a friend should be
To those who have sang this song with me…
"Shining Friends"…
A song that has lots of meaning lay behind it
A song that gives us strength… Strength that no one could ever break it… Our friendship
A song that teaches us about team spirit
A song that teaches us how to appreciate our friends, teaches us how to walk together… hands by hands
A song that teaches us how to face the challenges together
A song that does not have the word ALONE in its dictionary
A song that manage to open overyone’s mouth but saying the same words, signing the same actions… UNITY
A song that brighten up our day
A song that wipes away our tears during our difficult moments
Click here for the song
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Kerdipan indah pada waktu malam…
SAHABAT… Bagaikan kerdipan bintang-bintang pada waktu malam yang menyinari kekelaman hidup. Setiap kerdipannya membawa seribu makna yang tidak dapat ditafsir secara tersurat. Namun, ketulusannya dapat dirasai dalam kalbu. Rupa-rupanya detik-detik bersama sahabat-sahabat adalah begitu indah, seindah bintang-bintang yang menari di langit. Jika setiap sahabat mewakili sebutir bintang, bayangkan betapa khusyuknya aku memandang ke langit, menatapi keindahan beribu-ribu bintang. Detik-detik bersama sahabat mungkin tidak akan berpanjangan, ada ketikanya aku terpaksa mengucapkan “Selamat tinggal”. Namun, aku percaya, bintang-bintang di langit masih berkelipan walaupun aku tidak dapat melihatnya pada waktu siang. Saat-saat yang paling menggembirakan adalah apabila kita dapat berhubung kembali walaupun kita telah berpisah sekian lama dan pertemuan semula seakan-akan mustahil - Ya, itulah masa yang membuatkan aku lebih menghargai setiap persahabatan. Aku baru menyedari, rupa-rupanya aku akan lebih menghargai setelah pernah kehilangannya. Andai kata hari ini aku kehilangan ingatanku, ku harap, memori indah kita bersama tidak akan lupus ditelan zaman… akan terpahat di sanubariku buat selama-lamanya. Andai kata dirimu tidak seperti dirimu yang dulu, ku harap saat-saat indah yang pernah dicipta oleh kita akan kekal dan tidak berubah bersamamu. Jika dirimu sedang membaca nukilan ini, terima kasih aku ucapkan kerana membesar bersamaku mengukir kenangan-kenangan abadi dan menjadi sebahagian daripada diari hidupku. Sekiranya matamu menitiskan manik-manik jernih ketika membaca nukilanku, terima kasih kerana telah membina persahabatan yang begitu suci dan erat bersamaku sehingga dapat meninggalkan kesan yang begitu mendalam terhadap dirimu. Terima kasih sahabatku! (“,)
Innocent of Children
A little girl walked daily to and from school. One morning, though the weather was questionable and huge clouds were forming, she made her daily trip to the school. As the afternoon progressed, strong winds whipped up, along with thunder and flashes of lighting across the sky.The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school. She feared that the storm might harm her child.
So, she quickly got into her car and drove to her child’s school.
As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along. But at each flash of lighting, the child would stop, look up and smile. Another and another followed in quick succession, each with the little girl stopping, looking up and smiling.
Finally, the mother asked her child, “What are you doing?”
The child answered, smiling, “God just keeps taking pictures of me.”
(Source: Self Empowerment)
Disability??? and Orange Philosophy
Ahhh… really cannot bear with my Latihan Ilmiah (commonly known as thesis but as I’m just doing my degree, so I call it Latihan Ilmiah) anymore. Having to transcribe the 3 hours and 30 minutes interviews from speech to words really makes me feel tired and bored. It’s time for me to relax again.
Well, while transcribing the interviews, I keep on thinking of the life of OKU and again I question myself, “What is the meaning of disability”? Our country is still far behind from Western countries in fulfilling the special needs. How about perception towards OKU? Do all the Malaysians really accept them as part of our Brothers and Sisters with open hearts? The answer is not so appealing, though. Maybe you might think that working in special education means that we will work in a loving circumstance… with caring people surrounding us, spreading the love (as what my friends told me before). Hmm… that is my dream and what I’ve expected before I study at University. But sad to say, that’s not what has really happen. It makes me retrieve one of the articles (from oversea) I’ve read before; I still remember one of the remarks given by a person with special need who wants to be a teacher. The PWD said that if the school is to provide the Person with Disability (PWDs) for the betterment and prepare them for a better career opportunity, why the school itself is not so open in accepting teachers with disabilities?
