The King Trauma - Leadership lesson from Deep Rooted Tree

In the Drama series Deep Rooted Tree, King Sejong (Lee Do) displayed characteristics of a good, if not great leader. First and foremost, he had a vision. His vision was for a different Jeseon, at least not the way his predecessor (King Tejong) had ruled the country i.e. by concentrating all power to the King. He wanted his subjects to have the rights to be educated in contrast to the practice of the era that education is almost exclusive for Noblemen. He believe that his subjects will be empowered once they are educated (sounds familiar?) He saw the barrier to "education for all" vision was the script used i.e. Chinese characters, thousands of them to be learnt (or remember). He envisage a simple script that enable recording and transmittal of Joseon sounds so that his subjects not only could write the sounds they made but also read what they had written the way they pronounce the words. 

As any good leaders, his vision was a shared vision. In the series we could see that at least 3 scholars were very supportive of this initiative. The palace servants (at least 4 of them) were also very committed to see the success of this vision. In particular, Soo Yi  (Dham) shared the vision to the extend of risking her own life to see that the vision materialized. To see such demonstration of loyalty to a vision is to see a successful sharing of a vision. This brings us to the second leadership characteristic - Inspiring.

Like any great leaders, King Sejong's vision has became shared vision and people supporting his vision had made it their own. This was amplified by Soo Yi character. She blamed herself for the death of Ddol Bok's (Kang Chae Yoon) father. Only if she could actually read, they would had been saved from the terror they had to endure as childhood friends. She believed in what the King wanted to accomplish and that same goal had became her personal goal. We could also see in lesser extend the other characters showing similar enthusiasm for the script project. When followers made contribution because they want to and not because they had to (as displayed by these characters), King Sejong had accomplished what only great leaders could have achieved inspire others to a common vision. It is not enough to only share a vision, leaders need to ensure his followers are able to make meaningful contribution towards realizing the vision. This brings to another leadership characteristic - Empowering.

In many occasions that King Sejong had assigned "royal secret task" to his people. He gave clear direction (performance objectives, goals, target, etc) but simple instructions (almost none). He left it to his people to carry out his directions the way they know best. For instance, when he assigned Kang Chae Yoon to investigate the murder of his scholars (they were on his royal secret task) he gave his freedom to carry out his duty. When he assigned Soo Yi and palace servants the task of disseminating the script, he leave it to them to figure out the best way to achieve his clear goals/objectives. The part I liked most to demonstrate this empowerment was when he assigned Chae Yoon to protect Soo Yi and the servants. His direction was for Chae Yoon to see that Soo Yi carry out her mission successfully. How? "I believe you know best how to ensure that" he told Chae Yoon. It is easy to empower others but empowerment must comes with authority. The word "power" is the "middle name" for empowerment. However, to give power to others may not be easy; that is if you are not a leader like Lee Do. He trust his people, which is the next leadership characteristic displayed in Deep Rooted Tree.

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Lee Do (King Sejong) showed a high degree of trust, especially to his people. He valued trust more than anything else. More importantly, he trust himself! Yes, before we could trust others or demand others to trust us, we must ask this question: "Can I be trusted?".  Obviously, the King was a man of his words. He honor each and every promises he made. It was easy to see why his people are loyal to him, especially Moo Hyul and Soo Yi.  Once a leader demonstrated trust as a value, his follower will reciprocate with trust.

Last characteristic that I would like to share is principle-centred leadership (or self-less leadership). The King (and also Moo Hyul and Soo Yi) had demonstrated this characteristic. They had put the cause ahead of their personal wants and needs. It is not personal glory that a good leader seek. It is common good. A cause worth dying for....so did Moo Hyul, Soo Yi, Chae Yoon and many others who died for the common cause of ensuring the new Script introduced and promulgated. The King in many occasion, especially in debating with his oppositions, had focus on principles rather than personal agenda. Even when he lost his son, murdered by Mil boon (Hidden Root), he remain focused on his mission. Soo Yi also focused on her mission to her last breath. The same for Chae Yoon and Moo Hyul, fighting the last drop of their blood for the cause....such a selfless act when both of them requested the King to continue with the Mission, ignoring their need for medical attention.

Deep Rooted Tree OST

Linked from YOUTUBE for your listening pleasure.......

Rabbit & Tortoise - Part 4

A press conference were called. The organizer announced that this will be the final race between Mr Rabbit and Mr Tortoise. The race is dubbed the mother of all races, the race that will decide who between the two competitors will be declared the best racer. Mr Rabbit promised his supporters that he will not go into complacency. Mr Tortoise promised his supporters that he will throw in a surprise...just wait and see. He is determined to be the winner of this race. To everyone's surprise, it was decided that the race will be on the same as the previous route; yes the route that include a river crossing. Did Mr Rabbit attended Dolphin Swimming Academy to gain aquatic competence that he was so confident now to cross the river and win the race?

Race day: it was a sell out crowd. Spectators, supporters and pressmen lined the route. Both side of the river bank where the river crossing part of race to be held were packed as the public wants to find out how Mr Rabbit would get across, thus beating Mr Tortoise.

