...another good book to read

...received a copy of a book from a friend in India yesterday...Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle...quickly browsed through the table of contents...the book is divided into 4 parts but Part II Seeding a Culture of Innovation caught my first attention...already finished reading 2 of the 3 chapters in Part II...found the book very interesting...to learn how the Jewish community worldwide unite and work closely despite differences in their cultural, socioeconomic and religious (modern, orthodox, ultra) backgrounds...i believe everyone should read the book...cheers

...Heaven and Hell

...my friend shared a story about his boy...an interesting one...one day the boy complained about his ustaz who always talked about the scary death and hell...you know kinda like if you do this you'll go to hell...if you do that you'll go to hell...i believe the ustaz had all good reasons for doing that...like reminding his students the repercussion of being bad...however, some children might look at it from a different perspective...the boy said i'm only 8 and the ustaz already talking about death and hell...why can't he talk about live and heaven instead?...hmm i guess he's right too...why don't we parents and teachers teach our children and students all the good things to do...if you do this you'll go to heaven...if you do that you'll to heaven...kinda like motivating them to do good deeds rather than telling them to avoid all the bad things becos the hell fire is waiting for them...tho occasional reminders might do good as well...by doing that I believe our children will remember more good things than the bad ones...which i believe would create a more positive attitude among them...kids are always kids...like Denise the Menace...psychologically, the more we tell them not to do it...the more they will try to do it...it's fun to them...just a thot...cheers

...East and West

...remember chatting with my colleagues differences between teaching and learning approaches in the West and East. Western education emphasizes more on active learning that involves students’ active participation in class and group discussions...students are often given more freedom to express their creativity...they are not afraid to be different or make mistakes...most teachers look at students' mistakes positively as the way to learn...they also love to give compliments...given when students score well in their tests...even when they didn’t do so well in their studies, teachers still give their compliments...but as a way of encouragement...in contrast, Eastern education adopts a more passive learning approach...first students have tons of school rules to follow...then plenty of homework to do after school...students are often criticized whenever they fail to achieve the expected results...hmm two different philosophy…most teachers in the East believe criticizing serves as a motivator to the students to work hard...remember my daughter told me one day after school…she said her teacher threatened to throw her out of the class window when she disagreed about the subject discussed in class (her 3 years experience in the UK made her a bit vocal)…why the teacher was so angry? she asked me...i'm just trying to give my opinion...so what shud i do abah? i guess i'll just keep quiet next time...otherwise she'll throw me out of the window he3...don't get me wrong but like the Western approach, i also believe criticisms would lower down students’ motivation and discourage creativity...remember one of my professors in UKM used to tell us...A is for God, B is for me, so the best grade you'll get is C...but of course he's only kidding...cheers

...rest or work

...feeling very tired after more than 2 weeks travelled...really need a break...at least for one day...but there are two important events at work tomorrow which need my participation...so to relax or go to work...office or home...hmmm let me sleep first...and see what happen tomorrow...zzzz

...everyone is important

...finally, after 17 days, I safely landed at KLIA airport around 6pm and Alor Setar airport at 8.50pm...what a joy to see my wife and kids are all waiting at the airport with their big smile...it was a long flight from London, about 12 hours...spent half of the time sleeping and probably snoring and another half reading book which I bought earlier at the KLIA airport on our route to New York and finish it by the time I landed back at KLIA...would like to share one funny thing that happened while we're waiting for our flight at the Heathrow airport...the flight was a little bit delayed and we're all smiling when we heard the announcement...'ladies and gentlemen, our flight will be delayed for about half an hour due to the late arrival of our cleaners, we apologize for any inconvenience caused'...ha3...pilots, stewards and passengers were all ready but cannot board the plane becos the clearners haven't finish their cleaning job...why? simple...they arrived late...it shows that even the lowest level of staff like the cleaners are important to the whole business chains...everyone shares equal responsibility to the whole process...