Rise and Shine Expo – 2 great workshops worth going to + Giveaway #01

Credit: Rise and Shine
Credit: Rise and Shine

In our family, we speak Chinese 90% of the time.  As a result, our kids are strong in this language that many kids here are struggling with. However, in Singapore, we have to be bilingual and are taught English and Chinese since young. English, being our teaching medium, is extremely important in getting good grades in schools. Without a good English foundation, students will struggle to understand Mathematics problem sums and tackle English comprehension questions.

Recently, my 8 year old girl is losing marks in her test papers due to her weakness in the English language.  She does not have full understanding of the questions.  It is not easy to be equally good in 2 languages and I do empathize with her.  I take a partial blame too that I do not speak much English at home. I always believe my kids can pick up English in school easily since they interact with mostly English-speaking classmates daily. I read to them since they were babies and am still reading to them.  Perhaps they are not reading enough on their own.  Despite being worried about their English standard, I have never regretted speaking Chinese primarily at home.  I take pride that their Chinese is strong as Chinese is indeed a very difficult language to master. It is important to speak well since it is our Mother Tongue.

So, when I knew about a workshop where the famous speaker Dr Thomas Armstrong is going to share tips on teaching everything from phonics to reading comprehension using brain strategies, I was curious to find out if there are ways for me to help my girl with her comprehension skills. This workshop is held in conjunction with the Rise and Shine Expo which will span across 3 days of exciting kids’ activities, premium brands and workshops for parents from 27-29 Sept 2013. This speaker is an award winning author of “Nurturing Multiple Intelligences in Children”. I have extracted some details to this workshop here:

Workshop with Dr. Thomas Armstrong: The multiple intelligences of reading and writing: making the words come alive!

This workshop will show parents how to help children develop literacy skills by linking words to images, music, logic, emotions, physical expression, social context, oral language, and nature.  Dr. Armstrong draws upon recent neuropsychological research in showing how reading and writing skills are whole brain activities, and he provides practical tips and suggestions for teaching everything from phonics to reading comprehension using whole brain strategies.

This workshop is for parents with children from 3 to 12 years old who want to lay strong foundation in their kids in reading and writing using the concept of multiple intelligences.

Speaker:
Dr Thomas Armstrong
Award Winning Author and Advocator of Nurturing Multiple Intelligences in Children

Dr Thomas Armstrong is the author of fifteen books including Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, In Their Own Way, Awakening Your Child’s Natural Genius, 7 Kinds of Smart,The Myth of the A.D.D. Child and Awakening Genius in the Classroom. His books have been translated into twenty-six languages. He has appeared on several national and international television and radio programs, including NBC’s ”The Today Show”, “CBS This Morning”, “CNN”, the “BBC” and “The Voice of America”. Articles featuring his work have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Good Housekeeping, and hundreds of other newspapers and magazines around the country.

Date: Sat, 28 Sept
Time: 2.30pm – 4pm
Venue: Room 305, Suntec Convention Hall

To register for the workshop, please click here.

Price: $20

Early bird discount by 2 Sept: 10% off
Group booking: 3 or more in a group enjoy 50% off
PAssion Card holders: 1 for 1 signup (partner attends for free)

For more details on this Rise and Shine Expo, click here.

I would encourage those parents who are keen to help on their children’s language development to attend this workshop.

Being a Rise and Shine partner blogger, I am entitled to give away 5 pairs of tickets (worth $20 for each ticket) to my readers for this workshop. If you are interested to know how this workshop can benefit the reading and writing skills of your child, please do the following:

1) Like Kids R Simple and Rise and Shine facebook fan pages

2) Leave a comment below with your email address or on Kids R Simple facebook page (If you are not comfortable with leaving your email address, please message me via facebook)

3) The closing date for enrolment of giveaway is on 6 Sept 2013.

Good luck!

This is the first part of the Rise and Shine Expo Giveaways.

Stay tune for the second giveaway…

20 thoughts on “Rise and Shine Expo – 2 great workshops worth going to + Giveaway #01”

  1. Some of the (Singaporean) mums at kindy have discussed this and they have asked me what work I do with my children at home to teach them English – but of course it’s just that we speak English at home. One asked me for tips on good extra-curricular phonics classes. Wrong person to ask! On the other hand, my boy really struggles with Chinese, whilst theirs just breeze through. It’s funny because we’re each jealous of the other’s abilities.

    I’m not sure if this workshop is aimed at learning a particular language or just language in general?

    1. I have not been to the workshop, but I think Dr Armstrong will touch on how he uses brain strategies to teach reading and writing skills. May be more focused on English language but should be applicable for other languages as well if the method concerns the brain. I feel we might benefit from this workshop in knowing new ways to teach the kids from a new point of view. If you are keen to find out more, leave your email here or on facebook and watch for the draw results! 🙂
      As regards to your child struggling with Chinese, it is challenging especially if you do not speak much of it at home. You can try exposing more of Chinese to him by letting him watch cartoons in Chinese and even switch to Chinese audio in disney channels and all. Kids can learn languages fast.

      1. You know, I should get some DVDs in Chinese out of the library.

        I have to say also that where teachers are concerned a little enthusiasm seems to go a long way. From conversations with other non-Chinese-speakers (especially serial expats) and from a couple of things said at parent teacher meetings it seems like the teachers quickly work out which parents are encouraging their kids at home and which are not, and I think they find it easier to put the effort in with a struggling child when they know the parents care.

  2. I don’t need the tickets – but I wanted to comment anyway – it’s a blessing to hear how you hold strong to your native tongue and are still working to make sure your kids have the tools to learn and understand a second language. My son took Spanish for a couple of years, just enough to get the credits he needed, and while he will never be fluent, I’m glad that he was exposed and I think it will serve him well (especially where we live!).

    1. Thanks for commenting! Learning another language is always beneficial. He may not be fluent but at least he will understand what others are saying in Spanish and reading the words!

  3. I trust you to share what you learn here! Having grown up bilingual myself and raising our kids trilingual I am more than interested. .

  4. We have the opposite problem. We speak English at home, especially when speaking to the kids ever since they were babies and my son is now having problems with his Filipino (our national language) subject at school and they are also having problems communicating to neighbors in Visayan (our local dialect in our region). But they are getting better at speaking both local dialects now.

    1. I think as long as the language is not spoken at home, it will not be the stronger language. Learning dialect is another level of difficulty! Thanks for dropping by!

  6. I’m very grateful English is my first language because I think learning it as a second language is not something I’d like to take on – it’s so tricky! Good luck to your daughter. I hope she quickly improves xx

    1. Thanks Charlie for dropping by! English is actually our 1st language and Chinese is our Mother Tongue. We’re expected to learn both well. There’s always challenges when it comes to mastering a language.

  7. I am really interested in this workshop as I believe that it would be very useful for my 4-year-old boy. Hope I can get the tickets ya! 🙂

    Thanks!!

  8. Thanks for sharing such good workshop with us. I’m very keen to attend as i believe it will help me in raising my 3.5 yrs old son n my 4 mths old baby. Hope that i can win the tickets ya 😉 cheers

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