Fear

There are so many things to worry us daily:

1. Will I be able to catch the 7.24am MRT so that I can reach the office in time?
2. How can we keep Ephraim healthy, in view of the imminent bird flu, HFMD etc?
3. Will I be able to finish my work?

And the list goes on...real issues. That makes us real.

So I choose to live life to the fullest. And family life keeps me sane.

Mac Widget

Trying to use the Mac Widget to blog! If this works, wow!

Philosophy

When I was still teaching, we were told to have a philosophy that acts as a guiding principle for us. It did not take me too long to come up with mine: Take care of yourself so that you can take care of others.

Is there any need to explain this statement? It is not to sound philosophical *no pun intended* but that helped to keep me grounded and sane, because I was (and still am) very clear I am no superman and because I am no superman, I can break (down). And I would only be a burden if I broke (down). No way would I allow that to happen.

Has anything changed now that I am now in HQ?

With fatherhood, it became clearer to me my philosophy has to be upgraded (as with my dial-up internet access is upgraded to wireless broadband :)

Take care of yourself so that you can take care of others, and at the same time, live life to the fullest.

This means, buy that thing that you have always wanted to have (within limits of course). Go and spend time with your loved ones - let them know how important they are in your life *there is no need for me to add that minus work, minus whatever pursuits you may have, the one constant thing I think is family* Watch 大长今！ *this show is sickening good but my wife refuses to let me buy the VCDs* *NO, WE CAN WATCH IT FOR FREE ON CH U NOW!* *HAIZ*

Some of you would know what I mean :)

Blog Reflection 6 (Part 1)

Try as I might, I could not really find NEW USEFUL tools/pedagogies. I have been googling the past few days with the following keywords:
1. emerging+technologies
2. new+educational+technologies
3. educational+software
4. new+educational+software
5. emerging+from+purgatory *okay, okay, this one I did not use*

And then I went to our library at the 5th level, hoping to find a book (which I think is still hiding somewhere) which will reveal emerging technologies which would be good for teaching and learning and only managed to find this by Hilve Firek, titled "10 easy ways to use technology in the English classroom". It is NOT "10 new ways to use technology in the English classroom". Perhaps I should write a book like that (but then I could not even find one new technology).

CONCLUSION: The emerging technology is still hibernating. It will only emerge when we are not really looking out for it. Kind of like babies, they will pop out when you least expect it (okay, okay, bad analogy :)

So after some struggle, I decided I will re-look at what kind of technologies we have now and how they might be used in a different way. Thus, when I finish the book I have borrowed, I will update you again.

In the meantime, if you did manage to capture an emerging technology, keep me in the loop yah? (^_^)p

Finally!

Well, right now as I am typing this message (with one hand, as the other one is used to carry Ephraim, who is sleeping), my wife is napping ;p Quite a challenge really...try it someday :)

Remember a few days back I mentioned my V200 was due for a change? I was reading Today on the trip to work and suddenly realized I didn't have to wait for 24 months to re-contract! 21 months is good enough!!!!

That evening, I bought a phone! Not a Sony Ericsson as intended. The model was not aesthetically pleasing. In the end, I went back to a Samsung - 3G phone. And since it is pointless to have one with no one to use it on, I bought one for my wife too! It is a Z140, exclusive to Singtel!

As of now, we have made a video call and recorded some videos and transferred files via bluetooth :)

Ok, gotta go wake my wife up for Gilmore Girls! It is the season finale!!!

Blog Reflection 5

By now, everyone should know what is TLLM. If you don't, you obviously do not live in Singapore.

TLLM stands for Teach Less, Learn More. If you think as educators it means we actually teach students less (in its very literal sense), you could not be more wrong ;p

Skimming through the bluesky website, one thing that leaps out at me is that with TLLM, it means we try to teach better so that our learners are engaged (remember PETALS?). Sounds easy but really, it takes some practice!

That website also seeks to tie up various initiatives we have and we can see TLLM forming the nucleus (as it transforms the way we learn). With I&E (which changes our mindsets), we will eventually have a TSLN (which is our vision).
(This is a photo I took with my V200! I placed it here because I was talking about the "bluesky" just now :)

One thing that I like is this: That we should prepare our learners for the test of life and NOT a life of tests! See how powerful language is. Just by re-arranging words within a phrase, it can take own a whole new meaning (which can be very very powerful).

How ETD can contribute to this TLLM initiative really comes in when we "RECONSIDER HOW WE TEACH":

1. IT can be used to encourage engaged learning.
2. IT should allow us to move away from a "one size fits all" model.
3. We can assess our pupils' learning through more authentic means.

If we were to look at these closely, they are tied to our mp2, aren't they? So we are not obsolete at all (for now :)! In fact, whatever we are doing now only serves the TLLM initiative.

Let's press on, everyone! がんばって！

Sorry my love but I think there's someone else...

In the event I am going to change my handphone (to a Sony Ericsson at this moment), I thought I better download my photos (taken with my Samsung V200 *aiyoh, that's alike an antique model leh* camera) into my old laptop.

I like my V200 but recently it shuts down and refuses to work. And this occurs at the worst possible time!! So I thought I better change my handphone, so that everyone can contact me *especially my wife and family* *but then perhaps I should make myself NOT contactable*

So now that I have downloaded my photos, here are some of Pickles in action (or non-action)!

(^_^)p



To us, he is the most adorable pickles on earth!!! Ephraim, you must be 乖乖 okay? *muah muah muah*

Now I can snap more shots *I have maxed out the 100 photos capacity* and seriously I cannot wait!