Sleepyhead

Am so sleepy...not enough sleep last night because of my on call, came back at 12 midnight and later my sleep were interrupted with phone calls. This morning need to finish marking 36 students answer sheets...........really makes me more sleepy!!! Can't imagine those who need to mark more...luckily our posting is considered minor posting or rather specialized posting, hence our teaching workload is less than others.

Mental Arithmetic-Sempoa Japan

I am waiting for Khadijah to finish her class. Just enroll her in mental arithmetic class. It is simply amazing how you can count to 99 by just using your 10 fingers! I need to accompany her for the first session because she is a bit teary when I try to leave her there. Hence I got to watch the teacher teaching her the basic of mental arithmetic based on sempoa and our own fingers. She learns very fast. I am really amaze by the capacity of her little brain. She is not the studious type. She plays and plays, watches TV and her barbie movies, plays computers all day long. I only need to spend as little as half an hour or less per day teaching her english and mathematics. She can read both english and malay very well(she is on book 7a of the Ladybird Peter and Jane series). It is just that teaching her is an effortless and enjoyable job. I think this mental arithmetic class is different and very worthwhile, as the method is very different from the conventional method and which cannot be gained from the school class. I really hope she will find this class interesting and enjoyable.

More reading on this topic from this website, here and here