Don't Give Up!

When you face an easy task, you can always do it readily and fast.

But, when you are facing a more difficult task, are you still able to accept it and do it?


For some, they took on the challenge and crack their brain to think of ways to tackle the task. And, of course there is no guarantee success, but I believe the success rate is high. Don't you think so?

For some, they gave up at the first thought, knowing it is something more difficult than usual. Without a doubt, do you think they will be able to solve the challenge?


It is up to the individual to choose what they want when faced with a challenge, to either face it or run away. It is a Choice.

I had a cognitive lesson with my student today. He is faced with a big challenge with one of the activities. We have been training for some lessons, but due to his visual skills, it is not easy for him to pass. We were so closed to passing today (3 out of 5 rounds correct). He had to get 5 out 5 rounds correct to pass the level. When I announced that we had to restart from zero, his first reaction is "I don't know how to do. I want to give up."

He is so closed to passing the level, yet, he choose to give up at this time. I felt that he is able to handle this level well, so I encouraged him to continue. After listening and thinking through, he made another choice, to continue with the activity.

And, to his amazement, he passed the level at 1 go without having to repeatedly do the activity. This is the power of Perseverance.

In life, there is a lot of challenges to face. If we were to give up once we are not able to do something, imagine the number of things you are going to miss out on. It will be a very BIG number!



# Never say DIE! がんばって!

Shopping

When you start work in the morning when shops are not open yet, and you work till the night where shops have already closed, where will you do your shopping?

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Online Shopping!! When all else fails, there is still the internet.

The range of items you can now buy online is so wide that you can almost buy anything online. And, blog shops are growing rapidly and is becoming a new trend.

Till now, I have only bought accessories online. The most recent 1 is a leaf earring from Mynt. They had simple and nice accessories at very reasonable prices, do take a look at their shop!



To have a listing of online blog shops, you can visit Singapore Best Blog Directory

Shopping online is not only convenient, it also allows easy comparison of the products you are buying. You will also not be pressurized by the salesgirl who can't seem to stay away from you. haha. =x


#Do you believe in shopping therapy??

Stingy with Praises?

When is the last time you praised someone?

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When is the last time you received a praise?

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I believe a lot of you are scratching your head, thinking hard, trying to come up with one.

Most people are very stingy with their praises.

When you think about it, a simple praise just takes you less than 30 seconds. It may just be a short moment of your busy time, and yet, it could make the day for someone else. I mean you would feel great too if you receive a praise from someone, won't you?

The type of praises I refer to are those honest and sincere praise, and not those sweet honey talks.

When someone did something well, acknowledge them and praise them. It would made them feel good about themselves and likewise you would too. Furthermore, it doesn't cause you any $$ or pain. So, why not?


My student once told me that his teacher only knows how to scold and embarrass them. This made them totally shut off from the lessons and homeworks, which made the teacher even more angry and came up with more scoldings and punishments. And, the cycle just continues. If the teacher had changed her teaching methods to punish and praise the students at the right time, I believe she will gain more respect from her students and they will then be able to benefit from her teachings.



Did you see that the tree is being "hugged" by the light?


#Why wait for tomorrow? Do it right now!

Mistakes or Not?

When you made a mistake in front of your others, what would you do?



There is this lecturer in my school who teaches Management Science. His notes and solutions always has several typo errors. These are clearly mistakes made by him, but, he explained that these mistakes are actually placed to test our understanding of the topic. If we are able to spot the mistakes, it would mean that we have understood the topic. Initially, I do not agree with what he did as I felt that he is just shirking his responsibilities.

But after teaching more students, I realise the importance of directing all mistakes made to become a learning topic for the students.

By doing that, you will not lose the respect from the students and they will be impressed that you are actually teaching them something different.

