Malaysia: Free 30 Mins Pre-Natal Massage@ Soul Nibanna review

Are you currently a pregnant mother who is already in her 5th month of pregnancy? Hankering for someone to just rub those aching shoulders of yours, i.e. getting a complimentary 30 minutes massage in the ambience of a spa?

Well look no further. As I was surfing through the world wide web, I found this blog review from Eat N Play about the Soul Nibanna spa in SS2, Petaling Jaya.  

Eat N Play has included a lot of glossy pictures of the spa, so we can have a peek at what's inside Soul Nibanna. According to Eat N Play, Soul Nibanna is currently having the complimentary 30 minutes pre-natal massage promotion for all pregnant women. As my blog is related to parenting as well as early childhood, I thought it appropriate to add the link to the review here.

The first 4-5 months are considered the few months that mothers are not to over-stress their bodies, but it is normally considered safe by the 5th month. According to Eat N Play, the owner of the spa states that

Prenatal Massage will help to reduce stress and also promotes relaxation to pregnant women and there are lots of other benefits such as relieving muscles spasms, cramps and pains; increasing blood circulation; relieving anxiety and depression; improving labor outcome and eases labor pain.

So, for 5 -9 months pregnant ladies, do check out Eat N Play's review if you want to procure the complimentary 30 minutes pre-natal massage!

And I"m Off To Singapore, Guys!

 Hi readers, this is to inform you guys that I'd be away this coming weekend (19th-21st September) to Singapore for 3 Days 2 Nights.

Well, that is, should everything go as intended.

With Raya around the corner, it was truly a last minute decision. I was not even sure if we'd be able to even get accomodation, nor transport to head down. But it seems that some ad-hoc trips could be sheer fun for the stress it produces! Heh. What with the Grand Prix F1 that will be on next week, and everything, I thought accomodation would be like looking for a needle in a haystack..

I'll be checking in at a budget accomodation, very near to a MRT (lucky us!), costing a mere SGD58 for a twin-bed sized room.

Along the way, I'll be there to check out their local early childhood scene, as well as make some research on their early childhood rearing practices and teaching qualifications. Well, not that I'd be working there, but it's still good to know a bit more of a subject matter related to one's professional training. ^^

Okay, Ta-Ta!  Enjoy your Raya holidays!

This blog will remain as it is.

After much consideration, I have decided that this blog will remain as it is.

As much as I would like to execute any changes, this blog has a 5 year history. Hence, any changes may be detrimental to its health.

Did You Notice Any Changes to This Blog?

I don't know if my readers have noticed, but I have actually changed the address for this blog. Even the blog title...! Just needed to make it something less of a mouthful. But as you can see, Google hasn't really been of much help in any case!

Nonetheless, I've been checking my StatCounter almost on a half-weekly basis to watch how the readership has been.

The other reason to this could be attested to the fact that this blog is almost 5 YEARS OLD. Its long history would also be the reason why I felt it needed a face-lift of some sort.

Do give me some suggestions!

For the Purpose of Technorati.

phibu5deky

Article Summary: ECE Literacy New Pathways

Makin, L & Jones Diaz, C (2002) , New pathways for literacy in ECE, in L Makin & C Jones (eds), Literacies in early childhood: changing views, challenging practice, Maclennon & Petty Pty Limited, Eastgardens, pp.325-35.


Summary:
The article states that two important changes in society need to influence literacy education are:

* Globalization of communications and competitive labour markets has an impact on linguistic diversity.
* Growth of technology which changes the way people can make meaning and literacy is becoming increasingly multi-modal. Increasing globalization is a factor to why bilingual education may be essential in the long term, both to survive culturally, and for people to remain competitive in the international business world.

Funding from government bodies act as:

o as a method of encouraging compliance
o linked to performance
o linked to program alignment with government directions.

Funding cuts has meant that early childhood services now find themselves under more pressure to prepare children for school literacy (book and print based) and move from child centred orientation. These skills largely ignore techno-literacy, authentic assessment and languages other than English.

