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Went to town by bus to survey the Chinese writing brush and papers to practise writing the grandchildren's Chinese names. I plan to write their Chinese names on drawing papers myself to give them as souvenir when they come in May. Otherwise they will never know their names in Chinese. What the effect will ultimate imprint unto them is left to be seen.
20th.Apr.12. (Fri.) 2200hrs.
Let me continue with the Colonel's story. Arrived home after a week's holiday in the East Coast, as our car stopped at the gate I saw him curled up sound asleep in the porch. I called his name softly but there was no response, so I called his name lounder, he suddenly lift up his head to listen and turned his head to look at the direction where the sound came from and lo he saw me standing there and instantly ran to me and put his fore legs on me with his tail waging vigourously as if he was embracing me and making the gesture of kissing my body. Obviously he was very very happy to see again. How he must have felt during my absence I could not fathom. It touched me deeply and till today I still can reflect on the scene vividly.
22nd.Apr.12. (Sun.) 1945hrs.
A sunny and hot Sunday. At 1200hrs the swearing-in ceremony for the Gao assn. was held in a restaurant near the assn. building. The past presidents of the assn. were invited to witness the ceremony. Heng Jin, his wife and son Peng Guan were present. Heng Jin donated RM10,000 to the assn. Actually we plan to give him a 81th. birthday party but he turned it down by saying that he never celebrate his birthday, so he think that it is not necessary to have one for the 81th. birthday as well. In response to the good gesture he donated the money. The whole process of the swearing-in ceremony went off smoothly and everyone present was happy. It cost the assn. nearly RM1,500. After the lunch we adjourned to the assn. to hold the first committee members meeting for the new set of committee members. We set out the new tasks to be carried out for 2012. We decided to have our annual lunch to solicit funds on 9th. of November 2012. The meeting ended at 5pm.
25th.APr.12. (Wed.) 2135hrs.
Have been busy preparing the statements of account for second quarter of 2012 for P4D1. Other than that there was nothing worthwhile to note down. The problem we have is the large amount of debts. Yet the relevant authority is not coming out strongly to help to collect the amount due. Well, there is no use of complaining. We just slog on from day to day to the best of our ability.
2nd.May.12. (Wed.) 1435hrs.
Went for a 3 days 2 nithts tour of S'pore and Batam island of Indonesia from 27th. - 30th. of Apr. There was nothing great to see in Batam island really. Except the high rise hotels the rest of the town is just like the Malaysian kampongs. There is no luxuriou restaurants to cater for either Europeon or Chinese foods to talk about. There is no sunny and sandy beaches. So I just wonder what people go there for. For us we just want to satisfied our curiosity since there is a lot of reports of happenings on the island in the press. We passed a night in a cheap hotel called 81 hotel in S'pore The air-con. is OK, the bed is comfortable but the tv is with few channels and there is no place to put your soiled clothes and there is no hook or rack to hang you wet towel. The next morning while waiting for the time to board the bus for home, of course I bought a copy of Chinese and English newspaper each to read and strangly enough I found that they were so boring and dry. In the past I used to enjoy reading the S'pore newspapers bothe in Chinese and English. Now I think since I can get the news and knowledge from the direct sources from the internet, so what we can read from the newspapers seem to be out of date already. Yesterday was Labour Day, of course it was a holiday. Went to see the Chinese Navy training ship 'Chenghe" at South Port Port Klang. We were just allowed to go round the deck one complete round of the ship. It took us a great pain to have the opportunity to see it because the crowd was tremendous. I think this is an indication to the fact that the Chinese are proud of their ancestors' land although it is quite a small ship compared to the ones that are owned by the super-power, but the ray of hope is in the horizon that the day will come that the Chinese Navy will be as strong as that of other powers.
3nd.May.12. (Thu.) 1635hrs.
I pity the blind Chinese dissident Chen Guancheng that he failed to relise that he is valueless for the Western propoganda that is why they did not send a special plane to take him and his family away quickly.
4th.May.12. (Fri.) 2325hrs.
The weather is very very hot today. No rain. Let me tell you another dag's story. This time is my grandpa's black dog. His name is 'itam' in Malay. The time was when I was about seven and eight years old. I still can visualise him curling on the floor mat in the centre of the main door of my grandpa's house. He was a quiet dog he did not simply bark for nothing. The next thing I remember about him in particular is that he used to sit in waiting when my auntie poured the biscuits into a big biscuit tin brought back from Melaka Town by my grandpa because she would give him two pieces after completing the job. He would be happy to eat them. The biscuit was from the left over bread cut into blocks and put into oven again to bake them dry. My grandpa used to buy them from a bakery in Melaka. We ate them with black coffee for breadfast.
6th.May.12. (Sun.) 1700hrs.
