Share and Care through Facebook :)

When I posted this video on Facebook sometime ago, many of my friends gasped beause they thought Mr E is the serious kind. (rolls eyes!)
Well, now you all know that he is also siao ding dong!

Gelek sama dia lah Dy!

Mr E, the dancer in the above video, will turn 40 in exactly a week's time. I've more or less already planned a birthday celebration but uh uh, not going to tell his dance partner a.k.a Nyla about it because he will find out 3 minutes after I tell her. Surely one. Heee!!!

Anyway, have you heard/seen that Mediacorp 5 is going to screen its first ever local reality television show, "The Big Shot" which is specifically designed for amateur and semi-professional photographers.

And guess who auditioned for it?
A great buddy I consider as a brudder, Jaliboy of RebelPixel!

During the audition, the photographers had to take a photo of a flower with their mobile phones within 10-15 minutes.

This is what Jali came up with.

He is definitely one of the people who has left an indelible impression on me with his ethusiasm and passion for photography.

Hence peeps, let's all combine our forces and power and help Jali be the one to sashay away with 20K and achieve his dreams.

First we all need to join http://www.facebook.com/thebigshotonline by clicking 'like'......

And then go to the photo album titled "The Test Shot… Which shot could be The Big Shot?" and click 'LIKE' on Photo Number SIXTY ONE (61)!

OK GO! I've done my part liaos. :)

Good luck Jali!

Workshop 2: Composition Transformers

Jennifer Ong is especially pumped about making a difference at the upcoming workshop. The rational in me admires the utilitarian, the romantic in me relishes the value. Lo and behold! The narrative nazis are here.

I smiled to myself when I saw the above status update posted by my partner, Jenn, on her facebook profile page. How true sista. Hugs.

Just like our first Oral Communication Workshop, we had a rockin' good time being narrative nazis last weekend.

There were new faces. Big hello to all of you!

There were also comeback duos and we were absolutely thrilled to see them again because it meant one important thing: They found our workshops effective.

The attentive adults. Going to quote Mdm Samsiah's comments: "As a parent I can definitely use the strategies with my child, bearing in mind all these pointers when I read her essays."

This is precisely the reason why The Bottoms Up Club organises Parent PLUS Child (DUO) workshops.

Parents absorb the facts and teaching methods while the kids apply what they have learnt. So when they go home, Jenn and I envision the parents and children sitting down together sharing about what they have learnt at the workshop. :)

The focused kiddos.

Back when I was teaching, I remember my form class going "YESSAR!" whenever I assigned them a writing task because they were really excited about collaborating with their own group members and compete against the other groups for the title of "Best Introduction", Best Conclusion" etc.

So I discussed with Jenn and we mutually agreed to hold this fun and engaging activity during the workshop.

Nyonya Jenn chit chatting while Mak-chic (Hehehehehe!) Nura dedicated herself to work. Heeee! :P

No lah, Jenn was busy imparting whatever knowledge she has with regards to writing an excellent essay to the sporting mommies in da house!

Yes, even the adults had to participate in the Competition Compo. This group really took this 'game' seriously and Jenn and I absolutely loved their story of the Burger Ramly seller who robbed his own house to claim insurance! Of course the kids scratched their heads and went 'Huh"! Too cheem for them.

Anyway, yeah, besides mommies and sisters, we do have daddies at the workshop! How awesome is that! Their wives are so blessed to have such 'on' other halves!

The kids sharing their ideas with our facilitators of the workshop.

Huge thanks to our facilitators, Shofi, Natalie and Adrian for guiding the children during their group work!

Big Tight Hugs!

One nice big happy family.

During the workshop, all of us also seemed to have cultivated a 'knowledge sharing culture'. Jenn and I are not the only gurus.

Let's take for example, Mdm Haryanty (in the picture above with her 2 children)

After the workshop, I was casually telling her that I am rather worried about Nyla coping with Mother Tongue when she enters Primary One and she recommended me the "Bacalah Anakku" series. Just when I thought I should embark on a hunt for those books, Yanty emailed me this on the very same day:

" I still have the above mentioned books & thought of giving them to u to guide Nyla. U can give it a trial run first before u decide to invest a set for yourself. But I guarantee u that they are very effective! There are total 8 series. If ur OK, i can pass them to u anytime. Do give me a buzz if ur interested :)"

I feel so touched can?! Thanks again sis. Will come knocking on your door soon enough. Hehe!

