Monday, 11 July 2011

Millions of wonders in the world of children.



Sharing and discussing homework.
Students learn by sharing knowledge with others.
Hui Ying showing her 2 trophies she won at school.
Children occupying themselves during activity time.
At times when we are faced with shortage of teachers because of illness of one or two teachers, we are under tremendous pressure to ensure the smooth running of the centre.We have to start by doing what is necessary and move on to what is possible and suddenly we realize we have achieve the impossible. The children sensed that there is a shortage of teacher and they turned to be exceptionally disciplined and surprisingly a few of them became educators themselves, guiding the younger ones in their homework and even teaching them! They even draft the timetable for the students to play computers at interval of 15 minutes each and doing their reading and writing or playing board games. Our great discovery is to realize that the children change or develop their character and attitude in the absence of their teacher. It is a blessings in disguise. Even the younger ones accepted the older children as their guide for the day and obeyed accordingly. Surprise upon surprise, the children seem smarter and intelligent than usual. The whole situation turn out best when we make the best of the whole situation. There are 86400 seconds a day; and the little words  of 'thank you', 'good boy', 'well done' which takes a few seconds, may go a long way for the healthy growth of the children. There are no seven wonders for children, but in millions. A visiting caterpillar can create great excitement and sensation among the children, which are shown in their scream of happiness and excited body movements. Nice things must be said and be heard by the children always. With our face towards sunshine, the shadows will fall behind us.

Thursday, 7 July 2011

A visit to Penang Heritage Centre, Georgetown

Luili arts from glass.
Khor Ewe Hock's dough art figurine.
Traditional Indian utensils.
Beautifully decorated wooden Chinese clogs.
A collections of old weapon.
A beautifully lit Malay mosque.
Batik drawing.
Traditional way to sift flour.
Grinding flour for making mai yom.
Pre-War  houses at Armenian street.
Playing traditional musical instruments.

Enjoying the Cak Lampong for the first time.
Trying out an astronomical telescope.
Tissue cultured water plants  planted horizontally.
Traditional way of pounding flour.
Hand-made basketry.
 Discoveries can come from multiple avenues, through books, music, dances, experiments and visits. There is no limits to it and no fix rules. But it is always fun to visit places and make some discoveries which are often very memorable.