"BANG!!" heard at the starting line to signal both competitors to start the race. Wait!!!! What's happening??. Spectators at the grandstand could not believe what they are seeing....Mr Rabbit picked up Mr Tortoise!! They had decided to collaborate! Mr Rabbit made the dash to the river with Mr Tortoise on his back. When they arrived at the bank, Mr Tortoise went into the water and it was Mr Rabbit turn to piggy back. Mr Tortoise swam across carrying Mr Rabbit on his back. When they reached the other side, they made the switch again. Both arrived at the finishing line together. The crowd went wild...they were caught by surprise. The synergy of both competitors had given them a win-win.

Management lesson from the story:
1. Slow and steady will win you the race sometimes.
2. Fast and consistent will win you the race all the time.
3. Capitalize your strength to win the race.
4. Synergize to win the race together.

Hope you enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading. Please leave your comments below.

Rabbit & Tortoise - Part 3

So far, Mr Rabbit was beaten twice in an event that he should have won hands down. In both instances, it is due to his complacency....truly a lesson that everyone in any organisation should learn with or without experiencing it. In two of the events, the winner did soul searching and were determined to win the race....I call this behaviour as focus and execute.

Given the determination to win in both Mr Rabbit and Mr Tortoise, it is obvious by now that the loser i.e. Mr Rabbit wont give up now. Once again he went into soul searching. In some organisation this activity is called "Strategic retreat" or "away day", however way you called it, the objective is to review past performance and develop strategy to face future challenges.

Mr Rabbit thought to himself "Even if I came up with a great plan and win the next race, that Tortoise will never give up. He will come up with something to ensure a win in the following race. At this rate, I would not be doing anything else except racing with Mr Tortoise, as if I do not have any other competitors".  Hmmm isn't it true in real life situation when one is so obsessed in beating another person that a third person may come into the picture and beat both competing parties. This is called "ambush" as the two are busy trying to out-wit, out-perform, etc (trying to be on top of the other), they forget that their actions and behaviors are being watched. This in itself is an opportunity to the third party to enter the market and capture audiences that are bored with the self-centered intentions of current players. Back to the story...Mr Rabbit realised this and decided to approached Mr Tortoise with a proposition.

(Tune in next time for the concluding episode)

Rabbit & Tortoise - Part 2

In the first race, Mr Tortoise won because of Mr Rabbit's complacency. In the second race, Mr Rabbit won the way he should have won all the time...through efficiency. In the third race, Mr Rabbit was stopped on his track to achieve his usual result of winning races against Mr Tortoise. Why????

When Mr Tortoise went for soul searching he did SWOT to discover his Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat. The reason he requested change to the race route is because he wants to capitalize on his strength.  He is slow on land but in water he is faster than Mr Rabbit. So the route he had requested includes a river crossing. Mr Rabbit stopped on the banks of the river, trying to figure out how he could cross. Time passed and Mr Tortoise arrived at the scene. With a smile, he start his river crossing, leaving Mr Rabbit on the bank while he continue his race on the other side. Mr Tortoise won the race while Mr Rabbit was left to ponder on his misfortune......He should have taken the swimming lesson at Dolphin Swimming Academy.

Mr Tortoise taught us a very important lesson in Management - to win is to capitalize on our strength against our competitors. We need to play on a field that we can win or is disadvantaged to our opponents. To Mr Rabbit learned another lesson of not being complacent. While we are winning and think we could win forever, our competitors will be thinking of a way to beat us.

The story did not end here. Keep tuning in for the final race.

Rabbit & Tortoise - Part 1

I believe everyone is familiar with the Aesop fable about the rabbit who lost a race to the tortoise due to his complacency. Management lesson from the tale is that slow and steady will win you the race sometimes (catching your competitor off guard) Alternatively, the lesson could be complacency will loose you the race. However, do you know that the story did not end there? At least not for Management readers......

As it turned out, Mr Rabbit was not happy with his lost. He went for soul searching and came out of it determined to beat Mr Tortoise the way it should be. Learning from defeat well, he knew he should not be complacent this time around. For Mr Tortoise there is nothing to loose, so he accepted the rematch. From the starting line to the finishing line, Mr Rabbit lead by miles. The spectators when wild but this is the expected outcome anyway...no surprises this time. The media decided not to publish the story as main headlines, instead it goes few pages inside the sport section and just a paragraph announcing Mr Rabbit win.  Lesson: fast and steady will definitely win you the race...no doubt. 

Efficiency is the key to success......is it the only key?  Well, not quite. Remember this is a Management Lesson. Do you think a person like Mr Tortoise could stand being the loser all the time? Yes, he won once and it feels good. He wished he could win again and bask in glory. This time around it was Mr Tortoise that went for soul searching with the vision of winning. With the mission to beat Mr Rabbit, he came out with a winning strategy and prepared for the challenge. Mr Rabbit, accepted the  challenge. On the race day, Mr Tortoise made a request to the organizer to change the race route. No objection from Mr Rabbit thinking that as long as he remember lessons from the previous two races, he will surely win this race as he should in any race with Mr Tortoise. The new route was announced.....spectators and fans alike lined the route. Both competitors get set, ready, GO! As expected, Mr Rabbit left Mr Tortoise eating his dust. Half way through the race, Mr Rabbit stopped but why?

(Tune in later to find out........)

