Cosmotots iqd® IQ Development & Educational Foundation

Topcat’s post #6

(8)  WHAT IS A READER CHILD?

•  A reader-child is more than one who can sound out words. Not only has he successfully imbibed the readership habit, he has learned to teach himself how to advance with every new book he reads. He has, as such, tremendous advantages over those who cannot read and those who can but who do not.
• A reader-child is NOT one who has learned to recognise and sound out random words without understanding. He is NOT one who knows the meaning of words but unable to make sense of sentences and paragraphs. He is not a parrot.
• A reader-child does not read because his mother has commanded him to do so. He does not read as a duty. Certainly, he does not read to show off. He reads for his own pleasure, development and evolvement.
• A reader, by definition, is one who reads literary works (literature). He is more than one who ploughs into factual publications as a worm would. Not only is the reader-child able to follow and appreciate plots, he is able to empathize with the characters in any story book. Indeed, not only is he able to enjoy his reading, he has successfully imbibed the habit of analyzing characters and situations. And, because of this ability, he can enable himself to advance intellectually and naturally with every new book he reads. By definition, a reader-child is brave and will readily try and discover new books on his own.
• A reader more than one who ploughs into factual publications as a worm would. Not only is he/she able to follow and appreciate plots, he/she is able to empathize with the characters in any story book. Indeed, not only is he able to enjoy his reading, he has successfully imbibed the habit of analyzing characters and situations. And, because of this ability, he is able to advance intellectually and naturally with every new book he reads.
• In our COSMOTOTS iqd universe…. for example….

 > By age 6, a reader-child can quite easily manage simplified classics like Jungle Book and Peter Pan.

> By age 9, he would be reading the likes of Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables.

>  By 12, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and ….

>  By 14, the works of Michener and Steinbeck; perhaps even Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

Your child ought to have this advantage.

(9) WHAT IS A WRITER-CHILD?

• A writer-child is more than one who can construct random sentences. Not only has he successfully imbibed the skill of linking sentences to sentences to express himself, he has learned to advance his ability to form opinions with every new book he reads; and with every piece of writing-work enjoyed. He has, as such, tremendous advantages over those who can read and write mechanically but who have not formed the authorship habit.
• A writer-child is NOT one who has learned to spell any number of words without knowing how to apply them appropriately and in context.
• He is NOT one who writes because he has to but because he wants to.
• A writer-child is NOT necessarily one who knows his grammar but not his meaning. He writes because he has something to say about something. When he as nothing to say, he does not communicate.
• By COSMOTOTS iqd reckoning, it is difficult for a child to imbibe the authorship habit unless and until he becomes a reader-child.
• In our COSMOTOTS iqd universe….
  • By age 8, a writer-child can quite easily compose a three-paragraph essay of at least 200 words within the hour.
  • By age 10, his 4-paragraph-standard would be on par with most PMR kids (300 words within the hour).
  • By 12, most COSMOTOTS-iqd writer-children would be ready to take on any average SPM examinee or O’Level  candidate.

Topcat’s Post #5

(7) WHAT IS THE DOUBLE HELIX APPROACH TO LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT?  In molecular biology, the term double helix refers to the structure formed by double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA & RNA. In our little COSMOTOTS-iqd universe, we adopt the term to refer to the twin activities of sustained reading and writing fun. When sustained over a reasonable period of time, the student invariably develops a stronger than normal thought pattern compared with kids of the same age group who do not read or write. Our double helix approach to educational foundation is designed to promote the development of a “fluid intelligence” which correlates well with creative as well as critical thinking skills. ELUCIDATION: When we talk about READERSHIP at primary and secondary school levels, we refer more to the reading of fictions rather than memorizing of factual publications. Likewise, when we talk about writing, we refer to formal essay writing and other compositions and not to mobile phone texting and shorthand email ronggeng.

Topcat’s Post #4

(6) WHY IS A CONDUCIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT SO IMPORTANT? As concerned parents, we should be aware of the importance of environmental influences our children are subjected to. Physical, social and cultural environments are all important elements in shaping the outcome of our children’s eventual development. In this blog, however, we are focused more on discussing the LEARNING ENVIRONMENT of the home and the school. There is a relatively new interdisciplinary field referred to in academic circles as ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. It focuses on the interplay between humans and their surroundings. Volumes had been written, to be sure, but for our lay parents, methinks an exercise in simplification may serve our purpose a whole lot better. If I may, I’d like to reduce the entire scholarship to two words, to wit: active nurturing. Maybe just one word, to wit: CLEAN where C.L.E. stand for conducive learning environment and A.N., for active nurturing. Also, to provide a sort of a contrast, we can cook up something DIRTY, an acronym for distraction, impatience, ridicule, tigerism and yawn. A CONDUCIVE & ACTIVE NURTURING environment is one ….