Again, as I’ve stated in my previous blog, in most of the time, it’s the people around them that create the barriers and disable them. I keep on thinking, what is the actual meaning of being disabled? What cause me to voice up this question? OK, let’s have a look at the given situations:
If you say that a deaf is disabled, imagine that you are in a room with the Deafs and you are the only Hearing there. Well, do you get what I’m trying to convey? I mean, if you are with them, spoken language is no more important, it’s sign language which is more important. Not using spoken language means…? Means what…? Well, good… It means that whether deaf or not is not a big question. Therefore, at that moment, do you think that they are disabled? I think you are the one who are ‘disabled’ because unable to understand their conversation. When you are diving with a deaf; do you think deafness is a barrier? We need to use their sign language to communicate underwater, instead. So, what is the actual meaning of disability?
Imagine that you are placed in a dark room where all the facilities are provided for the Blind and mobility is no more a problem. It is very dark in the room and you can hardly see any light around. At that moment, who is ‘disabled’? You or the blind? The blind will not face any problem then but you are the one who most probably kick a chair and fell on the floor… Boomm…(“Buah nangka jatuh”)… and the next sound will be, “Oucch”! Why? Because the Blind can ‘see’ using their hands and their ears. So, what is the actual meaning of disability?
Some people have negative perception towards PWDs. From the two analogies that I’ve written, I do think that there is no one in this world who has the right to treat them negatively because all of us are the same. Why PWD is known as being disabled? Is it because PWD is not same as us? Is it because they lost one of the senses and we treat them as if they are ‘aliens’ coming from other planets? No, no, no… they are known as disabled by us because they share different culture. There are no words such as ‘disabled’ or ‘disability’ in their dictionary (As what TC told me. Thanks, TC for giving me hinds and ‘enlightened’ me). Hmm… this is somehow known as discrimination too. We are the majority and PWDs are the minority (you can find it out from articles in special education-related journals). Hmm… One more analogy for you to think of: If a ‘friend’ from Marikh come to Earth, we will call Him an alien; if you go to Marikh, they will call you an alien. So, at the end, who is the alien? So, again… what is the actual meaning of disability?
Suddenly the ORANGE PHILOSOPHY pops on my mind (haha… sorry, I’ve created this philosophy myself =p . You can’t find it in books)
An orange on the table. What you can tell us? Hmm… good, it’s an orange with sphere shape and orange in colour. What’s the smell and how it tastes? Can you tell me by just looking at it? Good, clever student! Yes, you cannot tell the smell and the taste by just looking at it: Analogically, by looking at PWDs, what you can tell us is that the person is lost one of the 5 senses that we have. Anymore?Well, while transcribing the interviews, I keep on thinking of the life of OKU and again I question myself, “What is the meaning of disability”? Our country is still far behind from Western countries in fulfilling the special needs. How about perception towards OKU? Do all the Malaysians really accept them as part of our Brothers and Sisters with open hearts? The answer is not so appealing, though. Maybe you might think that working in special education means that we will work in a loving circumstance… with caring people surrounding us, spreading the love (as what my friends told me before). Hmm… that is my dream and what I’ve expected before I study at University. But sad to say, that’s not what has really happen. It makes me retrieve one of the articles (from oversea) I’ve read before; I still remember one of the remarks given by a person with special need who wants to be a teacher. The PWD said that if the school is to provide the Person with Disability (PWDs) for the betterment and prepare them for a better career opportunity, why the school itself is not so open in accepting teachers with disabilities?
Again, as I’ve stated in my previous blog, in most of the time, it’s the people around them that create the barriers and disable them. I keep on thinking, what is the actual meaning of being disabled? What cause me to voice up this question? OK, let’s have a look at the given situations:
If you say that a deaf is disabled, imagine that you are in a room with the Deafs and you are the only Hearing there. Well, do you get what I’m trying to convey? I mean, if you are with them, spoken language is no more important, it’s sign language which is more important. Not using spoken language means…? Means what…? Well, good… It means that whether deaf or not is not a big question. Therefore, at that moment, do you think that they are disabled? I think you are the one who are ‘disabled’ because unable to understand their conversation. When you are diving with a deaf; do you think deafness is a barrier? We need to use their sign language to communicate underwater, instead. So, what is the actual meaning of disability?
Imagine that you are placed in a dark room where all the facilities are provided for the Blind and mobility is no more a problem. It is very dark in the room and you can hardly see any light around. At that moment, who is ‘disabled’? You or the blind? The blind will not face any problem then but you are the one who most probably kick a chair and fell on the floor… Boomm…(“Buah nangka jatuh”)… and the next sound will be, “Oucch”! Why? Because the Blind can ‘see’ using their hands and their ears. So, what is the actual meaning of disability?