PESUMAS 1Malaysia Orphan Charity Program

I conducted a motivation session for participants of the inaugural charity program organised by PESUMAS at Dolphin Swimming Academy. The 2 day 1 night program is aimed at providing opportunity to the underprivileged children to acquire aquatic competence. This first program is supported by Dolphin Swimming Academy and Pro Mind Resources. We welcome any individuals or organisations that would like to sponsor future programs. Your donations will go into paying for the children transportation, accommodation and meals. The Aquatic Competence module provided by Dolphin Swimming Academy and Motivation module provided by Pro Mind Resources are our contribution to society. Visit Pesumas at blogspot for details of the program. Please contact Pro Mind Resources or Dolphin Swimming Academy to find out more on how you could contribute to this charitable cause. Here's some photos of the motivation session. More photos of the program will be uploaded at Pesumas blog or facebook.

Self introduction

Paper planes to demonstrate a point

Self introduction

You have full control

Participants are mixed age

Very attentive

I talked about "Kecemerlangan Diri"

I was helped by my son - Zainuddin

I pray for the children to be successful

Enjoyed the session.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin Soal Jawab TV3

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. The Minister explains why PPSMI is repealed.

Deep Rooted Tree (Tree with deep root) - Lesson learned

What it is??  It's the tittle of a Korean Drama I'm currently watching on Dramacrazy.net. The first thing that interest me is it's historical value - a story about King Sejong (Lee Do), the king of Joseon who revolutionised writing for Korean - he introduce the Korean script that is simple and easy to be learnt. His purpose was to ensure that all his subjects could read and write. It happened that before this new script, Joseon was using the Mandarin script which had thousands of characters to remember. The new script introduced 28 alphabets that could be used to write/read any sound produced in Joseon (painstakingly, the king and his loyal men catalogue all the sounds that people of Joseon made to pronounce possibly all the nouns, verbs, etc)  Challenging you say? Throw into the plot a group of dissatisfied noblemen and an underground group called "hidden root" or the "Mil-bon" who wanted to dethrone the King. Thus, the development works for the new script had to be done in secrecy. Added to the plot another character who had lived with one purpose - Kill the King to revenge for the death of his father.  A lot of twists and turns, things are not as it seems and prejudgement will only frustrate you as the truth being revealed. Before I reveal the whole story and robbed you of the suspense and enjoyment to watch the series (Watched all 24 episode on Dramacrazy.net) let me stop here and focus on the learning. Yes, you could learn one or two lessons from this addictive series....... Comeback to this page later as I will share some of the lessons I learnt from the series.

Lesson 1: Literacy must be made simple to ensure education for all
The king knew that education is the key to the kingdom's prosperity. Lee Do was a learned person himself. His father laughed at his idea of establishing the research institute saying that he must be out of his mind thinking that he could rule the kingdom with words. As the story unfold, he did rule his kingdom successfully via education. He knew literacy is the key to provide access to knowledge, hence the need to develop a simple script to enable his subjects to understand (He discovered that they were illiterate. Then he discovered the reason was the script they used then was complex - thousands of characters to learn and remember). This confirmed my notion that to facilitate teaching and learning knowledge, we need to use language that both teacher and student understand. Thus, mastery of language is important BUT how to ensure students could master the language. It must be captured in simple scripts...in the case of Joseon, the scripts developed by Lee Do and his "accomplice" can be used to represent any sound made in Joseon. Imagine how simple it is if we could spell the way we pronounce and then reproduce the pronunciation by reading.  I guess that's why Americans decided to spell Color instead of Colour (silent U) or Center instead of Centre (how to pronounce TRE?...sound like "tree" and it will be "Sen..tree" instead of "Sen..ter"). Morale of the story... learn to read and write before you learn anything else.

Lesson 2: Power of one - one person can change history
Passion of one person is all needed to change history. In Deep rooted tree, Lee Do was the power of one. Before that, his father had tried to centralize all power to one (himself) by eliminating all his opponents (sound familiar?). The concept or misconception about power centralization is that if you want to change things, you need all the power. On the contrary, the power of one concept is that one person could change things by focusing on his circle of influence. Lee Do knew that the Noblemen and Scholars would reject the idea of changing the way people write (Who like change anyway?). To overcome this challenge and avoid resistance at the early part of his project, Sejong decided to go undercover....start the groundwork secretly with a few trusted people. Then as a result of curiosity, two young scholars managed to "forced" the King to reveal the secret project to them. After the revelation, the two young scholars were convinced the the King is doing the right thing, thus they joined the project to help perfected the research work. At this point, you see how the power of one works. From the passion of one person, it became shared vision. Morale of the story...you want change, start with yourself.

Lesson 3: Resistance - many will stop the one from changing history
It is obvious that the King's intention was resisted by the Bureaucrats (Noblemen and Scholars). They have their own reasons for resisting, just to be fair. Once the new script is introduced, they would lost the power of knowledge. All the while, the peasants and slaves had been "cheated" just because they could not read. For the Scholars, they are just too familiar with the existing language of knowledge that introducing a new official script would mean they have to unlearn and relearn....heck, who would want to take the trouble to translate or re-script the manuscripts into the new script? You may find some parallel to the current PPSMI issue here but I do not intend to talk about it. Morale of the story, get an education as it is power. But first, you need to master the language of knowledge.

