Month: October 2018

“My results are not as good since schooling days; I am worried that if I joined Yelaoshr as a teacher I may lead children down the wrong path….” Did you ever have such concerns? Then you would have to listen to Penny’s story.

Penny is the joint partner of Seremban’s Yelaoshr and she has taught in Alam Damai and Semenyih branches. Prior to joining Yelaoshr, she had an immense interest towards bakery and worked in the baking industry for over three years.

“During my secondary school years, my results were not remarkable. I felt that I was interested in arts and craft and technical skills, hence I made my decision to become a baker in the future.” – Penny

Upon completing her SPM, Penny worked for a year to earn some savings and then enrolled in The Chef Academy’s Professional Bakery Course to have professional qualifications in this sector. Once she obtained her certificate, Penny devoted herself to the bakery business. In the beginning, she learnt many things and gained loads of experience and skills from a Japanese bakery master. With more than three years of honing and refining of skills enabled her to master the art of all kinds of bread and cakes.

An accident with her right hand left her injured leaving her unable to step into the bakery industry again.

“The doctor advised me to stop my work so that I would not aggravate my injury.” – Penny

Feeling lost and confused, Penny had to face the harsh reality of unemployment because her only qualification can never bring her any income again.

Some moments later, Penny’s brother saw a recruitment advertisement by Yelaoshr on the internet. He knew that Penny loves children thus encouraging her to apply. Penny’s first thoughts were that her results were not good enough and she would not want to lead children astray. Her brother encouraged her to just give it a try and not to stop in her tracks before she even started.

“When I went to apply for a job, the interviewer did not ask me about my educational background but is more focused on if a teacher has love and a diligent heart to learn. This made me felt relieved.” – Penny

Penny started off training at a learning centre near Alam Damai and also worked at the Semenyih branch sometime later. After five years of work, Penny became a partner of the Yelaoshr franchise and opened a Yelaoshr Learning Centre in Seremban. She began to handle the administrative work at the centre and sometimes even meet up with parents to offer consultation services.

“Some people may feel that children are very naughty and mischievous, but to me, they are like angels. I felt that it’s worth it even though it is tiring while teaching them.” – Penny

Identifying children’s unique talent – and light them up

Through the teaching process, Penny once taught a primary 6 dyslexic student. The one thing that both Penny and the student have in common is that they did not really excel in studies but have other talents – making origamis and assembling models.

“The foundation of this student is rather weak, hence he only attends classes of the primary 1 level at Yelaoshr just to enable him to recognise more words and to strengthen his foundation.” – Penny

Penny noted that when this student started coming for classes, he was always in a frightened state and did not want to mix with anyone else.

“He comes to the centre five days per week. At first, he was always quietly doing his homework and does not talk at all.” – Penny

Penny then decided to let go of her status as a teacher and chat with him freely as a child (This primary 6 boy is already taller than Penny). Because he was always in a situation where he felt pressurised in school, by coming to Yelaoshr we hope to give him a break.

Penny realised that actually, his studies are not as bad as she thinks. It is just that when he encounters words that are more difficult he tends to resist learning.

“At moments like this, we would sometimes let him rest and play some other activities he likes.” – Penny

While resting and playing, Penny realised his interest and talent in origami and model assembling and these are the hobbies that are channels of his relaxation. We tried to unintentionally show him flash cards while he is playing to let him learn in a less stressful environment whereas not just by sitting quietly in front of a teacher to learn in class.

“Sometimes he would tell us teachers that he is useless and I would encourage him by saying: Look, you can make origamis and assemble Lego blocks very well, some of them we teachers can’t even do it; you are excellent!” – Penny

Half a year later during Teacher’s Day, this student suddenly said he wanted to gift Penny – “I want to gift you my results.” Penny revealed that before studying at Yelaoshr, he failed all his subjects; but today, he passed many of his subjects, even with a C in mathematics. This shocked Penny, and she felt comforted.

Penny wondered in thoughts, “Every child can be taught well, even dyslexic children are not excluded. As long as the right methods are used, children still can have the ability to absorb new information.”

Besides noticing the children’s improvement in studies, their confidence is boosted even in the smallest things in everyday life. Looking back five years at her lost self, today she can participate in the administrative work of the centre, communicate with confidence with parents and teach the children. This joy in her growth is priceless.