Some people have negative perception towards PWDs. From the two analogies that I’ve written, I do think that there is no one in this world who has the right to treat them negatively because all of us are the same. Why PWD is known as being disabled? Is it because PWD is not same as us? Is it because they lost one of the senses and we treat them as if they are ‘aliens’ coming from other planets? No, no, no… they are known as disabled by us because they share different culture. There are no words such as ‘disabled’ or ‘disability’ in their dictionary (As what TC told me. Thanks, TC for giving me hinds and ‘enlightened’ me). Hmm… this is somehow known as discrimination too. We are the majority and PWDs are the minority (you can find it out from articles in special education-related journals). Hmm… One more analogy for you to think of: If a ‘friend’ from Marikh come to Earth, we will call Him an alien; if you go to Marikh, they will call you an alien. So, at the end, who is the alien? So, again… what is the actual meaning of disability?
Suddenly the ORANGE PHILOSOPHY pops on my mind (haha… sorry, I’ve created this philosophy myself =p . You can’t find it in books)
Now, you take the orange and peel it. Back to the questions, can you tell me its smell and its taste? Very well, good. You can only tell the smell but you still cannot 100% confirm of its taste: Analogically, if you are just reading about PWDs and never meet one and talk with them, how much do you understand them? How much do you really understand their feelings? Remember, practical is more important than theories.
OK. You have peeled the orange. Now you want to take one piece and put it in your mouth. Can you tell me how it tastes? Exactly! It has a sweet-sour taste: Analogically, we will never understand their feelings until we mix with them. We will never understand them unless we become one of them.
So, from the orange philosophy what do we need to do now? Hmm… yes, digest the orange by…: See their existence, smell their needs; feel and taste their feelings. Let’s the Vitamin C flows in our blood, let’s the love and understandings spread in our community (“,)
Di sebaliknya...
Aku mengorak langkahku ke hadapan… langkah demi langkah. Aku berjalan-jalan tanpa hala tuju, tanpa destinasi yang nyata.
Aku memandang ke langit. Titisan air membasahi badanku. Aku menanyamu mengapa engkau menangis. Engkau hanya senyum kepadaku dan lantas terpancar Sang Suria menyinariku. Aku melihat pelangi mewarnai langit yang seketika tadi kelabu. Rupa-rupanya di sebalik kegelapan ada sinarnya dan setiap cabaran ada hikmatnya.
Aku merenung ke arah lukisan yang terukir di angkasa. Pelangi yang mewarnai langit tiba-tiba lenyap daripada pandanganku. Lukisan yang indah tiba-tiba kembali menjadi sekeping kertas putih yang kosong, tidak bercorak. Rupa-rupanya setiap kegembiraan adalah tidak berpanjangan dan penting bagi diriku untuk menghargai setiap detik.
Sang Suria mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepadaku dan tatkala itu, hilang di sebalik selimut pepohon… memberi ruang kepada kemunculan Sang Bulan. Kegelapan mulai dirasai oleh diriku pada ketika ini. Aku menyoal diriku, adakah setiap kegembiraan akan diiringi oleh kesedihan dan sebaliknya? Adakah mereka berdua merupakan sahabat karib yang tidak boleh dipisahkan? Aku melihat sekeliling… gelap. Aku memandang ke langit. Kelihatan kerdipan bintang-bintang malam menyinari kelibat manusia yang berjalan di bawahnya. Bintang-bintang kelihatan menari… sungguh mengkhusyukkan. Rupa-rupanya kegelapan hanya dirasai jika aku hanya memandang ke bawah. Jika aku memandang ke atas… berfikiran positif, hidupku akan menjadi lebih bahagia.
Aku menyoal diriku… adakah aku harus mempersoalkan setiap kejadian yang dialami? Bukankah setiap kejadian itu mempunyai makna yang tersembunyi? Adakah aku harus terus membiarkan titisan air mata membasahi diriku dan tidak memberi ruang kepada kemunculan Sang Suria yang bakal mengukir pelangi di langit yang indah? Perlukah aku terus hidup dalam kegelapan dan memenjarakan diriku daripada melontar pandanganku jauh ke hadapan? Bukankah kerdipan bintang-bintang malam itu indah? Bukankah ini merupakan warna-warna kehidupan?
Aku memandang ke langit. Titisan air membasahi badanku. Aku menanyamu mengapa engkau menangis. Engkau hanya senyum kepadaku dan lantas terpancar Sang Suria menyinariku. Aku melihat pelangi mewarnai langit yang seketika tadi kelabu. Rupa-rupanya di sebalik kegelapan ada sinarnya dan setiap cabaran ada hikmatnya.
Aku merenung ke arah lukisan yang terukir di angkasa. Pelangi yang mewarnai langit tiba-tiba lenyap daripada pandanganku. Lukisan yang indah tiba-tiba kembali menjadi sekeping kertas putih yang kosong, tidak bercorak. Rupa-rupanya setiap kegembiraan adalah tidak berpanjangan dan penting bagi diriku untuk menghargai setiap detik.
