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Playing Host

19 Aug

I went to the school today after lunch to attend the Cultural & Educational Exchange Program whereby M1’s school hosted some Japanese students for a week long visit. M1 gave a very confident, warm and welcoming speech. I would have stuttered and err-ed and umm-ed my way through.

We are playing host family to a bubbly 17-year old student who will stay with us for 3 days to learn more about the typical family in our country. Unlike playing host for a party and having friends over for dinner, this is a totally new thing.

But this experience brings back some good memories of when I was 15 then and went on an exchange program myself. I stayed with an Australian host family in Gloucester, Australia for two weeks. That was a fun time dinosaur years ago.

Nonetheless, I hope she will learn a thing or two in terms of food, language, culture and lifestyle while we should seize this opportunity to brush up on our hosting ability.

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Can You Wake Us Up?

19 Aug

Whenever there is a school holiday break and we don’t go away, the girls would tend to sleep in because it is, well, the school holidays. But sometimes it irks me because they would sleep in until it is almost lunchtime. I would have to remind them constantly not to practice such lazy habits. So they tell me, “Wake us up then, ok?” “Sure,” I said.

The next morning, I would open their room door with much fanfare and go, “Rise and shine! Wakey… Wakey, Rise and shine!” in the most boring and irritating monotonous drone, there would be groans and resentment towards this wake up call.

“C’mon girls, wakey! Wakey! It’s nine already and I am going to the office soon!”

“Mummy, you’re so noisy!” M1 accused. “Must you do the ‘Rise and Shine’ line?”

Well, excuse me….

But as the school holidays are over and it’s back to school today, thank goodness they managed to wake up this morning despite sleeping late last night out of their usual habit over the last two weeks or possibly, out of excitement they will be seeing their friends again.

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Carrots are Good, Part 1

13 Aug

I like carrots, not for its vegetable goodness but what it’s suppose to represent: rewards, as in the saying, dangle the carrots in front to get the results you want, you know.

M1 and M2 are both very carrot-, I mean, rewards-oriented. I think this is very good to spur them to dream big, study hard and do well in school. Little exams with good results will yield little rewards and big (main) exams yield a bigger windfall, it’s very clear cut.

Last year was a critical year for M1 to sit for her mid-high school exam, while M2 was to meet the target of staying in her current class. The big fat carrot: a trip to USA to visit the many places that they have only seen in magazines and travel documentaries: Disneyland, Universal Studios, Sedona, Sunset Crater, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, LA and San Francisco, just to name a few.

It was very inspiring to me to see them so motivated in their efforts to achieve what has been set out for them. There was icing on the cake as well! They get to buy whatever they fancy with their pocket money earned. Indeed a good deal for them, that is.

The big plan was set in motion early last year and the trip dubbed, “The Great Adventure Road Trip to USA”. However, in June, there were hiccups, dissatisfaction, anger, threats and tears as setbacks were encountered; targets were way off! Plans had to be restrategized to recuperate from the shock and disappointment. But the two young adventurers persevered again with their efforts and finally, determination and hard work paid off!

M1 did very well and M2 met her targets, in short. And so, in November last year, our big fat carrot was savored and brought many happy moments and memories for all. Looking back at those priceless moments, I would do it again without hesitation, that is, to plan another carrot-incentive trip to spur the girls on.

Well done!

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The four adventurers!

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Tough Being a Child

6 Aug

Nowadays I find it tough for my girls for being what they are, children. There is so much expected of them, especially when it comes to school and exams. So much pressure and so much at stake. Is this an Asian thing? I don’t recall, back in the dinosaur era, I was in this situation though.

I went by the school last Friday to meet the teachers and discuss M2’s progress in preparation for her upcoming big (UPSR) exam. Whilst there has been improvements in her capabilities, there is still room for improvement! My goodness. My parents never took to such concern over my welfare when I was in school. And look how I turned out; pretty darn fine I should say.

M1 is no less neglected by us or her teachers. She also has her fair share of Meet-the-Teacher/Parents sessions to discuss class progress. However, it is just the timing of the current school term that required us to meet with M2’s teachers for an update.

While I may enforce sitting at the dining table simply to have an optimum ambience for studying, I don’t sit next to them and breathe down their neck. I used to do it though— being a study police—but find it wasn’t the best approach for both parties; stressed us out instead. Anyway, they are still young and have many more years of schooling to do, they must learn to be independent and manage on their own. After all, we can’t be forever holding their hands, they will never learn.

How else can we help? For one, there’s always the moral support, in person and in spirit! Then there is the love and chocolate that I ply them. If anyone has any other ideas, do share with me. Suggestions are most welcomed!