“Through all these years, I think that it does not necessarily require a person with higher education level to do something you love. There are a lot of things which requires us to start from zero and learn one step at a time. With that, when faced with challenges, even if you are afraid or that you do not know how, you have to grasp the opportunity to try. You will not succeed if you do not try.” – Penny

What if I tell you that my ideal education system is a teaching method that is totally different from the existing educational system? Will you be willing to give it a listen? Will you be able to accept it? Come and listen, there’s no harm to it. Take it as that you are listening to me telling you my dreams and aspirations.

It is a children-centred education system.

The educational system that we are familiar with is a teacher-centred system. Teachers will get to decide what subjects a child needs to study and how many chapters to read. The textbooks outline sets that each year there will be 10 chapters. Within a year, whether students are smart or less intellectual, they all need to finish learning these 10 chapters. We would need to ask now, if some students are unable to catch up throughout the learning process, or that some subjects are not fully understood, what will the results be? The child brings in doubts that were not answered in time and move on to the next level and study subjects will increasing difficulty, accumulating more of the “I don’t understand”.

Yet in this children-centred education system, there will be none of these rigid frames. What a child learns will depend on his/her learning capability. If a child is able to learn rapidly, he/she will be able to cover 12-13 chapters in a year; for a child who is slow at learning, he/she may only be able to understand 3 chapters in a year. The core value is: children truly understand what they have learnt. In reality, USA and New Zealand are countries that are starting to implement this kind of education system in schools. The course outline is arranged according to the capability of a child. For example, an 8-year old child takes a proficiency test before the school year starts and he can complete mathematics of a 12-year old level but can only understand English of a 6-year old. When he studies in school, he will attend the 12-year old mathematics class and the 6-year old English lessons thus learning together with children of different ages.

Let’s zoom in a little; in fact, isn’t it true that we can see there are foreign language learning centres also followed this system to allocate students to different classes? From these, we can observe that this educational system is workable.

Why is there the appearance of such an education system? First and foremost, we need to think about the initial purpose of learning.

Learning is a process for us to grasp new knowledge and skills. If I have yet to understand the basics and because of my growing age requires me to climb up to classes with increasing difficulty, is it still considered learning? The only way is to follow our children’s footsteps, guiding and teaching them one step at a time which shows the true meaning of learning and to allow children to develop their potential. YelaoShr is founded on this “to build a strong foundation in learning” concept and kick-started with trilingual literacy classes to commence from the most basic parts. Because we know that with enough reading and recognising more words can at least decrease half of the problems faced in studies.

Moving forward, we will talk about this rigid frame that parents set on children.

I remember when I established YelaoShr 13 years ago, I arranged for a weaker 8-year old child in Bahasa Malaysia to start with the basics of suku kata. I have parents hesitantly asked, “Is this really okay?” Why not? Since his fundamentals are weak, then we should work on getting his fundamentals right, only can he progress to higher levels. It is easy to understand this concept but at that moment, we are all held back by the rigid frame of the norm.

I would like to share the education methods I arranged for the children. In the 6 years of primary school, I would let the child excel in the Chinese language whereas the remaining subjects he is only required to pass and hand in the homework given during primary 1. Throughout the one year, his Chinese would have improved to the level of a primary 2 or 3, Chinese classes in the future would allow the child to have full confidence. Next, in primary 2, I would let him do his best in Bahasa Malaysia. The list goes on and on. Parents nowadays are very anxious, hoping that their children will do exceptionally well in all subjects, causing them to send their children for tuition for every subject. At the end, when all subjects are not handled well, the children are stressed, and the parents would feel the same. Based on what I have shared earlier, even if children are not as good in some subjects, parents are not to worry because you will know that everything is in control and naturally you can be relieved of the worries in your heart.

Honestly, a children-centred education system is more suitable for the world. The education system now fixes everyone under the same standards, causing people to be unable to unleash their potential. Even after graduation and stepping into the workforce, there is also a fixed system to follow. This method is perhaps very useful during the industrial revolution of the past as authorities want the people to just follow instructions, to not think and to work diligently. The world is changing and revolving, and everyone has the power to make their own decisions and should be entitled to their own thoughts. If this old people-oriented education system implemented from the top to the bottom, I believe the future world will be a better place because everyone is doing something they love.