Sang Suria mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepadaku dan tatkala itu, hilang di sebalik selimut pepohon… memberi ruang kepada kemunculan Sang Bulan. Kegelapan mulai dirasai oleh diriku pada ketika ini. Aku menyoal diriku, adakah setiap kegembiraan akan diiringi oleh kesedihan dan sebaliknya? Adakah mereka berdua merupakan sahabat karib yang tidak boleh dipisahkan? Aku melihat sekeliling… gelap. Aku memandang ke langit. Kelihatan kerdipan bintang-bintang malam menyinari kelibat manusia yang berjalan di bawahnya. Bintang-bintang kelihatan menari… sungguh mengkhusyukkan. Rupa-rupanya kegelapan hanya dirasai jika aku hanya memandang ke bawah. Jika aku memandang ke atas… berfikiran positif, hidupku akan menjadi lebih bahagia.
Aku menyoal diriku… adakah aku harus mempersoalkan setiap kejadian yang dialami? Bukankah setiap kejadian itu mempunyai makna yang tersembunyi? Adakah aku harus terus membiarkan titisan air mata membasahi diriku dan tidak memberi ruang kepada kemunculan Sang Suria yang bakal mengukir pelangi di langit yang indah? Perlukah aku terus hidup dalam kegelapan dan memenjarakan diriku daripada melontar pandanganku jauh ke hadapan? Bukankah kerdipan bintang-bintang malam itu indah? Bukankah ini merupakan warna-warna kehidupan?
Days with Ah Boy
I only to realize that children are not naive nowadays as they used to be (as I used to be). Dealing with a 7-year-old Ah Boy was a real challenge to me. He still can be considered a good boy, not a mischievous child. However, he sometimes did make me nearly… ~~Pengsan~~
P/s: The following conversations are translated from Mandarin into English.
First day…
I need to run Diagnostic Tests to discover his weakness.
First Diagnostic Test-Mathematics:
Me : Ah Boy, come and count this.
Ah Boy :(Reluctant to count and he continued to play)
Me :(Aiya… how to make him count?)
Suddenly I saw a box of colorful paper clips. I took out all the paper clips and put them on the table.
Me : Ah Boy, here have so many paper clips. Can you help jie jie (sister)?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : Ah Boy, jie jie want to group them into their colors. Here got so many paper clips and jie jie have problem with them (scratching my head). Can you help jie jie? The pink colour put there, blue put here, bla… bla.. bla…
Ah Boy : OK. (He really helped me grouped the paper clips!)
Me : Hmm… Now, how ar? Jie jie need to count the number of the paper clips for each colors. How ar?
Ah Boy : One two, three… (He counted all the paper clips and I wrote their numbers near the paper clips)
Me : Hmm… Jie jie want the total of this pink paper clips and the blue paper clips. How leh? What is the total?
Ah Boy did give me the correct answer and this ‘questioning and answering session’ continued until I knew his weakness in Mathematics. Haha… he did not realize that he was actually doing Mathematics :p
Next was the Diagnostic Test for English:
Me : Ah Boy, come here and do the exercise [about preposition].
Ah Boy : (Run here and there. Reluctant to do the exercise)
Me : Ah Boy, let's play game.
Ah Boy : Yeah! (Sit in front of me, get ready to play game).
Me : OK, when say ‘under’, you put the pen under the chair, ok?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : When I say the word ‘on’, where do you need to put the pen?
Ah Boy : On the chair. (spoke in Mandarin).
Me : OK, good. So, we start now.
And our game started. After that, I asked him to do the related exercise on the book. Again, he did not want to do the exercise. He kept on playing with his plasticine. So, I took away his Plasticine. Suddenly, he sat on his chair, kept quiet. I tried to speak to him many times, but he did not want to talk to me. He treated me by saying that, “Tomorrow I do not want to come here already!” Aiya…. Sudah merajuk! So, I just left him calm down and he sat on the chair until… he felt asleep! Thinking that there was no use for me to force him to wake up and study, I just let him rest.
I told myself, “I cannot use ‘harsh’ technique… punishment will only make him to rebel.” So, the next day, I tried to use ‘soft’ technique and I was BULLIED by him! He did not follow my instruction. He watched the television and played around for the whole day.
Second day…
Laughing, my mother went to the kitchen and told me this story:
The TV was on and Ah Boy was watching the cartoon. Suddenly, my father changed the channel because he wanted to watch the news.
Ah Boy : Ee yo…! I want to watch the cartoon.
My father: Go and change the channel yourself. (Pity my father… couldn’t watch his news. He was ‘bullied’ by a 7 years old child!)
Ah Boy : Haiyo… really ‘ma fan’(troublesome) ar!
My father: ……???!!!