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I Have Nothing to Do

5 Aug

The school holidays are here again and it gives me mixed feelings. When the children were younger, I used to relish these times as it would mean the family would go away for short holidays, especially to the beach or to visit the grandparents or even an exciting overseas trip.

But as they grow older, trips are lesser as school work becomes more of a priority especially when the year has one of them facing a big exam. Last year, it was M1 facing her PMR exam (Junior High School level) and this year it is M2’s turn, facing her UPSR exam (equivalent to Middle School exam).

So when trips are lesser, complains increase.

“I am bored,” M2 would sigh out loud and constantly announce her state of being during the school holidays whenever we stay put. So much so, I banned her from saying the irritating phrase.

Or more horrifying if the iPod was taken away from her and she’d go, “I have nothing to do…  (Moan…) What can I do? (Groan…)” Hello….. what happened to good old activities like riding a bike, playing with the dog, playing badminton in front of the house or playing with the children next door?

Groan….. even my mother would chastise her for making this statement.

But thankfully, this time, with her facing her big exam, she’d have her revisions to keep her busy. So while M2 continues with the diligent revision during the holidays, M1 is just vegetating, watching the whole series of Friends to pass her time and I can be sure that I will not hear that ‘I have nothing to do’ statement from both of them.

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Can I Not Study?

30 Jul

We came back from Paris to find the girls facing yet another exam right before the school holidays kick in. Separation has led to laziness somewhat and I suppose the looming two weeks’ break has something to do with the attitude as well.

“Can I not study?” bargained M1 last night.

“What do you mean, ‘Can I not study?’ You can’t be serious!” I countered, aghast.

“See, I did well last term so I thought I’d take a break. And give others a chance to do well…” she explained herself as I was raising my eyebrows sky-high!

Seriously, I have never heard or did such a thing, giving others—my friends who are also my competitors in class—to do well.

Sensing my indifference yet non-anger, she quickly added, “But I promise to do super well for year-end and meet the targets set. It’s not like I did not study, I am adopting Mabel’s swimming strategy!”

M2 recently participated in the school swimming gala and during practice, did not go all out (to deceive her opponents) but reserved her strength for competition day and won gold.

In principle, M1 thinks this strategy is excellent to adopt for the coming exam but I think it is to mask her laziness to study. I suppose I cannot complain considering she usually ends up as the top student in class; we can cut some slack here…

Thankfully, M2 is not adopting this as she is all pumped up to do even better.

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Should I Be Worried?

24 Jul

I came home from my museum exploration to a barrage of messages from M2 on the iPad Mini. As today I was on the move a lot, there was hardly time to get connected at free wifi spots.

She messaged to tell me she is more sick than last week and requested permission to be excused from her tuition class this evening and would like to skip school tomorrow too. Hmm.

Should I be worried?

However, by the time I replied, she’d gone to bed already, with the 6 hours time difference. I suppose it’s serious and she’s frantic as her messages were typed in all caps and my name in caps three times. Even M1 texted me via Viber!

I better try to catch them when they are getting ready for school the next day to assess the situation. Maybe an SOS call is needed to Grandma… We shall see.

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Passing the Time After the Exams

16 Jul

Typically after completing an exam, I remember attempting to look around, trying to peek over a friend’s shoulder or just walking out of the classroom.

Nowadays, what do the children do, especially before handing the paper over to the teacher? M1 told me she’d pretend to be occupied by counting how many people are sleeping, rechecking her answers or doing some doodles; basically pretending to be busy.

M2 on the other hand, would just doodle and can’t be bothered with the pretense. Recently, she showed me what she did after an exam.

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Wow… My drawing skills pale in comparison sometimes.

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Before the Drama Queen Days

14 Jul

It’s so typical every time after the exams. I would receive a phone call from M2 the minute she arrived home and reported the good news. But if I do not get a call from her, it’s pretty obvious the results are otherwise.

It became so predictable until she perfected her Drama Queen act, and each time I fall prey… dang.

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Studying for the Exams

3 Jul

Exams are the bane of every child and student, young and old. I remember my silly antics when I had two months left before the BIG exam. Desperate, I would place an open book on my head or in my face, with high hopes that gravity and osmosis will help me suck up all that mathematical solutions that I find so difficult to master, while music would blare loudly in the background.

Luckily both M1 and M2 differs from me on this studying technique, although M1 did try this once and aced one of her papers! (How come it didn’t work for me?!)

The only similarity is the music part, where M1 would have the speaker attached to her iPod Nano while M2 would have her headphones in place. Does music actually promote better memory retention?

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