by Hanifa K. Cook | Mar 15, 2009 | Environment
10 weeks ago, I was still in Australia enjoying summer vacation. When I arrived back home, I received a phone call from my daughter’s Mandarin tutor. She spoke to me in English with a very heavy Mandarin accent, “Hello! Is your daughter coming to register...
by Hanifa K. Cook | Nov 9, 2008 | Childhood, Language, Spanish
Spanish and ‘Batu Lesung’? Over the weekend, I reflected on my childhood learning experience. I took a picture of this pounder (‘batu lesung’) which most traditional Malay families use to prepare spices. It is made of granite stone, carved into a bowl which we use as...
by Hanifa K. Cook | Nov 4, 2008 | Environment, Language, Montessori
My daughter is attending Mandarin class at a local learning center near our house. At present, she is already speaking 4 languages: Mandarin, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Malay. Since she has started school in Singapore, she has started to pick up the unique...