1. … where learning objectives are clearly understood;

2. … where learning objectives are appropriate for different stages of development;

3. … where positive role models are found;

4. … where the learner is continually challenged but appropriately;

5. … where learning is perceived as an enjoyable activity, not a stressful one;

6. … where the learner is guided and pulled and not pushed mindlessly;

7. … where there are constant and varied exposure to new materials, perceptions, thoughts, etc.;

8. … where apply-ability is given more importance than mere rote memorization;

9. … where independent and active learning is encouraged conscientiously;

10. … where a mistake made is considered an opportunity for advancement, not a cardinal sin;

11. … where an open-mind counts more than academic excellence;

12. … where no artificial boundaries are drawn between subjects.

Such a list can, of course, be expanded ad infinitum but what has been listed should suffice to give an idea of what a conducive environment ought to be. A clearer perception may be had if we do a comparison of what a DIRTY environment is. As follows:

• DISTRACTION. A learner’s progress suffers when he/she is distracted by, for example, chronic TV & pc-game addiction, excessive socialization in real time or in cyber space, undue worry and stress from chasing after report card distinctions, misplaced learning values and objectives, and so on.

• IMPATIENCE. Parents deposit undue stress when they show impatience over what they perceive as slow progress. They create a negative learning environment when they push for instant gratification by way of excessive coaching, scolding, screaming, etc. Such parents do not understand that a child will learn only when he/she wants to learn; and he/she will not want to learn unless learning is an enjoyable activity.

• RIDICULE. This is not only counter-productive re ACTIVE NURTURING, it is also downright cruel. Parents may not be aware how devastating ridicule can be. They may not even be conscious when they ridicule their children. Comparing one sibling with another is a sort of ridicule, is it not? Likewise, comparing a child negatively with others in his/her class/school or with kids in their same social circles. Ridicule is really another sort of criticism. In an environment where a child is constantly criticized and ridiculed, he learns to be shy and lacking in self confidence. Such an environment is assuredly not a conducive one.

• TIGERISM. A Tiger Mother is a tough task master and inordinately ambitious, not so much for the sake of the child, but for her own ego. She pushes with devilish passion and, with absolute confidence, dispatches her child to certain damnation on a highway paved with nothing but good intentions and idiocy. To be sure, some children can survive, even thrive in such an environment but the majority sadly turn out poorly.

• YAWN. To yawn is to be bored. Theoretically, a child has no business to be bored. The world of a growing child should be full of wonders and mysteries. Every spare moment he has should be invested in exploration and discovery and these intellectual activities should be able to keep him busy and interested all the way from cradle to grave. When a child develops the habit to be bored, some elements in his upbringing must have gone awry. Perhaps his learning environment doesn’t come with enough intellectual stimulation?

Topcat’s Post #3

Continuing from the last entry:

(5) LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT vs COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT. Language is no more than a tool of communication with others as well as ourselves. The fact is, when we have nothing to communicate, there is no communication to speak of, is there? Cognition, on the other hand, is the database from which we draw when we communicate. It is an esoteric term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, including thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving. These are higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language, imagination, perception and planning. Therefore, it is sheer folly for an educator to focus exclusively on language development without consideration for the engineering tasks of cognitive development.  Indeed, in the science and art of educational foundation, it is tragically counter-productive when language development is perceived as passionate drilling in grammar rules and spelling and nothing more.  Sadly, this 1 Malaysia Tragedy is real because the drilling and pressure-cooking approach is sponsored by our mainstream schools with such blind enthusiasm and crafted to such a high state of the art by practitioners of our mushrooming tuition industry.  This being so, I fear our high hopes for our children’s quality of education may, in good time, be swept away by a metaphorical TSUNAMI of the Fukushima sort.  Maybe we have already reached a stage of no return?  Sigh!

Topcat’s Post #2

As concerned parents, how can we guide our children sensibly towards an early achievement of a crucial survival skill in the modern world?  Well, it would be helpful if we can invest a little time to wrestle some fundamental issues related to the subject of language development at different stages of our children’s education; to wit:  (1) pre-school, (2) lower primary school, (3) upper primary school, (4) lower secondary school, (5) upper secondary school, (6) pre-university, (7) university and (8) post university.

Indeed, in my considered opinion, concerned parents should tango this subject with urgency because the “educational industry” of One Malaysia has, for quite some time, become a big question mark whichever way we choose to look at it.  For one thing, our children are trapped in a macro-environment where our mainstream schools have, at best, only fuzzy concepts regarding language development strategies … English Language in particular.  The political WILL to really do something about this sad state of affairs is simply not there.  This is further compounded by the inherent kaisuism of Malaysia’s TIGER MOTHERS whose understanding of language development goes no further then “grammar-ability” and “mechanical communications”.