Lesson 4: Don't prejudged - things may not be as it seems
In the beginning we would have thought that Lee Do would make a good King. He seems "weak" on the outside. As the story continues, his true character emerged. He was actually strong in the inside. There's a lion-heart in him. Similarly with Ddol Bok (goes by the name Kang Chae Yoon as adult). He seemed determined to kill the King....until he learned new facts about his old flame Dam (goes by the name So Yi as adult) and his father's will (he lost it when he was a child) There's a soft-spot in his heart. Some of the Noblemen seems to be loyalist but turn out to be part of the Hidden Roots. What about Ga Ri On (the butcher)....who would have thought he is the Root. Heck I thought he was a good guy because as a youngster he seemed to be an Idealist, thus his character could have developed as a strong supporter to King Sejong's vision (I still have 6 episodes to go....may there is another twist. Who knows). Morale of the story: Don't judge a book by its cover (King Sejong). Get more facts before you judge (Ddol Bok).

Lesson 5: You are not alone
King Sejong had a vision. His vision was that one day, all his subject can read and write (literacy). The times where there were social class and literacy & education belongs to the upper class, this vision is not easily accepted by society. Lee Do seemed alone (?) Well, he started his project will his loyal palace maids and protected by his loyal warrior/bodyguard Mhul Yool. Doubt if these people helped him because they shared the same vision but they helped him anyway because they either believed in him or just plainly following orders. Relating to the power of one, with strong determination and persistence added to hard-work never give up attitude, his vision soon became shared vision.  First, with the two young scholars. Then as the story progressed, we learned that one of his palace maid admitted that she shared the same vision of having a simple script that everyone can learn to read and write. Later, Chae Yoon also supported the vision. Morale of the story: Have a dream, share it as shared vision is really dreams shared by many.

Lesson 6: Power of Shared Vision
The power of shared vision can be seen strongly when King Sejong revealed his project to the two young scholars. Once the two bought into the idea of having a simple script for Joseon, they willingly volunteer to be part of the project. Also when Chae Yoon (Ddol Bok) understand the vision, he became protector of the vision. In the two instances, the reason to buy into the idea were different. To the two young scholars, the vision appealed to their academic mind, while to Chae Yoon it appeal to his own experience....if only he could read, his father could have been saved.  Morale of the story: a vision became shared vision when it appeals to others.

Lesson 7: Love conquers all
Kang Chae Yoon was in love with Soo Yi that he is willing to to go the extra mile to live happily ever after with her. He went through lowest point of his life in the name of love. In the end, he died because of his love the love of his life.

Lesson 8 (the biggest lesson of all): Live for a purpose

King Sejong (Lee Do) had devoted his life to realize his vision of a sustainable and prosperous Joseon. Despite the resistance to his Korean Script the King pushes on determined to see the new script communicated and promulgated. He lost 3 scholars in the beginning but the event was a blessing. He became more determined. Lost of his son did not stop him. He had Soo Yi (Dham), Kang Chae Yoon, and Moo Hyul, along with other trusted group of aides - Noblemen, Scholars, Servants alike had supported his cause though for their own reasons. The saddest part of the story came in the end when his most trusted people (Soo Yi, Chae Yoon, and Moo Hyul) died in the course of helping the King live for his purpose. Their death were not in vain as they had lived a life for a purpose too.

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PPSMI - I told you so

I suggested in my earlier posting that two conditions must be present for an effectively efficient and efficiently effective transfer of knowledge

1. Teacher and Learner share the common language 
2. The Knowledge has been effectively captured (originally or translated) in that common language to facilitate teaching and learning.

Apparently, the Ministry of education had done their homework and to a certain extend concur with my views. They discovered that the student performance in the two subjects (Science & Mathematics) actual decreased when PPSMI was implemented. They also discovered that "...only 5% of primary schools nationwide taught the two subjects fully in English, while less than 9% learned them in English at secondary school level." I could breath easy now that the Ministry acknowledged that "...student's improvement in understanding scientific and mathematical concepts is closely linked to the language of communication that he or she can easily understand."  Exactly my point!!

I know there are people out there that would say "ah ha! It was not implemented fully. That's the reason it has not been successful."  My response is: if it had been implemented fully, we will see that the decline would have been more drastic. Thanks to our teachers that in the spirit of wanting the children to learn, had accommodated with bi-lingual class. Yes, some would say that it's violation of "direct" order to teach the two subjects in English. But the teachers knew that the issue was not the two subjects cannot be taught in other than English BUT the issue was English Language proficiency. If the English teachers could, they would have teach the subject in BM (pretty much the same way a BM teacher had taught the subject in English due to the the language her students were comfortable with were English - this happened way back several years in an Urban Secondary school)

My suggestion to those who still want to insist on PPSMI to continue....

1. Drop the emotion, be more objective.
2. Examine your motives.

Personal Effectiveness

Personal Effectiveness: What is the meaning of personal effectiveness? What makes a person effective?

Performance by SKPU3 students - Winter Sonata

What you are about to see in the video below seems like an ordinary school performance. What you do not know is the kids performing in front of a live audience (Parents/Guardian/Teachers) were (some still) stage shy. For the last 6 years in school they had not been selected to perform in any show due to, among others, they were perceived  having low social competence - shy, introvert, "hyperactive", can't follow instructions, etc. They pleaded with their teacher (my wife) to give them the opportunity, at least once in their Primary School days to showcase their performing art talent. The deal was simple: commit to the performance or your are out. Surprisingly all showed up for practice sessions and put the "extra-mile" to ensure a successful show.

I'm just proud of these kids, coincidentally they also participated in the English Camp I facilitated. Yes, some of them did performed (or forced to performed) in front of their friends. Stage fright? yes....but they overcame it.

We can teach values in any subject?