We also had 2 fellow primary school teachers who joined us. Cheecher Mahd ( a fellow online buddy!) and Cheecher Samsiah. Truly yr pupils are blessed to have their teachers sacrifice their weekend to attend this writing workshop just so they can do better. :)

Anyway, back to the Composition Transformers Workshop, here are some of the encouraging feedback given.

Great Job! Interesting lesson. Keep it up! - Mdm Ellya Talib

Interactive session. Reminded me of my own PSLE and O Level Workshops. Interesting 'out of the box' approach. -Mdm Sheetal Roy

Thanks for such an awesome writing workshop. It was definitely very helpful for me in guiding my son and other children in their schoolwork. I believe the workshop will benefit my son in his upcoming PSLE. - Mdm Nora Azman

When asked what other areas of training would they like to reieve/attend, Mdm Ika wrote this: 'Whatever workshops that you will be organising.'

And when we asked for any specific date, Mdm Jayne included 'Any date!' on her feedback form.

Yeap, Jenn and I are truly blessed to have such sporting parents who go all out for their children's education.

Salute them!

So Jenn and I have decided that we hold our THIRD workshop in less than 3 weeks' time.

Yes, we hear you parents!

This time it will be "Unpacking the EL PAPER 2 Luggage" Workshop!

*Nyonya Jenn and Mak-Chic Nura will do a post mortem of every component of the English Language Paper 2 and point out pupils' common mistakes.

*As with the previous 2 workshops, we will share specific strategic skills on how to 'attack' the ultimate villains: Comprehension and Cloze Passage.

WHAT: "Unpacking the EL Paper 2 Luggage" Workshop (suitable for Primary 5 & 6- End of year exams and PSLE coming yo.)

WHEN: 25 September 2010

TIME: 10am - 1pm

COST: $85

*For those who have attended our previous workshops, Jenn will be sending you peeps an email soon! WINKS!:) *

VENUE: To be confirmed. ( We have to look for a bigger space due to popular demand! Wooots!)

Interested, do not hesitate to email me at nuraesman@gmail.com

I'm already on standby in front of the computer liao. Heeee! :p

Toga Terrific Round 3

I've received plenty of emails regarding the new batch of colours with regards to the toga maxi dresses ever since the "Charity Photoshoot" entry.

And I apologise for not replying to your queries because I've been very busy with my Bottoms Uppers and my upoming Composition Transformers Workshop with Jenn.

That plus it's the month of Ramadhan and I try to 'collect as many points' as possible by fulfilling Terawih prayers at night.

Nyla too is very tired sometimes she'd fall asleep in the middle of the prayers. Poor babe.

Thank you for acompanying Mommy and Daddy sweets!

Anyway, yes, back to these dresses.

There is an urgency for this entry because my fellow Muslimah sisters have expressed interest in wearing it during the first day of Raya.

So here goes.

From left to right:

Farha in pale pink.

Sabarina in mustard yellow.

Me in turqoise.

Pale pink and turqoise are unfortunately snapped up! :(

Other than mustard yellow, the other colours (No time to model at all!) are dark purple, aqua green, army green, purplish+pinkish mud brown and dark chocolate brown.

As usual ladies, I can be reached at nuraesman@gmail.com

And look who owns a toga dress now?!

The babe has been bugging her Tok Mommy for one as well and she's got her wish granted.

Today is Party Day in school and she is wearing it later.

I really should minimise all the stares and giggles by taking a cab straight to her school instead of public transport.

TGIF peeps! Mwaacks!

Nyla and her book

Other than being a gardener, masseuse, model and author, Nyla can seriously consider being a sales promoter.

Our 2nd reprint of The Big Good Wolf books are here by the way.

If you would like to get it as a gift for your child/niece/nephew/god-daughter/godson, by all means feel free to email me at nuraesman@gmail.com

And also, Children's Day is coming so if you preschool/ lower primary teachers would like to get copies of The Big Good Wolf as children's day gifts for your cute kiddos, special discount will be given due to bulk order. Wooohoooo! *WINKS!*

Cheers peeps!

The World of Academia

That's my girl during one of the pretend plays when she played the teacher and I became her pupil who MUST 'talk like a kid'.

One thing's for sure, she'll make a great educator since her lesson delivery is very clear, easy to understand. Hehe!

Anyway, still at the topic of education....

It seems that, other than Nyla, someone else is following my footsteps. Heeeheee!

Mr E, the man who has always encouraged me to experiment with my own creativity, has also entered the world of academia.

Truly a nurturing, patient and self -initiating individual, plus the fact that he has rich content knowledge and experience in this particular field, the whole family is confident that he will make an exceptional lecturer at one of the polytechnics here.

