Month: October 2018

Fang Pei Yi, from Ipoh, has been teaching at the Setapak YelaoShr Learning Centre for the 3rd year and she is only 20 years old. If we calculate back, we get to estimate that she joined YelaoShr’s team of educators right after she graduated from her secondary school. Such a steadfast decision was made as she inspires to become a teacher since young.

“I love children. When I saw the information at YelaoShr’s Facebook page, I agree on the one-to-one teaching method because this can really help children to improve in their studies.” – Pei Yi

Pei Yi went on to the Taiping learning centre to apply for a job. Even though she passed the interview but she was arranged to undergo training and teaching at the Setapak learning centre due to having adequate staff force at Taiping. For Pei Yi, who had just graduated from secondary school, find it rather a hard situation to leave home and start a new life out of her comfort zone. Even so, she accepted the job and was willing to embark into the unknown future of teaching.

When she first arrived in the unfamiliar territories of Kuala Lumpur, there were times that were very lonely. Pei Yi is thankful to the centre’s person-in-charge, Alice for being caring towards her which enabled her to adapt easily in this different environment.

“Alice is nice to all the colleagues and I’m blessed to be able to meet such a great employer.” – Pei Yi
At Setapak, Pei Yi first went through training and became an assistant teacher for a week and subsequently upgrade to a teacher. Teaching for the first time in her life, Pei Yi began to realise that it was not as simple as she thought. Different circumstances will occur due to the fact that every student is one of a kind.

“When I first came here, the children are not familiar with me and did not really want to study. At this point of time, I was unable to teach and I could only find solutions one step at a time; to build a relationship with the children before anything is done.” – Pei Yi

Reminiscing about the past, there was an 11-year old boy that left a lasting impression on her. The boy was rather mischievous; he does not like to do his homework at school, nor does he sit still in the YelaoShr Learning Centre, running to other places and not wanting to learn and sometimes needed his mother to come and persuade with the teachers before he is willing to go back to his seat and attend classes. There was once, the boy did not want to study.

“At that moment I felt that was a failure. I was angry and sad and I could not contain my feelings and cried on my seat.” – Pei Yi

It is not sure if the boy felt guilty about it, or did he felt that Pei Yi truly cares about him but after that incident, he became more obedient, and start to cooperate with the teachers’ classes. In a few months, his heart is at the right place.

Children’s willingness to be taught is the best consolation for teachers

Entering Pei Yi’s 3rd year of teaching life at YelaoShr, there was not a moment of weariness towards her profession. However, there was more of an expectation to want to explore the endless possibilities that this job can bring.

“I hope that in the future, I would have the opportunity to work in the centre’s customer service position, and even open my own learning centre.” – Pei Yi

Pei Yi admits that she is a shy person and is one with few words. She understands that she needs to improve her communication skills so that she is competent for the position. Because of this, she would learn skills beyond the classroom from Alice to accumulate her experience and equip herself. This profession allows Pei Yi to be able to review herself from time to time and to have that opportunity to grow.

In addition, the other aspect that continuously motivates Pei Yi to persevere is the gratitude she gets from the parents.

“Some parents will be extremely happy that their child is accepted for enrolment after the interview as their children are either bad at studies, or have ADHD or a bad temper. Seeing their happiness, I was able to feel that satisfaction as we can help the children as well as their parents.” – Pei Yi
We hope that in the future, Pei Yi’s dreams of opening a centre of her own will come true.

—
Teacher Yap: For a young woman to leave her hometown, it is not easy. However, this courage and determination is the best influence on the children. We encourage our children to jump out of the comfort zone, to accept challenges with boldness, and this is the attitude we should have in our 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/

Stepping into the workforce, I believe that every career has its own mission and social responsibility in addition to earning a living. All fellow principals and teachers at YelaoShr learning centres are dedicated to the education service. What urges them to have unconditional love and motivation to devote themselves to the children? Let’s look at Samantha’s life story, perhaps we will get to understand a thing or two.