This part of KL is quiet, I don't know other part of KL is peaceful or not. Lately due to the gen. election is eminent so there is a lot of demonstrations going on. Now that the mother of human rights and democracy had gone home, so there should not be any more of the blind dissident's drama going on. The staging of the drama was very well planned. They must have hoped that thousand and thousand of supporters of the blind man would go to the Thiananmen Square. They spared no efforts to creat trouble for other people.
10th.May.12. (Thu.) 2300hrs.
It took me three hours to go by train to Subang Jaya to bring back the maid from EM place by train as well. It will take as long if I use my car because of the jam etc. By train it cost only RM2.30 for the maid while as a senior citizen I got a free ride for three months otherwise it cost half ware for me. In the evening there was a big thunder storm raging on for about two hours. So there was no evening walk.
12th.May.12. (Sat.) 0515hrs.
Woken up by the barks of the dogs at 4am and just couldn't fall asleep again. One of the annoying things of living with the Chinese neighbourhood is the barking dogs. Last time the noises made by the Chinese population was their loud talkings, loud radio music, car honkings etc.etc. When you go for morning walk you can hear them clapping their hands while walking. To me it is very annoying. I like to walk by myself quietly just to stop talking because people have been talking too much. All the troubles either big or small are caused by talkings. Comparatively the Chinese are more civilised now.
13th.May.12. (Sun.) 0435hrs.
This morning the dog-barking is less. it may be due to the cooler weather. Yesterday we spent the whole morning in the PUSPACOM. This time the PUSPACOM is totally reorganised and it had really got rid of the corruption activity like last time. We will see how long it will last. We gave a farewel dinner to the maid who is going home after five years with us. We invited uncle Loon and wife, Mai Chin and her fatty daughter with her boy friend and the new maid. She will be leaving at llam with the Air Asia.
13th.May.12/ (Sun.) 2325hrs.
Went to SS's house with the maid at about 10am. Proceeded to the LCCT at about 1100hrs. After checking in they bid farewell to her wihtout me. We started our journey home at about 2pm and stopped at Taipan USJ for some food as we had missed our lunch. Sent EM to SS's house to pick up her car and maid. By the time we arrived home it was already about 4.30pm. Had a nap for one hour. Thinking of going for a walk at the Metropolitan garden but the darkening sky prevented me for that. It was already about 6.30pm.,so gave up the idea of the evening walk. As we were preparing to go out for our dinner uncle Loon called and asked us whether we are happy to go to his house for dinner as he had boiled chicken(pak cham kai) and chickem soup for dinner. So we ended up having dinner in his house. It was a delicious dinner.
16th.May.12. (Wed.) 2225hrs.
There is nothing to write about my psesonal life. It had been non eventful for the last three days. The weather is extremely hot and uncomfortable. The US $2b loss by the JP Morgan is quite a news. That is what it is said in the Malay proverb that "tupai pandai pandai l0mgpat, satu hari jatoh juga". That is good enough for time being.
18th.May.12. (Fri.) 1755hrs.
Yesterday, went to top up my prepaid card for travelling in the Rapid transport system vehicles like Buses, LRT etc. at the Klang Bus Station LRT station. The Klang Bus station is being torn down to make way for the MRT station. Few other buildings will be involved and this has raised protest from the property ownners in the Sultan Street claiming that it is a historical heritage and it should be preserved as it is. I really don't know what is the real reason for it. I thought the MRT station will bring prosperity to the area. After seeing a lot of modern cities, KL is really a rundown city.
19th.May.12. (Sat.) 0000hrs.
Went to PUSPACOM again, this time passed the test. So we can relax for another six months.
Congratulations to the blind Chinese activist and his family members, they can now enjoy eating hamburgers in the country of its origin. They must be very happy now. Another thing that linger in my mind that I just cannot put it away without sayng something about it that is the govt. of KMT Taiwan is buying 66 pieces of the F16 for now and other weaponry to follow soon. KMT Taiwan is hailed as presenting the Free and Democractic China and it has to depend on buying arms to protect its while the mainland China is developing its own weaponry, that is why they have been blamed for not transparant and as a threat etc. So as a Chinese whick China you prefer?
22nd.May.12. (Tue.) 2220hrs.
Sunday, went to Jln Pasar to see the sunday market and the Pudu big marke because we had not been there for three years. Monday, took Sung Fong to the veteran office at the Jln. Tun Dr. Ismail to see what he can get from the dept. since he left the service without pension. The govt is giving RM 3,ooo to the ex-home guards, Junior Liason Officers, and AC's and other servicemen who serve during the Emergency from 1948-1964. The answer is there is nothing for him since he left the armed forces much later when the emergency was over. However they are trying to persude the govt. to give this bunch of ex-servicemen some aid. To-night saw the footage from the TV that those potesters in the demonstration against the 20 summit held in Chicago is a bunch of timid, pale and frial crowd. I doubt there is anybody would care to listen to them.