* Narratives of popular culture offer a “way into” literacy, such as children who use drawing and model making, rather than words, and that if these activities are regarded primarily as design rather than as communication, then children’s literacy will be undervalued.

* Finally popular culture provide children with a lingua france through which they share other meanings about their worlds.

* A rejection by educators of popular culture merely locks out the potential exchange of ‘cultural’ and ‘social capital’ and connection to literacy beyond that which is provided at the setting.

I believe that popular culture provides many good sources and ideas in developing children’s literacy skills to think critically as well as broadly. Yet, this too entirely depends on the context of which the class the children are situated at.

The teacher in class may have many ideas in wanting to link and bring popular culture into the classroom, but if the context (school and parents) feel that it is not relevant to what they want for both the centre and the parents, the work is fruitless unless the teacher is able to advocate for what s/he wants.
Article:
Linning, L (1999), “Children’s literature: resources for literacy development ‘, in R Campbell & D Green (eds) Literacies and learners : current perspectives, Prentice Hall Australia, French Forest NSW, pp.105-10.

Summary:
The article discusses the role and value of children’s literature in the literacy program, whereby it can assist in the development of literary appreciation. Printed texts in different forms can introduce children to the recurrent structures, conventions and allusions in English literature which attune to their experience, knowledge and stages of reading development.

The different modes of responding to literature vary according to the purposes and natures of the texts. They range from

* Enjoyment of language & story, understanding that print is meaningful.
* Learning to decode- beginning independent reading and practicing skills.
* Losing oneself in books-where readers read their favourite popular series and develop fluency and confidence.
* Finding oneself in books-where readers recognize characters and settings which relate to their own lives.
* Making ethical applications (Personal & social), where books stimulate readers to think about other times, places, cultures, ideas & personal circumstances, in a light hearted but perceptive way accessible to young readers.
* Wide reading- which gives readers a context for approaching and responding to texts new to them and developing their inter-textuality skills.
* Aesthetic response- where readers notice how authors use language effectively and enjoy literary criticism.

I would agree that readers respond to books in a variety of ways. Ways which are relevant to themselves in different contexts and situations. Coming from a context where bilingualism is the norm, yet fluency of mastery of a few languages is barely achievable, I believe that I would not have been able to attain the standard of fluency in English were it not my interest as a young child in reading books such as those by Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl or Lucy Maud Montgomery.
These books enabled me to lose myself in the stories, as well as finding characters similar to my situation, and at the same time develop the vocabulary to express my intents and wants in ways I would not have been able to deem possible.

Literates As Social Practice (Article Summary)

Jones, Diaz, C. & Makin, L. (2002) ‘Literates as social practice’ in L. Makin & C. Jones Diaz (eds), Literates in early childhood: changing views, changing practice, Maclennon & Petty Pty Limited, Eastgardens, pp.7-13.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Summary:
Literacy is defined as including talking, listening, visual literacies and critical thinking. Traditional perspectives situate literacy in the individual rather than in social worlds in which the individuals actively participate.

The focus was previously on skills on decoding meanings in paper-based texts, devoid of the social influences within which texts are constructed, as it will limit understandings about literacy and about the diverse ways in which children learn.
The 3 so called misleading misconceptions of literacy is:

* That it is a unitary object, but the fact is that literacy is not the same for everyone. It is more of how “technology is used to pursue social goals’ which is intrinsic to literacy.
* That it is neutral, and functions independently of specific social contexts, but the fact is that literacy has been made use to achieve social objectives and used to market to different contexts.
* Finally, the misconception that is responsible for high order thinking & cognitive processes, detached from other social processes, as an independent variable, but the fact is that it has to take into account the connectedness of other literacy factors, i.e. ethnicity, race, age, class, occupation, gender or geographic location.

I agree with the authors whereby literacy does not just mean knowing how to read and write, and decode words, but using it in context of the student’s environment, and context. I feel that many Malaysian as well focus too much on learning how to read and write, and neglect the importance of developing social skills where their literacy skills could be employed to communicate their needs & wants.