Samantha was the chief editor for a children’s magazine. Even though she earns a substantially generous income, she came facing a bottleneck situation and thus had the entrepreneurship seed planted in her head. Starting off a business does not work when you say so, and the thoughts were just stowed away in her heart. Samantha left her job and took up a part-time job doing what she loves – baking while searching for another opportunity. She saw a recruitment advertisement by YelaoShr and came looking for a career as an educator. Little did she know this was the key to her entrepreneurship dreams.

Mdm Yap, the founder of YelaoShr learning centres herself interviewed Samantha. Throughout the interview, Samantha got to know that YelaoShr offers a channel to joined partnerships, and the only aspect prospect partners needed was to go through training programs.

“I know that to open an education centre not only requires communication with the children but also to meet up with the parents. These were some of the responsibilities I was involved in while being the chief editor, and with that, I believe I could do it.” – Samantha

From then onwards, Samantha went to teach at the YelaoShr Headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and at the same time accept training at work. The trainings are relevant to the teaching techniques and the management skills of the learning centre.

“A few months later, I was being arranged to be trained as a person-in-charge at Cheras. Thereafter, I set up my own learning centre in Alam Damai.” – Samantha

Right from the beginning till opening up her own centre, it only took Samantha less than a year to turn her dreams into reality.

A childlike heart, rekindling that first purpose

To Samantha, the most challenging part of this job is to communicate with the children. As time passes by, Samantha begins to find the innocent and honest conversations of the children which are the purest and most direct way of communication. Because after long periods in the field, sometimes it is easy to forget that childlike heart.

“Sometimes, communication is not just with words but feeling the growth and change in a child.” – Samantha

As the director of a learning centre, Samantha has some strict aura among the children and the children respect her. There was one six-year old child that Samantha always fetches home and most of the time the child would be silent throughout the car ride, as if he was scared of Samantha.

“One day, he suddenly started talking to me. We talked about the recent events, the movies that we watched at the cinemas etc. I felt that he was lowering down his guard and opening up to me, to which I asked instinctively if he likes YelaoShr Learning Centre? He replied that he is afraid of tuition, but loves to attend YelaoShr’s classes because the learning process here allows children to relax, to restore their best attention and that the goals set based on his progress makes it even more interesting. These words, coming from a child made me touched at that moment. It was as if I had recognition, and that recognition was sincerely from a child, which makes it even more precious.” – Samantha

Samantha has children of her own. Perhaps because of this she has the ability to converse deeper with the parents as their frequencies are similar and that they find responses to their heart.

“Because of this job, I can bring up my children while at work. I can accompany them personally in their growing years. This is the main reason I wanted to start my own YelaoShr Learning Centre.” – Samantha
She also notes that the education system and information at YelaoShr is very beneficial to her and her children.

To be able to encounter YelaoShr Learning Centre, this job has given her a mission, a sense of achievement and builds a business while being able to take good care of her family; Samantha is very honoured and blessed.

—
Teacher Yap: What are you working for? Not forgetting your first purpose, should be a self-reminder to all entrepreneurs. When your belief is right, then whatever you do will be right.

 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/

There is a saying which goes “Entrepreneurship is difficult, it is harder to maintain a business.” In 2014, when Maymei was establishing [Teacher Yap Early Child Reading & Brain Development], her friends would question the distrust that locals have……These were to test Maymei’s toughness and perseverance.

“Some friends said that Rawang is really messy, security is bad, and no locals have ever heard of [Teacher Yap], which tells me that the tuition center in Rawang is not progressing…… I thought to myself that: every place deserves a place for kids to learn, Rawang is no exception which is why I am here.”

Maymei is in charge of 5 out of the 53 [Teacher Yap] centers in Malaysia as a business operator. She thought that since Kuala Lumpur city center already has a branch for [Teacher Yap], she decided to start one in Rawang. Although Rawang is not the first branch she started, she felt pressured as she was questioned by locals. “In the beginning as she met with parents in Rawang, some of them were hesitant to pay the fee since they were afraid that we were part of a scam organization; some would advise me not to hit or scold the students, if we do not teach well, the entire pasar (market) would know.”

