More about Flash Cards

Today, I’m going to blog about this boring subject again – Flash Cards. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you’ll notice that I talk a lot on flash cards. In fact, if you are with Shichida Method (SM), you know that we can’t escape from flash cards. I believe that it works somehow, and that’s why I’m putting so much effort in it.

Purposes of Flash Cards
If you are wondering what the purpose of practicing flash cards is, let me give you a good introduction about it. Flashing the cards in a high speed activates our child’s right brain and empowers their memory ability. When we flash the picture cards, we read out the words at the same time. While the pictures are processed by the right brain, the left brain picks up the language. Both sides of the brain are connected during the process. In addition, flash cards can also increase our child’s vocabulary.

Topics for Flash Cards
I focus on the basic concepts; i.e. colours, shapes, sizes, numbers, orders, time etc. Understanding these basic concepts is the most important milestone for a one year-old. In addition, I also make picture cards with the same theme or topics, i.e. types of flowers, occupations, food, fruits, things you’ll see in town, Disney characters etc.

Pointers
I want to share with you four important pointers when we are practicing flash cards with our child. [taken from Shichida Method Parent Education Course Manual]
1. Do not repeat the same set of cards at a time.
2. Start with 100 cards in the first month, then to an average of 250, and then slowly move forward to 1000.
3. Have a title for each set of cards.
4. Set the cards higher than the child’s eye level.

DIY Flash Cards
I’ve made lots of them. In fact, it’s very easy, not to mention the cost savings if we make the cards ourselves. We can customize the pictures, themes and topics the way we want.

Sharing of Flash Cards
Yes! E-mail me! I’m open to sharing of flash cards and resources. Oh, I’m thinking of sharing my flash cards in Power Point format with you. I need a web hosting site for me to upload these files. Let me think of how to do this.

Read:
DIY Flash Card #3: Sesame Street Characters
DIY Flash Cards – It is so easy!

Okay, after a long post, let’s relax your eyes with pictures of cute Edison...

--Yippee! Christmas coming! Can you see the snow? =)

Shichida Kindergarten

I received a brochure from Shichida Method last weekend. It says ‘Shichida Kindergarten - a mini university at pre-school level.’ As I read on, the brochure has a very impressive introduction of the Shichida Kindergarten which will be opening in January next year.

I was captivated by their syllabus. Their concept is just the same as university. Instead of the commonly used ‘terms’ and ‘subjects’ in ordinary kindergartens, Shichida Kindergarten uses foundation modules and elective modules. Their syllabus encompasses a wide range of learning, from literary skills, creativity, whole brain learning, convincing speech and lots more. You will be amazed by the level of activities that they introduce to the students.

Good things always come with a ‘price’. This kindergarten is charging a whooping fee of $800 a month, for a mere 3 hours class per day. Currently, I’m paying $800 every 3 months for the Shichida enrichment class that Edison is attending. To me, this is already considered as expensive. I still feel a little ‘heart-pain’ when I sign my credit card bill every 3 months for $800. So, I cannot imagine myself paying $800 every month for this kindergarten!

A typical PAP Community Foundation (PCF) kindergarten charges about $100 a month for a half-day programme. School fees for private kindergartens, however, vary from several hundreds to over one thousand per month for their full-day programmes. Despite the hefty fees, many parents still choose to send their children to private kindergartens.

So, can I conclude that Singaporeans are rich?

Perhaps the role of kindergarten has changed tremendously over the years. Parents are more focused on pre-school education to build up a strong foundation for their children. It’s not just learning A, B and C, but we want an effective education that will nurture our children and challenge them intellectually, emotionally, physically and socially. Better trained teachers, creative and stimulating atmosphere, enriching syllabus and smaller size classes are the factors that contributes to the hefty fees.

Somehow I wonder. My mother never taught me flash cards. I studied in super ordinary neighborhood schools. I’ve never engaged any private tutors. But I can still make it to the university. So, I’m sure my little Edison can do the same too.

But again, time has changed. Nowadays, children are more advanced than their older generations. At a tender age of 1 year old, they are already learning ABC and counting. Their education journey and future career path will be much more challenging.

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However, despite me thinking that these private kindergartens are ridiculously overpriced, I am still considering to enroll my little Edison with a private kindergarten. Hehehe! It’s difficult not to be ‘kiasu’ living in Singapore. After all, I’m not going to have ten children. I’m only planning to have two. So, I’m going to give them the best that I can afford.