While in Malaysia teaching of values is tasked to Moral / Islamic Study classes, across the causeway it has been incorporated in all subjects. An approach based on common sense as well as good application of learning concepts. They call it holistic approach, I prefer to call it Integrated Social Development (just like Integrated Marketing).

 

If the whole idea of Integrated Marketing is to consolidate all efforts towards marketing communication and incorporate communication elements in all business activities, then for Integrated Social Development, I suggest that the idea is to consolidate all efforts towards developing social competency by incorporating social development elements in all education activities. 

PPSMI - Last remarks

I know that PPSMI will be topic of discussion long after it become part of education history in Malaysia. People will start comparing PPSMI to MBMMBI in terms of effectiveness. Some as soon as the new policy is implemented. Some after the new policy has been given a chance to proof it self, regardless which way it goes. Therefore, I've decided to give the issue a rest for now. This would be my last post with regards to the issue, unless some interesting event happened which compel me to comment.

I read with interest the news report published in the Star Nov 10. It reported the join press conference by PAGE (Parent Action Group for Education) and JMM (Jaringan Melayu Malaysia = Malaysian Malay Network). I am not part of either group. Neither to I advocate, support, or oppose these NGOs. What attracted me to include this newsclip in this posting is the statement made by PAGE Chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim ".....Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) is not about language proficiency but gaining knowledge on Science and Mathematics through English." In other words, it is not about Language but about Knowledge.

My comment: if it is about Knowledge acquisition, then why insists on using English as the teaching and learning medium? I wrote in my earlier posting that language of knowledge is not exclusively English but can be any given language. I agree that most critical knowledge of Science and Mathematics are readily available in English language but please do not put it in such a way that it cannot be acquire by or from other languages. 

She was also reported to said "this would enable the pupils to understand and use scientific terms in English". Ah ha! now I understand why insists on English. We want our children to use "scientific terms" in that language. But wait. Is there a need? Of course! You communicate to an English speaking audience, you need to use English terms. What if you address a non-English speaking audience like in Malaysia or in Japan or in Korea etc?

My point is: drop the argument that must use English in teaching and learning Sains & Matematik (misspelling on purpose). I say: "Seek and you will find" don't put a limit to acquiring/transferring of knowledge on language. Language is not and should not be a barrier in teaching and learning. Allow me to illustrate below.

Mr Yap is deaf so he can't understand a word you say. However, he can understand what you show him or describe to him using sign language the word you are saying. Let's say Mr Yap only know the Thai Sign Language (yes, like spoken language, there are many standards for Sign Language). It is as good as Mr Yap is a Thai speaker. Amazingly, he can still learn any subject written in any language as long as someone can describe to him in Thai Sign Language the subject to be learned. Imagine if we insist people like Mr Yap to learn using only English language, then he needs to first learn the sign language of native English country (British/American/Australian/NZ, etc). Similarly, our children can learn Science and Mathematics in Malay as long as someone can describe it in Malay. If we insist that our children can only learn Science and Mathematics in English, they must first learn English. 

By the way, do you know that most scientific terms currently used in English Language are originally from non-english? Well, that another story :)

Added Nov 12 (Saturday)

Interestingly, some is suing the government over the issue.

Social Competence - start 'em young

Interesting news. UNICEF is campaigning "Teach Respect" to your children. What's more interesting is that our children develop social competence with or without our guide. So start guiding your children's social development before they grew up with the perception that their social values, influenced by others, is correct.

At Pro Mind Resources, we are concern. Our Pro Mind Camp for school children is designed to develop social competence among school children using school subjects (English/BM/Science/Math/History/Geo) as the platform.

PPSMI - Follow up discussion

What's the issue?

Closed or not closed?

If I may borrow the famous quote from the X-files...."the truth is out there." 

The government (Education Minister) admitted that there were implementation issues surrounding PPSMI. 

When the policy was introduced, like any other government policies there were supporters and oppositions. Those supporting it said that it will help improve English among our school children. Also supporting were those who believe that English is the best language to teach and learn Science and Mathematics. On the other camp, people noted that command of English was poor among school children, let alone learning Science and Mathematics in English. Thus there were calls of discrimination i.e. the policy was favoring urban school children as well as the non-malays, under the assumption that these population had better command of English, thus would be advantaged. With strong political will (under Dr M) the policy was "bulldozed". Incentives were given to teachers who teach the subjects in English (it started with English teachers then overflowed to Science and Mathematics teachers).

As the English physicist discovered (Read my blog "PPSMI - why must we learn Science and Mathematics in English"), the best way to share their scientific discoveries was to use a common language i.e. English, teachers and students in our schools also discovered that the best way to progress through the Science and Mathematics curriculum is to use a common language.  End results, our school children still rely on their English teachers for English competence while Science and Mathematics knowledge were transferred using language comfortable to both teacher and learner (could be English, BM, Tamil, Chinese, etc). Since textbooks were printed in English, terms used were kept in English....no issue (read my blog "Is English the language of knowledge by default")

My analysis of what's happening today has a parallel the QCC cycle = Plan, Do, Check, Action (PDCA).  The Plan was to improve English language competence among our school children. The Do was to implement PPSMI. Obviously Check was done to discover the many deviation from Plan, including the fact that majority of schools had used bi-lingual in teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics. Thus the original objective  of improving English language competence is at risk. Action is to repeal PPSMI and introduce a new policy MBMMBI. In a way, this will put the original Plan back on track. On that ground, I do salute the Ministry. However, I would also suggest that the Ministry should also practice Stakeholder analysis (fishbone diagram would be useful) besides practicing PDCA. While we are at it, do also capacity and capability analysis. I'm sure what I had described is nothing new to the Ministry as the Quality Movement (QCC) was common in government offices during its peak, pretty much the same way KPI is now. Or has these productivity and quality tools has become ancients artifact to civil servants (I bet KPI will one day be). As usual, I guess, we always like to do things right but not the right thing.

