SIM

12th Jun 2011

If you have kids who are fond of music, one credible music center in the Klang Valley is SIM (Selangor Institute of Music). The center has branch located in Section 19 Petaling Jaya, Taman Tun as well as Ampang. More details:

http://www.simmusic.com/

Courses for all sorts of musical instruments are offered here, including piano, violin, guitar, drum etc. as well as the Kindermusik programme targeted at children age 0 to 7 (see my other post).

This center offers courses which are affordable with experienced teachers and friendly staffs.

Kindermusik

12th Jun 2011

A very good learning programme for introducing music to young child from the age of 0 to 7 is Kindermusik. There are a few centers in Klang Valley and the one in Section 19 Petaling Jaya, SIM (Selangor Institute of Music) is a credible center. The center has teachers with experience in conducting this programme. Our two kids graduated from SIM and I strongly recommend this programme to parents.

More details:

http://www.kindermusik.com/

http://www.kindermusik-malaysia.com/

http://www.simmusic.com/kindermusik-about.htm

PERMATA Pintar

12th Jun 2011

PERMATA Pintar is the national center for the identification and development of gifted and talented children in Malaysia. Launched back in 2009 by the Prime Minister’s wife, the programme is still in its infancy. More details:

http://www.permatapintar.edu.my/

As the committee member of NAGCM (see my other post on NAGCM), I have the honor of visiting this center recently, which is situated within UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), Bangi, during the 2 days Australia Malaysia Gifted Education Forum 2011 (see my other post).

My personal experience and take back from the site visit:

1.

Following are some photos taken for sharing:

1. The main building.

As there is too much information to share, I will slowly document down from time to time. Please continue to watch this space.

Gifted Education Forum 2011

12th Jun 2011

As the committee member of NAGCM (see my other post on NAGCM and I strongly encourage parents to join NAGCM as member), I have the honor of attending the first Australia Malaysia Gifted Education Forum 2011 held over 2 days at Cyberview Lodge Resort & Spa, Cyberjaya. The forum was very informative for parents whom care for their children’s education as well as very interesting. There were many Malaysia, Australia and US speakers from the education domain. The forum also ended with a half day site visit to PERMATA Pintar campus in UKM. PERMATA Pintar is the national center for the development of gifted and talented children in the country (see my other post on PERMATA Pintar). More details:

http://www.malaysia.highcommission.gov.au/klpr/Events_SIA.html

http://www.permatapintar.edu.my/

My personal experience and take back from the forum:

1. Beside the documented general characteristics of gifted children (see http://nagcmalaysia.wordpress.com and  http://www.permatapintar.edu.my/default.pintarcerdas.aspx), gifted children prefers competitive learning.

As there is too much information to share, I will slowly document down from time to time. Please continue to watch this space.

Innertalk

12th Jun 2011

If you believe in subconscious mind programming, Innertalk can be a good choice. There are a few titles suitable for young children including the following:

Using Both Halves Of The Brain

Genius Power

Creative Writing

Developing Compassion

I Can: Building A Child’s Esteem

Respect And Good Manners

The above are all our favorite ones.

The concept of subconscious mind programming is quite straight forward. The hidden positive messages embedded into the CDs are channeled into the right brain hemisphere during the subconscious state of the brain when the left brain hemisphere’s defense mechanism is not active as the left brain only hears background music from the CDs.

We have been using the above titles since many years ago and still constantly use them. In my opinion, I think they work, although I cannot prove it. If you are interested, my suggestion is to try out by starting with one or two titles. In Klang Valley, you can find these in most Popular book stores.

More details:

http://www.eldontaylor.com/

http://www.innertalk.com.my/

http://www.innertalk.com/

In my recent visit to the Australia-Malaysia Gifted Education Forum 2011, I had the opportunity to chat in person with Dr Louis Downs, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Counselor Education, California State University. I asked him whether he himself heard of and believe in subconscious mind programming. He said he doesn’t deny the effectiveness of this and believe they are credible. He said we can even make these CDs ourselves without buying one. Nevertheless, as professional, he will not promote or market the products himself.

MIQ

12th Jun 2011

MIQ, a good educational game for kids, mostly IQ related sets. You can find these in most Popular book stores. In my visit to the Australia-Malaysia Gifted Education Forum 2011 recently, there was a demo for participants to try out themselves the UKM1 test, which is the first screening test for entrance into the PERMATAPintar programme. I took the test myself and one set of the questions are quite similar to the logic in MIQ, not 100% similar, but close. They were primarily the pattern identification and matching ones.

One advice though, get one or two sets if you are interested as usually the sales person will try to convince you to buy a few sets, and they are not cheap.

More details on similar product:

http://www.brainet.com.my/new%20WEB%20concept/AMIQ/AMIQ-intro_eng.html