If you are interested in Shichida Kindergarten, they are having an open house this weekend at their Tanjung Pagar branch. Don’t miss this opportunity if you are keen.

Home Practice Again!

One week ago, I have restarted the daily home practice session with Edison. After the term break in end Sept, I was kinda lazy and I didn’t put much efforts to do home practice with him. So, I have to get back on track very quickly. Time waits for no one!

Every night after we reach home, I will take out 7 to 8 sets of flash cards for our practice. I try to keep the session short (about 10-15 mins) in order to capture his attention. If I’m lucky that night, I can flash up to 10 sets of cards (before he falls asleep!).

Edison will stand in his playpen, staring at me and the cards when I flashed them. Of course, sometimes, he will move around and doesn’t pay much attention. What I’ll do is to stop for a while, talk to him and get him to focus on the cards again.

This boy can be a little tricky at times. When he is lazy, he will pretend that he is sleepy. He will rub his eyes and hide his face with his pillow. After I keep all the flash cards, he will stand up again, make a little noise and want to go out to play again. Sigh, he drives me nuts sometimes.

Over the weekend, I can lengthen the home practice session by showing him the music slideshows, which he loves so much. I blogged about it last month on how to make a music slideshow using Microsoft PowerPoint. Now, I would like to share with you my first creation – Counting By Tens – Edison simply loves it! Ok, here’s the link for your download.

http://h1.ripway.com/newbb77/Counting%20by%20Tens%20(Rev1).ppt

It’s really not easy to do all these by yourself; especially for working mothers who are struggling with work and family, plus coaching the kids after work. If you have a supportive husband who can help you with this, please give him a BIG warm hug now.

Me? Well, I’m practically a do-it-all mother. No matter how tough it is, I still enjoy doing it. Simply because I love my son so much! I can be a Super Mum! Jia You! Jia You!

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Possibly Related Post:
Linking Music to Flashcard Slideshow

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Stay-At-Home Sunday

14 Sept 08 – It was a stay-at-home Sunday for me. I continued my efforts to make flash cards for little Edison. With the help from my helper, we have completed our Action Cards – two sets with 18 cards per set.

The action flash cards are pretty interesting. I downloaded them from ESL Flashcards. From this website, you can download the flash cards in three different sizes. For A5 size blank flash cards, you should download the medium size flash cards from this website.

These are our Action Cards.

In addition, I’ve started another attempt to make a musical slideshows with PowerPoint. I've selected a new song “Opposite Land” that we learnt in the Shichida class last week. All the slides have been prepared, and I’m in the midst of ‘tuning’ and ‘timing’ the slides. I like this song a lot though Edison doesn’t seem to like it so much. It teaches the opposite words that the child can learn easily from the song.

Preview of my “Opposite Land” Slideshow:

If you are wondering where I get the songs for my slideshows, let me share with you. The songs are taken from the Sing Together! You + Me = Fun Music CD, available at the Tensai Showroom at Shichida Method. Except for the foreign language songs, you can find most of the English songs taught in the Shichida class in this CD.

Home Practise for a One Year Old

This is what I've planned for Edison and I hope that I can get it fully implemented when he turns ONE next month.

Purpose of home practice: Strengthen the weekly input & ensure both sides of the brain are well connected.
Duration per session: 15 mins
Min requirement: One session per day

# Always cultivate a good and happy mood emotionally before home practise. #

1. Energy ball exercise (Relaxation)
2. Breathing exercise
3. Praise his good points
4. ESP games
5. Flash cards
6. Eye training
7. Photo Memory
8. Music – Counting and ABC
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9. Speed Reading
10. Linking Memory
11. Flash cards - Dot Programme
** Will introduce #9-#11 when Edison is 18 months **
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Here's a brief description of each activity:

Energy Ball Exercise
- Rub their hands, gather the energy, raise the energy up and make a big ball to wash themselves.
- Repeat with rubbing their hands, gather the energy, compress them into a small ball and swallow the energy into their tummy. Tell them the energy is with them now & they feel great.
- Give them a big hug after this exercise!

Breathing Exercise
- Breathe in and out for 3 times.
- For younger babies, you can make a little ‘gadget’ for them to blow. Example: a small piece of paper, colored feather etc.
- For older babies, you can use a whistle.
- This is for them to relax before the start of the session.