A good example would be what I saw earlier on this week in a School. Norman is showing the students how to solve the Rubik's cube. But, due to some talking, he missed 1 step and he has to re do it. (his record is currently 2 minutes plus to solve the cube) Before the students start to complain, he told them that solving the Rubik's cube is like solving math questions. When you missed/skipped a step while solving math questions, you may not be able to get the correct answer and end up redoing the question just like what happened to the Rubik's cube. Hence, it is very important to follow the steps of a strategy. By doing this, he actually directed their attention away from the part that he did not solve the cube, to the part that made them understand the consequences of not following steps.




#Everyone makes mistakes, the only difference is that did you learn something from it?

Surf' up!

Surf's up is a movie on Cody's journey in learning surfing. His parents do not think he could make it, showed no support to him. But, because of one renowned surfing penguin, Big Z, who impacted him, he proved to everyone that he could do it. "Find a way, cuz that's what winners do!"

In this show, there is also these 3 little penguins that attracted my attention. There are simply so cute! One penguin, Arnold, always "drowns" due to his desire to be rescued by Lani, the lifeguard. This reminds me of the patterns that some students have. Many a times, they do know how to solve the questions, yet, they would rather wait for their teachers (who are like the lifeguard) to teach them than to attempt the questions on their own.
When this happens, it would be best to get an agreement with the students to work on the questions first before providing them help. Else, it would become a habit to always wait for others to save them.


#Teach him the skill of fishing rather than always providing him with fishes.

My Job

I am a NUS Business Year 2 (going to) student. Currently, I am supposed to be having my holidays. But, I choose to work at Norman Tien Mathematics. I have been with them for around 1 year. It has been a very good experience working with them as the job is something I love to do, which is, to interact with students and help them improve their cognitive and math skills. Math has been my favourite subject since young, which is an added bonus as I can then share the joy of solving Math questions with my students.

Other than teaching, I am constantly being exposed to many other areas as well. I have done preparation of materials such as notes and powerpoint slides, telemarketing of workshop, liaising with parents and more.. I am grateful for the experiences. It is something that I will not be able to learn in School.

Of course, out of all my job scope, the time spent with my students is still the best. I have meet many extreme cases of students, varying from the smart but choose not to use their smartness to those that are not that smart, but they make it up with their hardworking, the hyperactive and chatty vs the super quiet, the gamers vs the readers, the high scorers vs not that high scorers, and of course, the talented ones. There is the singer, dancer, beat boxer, athletics, pianist and many more.

All in all, I have learnt something from each of them. And, I really enjoyed each of their company and till now, I am still keeping in touch with some of my last year's P6 students. =) I believe what all students need is a friend who can help and care for them rather than a teacher who only knows how to teach them. Remember, I am a student too!




2006 PSLE Preparation Class by Norman Tien.
*I am the one in the pink jacket with a pair of bunny ears.Lol..



#Teaching is not just about imparting knowledge, it is more to making a difference in their life.

Miracles

"Chun Xue" translate to English --> "Spring Snow"

Isn't it a miracle to have Snow during Spring time??


Aren't you glad tt you have just known a miracle? haha..


I have asked my mum before why this name, she couldn't really give me an answer. So, I figured out one myself. I was born in Lunar time Dec 28, which is in winter time where there is snow. And, two days later, it will be the Chinese New Year, that's why you will see lots of "Chun" appear on all sorts of place. Combining the two, and that's ME!

A lot of peeps commented that my name is very poetic, i agree too. Such a nice name I have. haha.. =P (though a lot of times, people find it hard to pronounce my name.)


I am now a student and a part-time trainer aka teacher. Two total opposites it may seem.
In life, you may not be a "student" or a "teacher" now. But, no matter what you are doing, it is either you are learning something from someone or teaching someone something without knowing it. Even if it's a mistake, you could still learn something from it.

Learning is a life long journey.

It never crossed my mind to start blogging until I learn the value of blogging from aL. I guess my friends will all be very shocked!haha



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#It is when you believe in miracles, then it will happen.