Ah Boy had his lunch with my family. While I was eating with him…
Me : Come… eat these foods. You can eat as much as you want.
Ah Boy : (Eat and chat with me)
Suddenly…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, you still do not have a boyfriend ar (still single)?
Me : …….. (Stunned. Wah, he is still young and he could ask such question! I nearly wanted to tell him that he is my "new boyfriend" but I chose to keep quiet- better speak less. I pretended to eat… very busy eating, no time to answer his answer :p).
That afternoon, I had a walk with him, holding hands. We walked; we chased each other etc. (I have turned into a child!) He suddenly made me realized that he is just 7 years old. He just lives in this world for 7 years but already burdened with school works and studies, even during this school holiday. Standard 1 syllabus has changed. He needs to know how to read, how to form sentences in BM, BI and BC. He has no choice but to study. Otherwise, he’ll left behind. What an innocent child! While I was holding his hand, I suddenly felt like hugging him (but I didn’t :p). I feel that this child needs to enjoy his childhood, not feed with books all the time. He needs love, he needs to play around and he needs to explore his surrounding naturally. Should I take away what he supposes to enjoy at this moment, as a 7 years old child? But at the same time, I have to do my responsibility as what I have promised his mother-to teach him. I really do not know what I should do. Sigh…
Third day…
Me : Today, we are going to play Station Game. If you win one station, jie jie will reward you a star. Do you want to play?
Ah Boy : Want!
Me : OK. Station 1. Find a paper behind the door… "BEHIND A DOOR".
Ah Boy : (He followed the instruction and read it aloud)
Me : OK. Lets go to Station 2.
Ah Boy : Station 2… On that table!
Me : OK, you are at Station 2 now. Tell jie jie the names of these shapes…
Ah Boy : Cylinder, cuboid… (Pointing at the shapes)
Me : Good, jie jie give you one extra star. How about this one?
Ah Boy : (He was unable to answer it. He tried to change my attention by saying that he was going to skip this station and going to station 3).
Me : No, no, no. You won't know the location of Station 3 unless you finish this station.
Ah Boy : He tried to answer them with my help).
Me : OK. A star. Now, let’s go to Station 3.
Ah Boy : Yeah, Station 3!
Me : OK, now you are at Station 3. You need to count the number of red beans and the rice. Please count 72 red beans for jie jie.
Ah Boy : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 10-put in one group. 11, 12, 13… 20- put in one group.
He did count 72 red beans. However, when he counted them again, he did some mistakes by adding extra number of 10. I tried to solve his problem and wanted to teach him. Too bad, he did not want to listen to me ans started to play. Finally…
Me : OK, Ah Boy. You do not want to learn right? OK, now you play. Tomorrow you no need to come here already. Jie jie will not bother you. Jie jie does not want to friend with you. Jie jie does not want to play with you anymore. Bla, bla, bla…
Ah Boy : Tomorrow I will surely come de! (Bla, bla, bla… he talked a lot but I just pretended that I heard nothing).
Me : …... (Remain quiet for the whole day… better than scolding him-no need to waste my energy)
Ah Boy : Bla, bla, bla…
And the ‘cold war’ continue. Before he went home, I told him…
Me : Actually tomorrow jie jie want to play ‘snake and ladder’ (a game) with you. But you do not know how to do addition correctly wo, cannot add the 2 dices. So, never mind la. Tomorrow I will play with my mother. Mom, tomorrow I play that game with you ya…
My mother: Sure.
Me : Here is the addition exercise for you to practice. If you want to play with me, you need to finish them by tomorrow. It’s up to you whether you want to play or not.
Fourth day…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, I haven’t do the addition exercise.
Me : Haven’t do it?! Why?
Ah Boy : My left eye aches the whole night.
Me : Yes, yesterday jie jie saw your left eyes watering, you sure get infection. Later I’ll call your mother.
Ah Boy : I do the Math exercise now. (And he finished all the exercises!)
I phoned his mother. Later...
Me : Ah Boy, I have phoned your mama. She said later your aunt will come and bring you see the doctor.
Ah Boy : Oh…
Me : Then, you will stay at her house until your mother fetch you ya. You no need to come back here.
Ah Boy : Haa…! Stay at aunt's house? Nothing to do there, so bored!
Me : … (Got you! Haha, I know you are not that sick… still can think of playing instead of resting. Do you think that you can trap me to play with you and no need to study by saying that you are sick?). But, you are sick, you need to rest. Later rest at your aunt’s house, ok?
Ah Boy : Ooo… (OK).
Fifth day…
Me : Ah Boy, you have finished your exercise yesterday. As promised, let's play ‘snake and ladder’. Before that, have you taken your medicine? Come and take your medicine.
My mother: Usually after drink medicine, you will feel sleepy. If feel sleepy, you rest ya.