Praise their good points
- Praise them for something that they did well on that day

ESP Games (or telepathy games)
- Ask them to guess what is hiding in a bag, behind a card etc.
OR
- Take two cards – one with a picture and one blank card. Put the cards face down & shuffle them. Ask them to guess which card has a picture.
- Tell them this: “You have a special brain. Use your special brain to guess which card has the picture.”
- You can also use UNO cards for them to guess the numbers or colours.

Flash Cards
- I will start with flash card slideshows to capture his attention, followed by normal flash cards.
- Start with 100 cards in the first months, to an average of 250 cards, then to 1000 cards.
- Note: Do not repeat the same set twice in the same session!
- Speed: average 0.5 second per card, ideal 0.3 second per card

Eye Training
- This is important to relax their eye muscles after looking at so many flash cards!
- Helps to improve attention span and visualization skills too.
- You can use a picture card with a small bell attached behind the card or an object like finger puppets. Move the card/object in zig-zag motion in 3 directions: left to right, up down and butterfly shape.
- You can also make a slideshow, with a ball moving down in zig-zag direction. It looks something like this:


Photo Memory
- You will need two identical pictures.
- Show them one of the pictures. Ask them to take picture of it. Repeat for 2 or 3 times (2-3 seconds each time).
- Now, show them both pictures and ask them which picture they saw just now.
- For young babies, you have to look at their eyes to see which picture they are looking at.
- Example:



Music (ABC and counting)
- Play the ABC music, sing along with him and point to the letters as we sing.
- Play the counting music and sing along with him. If you have an abacus, you can use it do some counting with him.

At the end of the session, don’t forget to give your child a hug! Sounds interesting, isn't it? Start yours today! :)

I'm sure there will be a lot of obstacles to start the home practise especially when they are still young and attention span is very short. Let's see how are going to tackle the issues.

Electronic Flash Cards

I stumbled upon this website that features a very innovative method of doing flash cards electronically. The physical flash cards can be difficult to store due to their sizes and if the paper quality is not good, they may turn yellowish over time. Electronic flash cards, on the other hand, can be very interesting for the children and easier to maintain.

BrillKids has developed Little Reader software that allows us to teach the young children in a fun and interactive way. I have downloaded the beta version for trial. The first moment I demonstated the Little Reader to Edison, he was amazed! He focused on every slides and started making responses as he was looking at it. These 2 days, he started making roaring sounds (like a tiger!) which I believed he learnt from the reader.

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In addition to the software, you can download flash card slideshows that are PowerPoint files that you can playback on your computer. The slideshows contain pictures, embedded pronunciation files as well as sound effects that make learning a fun and enjoyable part of everyday.

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Download your free flash card slideshows here -->

http://www.brillbaby.com/download/slideshows.php

Home Practice using Flash Cards

For the past few nights, I have started home practice with Edison using the flash cards that I bought at Shichida. The first box that I opened was My Fave Genius Cards. I will limit one session to ten minutes this week. At each session, I will increase the number of cards by ten.

I laughed hysterically when I saw Edison’s blur look as he focused on the cards… He must wondering why Mummy keep showing him the cards every night.. What are these cards about? Nothing interesting though.. He chuckled and crawl away… Oh, my boy!

WHY DO WE USE FLASH CARDS?
This is one of the effective ways to teach babies and young children. They have unique ability to learn things effortlessly. We should help them to harness their amazing learning capability so that they can easily acquire skills that will enable them to excel in the future.

Child-brain specialists, Glenn Doman and Prof Makoto Shichida, both developed this method of teaching using flash cards.

Ideally, the cards should be A5 size, bearing pictures, words or numbers. This can be physical cards or virtual cards stored in computer and shown as a slide presentation.

Flash cards presentation is good at capturing children’s attention. By doing this religiously, the children’s knowledge and understanding may increase rapidly. However, pls bear in mind that this activity should be carried out when the children is happy and in a relaxed frame of mind.

HOW FAST SHOULD WE FLASH?
Shichida Method states that we should flash the cards as rapidly as possible, ideally 0.5 sec to 1 sec per card! By doing so, the information will be absorbed unconsciously by the right brain. For children below the age of 3, it is very easy for the brain to apprehend information in this way.

READING ALOUD
Another technique is simply reading aloud a word to the children as we flash the cards. We will read aloud a word, followed by a word card or picture card representing the meaning of the word. The advantage here is it teaches children the meaning of words, as well as pronunciations.