Facing severe questioning, Maymei clenched her teeth and started to work harder. She headed to the market with teachers in the center to promote the center by placing flyers on cars at the carpark (which was questioned by the police), clipped them in newspapers, and handed them out at the local schools. These efforts are just to let others know about (Teacher Yap) and also the education mission. “Sometimes when I meet with a parent, I would talk to them up to two to three hours. I treated them as friends instead of customers to talk about the educational status, and teaching experiences at [Teacher Yap]. After establishing a good relation with them, it will be easier to teach their child since they will understand and cooperate with our teaching method.”

One day, a security problem occurred, Maymei and her sister met a male on the road by the carpark. The malewas extremely provocative causing them to be in fear. They quickly hopped into their car and called the police. When they arrived at the police station, they experienced a series of suffering. Luckily, they were able to talk with captain and Maymei took the chance and told captain that they have a center located in Rawang which causes her to feel on tenterhooks and heart aching everyday. “Our tuition center is located in the so called ‘red light district’. There are many cases where kids are kidnapped, therefore, teachers would often go downstairs to pick up and drop off the students to prevent a tragedy from happening. With your current management style, how do you expect Rawang’s security to improve?” the captain listened with patience and decided to give Maymei his personal phone number and contact him if anything were to arise. He also thanked Maymei for providing education in Rawang.

Starting a center is not easy, but with Maymei pouring in her hard work, the tuition center in Rawang is becoming stable while the reputation is improving. “One day, one of my teachers told me what her dad heard in the market which was (Teacher Yap) is very good, and he suddenly asked her it’s whereabouts. After her dad found out where she works, he said: “Oh my, I have been sending you to work everyday and I don’t even know that you work as a teacher there!”

After Maymei heard this joke, she bursted out laughing and felt touched since this is the result of her hard work. Although the process was hard, she received what she deserves.

—
Teacher Yap: “Hardships will arise in every job, steady development is up to whether the business operators are hardworking but more on their beliefs and determination. “When the whole world distrusts you, will you still be able to trust yourself?

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/

This is a story shared by Belle, the person in charge of Puncak Jalil center. The following story is about a standard three student with the language skills of a standard one student.

“There are times when parents have to accept their children’s study weaknesses.” After this student enrolled, Belle gave him a set of tests to complete to understand where his standard lays. Afterward, Belle talked to his parents hoping they would cooperate. Belle said that reaching consensus with his parents will allow them to agree with the teaching method and also making it less perplexed for their children.

In the beginning, that child did not enjoy attending classes. He would hide his backpack or leave his books in the car on purpose and assume that by doing so, he would not need to study. Sometimes, Belle would have to run out of the tuition center in pursuit of the backpack. After acknowledging this problem, Belle changed her method of teaching, making it so that he does not have to study in the tuition center but instead talk to him to find out why he hates coming to the tuition center, subjects he likes and dislikes etc.. She finds out that the child’s weakest subject is Malay, which is also the subject he hates the most. The reason behind this isn’t because Malay is hard but instead is that his Malay teacher is strict and often scolds him.

His parents don’t know about this at all.

“In primary school, he was hurt by his teacher, therefore, I am able to understand his feelings.” After interacting with the child, Belle noticed that the kid also had his good points, it’s just that his language foundation isn’t solid. This interaction allowed Belle and that child to build trust and a relation as a friend. Since he knows that Belle understands his situation, he became more diligent and knows how to make negotiations with Belle. An example is allowing him to take a break after he reaches a certain period of improvement. This allowed him to excel tremendously.

Belle told his parents about his every detail and they finally understand his current condition. Fortunately, change also appeared on the parents. “In the past, his parents would rush him for his results and blame him for not working hard enough and not paying enough attention if he receives a bad grade; now, they would praise him and give him recognition for his efforts. These minor improvements allowed them to be appreciative.

YelaoShr Puncak Jalil 分院负责人 ／ Belle Fong

—

Every child is unique, they have their own character and story. In order to find the correct teaching method, it is not only effective but also improves parents and children’s relation. This is the happiest moment in her teaching career.

Teacher Yap: “We all know that patience is the essence of teaching children which is also the biggest challenge that we face. It is not that we adults do not know how to teach, however, it is how much patience do we have?”

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/