PPSMI - Let students finish in English

It makes no sense at all to not allow the students currently learning Science and Mathematics in English to switch mid way. In fact I would suggest that we allow these students to continue learning the two subjects in English all the way till they graduated from College.

PPSMI - why must we learn Science and Mathematics in English

I find it interesting how parents are reacting the Government's decision to repeal PPSMI. Not that I am emotionally supporting either side but I would like to share a rationale view on why it make sense to have teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics subjects in English language (at least for now).  The first question I would like to ask is "do we have a choice of language to effectively and efficiently transfer the knowledge of Science and Mathematics other than in English language?"  Someone might point out that any language can be used to teach and learn these two subjects, and I totally agree. The fact is that these two subjects are being taught and learned in other languages besides English, for example in France, French is used; in Germany, German is used, in Japan and Korea, Japanese and Korean being used respectively. So what is the issue of using BM to teach and learn Science and Mathematics in Malaysia? It is the national language right? And all Malaysian are expected to be proficient and competent in this language. So if BM can be used to teach and learn the two subjects as it is being used to teach and learn other subjects (yes, in some schools English teachers are using BM to teach English!), so what is the PPSMI issue?

Well the question I asked was not only what language to use but what language to use to effectively and efficiently teach and learn Science and Mathematics. Granted that any language, including sign language can be used to teach and learn any subject.  However, for Science and Mathematics, the most effective and efficient language to use in Malaysian context is English. Allow me to explain by inviting you to watch the 1 min clip below (loaded from Youtube - search and you will find)

In conclusion, I would like to suggest that two conditions must be present for an effectively efficient and efficiently effective transfer of knowledge

1. Teacher and Learner share the common language (in the clip it was English rather than Latin, the "original" language for Knowledge)
2. The Knowledge has been effectively captured (originally or translated) in that common language to facilitate teaching and learning. (my Taiwanese classmates referred to textbooks translated into Mandarin while studying Engineering in an American College!).

If you would like to share your perspective on this issue, you are welcome to leave a comment under this posting or visit Pro Mind Resources on facebook for a real-time intellectual discourse.

Confidence vs Competence vs Proficient

Watch and tell me which one do she possessed....Language Proficiency, Language Competence, or Language Confidence?

Better English but lack of confidence.

This was on The Star dated 19 Sept 2011.  Interesting to find that our fresh graduates are showing better grasp of English  but at the same time lack of self-confidence. Something must have gone right with our education system that the level of English Language has improved over the years. Perhaps due to the emphasis (sometimes overemphasis by schools, parents, employers, etc) for students to master the English language. It seems that the message was loud and clear that be proficient in English or loose in the job market.  Unfortunately, language proficiency alone will not guarantee that the student will be candidate of choice to fill up job vacancies.  What we are not "teaching" our students is that competence, among others is also a critical qualities to be successful in securing a job offer.

In my days as HR practitioner, specifically playing the role of a recruiter I was more interested to assess candidate language competence rather than English proficiency. English proficiency can be detected during the job application process in their cover letter or resume. Of probably thousands of applications I received and reviewed, only a handful could be considered having good English proficiency. What would you make out a candidate who wrote "I'm graduated from U_____." or "I was graduated from U_____"?  Given the cut and paste, template-driven culture, this grammatical mistakes often times appeared in applications from candidates of the same University! Enough of this as I do not intend to give an English Language lesson. I'm more interested to talk about language competence.

By "language competence" I mean the ability to use language for communication purposes. Someone with language competence would appear to have better self-confidence when communicating, Or is it the other way around that someone need self-confidence to portray better language competence. Chicken and egg situation? Not really.  I'd seen candidates with high self-confidence portraying low language competence as well as candidates with high language competence displaying low self-confidence.  Language competence do contribute to high self-confidence but at the same time being competence in the subject matter would influence better self-confidence.

So what should be our focus? Should we focus on language proficiency or language competence?  I'd say both.  unfortunately the focus of our schools is on proficiency and not competency. A student with grade-A for English means he/she is proficient in English not necessarily competence in English. Very much the same for other subjects - mathematics, science, geography, history, etc....what our children learn at school is make them more proficient in the subject but not necessarily competence.  To be competence in the subject matter, one must be able to use one proficiency in the subject matter. I conclude that there is a need to develop subject competence. If schools failed or not designed to do it, then another development avenue is required to ensure our children develop their self-confidence by being both proficient and competence.

Communicative challenges of Special Children

This posting is a follow up to my earlier posting titled "AQUA KASEH and Social Competence". Halberstadt, Denham, and Dunsmore in their paper titled Affective Social Competence (in Social Development, 10, 1, 2001, Blackwell Publisher Ltd. 2001) discussed on the need to conduct their research to understand Special Children social competence deficits. I had extracted from their paper the communicative issues faced by the nonnormative populations namely Autism, Behavior Disorder, and Maltreatment. These issues posed communicative challenges to the special children in their social competence development.