What an exciting journey ahead for him indeed!

Oooh I can't wait already to see him bring home work and do the lesson plannings and all. *Sniggers*

My man, happy teaching and most of all, happy making a difference in the lives of your charges, honey!

Still at the topic of education *Part 2*

Today is the LAST day to register for this Saturday's Composition TRANSFORMERS Workshop. (4th Sept)

Due to the overwhelming interest in this workshop, Jenn and I are considering to 'split up' and conduct the same workshop, individually, at 2 different venues on the same day since Jenn will fly off on Sunday. We are still discussing.

Meanwhile this Composition TRANSFORMERS Workshop is suitable for the upper primary children:P4,P5 and P6. To those who have registered, please wait for our email. We have a task for your kiddos. *Winks!*

To those who are interested, the details are on the previous post, so just scroll down bebehs! :)

Have an awesome Monday ahead peeps!

Composition "TRANSFORMERS" Workshop

Yoohoo.
Jenn and I are back again. :)


We both know it's the fasting month and all.
We both know that Hari Raya is coming and all.
We both know best that festivities aside, work means work for us adults and study means study for them children.


1 thing you must know is that PSLE English Paper 1 is on 6 October and Jenn and I have decided it is time we conduct our powers combined " Composition TRANSFORMERS (Think: Bumblebee/Optimus Prime/Decepticon) Workshop"


The past few weeks, we have been cracking our heads, drinking coffee from the tap analysing a mountain of exemplary compositions to see if we could identify a trend and have finally tied all those loose ends really tightly and our conclusion : SEVEN WONDERS OF A GREAT ESSAY. :)
Hence we will cover 7 reaaaallllyyy effective steps to 'build' an awesome composition.
It will be a super hands on workshop as we strongly believe in experential learning when it comes to writing.


We promise you that, just like the previous Oral Communication Workshop, this will be super duper fun as well.
Being former primary school teachers, Jenn and I made sure during our 'lesson planning' that the workshop be as very engaging and as very entertaining as possible for the kiddos and most importantly, very informative for you parents so that you can use these strategies with your children. :)


Before I proceed to share with you the details of the COMPOSITION TRANSFORMERS WORKSHOP, both Jenn and I would like to extend our sincerest apologies to those of you who have emailed us to conduct another Oral Workshop for your P4 and P5 kids. We will have another round of that but our priority now again is the P6ers because PSLE is really around the corner.


To the participants of the previous workshop, please do check your email. :)

We hear your burning questions:
Is there time to learn and absorb a brand new strategy one month prior to the PSLE examination?
Will my child be confused?
The answer is no.

What we’re doing here is to harness the unique writing style of your child, rearrange his existing ideas so that he will include all the 7 essential elements required in a good essay. Any essay. Think of it as a formula. We apologise for not being able to conduct this workshop earlier as some of you have requested, reason being we needed time to monitor the progress of a class of 41 students whom we have conducted the workshop for to ensure the method works. According to the teacher, there was a massive improvement in their writing skills right after the 2nd writing practice.

The workshop includes the following:

*7 Wonders of a Great Essay
*The Tickle Tease (Technique to create suspense)
*Replacing overly used verbs and adjectives
All materials/worksheets including 2 follow-up practice compositions (includes free online clinic session for the follow-up practice compositions)


WHAT: Composition "TRANSFORMERS" Workshop


WHEN: 4 September 2010 (Saturday)


WHAT(time): 10am -1.00pm


WHERE: One people.sg


HOW (much): $75 per pair. (Pair: Parent plus child)


This time round, we can only conduct on one day because Jennifer will be out of Singapore the next day till mid September for a seminar and I will be busy helping my mother bake kuihs. :P

So, first come, first served basis ya peeps.

Email me at nuraesman@gmail.com

See you soon!

Marriage

Jenn and I have been staying up till the wee hours of the morning for the past 2 weeks discussing about work and last night, she shared with me a non work related piece. Nevertheless, it's beautiful story titled 'Marriage' by Stephanie Halmilton. I thought I'd share with you peeps the story. :)

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.
Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.


She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her! With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.


She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.


The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again. In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage. This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.


I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully. My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.


On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her. On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.


She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.


Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.


But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office...jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.


She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.
At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart. That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push thru with the divorce.-- At least, in the eyes of our son--- I’m a loving husband....

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage! Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

And with that, may all of us married couples not take each other for granted, embrace each other's imperfections, appreciate each other and most importantly, be blessed with happy marriages.
Cheers!