24th.May.12. (Thu.) 1630hrs.
Wed. Went to the Public Bank headquarter at Jln. Raja Chulan to change the new names of signatory for the Koh's assn. cheques since the President and Treasurer of the assn. have changed after the 1912 AGM. This morning went to JPJ to renew mom's driving licence.
27th.May.12 (Sun.) 1025hrs.
Life have been very quiet for the last few days.
This morning went to the Metropolitan garden for a morning exercise for about 45 minutes. Went to Tmn. Kolican for breakfast.
As I surf the net everyday, it dawns to me that I am very fortunate to be able to read and write Chinese. I can communicate with my Chinese ancestors through their writings and carving or whatever they left behind to tell us of their experiences etc., and to listen to their stories in their own language. Through the CNTV I have learnt that the Chinese had not been totally sleeping in the last five thousand years of their history. They have the brain and a pair of good hands with which they can produce beautiful things. At this point of time the only thing the Chinese should do is to produce the war weaponries as good as if not better than the West and their have got.
29th.May.12. (Tue.) 0735hrs.
Sunday, the wowan section of the GAO assn. held a small party for the mothers' day. As usual the small makan and some games for the children etc. It was an enjoyable gathering. At the same time we watched the Thomas Cup final match between China and South Korea. All of us were very happy to see how the Chinese badminton players trashed the South Korean. The Chinese team is very much superior than the South Korean team in term of physical fittness and skill of playing the game. Hope that the Chinese national football team will be as formidable as well after the clean-up operation. Monday, it was a quiet day until the arrival of my uncle's twp daughters. They brought two bottles of sweet wine from Meleka for us for cooking purposes. We chatted until 3pm and took them for a Mamak curry lunch. We took them round the Metropolitan garden and a visit to the Gao assn. premises for a look. No evening walk as I was tired without tht afternoon nap.
Revision as of 11:08, 5 November 2011
Contents |
How to teach Math to children
- Start early and move as fast as can be absorbed.
- At least 15 minutes every weekday. Make up on weekends for days missed. No stocking up. The goal is regular exposure. Bursts and spurts are not good.
- They work on problems I assign or make up for 15 minutes. Then I check and help them solve with understanding.
Counting, Addition, Subtraction
- Count by ones to 120 or larger - first visually then from memory. Use the digits zero, one, ..., nine only. Say 'one zero' instead of ten, 'one one' instead of eleven. Distinguish between Math and English. Emphasize the generality of the number system, without exceptions all the way to infinity. You can English words for numbers when the child has confidence building up the number system.
- Introduce negative numbers as debt or loss or opposite.
- Introduce addition in everyday conversation. Use counting of fingers or sticks to solve.
- On paper do problems on big grid paper. Introduce column values in grid. Teach how to carry and how it is the same for any size number. Once the mechanics is understood add humongous numbers to give confidence.
- Introduce subtraction in every day conversation at the same time as addition. Explain the different uses of '-': subtraction vs negativeness. Use grid paper and reinforce column values.
- Introduce borrowing using grid paper. Once the mechanics is understood subtract humongous numbers to give confidence.
Multiplication
- Start counting by twos. Show how that is related to addition and times or multiplication. On grid paper, do sums vertically starting with zero and adding two again and again down the page. To the side of each sum show the multiplication associated with it.
- Repeat with threes, then fours, etc.
- At 10 and above, introduce long multiplication using grid paper. Write the product of a pair of digits on a new line in the appropriate column.
- Continue repeated adding with the same number for ever increasing number. When fluent, start the adding with a large negative number and adding the same number repeatedly until reaching a large positive result. The goal is to get familiar with sums on both sides of zero. Use multiplication and subtraction to check the final result.
Division
- Introduce division as fair sharing. Have the child distribute some item one by one around the table, making sure that everyone has a fair share and also seeing the remainder.
- As the numbers become bigger, teach long division using grid paper. Do not teach shortcuts. Show the general process repeatedly. Let the child recognize shortcuts on his/her own.
- Later introduce division for chunking. How many chunks of a certain size can I get from a big lump?
Prime Numbers and Prime Factorization
- Once division is understood. Teach prime numbers. Prime Factorization should follow naturally.
- Practice factorizing 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on until in the hundreds.
Fractions
- Fractions are for fair sharing. Emphasize the equivalence of fractions. Two apples fair shared by four people is the same as one apple fair shared by two people. And so on. Hence common factors in numerator and denominator can cancel.
- Teach addition and subtraction of fractions. Emphasize the need to make all denominators the same number. Hence show derivation of lowest common denominator for the prime factorization of all the denominators.
Workbooks
For grade 1-6, I use the Singapore Math workbooks and the problems for Mathcounts. For grade 7-8, I use the problems for Mathcounts, New Mexico Math Contest and USAMTS.