Autism

·         Less able to imitate others’ emotions (Hertzig, Snow, & Sherman, 1989)

·         Often facial expressions are incongruent to situation (McGee, Feldman, & Chernin, 1991)

·         Do not attend to social messages (Dawson, Meltzoff, Osterling, Rinaldi, & Brown, 1998; Osterling & Dawson, 1994)

·         Delayed understanding of basic, unequivocal emotional situation (not immediately show excitement); show deficit in comprehension of emotions caused by beliefs (Baron-Cohen, 1991)

·         Spend less time looking at distressed or fearful adults and focus on objects instead (Sigman, Kasari, Kwon, & Yirmiya, 1992)

·         Similar physiological experiences of the emotion event but more ambiguous facial expressions (Steinhilber, Jones, and Dunsmore, 1999)

·         Rarely engage in joint attention (Dawson, et al.,1998; Lewy & Dawson, 1992; Osterling & Dawson, 1994; Steinhilber, et al., 199)

Behavior disorder

• Send emotional messages that are proportionally more negative (American Psychiatric Association, 1987)
• Showed more extreme responses to a negative mood induction (Cole, Zahn-Waxler, Fox, Usher, & Welsh, 1996; Cole, Zahn-Waxler, & Smith, 1994)
• Deficits in ability to receive others’ emotional messages (Casey & Schlosser, 1994; Cook, Greenberg, & Kusche, 1994; Nowicki & Duke, 1994; Russell, Stokes, Jones, Czogalik, & Rohleder, 1993; but see Cole, Usher & Cargo, 1993)
• Spend less time scanning the social environment and, consequently, recall fewer details of emotional stimuli (Casey & Schlosser, 1994)
• More often attribute hostile intentionality to others (Casey & Schlosser, 1994; Dodge & Frame, 1982; Dodge, Murphy, & Buchsbaum, 1984; Dodge & Somberg, 1987)
• Less awareness of their own affective experience, and they clearly have more difficulty identifying and understanding their own feelings (Casey & Schlosser, 1994; Cook et al., 1994)
• Diminished abilities to constructively manage and regulate their emotions, may express emotions impulsively as they are felt (Greenberg, Kusche, & Speltz, 1991)
• Displaying anger at inappropriate times (Cole, et al., 1994);
• May show brittle control or denial of negative emotion (Cole, et al. 1994)
• Less well able to integrate nonverbal skills (Russell et al., 1993)

Maltreatment

·         Less likely to use internal state words; will do so in restricted manner (Beeghly & Cicchetti, 1994)

·         Less able to recognize photographs of child and adult expressions (During & McMahon, 1991)

·         Less able to recognize ‘pure’ and ‘masked’ emotions (Camras, Ribordy, & Hill, 1988; Cassidy et al., 1992)

·         Do not habituate to interadult hostility involving their mothers; they become aroused and aggressive themselves, attempting to help or comfort their mothers, or intervene in the conflict on their mother’s behalf (Cummings, Hennessey, Rabideau, & Cicchetti, 1994)

·         Show deficits on self-reported empathy measures (Straker & Jacobson, 1981)

·         Show more inappropriate responses (such as anger, aggression, or withdrawal to their peers’ distress (Howes & Eldredge, 1985; Klimes-Dougan & Kistner, 1990; Main & George, 1985)

·         Show more despressed/dysthymic and anxious affect (Toth, Manly & Cicchetti, 1992)

·         Show more anger and more situational inappropriate and inflexible emotions (Erickson, Egeland & Pianta, 1989; Shields, Cicchetti & Ryan, 1994)

AQUA KASEH and Social Competence

I read with interest a research paper titled Affective Social Competence by Amy G. Halberstadt (North Carolina State University), Susanne A. Denham (George Mason University) and Julie C. Dunsmore (Hamilton College) published in Social Development, 10, 1, 2001 (Blackwell Publisher Ltd. 2001). What's interesting about this paper is the way it explains the process of emotional exchanges in social interactions, especially among children. But what compelled me to share this paper is when the writers explained how their research is relevant with "nonnormative populations". What they referred to as nonnormative populations is populations that have conditions such as Autism, Diagnosed Behavior disorder, and Maltreatment which caused them to have social competence deficits. Children with the above conditions progressed in their social competence development slower than the normal populations. Therefore, their ability to blend with the general  population or society is less compared to their normally developed  peers.

It gives me some sense of the challenges faced by teachers, parents and caregivers of Special Children to ensure that these children are prepared face "normal" life i.e. to blend in, to gain acceptance in society. I use quotes for the term normal  because to the special children their world is normal, as much as we view our world as normal.  We called them Special Children because to our normal standards they need special care and attention just to survive in our so called normal world. Nonetheless, society is becoming more aware of the needs to provide special education and development program for this segment of society.

When I designed Aqua Kaseh my intention was to provide an opportunity for Special Children to acquire one survival skills i.e. swimming (or more accurately Aquatic Competence), so that they are at least one skill closer to the their normally developed peers. By acquiring the Aquatic Competence, they will also be one step ahead most of the normal population as not many of us have Aquatic Competence.  The program equipped them with skills to be as normal as any person,  in the water the water that is.

Safir-Whorf Hypothesis in Interpersonal Communication

Interesting academic video that explains the Safir-Whorf Hypothesis. The Hypothesis explains development of language and the linguistic influence to the way culture are shaped. Also applicable to interpersonal communication especially when dealing with person from a different linguistic culture. Enjoy and would like to hear your comments.

