a lot of what you say says a lot about how you want to be perceived

an adult iranian student proudly informed me that she is unable to ear rice with her hand.  while this fact saddened me, she viewed this as a good thing.  it was her way of  telling me that she was from a well-off family.

unfortunately, i don't share that view.  i think you're culturally poor if you're no longer able to do the things that others in your culture are able to do.

there is nothing to be proud of if you no longer are able to eat using your hand, sit on the floor comfortably, and do other things that is performed with ease by others in your culture.

while i would like to believe that i am westernized, i would like to believe that i am being open to accepting different ideas and ways of doing things while remaining true to who i really am.  i am proud of my culture.  it is who i am.

"why should i use my dictionary when i have you?"

a few days ago, in a reading task, a student asked me for the meaning of a word that he didn't know.

in the quest of trying to make him an independent learner, i suggested that he use his dictionary.  he said to me that he didn't like using his dictionary and why should he use a dictionary when he had a teacher to ask?

it's not easy trying to make an arab student an independent learner.  their culture is as such that they prefer being told than seeking for the answers for themselves.  seeking for answers seem to not be a challenge that arab students embrace.

on learning

before one can learn, one must acknowledge that one does not know before one can proceed to the next stage of looking for the answers. It is the process of seeking for answers that constitutes learning and not the answers in themselves.

there are many people out there who are in learning institutions but who really don't know what it takes to lear

the frame of mind of "I know" hinders one from progressing with the learning process.

learning also requires one to be humble and not to be defensive. it's difficult to learn when you have your guard up.

in this day and age, it is about making technology work for you. it is not about knowing everything but about knowing where to get the information when you need it.

many are still of the frame of mind that what they need to know will be taught to them by their teacher. they understand not that by doing so, they are limiting themselves.

question is --- why limit yourself to just one teacher when you can have so many other teachers out there?

learning in the age of the information technology is liberating but it only liberates those who want to be liberated.

many people think that they want to have an education but are they prepared to make what is available to them so that they can not only acquire knowledge but also contribute towards the bigger body of knowledge? now that is the real question.

do these "students" really know what it really means to be learners?

on being "right" all the time

why do some people seem very adamant about being right when they are clearly wrong?

why do some people pride themselves in knowing everything when they clearly don't?

why do some people not know how to accommodate others?

in the end, being "right" is not really all that important is it?

i think, in the bigger picture, it's about knowing how to play in the sandbox and knowing how to accommodate others along the way that really matters.

relections

many blog for fame. strangely enough though, i blog to remain anonymous.

how is that so, i hear you wonder... it doesn't really matter to me that i don't have a following. 

this is more of my space, written for me and in my time.

it is a place for me to reflect and ponder and put things out there in writing.

to see my thoughts in writing while being aware that i also need to be politically correct at the same time... that's what this is all about...

Cleo by Helen Brown

I'm currently reading Cleo by Helen Brown. It's about a kitten who changes the lives of the family members who adopts her.Certainly a must read for cat people :)

A Friend of the Family by Lisa Jewell

I finished reading this book on Saturday.

claiming to know stuff when one clearly doesn't

why do some people not want to admit that they may not know everything and that that is not the end of the world???

why are some people not open to the fact that they may not know everything??? 

why do some people want to argue on things that are so clear cut???

fancy claiming that you "grew up in Australia" and still claim that glasses and trousers are singular nouns and thus sentences should sound like this ...."My glasses was broken" (instead of "My glasses were broken" and "That trousers" (instead of "Those glasses").

So much for "growing up in Australia", huh?