Ah Boy : Haa…! After drink will sleep? (Looking at our ‘snake and ladder’ game).Then, I do not want to take the medicine first.
Me : Ah Boy, you need to take the medicine. Otherwise, you will not recover. Come, let’s take your medicine.
Ah Boy : Yesterday I vomited after drank the medicine (antibiotic).
Me : But you need to take it. Come and drink it. If you can finish this, then you no need to drink it anymore. After drink the antibiotic, you drink this red color medicine (for cough). This red liquid taste good… Really taste good de. Come…
Ah Boy finally drank them :p. After taken his medicine, we played. Then, we did a big cone for him to put on his head. On the cone, we pasted 2D shapes and I asked Ah Boy to name them. He wrote the names on the cone.
Ah Boy : Jie jie, later you please don’t tell mother that I do not learn anything and just do this craftwork, ok?
Me : OK. (I told myself,” Haha, he did not realize that I am teaching him the 2D shaped)
~“Objektif pengajaran tercapai.”~
Sixth day…
Me : Today we do a big cube. Do you want it?
Ah Boy : I want!
Me : Come… let’s we do it.
Ah Boy : (Realizing that he was going to learn and write, he changed topic). Jie jie, I want to draw fish.
Me : OK. Jie jie draw a big fish and you draw another fish, OK?
Ah Boy : OK.
After finished the drawing, I asked him to color the fish while I did the cube. I pasted all the 3D shapes on the cube. Later, I asked him to label the shapes but he reluctant to write them (he doesn’t like to write and learn).
Me : Ah Boy, come and label the shapes.
Ah Boy : (Playing with the fishes). Two fishes meet. They like each other, then kiss, kiss.
Me : … (Stunned. Wah, so small already know this!). Ah Boy, hmm… you can only kiss your mother, your grandmother and your brother ya…
Ah Boy : (Laughing).
Me : OK, let's name these shapes.
Ah Boy : (Reluctant to name them)
Me : (Patiently, I chased him but I realized that this would go to nowhere)
Ah Boy : (Playing around)
Me : Ah Boy, just now I wanted to give you this cube. But now, I want to give this cube to my uncle (he afraid of my uncle).
Ah Boy : Just now you said want to give me.
Me : But you do not know how to name the shapes.
Ah Boy : Who say I do not know the names of the shapes?
Me : OK, what is the name of this shape?
Ah Boy : Cone.
Me : This? (Pointing at the cylinder)
Ah Boy : Sphere.
Me : Then this? (Pointing at the sphere)
Ah Boy : Cuboid.
I corrected his mistake and the lesson continued. :p
In these six days, I have learned a lot from him. I realized that it is very hard to raise a child. It is very challenging to deal with a child. I have to think of new teaching method everyday. I need to be creative. To understand him is a must. In my opinion, I do think that this little boy is in stress and feels frustrated in learning and writing. He told me that he does not like the teachers in school. I need to phyco him. Sigh… so tiring. Hopefully he will progress. Love him so much!
P/s: The following conversations are translated from Mandarin into English.
First day…
I need to run Diagnostic Tests to discover his weakness.
First Diagnostic Test-Mathematics:
Me : Ah Boy, come and count this.
Ah Boy :(Reluctant to count and he continued to play)
Me :(Aiya… how to make him count?)
Suddenly I saw a box of colorful paper clips. I took out all the paper clips and put them on the table.
Me : Ah Boy, here have so many paper clips. Can you help jie jie (sister)?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : Ah Boy, jie jie want to group them into their colors. Here got so many paper clips and jie jie have problem with them (scratching my head). Can you help jie jie? The pink colour put there, blue put here, bla… bla.. bla…
Ah Boy : OK. (He really helped me grouped the paper clips!)
Me : Hmm… Now, how ar? Jie jie need to count the number of the paper clips for each colors. How ar?
Ah Boy : One two, three… (He counted all the paper clips and I wrote their numbers near the paper clips)
Me : Hmm… Jie jie want the total of this pink paper clips and the blue paper clips. How leh? What is the total?
Ah Boy did give me the correct answer and this ‘questioning and answering session’ continued until I knew his weakness in Mathematics. Haha… he did not realize that he was actually doing Mathematics :p
Next was the Diagnostic Test for English:
Me : Ah Boy, come here and do the exercise [about preposition].
Ah Boy : (Run here and there. Reluctant to do the exercise)
Me : Ah Boy, let's play game.
Ah Boy : Yeah! (Sit in front of me, get ready to play game).
Me : OK, when say ‘under’, you put the pen under the chair, ok?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : When I say the word ‘on’, where do you need to put the pen?
Ah Boy : On the chair. (spoke in Mandarin).
Me : OK, good. So, we start now.