I will be attending a home practice session this Thursday, organised by the senior parents from Shichida. They will teach the new parents on the effective ways to conduct home practices.

I will definitely share some tips with you. So, pls check my blog again next week! :)

Flash Cards

I did the craziest thing in my life last Saturday. I can't believe it, BUT I've bought almost $300 worth of flash cards from the Tensai Showroom at Shichida Method! A total of 7 sets, with different titles, and these are the cards...



Edison seems to be a little excited with these boxes and couldn't stop his hands from them..



I realised that it takes a lot of efforts to make him a GENIUS! Its NOT about paying $780 every term and attending the 1-hour class every week. Its ABOUT the daily home practices, believing in the Shichida Method and never give up! I have to attend a seminar on home practice next week in order to learn how to carry out home practices effectively.

I attended a 3-hour long Parent Education Course last week. Needless to say, I'm amazed by the development of the Shichida students. These kids are so smart! I started to understand the concepts of the Shichida Method and started believing in it. I am inspired to be a GOOD MOTHER.

Most important, from Shichida's point of view, the LOVE makes the MIND works and the MIND makes the BRAIN works. So, this is the formula!

Our first Shichida class

~~ Wednesday 9 July 08 ~~

Edison attended his first Shichida class last Saturday at HDB Hub Toa Payoh. His class starts from 4:15pm to 5:30pm (Duration: 1 hr 15 min).

As this was our first lesson, we were given a welcome kit that contains booklets about Shichida Method, a child observation book and a t-shirt (printed with a big GENIUS word on it!)

The class has 6 students, all aged between 9 - 12 months old, with 3 boys and 3 girls. The ratio is really good! Our Sensei (in Japanese, means teacher) is Ms Eunice.

Many of us may wonder what are actually taught in the class, especially when the students are still so young.

5 mins: Welcome routine ~ sing the welcome song in Japanese
55 mins: The Shichida Method lesson
15 mins: Child activity, communication between Sensei and parents, Q&A etc.

During the 55 mins, there are many activities being carried out. Some of them that I can still remember:
1. Energy Ball as warm up
2. Sensory Games to sharpen the innate senses
- Sensei used a picture of a frog (with bells attached to it). She moved the frog in 3 directions; zig-zag from left to right, up and down, and in a butterfly shape.
3. Image Play to improve their memory and strengthen visualization skill
- Sensei showed a series of picture in order for 3 times. After which, she asked the child to pick a card that shows the pictures in the correct order.
4. Music Play to develop good sense of pitch and rhythm
- Sensei played music in different languages; English, Malay and Japanese.
5. Memory Play
- Sensei showed a picture with Pooh and Tiger for 3 times. Then, she took out a paper with the same background but without the Pooh and Tiger. She asked the child to stick the Pooh and Tiger to the right location as seen in the first picture.
6. Flash Cards
- Sensei flashed the picture cards as quickly as she can, and she read out loud. She used as many as 100+ cards with different topics.
7. Speed Reading
- Sensei showed a short story book to the child. She read out the story in 3 speeds; slow, normal and fast. The parent will guide the child and use their finger to point at the words as the Sensei read.

Above activities are for right brain development. The class also focus on the left brain activity; learning phonics and reading ABC for example. All areas are well-covered during the 1 hour lesson.

Edison enjoyed himself with most of the acitivities, except the flash cards where he showed very little interest. The funniest thing is, towards the end of the class, two kids fell asleep! The remaining 4 kids started to make noise and they all have pacifier in their mouth! I think these kids need more time to get used to the class routine, to enjoy themselves in the class and get more exposure with the activities.

Well, this is the update on our first lesson. Stay tuned! We will update more as we progress.

Gonna start my Shichida Class in July

Mum & Dad have enrolled me for The Shichida Method - the famous right-brain education school in Singapore. I will start schooling in July.

This school is famous for its ability to stimulate and develop the right brain by raising it to a higher level of potential. Each lesson provides different game-like activities to stimulate various parts of the brain with the focus to pull out the innate abilities in a natural state of mind.

This unique program, however, costs a bomb to Mum & Dad. The program fee is as follow:

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Term Fee: $780 (weekend)
Annual Registration Fee: $50
Refundable Deposit: $300
Parent Education Course (PEC) Fee: $170 (1 parent) / $290 (2 parents)

Despite the high cost, Mum & Dad think that its a good opportunity to maximize my potentials.

More updates after my first lesson on 2 July. Stay tuned! :)