Cultural Exchange - Canada, US, UK

 My packages are arriving!! 

This is from Utah, USA

Flags

Money

Statue of Liberty mask

Dinosaur stickers

Seeds

Puzzle of USA

Flag craft

Postcards

Colouring sheets

Letter

Recipes & facts about the Statue of Liberty

From Canada

Animals

Letter

Maps, recipes, crafts, colouring sheets

Sticker, flag, postcard, pencil

Money

Maple leaf & shells

Tea & catalog

From UK

Letters

Flowers, recipe & colouring sheet

Stamps, coins, tattoo, pencil, postcard

Flag

Catalogs

Souvenir

Food

CD of favourite songs

My Cultural Package

After getting my groups, being excited, writing down ideas... I procrastinated. Was kinda busy with work (that's my lame excuse), so I just did a bit here and there. It was only after I received the package from Canada that I started to buck up and got my engines on (causing me lots of late nights and lack of sleep!) Once I started putting stuff together, the ideas just keep rolling in and I just wanna include more and more stuff! (However I am on a budget because it sure is not cheap sending 6 packages all around the world!)

Here is what I included in my package!
A letter (about family, festivals, Chinese food, holidays)
A map of Malaysia & Selangor
Pictures of traditional clothings
Some Indian bangles
Batik cloth
An article about why Indian women wear bangles
Languages - Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin Chinese & Manglish!
Facts about the Petronas Twin Towers
Magnet of Petronas Twin Towers
Money - Coins, sample notes in Ang Pao, write-up to describe pictures on money
The Story of Chinese Zodiac
Chinese Zodiac colouring sheet
Chinese New Year story
Ang Paos containing fake money
Chinese New Year craft (wall decoration)
Chinese calligraphy writing wall decorations
Mid Autumn Festival Story
Paper lantern
Chinese Dragon Boat Festival story and colouring
Malaysian flag description, colouring sheet and pasting craft
A piece about fruits we love
Recipes - kaya, tang yuan & wanton
A packet of kuaci
Stamps, postcards & travel brochures

Ta-daa!! Hope it's enough! =p

Cultural exchange!

I am taking part in a cultural exchange group! This is so exciting!

It works like this: There are 4 members in a group, all from different countries. Each one will send a pack to the other 3 members in the group, and will (hopefully) receive 3 packages back!

Each package should include the following:

- a letter from a child describing his/her life in his/her country...favorite foods, sports, activities, religious activities, daily schedule, school, vacations...anything that you or your child think would be interesting to a child in another country.

- Pics of your child in his home, etc.  You don't have to send close-up face pics if you are not comfortable doing so.

- Postcards, stamps, coins,

- craft, coloring sheets, small toys or games, small books

- cds of your child's favorite music or books on cd (we received several of these and LOVE them)

- recipes, pics of food specific to your region

- anything else that you think would be fun for a child to receive

More info here!!

Carly's Voice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNZVV4Ciccg&feature=youtu.be

This is a truly amazing story of Carly. Carly has autism. She can't speak. No one knew what was going on inside her mind. Until they realised she could type. It  is so heart wrenching to hear about what she goes through. Hats off to you, Carly, as well as her dad and all who believes in her.

She has written a book together with her dad. I have preordered it here. Can't wait to read it!! =)

Shichida

I've just finished Shichida's book on prenatal education. What do I think of it? Frankly, I don't know. The book is in Chinese, so there were some parts where I just browsed through (I'm not a huge fan of Chinese language). Also, the book does not seem to be based on research. He just says if you do this, babies will be like that etc. Where is the research? There are lots of testimonials, stories from parents who have tried his method. Their babies can remember things that happened when still in the womb, their babies give them easy labour, coming out using their (baby's) own strength and at the accurate weight on the date the parents tell them to......

Ok, I admit I still am a bit skeptical. I guess I'm the type where I have to see it to believe it. There are parts which I agree though, like talking to your baby, meditating, doing mental imaging, not giving the baby stress etc. I'd definitely try these methods IF I ever get pregnant. But that's still a long way to go, I'll let you know how it turns out. =)

Recorder

The other day I showed the recorder to my class, and asked them to choose what song they want me to play, having in mind children's songs like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, or Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Little A requested, Teacher, can you play Mozart? LOL. I told him, Sorry, I don't know how to play Mozart. He then requested for Beethoven. I told him I don't know that, either. And he hummed the tune for me.

Haha, kids.

Tiger Mama

I've recently read the Battle of the Hymn of a Tiger Mother. For those who have not heard of it, it is a memoir of how a Chinese mum raises her children, how she constantly forces them to practice their musical instruments (even when they're travelling), how she only expects the best of them.

Well, what do I think of the book?

It is certainly a page turner. This mum is the kind that people love to hate. I even wondered how her husband can stand her. But on the other hand, she does have some good points when she is comparing "Chinese parenting" with "Western parenting". Of course, these terms are vague and overgeneralize, but you get the gist. Being in a culture where we are "Chinese" but are taught "Western" values in the early childhood education field such as raising children's self esteem by praising them for every little thing they can do, not using negative words such as it's WRONG, it makes me wonder whether the "western" way overprotects children.

I guess the key to all of these is BALANCE.

At first I wondered, if her Tiger Mum parenting is wrong in so many ways, how come her kids turned out great and would do what she did? Well, after reading some interviews and articles about her, (they're everywhere!) I know why. It is because she did not write the whole truth in her book. The book is just about how she is the tiger mum. She states in interviews that her husband does the "western" part of parenting, having fun etc etc. She just left that part out.

Anyway, if you read the book, you'll find that her Tiger Mum parenting only worked on her elder daughter. For her second daughter, she eventually gave in and allowed her daughter to choose what she wanted. That says a lot, doesn't it. Each individual is different and you can't expect the same from every child.

It is indeed a good read, so do get it if you haven't yet!