And our game started. After that, I asked him to do the related exercise on the book. Again, he did not want to do the exercise. He kept on playing with his plasticine. So, I took away his Plasticine. Suddenly, he sat on his chair, kept quiet. I tried to speak to him many times, but he did not want to talk to me. He treated me by saying that, “Tomorrow I do not want to come here already!” Aiya…. Sudah merajuk! So, I just left him calm down and he sat on the chair until… he felt asleep! Thinking that there was no use for me to force him to wake up and study, I just let him rest.
I told myself, “I cannot use ‘harsh’ technique… punishment will only make him to rebel.” So, the next day, I tried to use ‘soft’ technique and I was BULLIED by him! He did not follow my instruction. He watched the television and played around for the whole day.
Second day…
Laughing, my mother went to the kitchen and told me this story:
The TV was on and Ah Boy was watching the cartoon. Suddenly, my father changed the channel because he wanted to watch the news.
Ah Boy : Ee yo…! I want to watch the cartoon.
My father: Go and change the channel yourself. (Pity my father… couldn’t watch his news. He was ‘bullied’ by a 7 years old child!)
Ah Boy : Haiyo… really ‘ma fan’(troublesome) ar!
My father: ……???!!!
Ah Boy had his lunch with my family. While I was eating with him…
Me : Come… eat these foods. You can eat as much as you want.
Ah Boy : (Eat and chat with me)
Suddenly…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, you still do not have a boyfriend ar (still single)?
Me : …….. (Stunned. Wah, he is still young and he could ask such question! I nearly wanted to tell him that he is my "new boyfriend" but I chose to keep quiet- better speak less. I pretended to eat… very busy eating, no time to answer his answer :p).
That afternoon, I had a walk with him, holding hands. We walked; we chased each other etc. (I have turned into a child!) He suddenly made me realized that he is just 7 years old. He just lives in this world for 7 years but already burdened with school works and studies, even during this school holiday. Standard 1 syllabus has changed. He needs to know how to read, how to form sentences in BM, BI and BC. He has no choice but to study. Otherwise, he’ll left behind. What an innocent child! While I was holding his hand, I suddenly felt like hugging him (but I didn’t :p). I feel that this child needs to enjoy his childhood, not feed with books all the time. He needs love, he needs to play around and he needs to explore his surrounding naturally. Should I take away what he supposes to enjoy at this moment, as a 7 years old child? But at the same time, I have to do my responsibility as what I have promised his mother-to teach him. I really do not know what I should do. Sigh…
Third day…
Me : Today, we are going to play Station Game. If you win one station, jie jie will reward you a star. Do you want to play?
Ah Boy : Want!
Me : OK. Station 1. Find a paper behind the door… "BEHIND A DOOR".
Ah Boy : (He followed the instruction and read it aloud)
Me : OK. Lets go to Station 2.
Ah Boy : Station 2… On that table!
Me : OK, you are at Station 2 now. Tell jie jie the names of these shapes…
Ah Boy : Cylinder, cuboid… (Pointing at the shapes)
Me : Good, jie jie give you one extra star. How about this one?
Ah Boy : (He was unable to answer it. He tried to change my attention by saying that he was going to skip this station and going to station 3).
Me : No, no, no. You won't know the location of Station 3 unless you finish this station.
Ah Boy : He tried to answer them with my help).
Me : OK. A star. Now, let’s go to Station 3.
Ah Boy : Yeah, Station 3!
Me : OK, now you are at Station 3. You need to count the number of red beans and the rice. Please count 72 red beans for jie jie.
Ah Boy : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 10-put in one group. 11, 12, 13… 20- put in one group.
He did count 72 red beans. However, when he counted them again, he did some mistakes by adding extra number of 10. I tried to solve his problem and wanted to teach him. Too bad, he did not want to listen to me ans started to play. Finally…
Me : OK, Ah Boy. You do not want to learn right? OK, now you play. Tomorrow you no need to come here already. Jie jie will not bother you. Jie jie does not want to friend with you. Jie jie does not want to play with you anymore. Bla, bla, bla…
Ah Boy : Tomorrow I will surely come de! (Bla, bla, bla… he talked a lot but I just pretended that I heard nothing).
Me : …... (Remain quiet for the whole day… better than scolding him-no need to waste my energy)
Ah Boy : Bla, bla, bla…
And the ‘cold war’ continue. Before he went home, I told him…
Me : Actually tomorrow jie jie want to play ‘snake and ladder’ (a game) with you. But you do not know how to do addition correctly wo, cannot add the 2 dices. So, never mind la. Tomorrow I will play with my mother. Mom, tomorrow I play that game with you ya…
My mother: Sure.
Me : Here is the addition exercise for you to practice. If you want to play with me, you need to finish them by tomorrow. It’s up to you whether you want to play or not.
