Thanks to a scholarship, I started attending boarding school at 13, about 700km away from home. Back then, air travel was very expensive, so were long-distance calls. I couldn’t get help from my parents since they were so far away and the hostel didn’t provide academic tutors. I didn’t have access to tuition or enrichment classes as these were very expensive. As a result, I had to figure out how to learn independently very early on in life. If there was something I wanted to know or a skill I wanted to learn, I had to learn it myself or find help from friends.
At school, I was very fortunate to have some passionate teachers who were willing to use alternative methods of teaching and succeeded at engaging my interest in the subjects that they taught. My experience learning with these teachers showed me that learning could be fun and interesting. Once I was engaged, learning the content just came naturally. I was excited about their lessons and was motivated to excel. They had planted the seeds for my eventual interest in teaching and learning.
Years later, I did become a teacher. First as a tutor, then a temporary teacher in a secondary school, a teaching assistant in university and finally a lecturer in university. In each of these situations, I found myself asking the same question, How do I help my students learn? I experimented on my own with different methods with varying degrees of success. But it was all quite random and done whenever I could squeeze in some time in between the research, administrative work and coaching.
Things changed when I did my Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. I was introduced to reflective practice in teaching and realized that my teaching journey is also a learning journey. Each teaching experience became an opportunity for me to learn something, about the content, about my students or about a new method of learning. It got me really engaged in the subject of how individuals learn and how I could help the ease the learning process as a teacher.
A few years later, I gave birth to a little girl. Becoming a parent, really changes someone, anyone. I wanted to find out all I could her development and how I could help her be the best person she could be. When my daughter was 6 months old, I was introduced to a playgroup. There, I was introduced to the Montessori method. I read up as much as I could and I practiced what I read at home.
Two years later, I gave birth to our second boy and quit my day job as a Lecturer. As I started my journey as a stay-at-home mother to my two young children, I struggled with my identity. I wondered if everything I had learnt would be gone to waste. With the encouragement of other mothers in our church and the playgroup community, I continued my learning journey and practiced on my two young children at home. It has been an exciting learning journey as technology has allowed for many scientific breakthroughs in the field of neuroscience and learning psychology in the past decade. New research has shown evidence that is contrary to so many of the dysfunctional beliefs we have about learning.
Through my interactions with other parents with children of all ages, I noticed many learning gaps in school-aged children and youth. Many of them were just memorizing without knowing how to learn. It explained the skills gap I observed in my university students when I was teaching. As my children got older, I knew it was time to venture out. After many conversations with various people in my circle, I found the confidence to begin the next phase of my life — Equalize Learning.
Experts say that one of the most effective ways to learn is to teach others, share with others what you have learnt. This has been an intrinsic value in me. Since I was young, each time I heard or read something really interesting, I had a great desire to share it. It didn’t matter who, anyone who was willing to listen, I wanted to share my new found knowledge with them. Now, I have found a platform for me to share my skills and knowledge with you and with your children.
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