In this aspect, YelaoShr is taking one step at a time to hope to influence the teachers and parents around slowly. We believe this is possible. Let us return this opportunity for children to be themselves.

 We having a special offer RM98 (4 lessons. Usual price is RM290) for our one-to-one Mandarin, Malay and English programmes as well as abacus mental arithmetic so that your child can experience the fun and unique learning at YelaoShr® Creative Learning Centre. This offer is valid at all 59 centres nationwide.

More info: https://teacheryap.com/voucher/

Another YelaoShr Learning Centre is opening soon! This time we are bringing good news to Kuching, East Malaysia and classes will commence starting August!

Doris, the director of Kuching’s YelaoShr, was born here, raised here and decided to build her business near her home. She had experience as an auditor for six years and an accountant for a year, and numbers are a part of her everyday life. Through the many years of work, Doris also has children of her own, and started to realise the importance of early childhood education which is totally a new world.

“When my child is 3-4 years old, I felt that I should ensure that his foundation in language is built strong, hence I began searching online for relevant courses. It is at this moment I found YelaoShr, browsing through the information made me wanted to send my child there for classes. I noticed that they offer an opportunity to join ventures and started to think further and thought of the possibilities of entrepreneurship.” – Doris

By the end of last year, Doris handed in her online application form to join venture in YelaoShr. As she received a reply, she had to fly over to West Malaysia to undergo a series of training. Doris did not think too much about it and agreed even though it was a big and important decision.

“It was because I saw some teaching videos on the YelaoShr social media platform, and the children really improved in such a short span of time. This just further strengthens my trust in YelaoShr. After training participation and being an assistant teacher, I was even more convinced that YelaoShr’s teaching methods were effective.” – Doris

Doris believes that children of this generation are very smart and bright. Hence there are no unteachable children, but it all likes in the key of creative learning to induce the interest in learning. This is where YelaoShr excel, and this is YelaoShr’s strength.

In the business world where numbers are everywhere, press on the calculator; calculate the accounts and you can clearly see the answers and results. However, in the education sector, even if one has a set of teaching techniques, there will still be times some children are not suitable for it and teaching requires individualisation. To Doris, even though it is a huge
change in the working environment, but she did not quit because of this. Instead, she come to love her new job, because she enjoys seeing children grow and improve through the process of learning at YelaoShr.

“In addition to improvising, this line of work needs a lot of love and patience. While training, the tutors fully display this aspect.” – Doris

Doris realises children born in the digital era did not recognise enough words, causing them to lack in understanding while reading books.

 We having a special offer RM98 (4 lessons. Usual price is RM290) for our one-to-one Mandarin, Malay and English programmes as well as abacus mental arithmetic so that your child can experience the fun and unique learning at YelaoShr® Creative Learning Centre. This offer is valid at all 59 centres nationwide.

More info: https://teacheryap.com/voucher/

In the Genting World Lion Dance Championship this year, the Pei De Secondary School Lion Dance Club California, USA was awarded the title of “Western Lion King”. This school was also the school my three children attended, and it was an immense honour.

The Genting World Lion Dance Championship would award both titles “Eastern Lion King” and “Western Lion King” and also the final champion where the east and west meet to battle for the “Genting World Lion King”. Though both the eastern and western teams compete according to the country they represent but the western team are also filled with Chinese ethnic participants. This time the Pei De Secondary School Lion Dance Club California, USA comprised of two Americans, a Singaporean, a Taiwanese, a Chinese and three Malaysians, and for the first time in this competition the Americans are criticising the qualifications of the “Western Lion King” award.

This lion dance team saw the stage with the appearance of Caucasian children and he is only 16 years old. The results that they obtained in the competition excelled other western professional lion dance teams (USA, Australia, France etc.). Their performance filled with youthful energy while maintaining innocence displayed the spirit of “the young are fearless” which made me felt very touched.

Establishing YelaoShr 10 over years, I ultimately believe that each child has limitless potential. There are no unteachable children. As long as the right learning methods are discovered, a child can be stimulated to success. These children gave in their all while other children are having fun in their summer holidays. They practised hard for those tricky, difficult and high-risk lion dance actions. Pile jumping has its risks; at the beginning of the championship, three groups were unable to participate as some of their team members got injured while practice and six groups of athletes were injured while pile jumping in the competition. One of the Taiwanese athletes was even hurt badly! Nevertheless, overcoming their psychological barriers fearlessly and boldly challenging themselves with perseverance, they are finally able to taste the sweetness of success.

