Solitude

I love my family but sometimes in the morning, after everyone leaves for school and work, I heave a sigh of relief.

I treasure whatever little time I have for me. I enjoy the time I can take to walk to the nearby shops to buy breakfast on Sundays. I never used to enjoy walking that much before, always parking at the nearest place to my destination but now I enjoy walking alone.

I enjoy having showers because it means I can be alone for a while but sometimes even that gets interrupted by people walking in and out asking me for things and talking to me.

I love the mornings when I am alone to enjoy my own company doing the things I love WITHOUT interruption.

I treasure my solitude. Do you? Do you enjoy your own company?

Exam Season And Exam Fever

The mid term tests are here again. Study, study, study. That includes kids AND mum.

My girl who is doing the KBSR syllabus has tests 4 times a year, my boy who is doing the KSSR syllabus has tests 2 times a year. I hate exam season and exam fever more than them.

I didn't think it would be this way. I used to smirk at the thought of mothers who feel more stressed up than their kids during exam season. Now, I am one of those mothers!

I feel a lot of pressure from my spouse. He expects the kids to do their best and to be their best and he expects me to teach them and to help bring the best out of them from the limited time we have. Of course he is not all talk. He helps out a lot. After a hard days work, he will teach the kids as well.

However, the bulk of the teaching and homework as well as project help has to come from me. We do not send the kids for any tuition class. We are a one income family so we do not have excess funds to send them to private school for their education. Therefore we have to rely on public school. So it is Chinese school for the kids in their primary years. We do not speak or read Chinese ourselves and I find it difficult to continue to learn and teach Chinese beyond Std 3 and Std 4. Not being able to help and support them is a minus point so we do not plan to have them continue their Chinese education in Secondary school. It is also too tough and we want them to broaden their horizons and improve in their other languages.

That leaves Kebangsaan school and how many good schools are there? Only a few and competition is fierce to get into them. Why do we want to join the competition? Because we are worried about uncommitted teachers and lack of discipline in some of the schools. Because we have been to a good school with very committed teachers with little disciplinary problems, no bullying or worse still, gangsterism. The bar of excellence has been set high for us in our current school, it would be harder to settle for less. Although we pay a small sum in the form of once or twice a year donation (certainly not anywhere near what one has to pay for a private school), we can see things moving, there is always some improvement in one area or another.

The spouse continually reminds me of this and the pressure to perform is always there. The pressure for mom to get the kids to perform. If the decision is left to me alone, I would probably just let the kids go to the nearest school there is and drop the pressure to perform but I am part of a team so the decision is not mine alone.

So now the exam season is here and I am gripped by the exam fever. I am tensed and stressed. I have become one of those mothers I once smirked at.

Trolley Bags Or Backpack?

When the kids first started schooling, we took some time to decide which types of bags (trolley bags or backpacks) to get them because we knew whichever bag we chose would be loaded with books. Finally we decided on trolley bags for both of them. Fortunately, they were on the ground floor for two years.

In the third year, they moved upstairs and continued to drag their trolley bag up and down the stairs because they preferred it that way. They didn't mind dragging the bags up and down the stairs as long as they could roll it when they were on the ground floor as it was a distance from the stairs to the school lobby. So, their bags went thump, thump, thump as they dragged it up and down the stairs. I don't know how they did it.

However, the books and workbooks kept on increasing and finally, they had to resort to carrying another hand carry bag, usually a recycle bag. Soon, that recycle bag was filled to the brim especially my girl's as she is one diligent kid who likes to have her books around her so she won't miss any homework. So, we got her a backpack and she ended up carrying a backpack AND a trolley bag. On days when she has activities like art, she would take out her recycle bag to put her art stuff. So she had her backpack, her trolley bag AND a recycle bag.

Recently we got them new backpacks and proper hand carry bags instead of the flimsy recycle bags. We didn't realize that the backpack was too big for my boy, so on the first day he carried it, it slipped off his shoulders and stayed strapped onto his waist! Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident. He only had to put up with some laughter from other children and the teachers around him because he looked so strange carrying a backpack that was strapped to his waist.

Now both of my kids carry two bags to school and both bags are just as heavy. Trolley Bags or Backpack? Heck, they need both!

What Is Digraf And Konsonan Berganding

So what is Digraf and Konsonan Berganding? Both are words that contain two consonants (not a e i o u which are vowels) side by side, one after the other, within the word.

Both are words with two consonants beside each other so how do you differentiate one from the other. How is Digraf different from Konsonan Berganding or Konsonan Bergabung? In fact there are some which do not differentiate the two but rather present them under the same heading adding to the confusion for student, parents including some teachers. Others differentiate them as follows:

There are only 5 consonant combinations for words classified as Digraf. They are: ng, ny, sy, kh and gh.

Examples of Digraf: bunga, nyamuk, syarat, khas, ghairah

Other consonant combinations give you Konsonan Berganding.

Examples of Konsonan Berganding include: stem, trak, aiskrim, drama and more.

Related Posts:

What Is Diftong And Vokal Berganding

More Digraf examples can be found here.

Digraf from Yap Choon Heong

Here is a further explanation about Diftong, Vokal Berganding, Digraf and Konsonan Berganding.

Diftong, digraf, vokal berganding, konsonan bergabung from Cpf Chong

What Is Diftong And Vokal Berganding

How do you teach your child something you do not understand yourself? Hmm.... you have to learn it of course.

My boy is in Std 3 and his Bahasa Malaysia syllabus include diftong, vokal berganding, digraf, konsonan berganding or bergabung or whatever those are. I didn't have to teach my girl, his older sister, that so that was fine.

I was first faced with this diftong and vokal berganding term the first time when my boy was in Std 1 or Std 2, I don't remember which year. I didn't understand it then. We just went through the books and memorised the words given that were supposed to be diftong or vokal berganding words. Naturally, when you memorize something without understanding, you forget, the next year and the next when you are faced with it again.

So, this year, I made an effort to "study" harder and finally we got it.

Both Diftong and Vokal Berganding are words that have the vowels "a e i o u" in them but how do you differentiate the two?

For example, the words "daun" and "wau" both have "au" (two vowels in them) so they are either diftong or vokal berganding. So which is which? Which one of the words is classified as diftong and which one vokal berganding?

The difference between the two comes in the form of pronunciation or the way you read the words. Words that have one syllable sound or satu sukukata when you read, are diftong and words with two syllable or dua sukukata are vokal berganding. So, do you know which is diftong and which is vokal berganding? Tell me in the comments. Or are you more confused now?

Try other words: tuan, koi, buah, tupai, gua, pulau, air, and more. Do you know which words are diftong and which words vokal berganding? Scroll down for the answer.

.... and I thought KSSR was easier....

The study of phonics is supposed to help children read but I think I have got it backwards instead. I read so that I can identify the phonics.

Here's more Diftong and Vokal Berganding Practise for the kids, the moms and the educators who are all a confused lot.

Perkataan diftong dan vokal berganding from Ooi Cad Li

Answer to above question: koi, tupai and pulau are Diftong. The others are Vokal Berganding. Did you guess correctly?

Related Post:

What Is Digraf And Konsonan Berganding