To promote a better understanding of the subject, it may be helpful to highlight a few (just a few) dimensions of parental concerns as follows:

(1)  WHAT IS LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY?  A language proficient student is one who can understand virtually everything heard or read.  He can analyze information from different sources and can either deconstruct or reconstruct his understanding into coherent arguments or opinions.   He can express himself spontaneously, fluently and precisely.  Intellectually, he should also be able to differentiate finer shades of meaning, even in complex situations.  The point is, to be able to achieve this level of proficiency at the threshold of a university career, the student’s language skills and cognitive development must be attended to simultaneously and congruently as early as possible. 

(2)  WHAT IS THE CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESIS?  The hypothesis states that “there is a period during which language acquisition is easy and complete”. Scientific researchers have confirmed that there is indeed a biologically determined critical period for language acquisition and this has to do with the Broca’s Area of the brain.  Some critical periods have been identified as (1) pre-school years, (2) pre-puberty & puberty years and (3) at the threshold of intellectual development, usually between lower and upper secondary schooling.  If effective language development had been missed by the end of a student’s secondary schooling, chances of attaining advance proficiency will be very slim indeed.

(3) WHAT ARE SOME COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE METHODS & APPROACHES?  Because of defective understanding, mainstream teachers take the easy way out and oblige their students to focus on language mechanics like grammar and spelling and not much else.  Ambitious but uninformed and unthinking parents follow suit blindly in the hope of harvesting report card distinctions for their children.  The real tragedy, however, is the harmful ROTE LEARNING approach they employ while pursuing their misplaced ambition of paving their children’s way to hell with the best of intentions.  By the way, the rote learning method does have certain advantages depending on subject matter being studied but when mindless drilling and pressure cooking and psychological abusing are  brought to bear, what hope is there?  My rude question is, why is it so difficult for parents to see what there is to see and not what the powers that be want them to see?  Don’t they love their children enough to do a re-think?

(4) FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION vs SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING.  Without a doubt, academically speaking, there are huge differences between first language acquisition and second language learning realities.  My question is, is there no way we can bridge the chasm? 

 Once upon a time in Malaysia, there were kids like myself who entered primary school without a word of English but we would attain passable if not excellent English Language Proficiency long before we entered university.  If the truth be told, I was never really conscious that I was learning another language; it being, I was already able to function in Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainanese, all acquired unconsciously and without effort.  What’s another one more?  You see, the school environment in those days was such that we blended in and that was all there was to it.  If another truth be told, I remember I could, by Standard 6, argue and quarrel  in passable English till the cows came home but I never really had an interest or affinity for the mechanics of the language.  Indeed, I remember in secondary school days, we had to struggle with a Bible from India titled “HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH GRAMMAR & COMPOSITION” authored by a trio of monsters named Wren, Martin and Prasada Rao.  It was something designed to torture but, happily, unlike children these days, we were survivors in those days.  We simply chose to ignore the grammatical complexities and focused on enjoying ourselves with essays and précis and composing naughty letters to girls.  Suffice that we could use the language, never mind grammar scholarship.  In any test, grammar contributed, maybe, only 15% of the marks.  To be sure, we might miss scoring distinctions because we had to write off the mechanics but who needed distinctions anyway?  Fun was assuredly considered more important than scoring distinctions. 

 BUT WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS RAMBLING?  The point is, it is more effective to introduce a second language to a child by using the first language acquisition approach.   It will be my pleasure to ronggeng and elaborate on this and other points in future blog entries.  

So much for this morning’s fun time.  In INSTALLMENT 2 on the same subject, I will continue to tango the following:

(5)  LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT vs COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT. 

(6)  WHY IS A CONDUCIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT SO IMPORTANT?

(7)  WHAT IS THE DOUBLE HELIX APPROACH TO LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT?

(8)  WHAT IS A READER-CHILD?

(9)  WHAT IS A WRITER-CHILD?

Topcat’s post #1

This is an intro test of a post for a pc-illiterate who proposes to tango a BLOG to elucidate details of a scheduled series of 10 Public Talks in 2011, the first of which being LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY on Saturday 19th March 2011 @ our Subang Chapter (USJ21). By so doing, it is hoped that a better appreciation of the Science & Art of IQ Development and Educational Foundation may be promoted. 

My name is TC Yoong , the founder of COSMOTOTS-iqd in which universe, I am also known as the Top Cat.  Here’s also hoping that friends and supporters of our approach to Educational Foundation would come in and help to make this blog a lively enterprise. 

Cheers.  TC.