This rare opportunity and experience will be something they enjoy for the rest of their lives. Experiences as such are not obtained from textbooks. To step out of the school and participate in co-curricular activities can open up children’s horizons, and leave a lasting surprise in their lives.

Congratulations to the Pei De Secondary School Lion Dance Club California, USA! You have inspired millions of young souls; displaying your most passionate and most inspirational spirit! Well done!

 We having a special offer RM98 (4 lessons. Usual price is RM290) for our one-to-one Mandarin, Malay and English programmes as well as abacus mental arithmetic so that your child can experience the fun and unique learning at YelaoShr® Creative Learning Centre. This offer is valid at all 59 centres nationwide.

More info: https://teacheryap.com/voucher/

15th of July, a YelaoShr Learning Centre opened its doors in Bukit Raja, Klang Valley. What’s worth noting is that the entrepreneur, Peggy only joined YelaoShr and accepted training to become an educator on the 1st of June. YelaoShr implements a strict reviewing process towards teachers and prospect partners alike. To open up a centre usually take approximately 6 months to a year’s time of preparation. In such a short time span of one month, how did Peggy achieve this success?

“Prior to joining YelaoShr, I was already in the education industry for 10 years.” – Peggy presents a critical factor in her review. With such experience in the education sector, this enabled Peggy to be able to pick up tips and tricks easily while undergoing training.

Peggy was originally a computer teacher, facing a bottleneck situation in her job after 10 years and she could not find a breakthrough. “I chatted with a friend who works at YelaoShr dealing with the development of new markets, he introduced me to YelaoShr.” – Peggy

Peggy heard about YelaoShr’s ventures and her entrepreneurship dreams were rekindled. After 6 months of leaving her job, she began to train at YelaoShr. Another reason that enabled her to quickly accept YelaoShr was the correspondence of teaching concepts, and that her teaching yields marvellous results.

“YelaoShr is different from other courses and classes. It provides a unique method to allow children to learn words and pronunciations rapidly.” – Peggy

During her period of internship, Peggy was attached to one of the centres. As she starts to implement these methods to teach the children, her confidence grew when the children benefit from her teaching.
“There are many children in the learning centre which do not recognise Chinese words, have different levels and abilities in learning. YelaoShr educates us to teach in accordance to the children’s talents, to individualise teaching techniques with children of different learning capabilities. The results of my internship – these methods really work!” – Peggy

While training, there was a message that left a deep impression on Peggy. “What we do with education is to spread love to everyone.” Besides individualised teaching, YelaoShr wants teachers to treat every student equally. No matter good or bad in studies, teachers are to educate with all their heart and strength.

Serving the community back at home

Peggy, who is from Klang Valley, established her YelaoShr Learning Centre at the place she grew up in. This is her way of giving back to the community. When asked if she wants to venture into the business, Peggy did not hesitate for a second and she hopes to help more children learn and know more words.
She expresses that children nowadays face electronic gadgets for long hours which lead to the lack of enthusiasm in books and reading and literacy is starting to become weak.

“YelaoShr focuses on teaching children to learn words and pronunciations; reading is a method I totally agree on. If literacy among children is increased, their confidence will increase too and in the process instilled a love for reading. In that way, children will naturally have improvements in their homework and exams.” – Peggy

Currently, the newly founded learning centre has an assistant teacher working with Peggy. Peggy feels blessed because YelaoShr is well-known. In addition to receiving great reviews, a lot of parents also know about YelaoShr’s concepts and trust in YelaoShr fully. She does not need to explain much as most parents are very clear with the methods used at YelaoShr. This saved quite a hassle to her who just started her own centre and she is very positive with the future prospects.

—
Teacher Yap: The establishment of the education sector requires a firm purpose. It is not a business waiting for customers to come in to buy and spend; it is a space to life influence lives.

 We having a special offer RM98 (4 lessons. Usual price is RM290) for our one-to-one Mandarin, Malay and English programmes as well as abacus mental arithmetic so that your child can experience the fun and unique learning at YelaoShr® Creative Learning Centre. This offer is valid at all 59 centres nationwide.

More info: https://teacheryap.com/voucher/