Fourth day…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, I haven’t do the addition exercise.
Me : Haven’t do it?! Why?
Ah Boy : My left eye aches the whole night.
Me : Yes, yesterday jie jie saw your left eyes watering, you sure get infection. Later I’ll call your mother.
Ah Boy : I do the Math exercise now. (And he finished all the exercises!)
I phoned his mother. Later...
Me : Ah Boy, I have phoned your mama. She said later your aunt will come and bring you see the doctor.
Ah Boy : Oh…
Me : Then, you will stay at her house until your mother fetch you ya. You no need to come back here.
Ah Boy : Haa…! Stay at aunt's house? Nothing to do there, so bored!
Me : … (Got you! Haha, I know you are not that sick… still can think of playing instead of resting. Do you think that you can trap me to play with you and no need to study by saying that you are sick?). But, you are sick, you need to rest. Later rest at your aunt’s house, ok?
Ah Boy : Ooo… (OK).
Fifth day…
Me : Ah Boy, you have finished your exercise yesterday. As promised, let's play ‘snake and ladder’. Before that, have you taken your medicine? Come and take your medicine.
My mother: Usually after drink medicine, you will feel sleepy. If feel sleepy, you rest ya.
Ah Boy : Haa…! After drink will sleep? (Looking at our ‘snake and ladder’ game).Then, I do not want to take the medicine first.
Me : Ah Boy, you need to take the medicine. Otherwise, you will not recover. Come, let’s take your medicine.
Ah Boy : Yesterday I vomited after drank the medicine (antibiotic).
Me : But you need to take it. Come and drink it. If you can finish this, then you no need to drink it anymore. After drink the antibiotic, you drink this red color medicine (for cough). This red liquid taste good… Really taste good de. Come…
Ah Boy finally drank them :p. After taken his medicine, we played. Then, we did a big cone for him to put on his head. On the cone, we pasted 2D shapes and I asked Ah Boy to name them. He wrote the names on the cone.
Ah Boy : Jie jie, later you please don’t tell mother that I do not learn anything and just do this craftwork, ok?
Me : OK. (I told myself,” Haha, he did not realize that I am teaching him the 2D shaped)
~“Objektif pengajaran tercapai.”~
Sixth day…
Me : Today we do a big cube. Do you want it?
Ah Boy : I want!
Me : Come… let’s we do it.
Ah Boy : (Realizing that he was going to learn and write, he changed topic). Jie jie, I want to draw fish.
Me : OK. Jie jie draw a big fish and you draw another fish, OK?
Ah Boy : OK.
After finished the drawing, I asked him to color the fish while I did the cube. I pasted all the 3D shapes on the cube. Later, I asked him to label the shapes but he reluctant to write them (he doesn’t like to write and learn).
Me : Ah Boy, come and label the shapes.
Ah Boy : (Playing with the fishes). Two fishes meet. They like each other, then kiss, kiss.
Me : … (Stunned. Wah, so small already know this!). Ah Boy, hmm… you can only kiss your mother, your grandmother and your brother ya…
Ah Boy : (Laughing).
Me : OK, let's name these shapes.
Ah Boy : (Reluctant to name them)
Me : (Patiently, I chased him but I realized that this would go to nowhere)
Ah Boy : (Playing around)
Me : Ah Boy, just now I wanted to give you this cube. But now, I want to give this cube to my uncle (he afraid of my uncle).
Ah Boy : Just now you said want to give me.
Me : But you do not know how to name the shapes.
Ah Boy : Who say I do not know the names of the shapes?
Me : OK, what is the name of this shape?
Ah Boy : Cone.
Me : This? (Pointing at the cylinder)
Ah Boy : Sphere.
Me : Then this? (Pointing at the sphere)
Ah Boy : Cuboid.
I corrected his mistake and the lesson continued. :p
In these six days, I have learned a lot from him. I realized that it is very hard to raise a child. It is very challenging to deal with a child. I have to think of new teaching method everyday. I need to be creative. To understand him is a must. In my opinion, I do think that this little boy is in stress and feels frustrated in learning and writing. He told me that he does not like the teachers in school. I need to phyco him. Sigh… so tiring. Hopefully he will progress. Love him so much!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Between two trees… One leafless, the other not…
Which is better?
The leafless tree looked poor at daytime…
No leaves, no flowers… nothing,
The other tree looked green…
Cheerful, full of contentment.
Yet…
It looked unique,
Without any leaf it stands still,
Not afraid of strong wind,
Not afraid that the wind will blow away its leaves.
When twilight fall…
Flocks of birds land on the leafless tree,
Chirping happily, entertaining the leafless tree,
And the other tree just watches from far…
Realized that being leafless is not bad at all…
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