Should English be the default language?

 This was on The Star (20th October 2011) pg 54.

The views of this writer had aroused me to write my perspective of the issue.  In my earlier blog postings, I questioned whether English should be the default language for Commerce and Knowledge (Academic & Intellectual interactions). I proposed that the language of the trading partner that have the upper hand in the trading transaction will be the language of commerce (at least in the transactions involving the two parties). I also proposed that the language of Knowledge is the language use to create, transfer/share and apply the knowledge.

While one can insist on English to be the language of commerce if and when one has an upper hand in trading or both parties agrees to do so, I find it wrong for one to insist on English to be the language of knowledge. To help me with this argument, I invite you to watch this video from TED.com. The speaker talk about how insisting on English will limit knowledge and in fact cause lost of knowledge. Enjoy the video.

Is English the language of knowledge by default?

 This was on The Star (20th October 2011) pg 54.

The views of this writer had aroused me to write my perspective of the issue.  In my earlier blog posting, I shared my views about language of commerce. I proposed that the language of the trading partner that have the upper hand in the trading transaction will be the language of commerce (at least in the transactions involving the two parties).

Before I share my views on language of knowledge (for education and intellectual interactions), i would like to reiterate that I do not support or oppose the views of the above writer. I only felt that additional point of views need to be shared so that you could make an informed conclusion on your own. In fact, I could accept the fact that "a scientist from MIT would never understand a physics research paper and mathematical lemmas written in Malay...." especially if that particular scientist do not know any other language besides English.  MIT is in an English speaking country (USA). However, if you go their library, I bet you will find scholarly literature in other languages (especially Latin) and obviously a lot of English translated version of scholarly literature written in other languages. The issue is not what language is used to capture the knowledge but how relevant the knowledge is.

I can understand someone who would only refer to literature written in a specific language, most likely in the language they could understand. But to limit the literature review to only language we understand means to limit our knowledge. Knowledge is first captured in the language it was created. During transfer/sharing process, it will be captured in other languages (translation) so that it could be applied universally. It just so happened that today most scholarly literature is written in English or has been translated to English. However, we cannot deny that there are new knowledge being created and captured in other languages.

Before English, the language of Knowledge was Latin and before that it was Arabic. Why? The language used by scholars is the official language for the center of Knowledge creation (used to be Arabic and then Latin, as it is now English).

As in my last post, I do not want to bored you with History lesson. Look it up and you'll discover your own how Knowledge being translated into Arabic from other languages so that scholars in the Islamic world could study and create new knowledge. History repeats itself for Latin and then English.

I propose that language of Knowledge is the language use to create, transfer/share and apply the knowledge. It can be any Language. What's important is the Knowledge, not the language used to capture, transfer/share and apply the knowledge.  Language is only the tool to communicate the knowledge. And yes, we can use sign language or pictorials to share knowledge.

I believe that no specific language can claim sole rights to be the language of knowledge. To do so is to claim that knowledge cannot be created and written in other languages. To do so is to deny knowledge to people who could not speak that language. To do so is to invalidate all knowledge that had been written in other languages. I can't imagine that since half of science knowledge was created in Arabic, translated to Latin then translated to English. There would be no Mathematics as we know it today since the numeral system we use today originated from Arabic, the other choice we have is Roman, or Chinese....what's an English numeral system anyway?

Programs for School Holidays

Dear Loving Parents,


Pro Mind Resources in collaboration with Dolphin Swimming Academy, proudly present to you an opportunity to equip your children with survival skills. The year end School Holiday incredible Programs (SHiP) are designed for school children to spend their year-end school holidays productively. 


Our Aquatic competence module offers opportunity for the children to develop their Aquatic Competence. They will be certified by the Academy but more importantly they will know how to survive in water. 

• Aqua Kids (age group: 7-12 yo)
• Aqua Teens (age group: 13-19 yo)

Class available daily during school holidays Monday to Thursday starting 21st November 2011.
Sessions available: Morning session (9am - 12noon) & Afternoon session (2pm - 5pm)


Top-up the Aquatic Competence module with our Motivation and Character building modules to provide a balanced personal development of your children. This will equip them with survival skills in water as well as in society. 

• Aqua Kids Camp (age group: 7 -12 yo)
• Aqua Teens Camp (age group: 13 - 19 yo)

Camps available every weekends during school holidays starting 25th November 2011.
Aqua Kids Camp: 25th - 27th November & 9th - 11th December 
Aqua Teens Camp: 2nd - 4th December & 16th - 18 December


No minimum swimming experience is required to join the programs but children certified for Aquatic Competence are not allowed into this program. Instead we recommend further further development of their skills with Dolphin Swimming Academy 


We ensure effectiveness of our programs by maintaining our Instructors to participants ratio in each program. Register today or you'll missed out on the opportunity to develop aquatic competence for you children. 


Check out the SHiP blogpage for program details. Visit Dolphin Swimming Academy on facebook for details of other Aquatic programs available (especially for your Aquatic Competent children). 


YOUR DECISION TO PROVIDE YOUR CHILD WITH AN AQUATIC EXPERIENCE IS A GIFT THAT WILL HAVE INFINITE REWARDS

Let's make a difference, prevent our children from drowning.

To register/inquiry contact
promindresources@gmail.com
019-2421229 (Sam)
013-6408681 (Aziz)