What's up, KL?

Just spent the last 5 days in Kuala Lumpur, the capitol city of Malaysia. The days were busy with a mediocre training session run by the International Baccalaureate Organization (see previous post for a summary). The highlight of the training was that it came along with a Deluxe Single room in a business hotel with great food.

The evenings were spent exploring KL. I got to get to know some of my colleagues better and met some interesting teachers in my workshop. Checked out a Malaysian club, visited some temples, saw the world's largest twin towers and spent one evening with a friend that I have known for 16 years who came to visit. School starts Thursday.

From somewhere in asia

From somewhere in asia

Teachers teaching teachers- Rarely an engaging experience

Professional development is an experience that CAN be very useful for educators. It allows for the acquisition of new thoughts, ideas and ways of thinking about teaching and learning. In my experience, the instructor spends a significant amount of time talking about the importance of "engaging the student". We NEED to meet kids where they are. We NEED to understand what prior knowledge our students are bringing to the table. We NEED to tailor our presentation and curriculum based on student interests. I strongly believe that these are essential to ensure an optimal learning environment for students. I want to deeply help connect the world of mathematics to their own experiences so it feels important, relevant and interesting. However, in every workshop I have attended where the the instructor talks about the NEED to do all of these things, the instructor, who is usually a teacher, does not meet our needs!!!! He talks at us, he asks obvious questions, looking for obvious answers because he wants to move on with the material in the workshop. He comes to the table not willing to understand where we are, what we know and what questions we have. He clearly sees that everyone is falling asleep and just keeps yammering on. This is a big problem particularly in workshops for teachers taught by teachers. One of the ways students learn is by seeing modeling. If instructors want teachers to meet the needs of their students, the instructors need to be demonstrating what that looks like with the teachers they are instructing. GOOD TEACHING IS NOT TALKING!!!! GOOD TEACHING IS FACILITATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on Borneo

Malaysia

We have just arrived in East Malaysia. We took a flight to Kuching, the capital of the Sarawak province. It is extremely beautiful here. It is calm and peaceful, unlike anywhere else in Asia. The sky also looks different- the sunsets are beautiful and the weather is warm yet not oppressive. It is very tropical here, with most of the island being a jungle. We have spent the last day walking around the city and tomorrow we are going to an orang utan recovery center to visit our ginger-haired friends. In a few days, we will head over to the Indonesian side of the island.

Malaysian Eats

Food highlights from Malaysia:

Malaysian Eats

KL

We have spent the last two days in the very modern city of Kuala Lumpur. Like the rest of the country, KL is very diverse. The Chinatown and Little India take up substantial chunks of the center of town and we definitely enjoyed eating and walking in those areas on our first day here. We have also been enjoying the Malay's Nasi Kandar, a plate of rice topped with whatever meat or veg dishes you would like. It is quite filling, cheap and really delicious. It is also worth mentioning that almost every dinnner is followed with some durian, which smells bad but but tastes wonderful.
Yesterday, we visited the skyscraper section of town and visited the Petronas Towers, now the largest twin towers in the world. We walked through the extremely modern malls, which are much nicer than any malls in America. We saw the new Tim Burton movie after eating in one of the best food courts either one of us has ever been to.
Along with modernity comes more civilized atmosphere. When you don't want to buy something from a street hawker, they say, "That's fine" and smile. Cars obey traffic rules and are not trying to run you over while you are crossing the street. It's very clean and people are aware of the idea of personal space. KL is a nice city, but it has left me feeling a little bored. After a very over-stimulating 3 months in India, I have come to appreciate a certain degree of chaos, which is somewhat charming and without a doubt exciting once you get the place's rhythm. Yesterday, as our second day of touring this capital city was ending, I jokingly said to S that "I only want to love in a civilized place if our family and friends are there." I was joking but I kind of meant it. That being said, we are very excited to fly to East Malaysia on the 28th. After visiting Melaka and spending a few days in Singapore, we will fly to Kuching, the capital of the province of Sarawak. From there, we very much have an open-ended plan as the weather can make travel pretty unpredictable. We will eventually make our way to Indonesian side of the island and then see where we end up. I think it will be an exciting way to end the trip.

Selamat Datang di Malysia

Welcome to Malaysia!
Family members and friends- we have left Bangkok. Yesterday morning we went back to the hospital to see an ENT specialist about my ear. We checked out of our hotel and brought our bags hoping for good news that we could leave town. After the doctor cleaned out my ear and prescribed new medication, we were in a taxi to the train station to get a train out of Bangkok to Hat Yai, a city on the southern tip of the country. We caught a 3PM train and arrived in Hat Yai at 8AM this morning. We crossed the Malaysian border around noon and arrived in Penang around 2PM. Penang is an island off the northwestern coast of Malaysia that is known for its multiethnicity, thus known as the food capital of Malaysia, and home to well-preserved heritage buildings. We are going to eat at Chinese vegetarian buffet restaurant this evening before we set out to see all the sights tomorrow.