As the saying goes, ‘Teach a man to fish and he can fish for life’. In the same way, if we teach our children HOW to learn, and not just the ‘WHAT’ to learn, we will be giving them the skills to learn for life and build a love for learning (beyond and outside school).

When a child has the right skills for learning, he/she will be able to complete and perform academic tasks more effectively and achieve better learning outcomes and results.

Being able to pay attention in class and not be distracted by the surroundings or the other classmates is a key skill that we want our children to have. It helps them maximise their learning in class when they are able to focus and take in the information that the teacher is teaching.

However, the typical classroom can be a noisy place filled with distractions for a child who is not equipped with strong attentional skills. We have the teacher talking in front of the class, a classmate drops a pencil or another child is rocking his chair or someone just walked past the corridor.

But, with practice and time we can actually train up a child’s attentional abilities and improve his/her persistence to stay on task.

Education, Health, Baby and Family activities all under one roof for the building Blocks of a Happy Child

SmartKids Asia, the World’s LARGEST Educational Kids’ Fair is a fun-filled family event where parents and children with ages between 0 -12 years can discover and experience educational stimulation and mind-expanding fun through fun interactive activities put together by over 150 leading multinational and local organizations.

Hurry Down to SmartKids Asia, coming on 16th to 18th March 2012, at the Singapore Expo Hall 5. Admission FREE!

To get our latest updates on registrations, fun contests, great giveaways and exciting activities, visit us at www.facebook.com/smartkidsasia

Just as an athlete needs stamina in order to run long distances and a gymnast needs strong core muscles for balance, our children also need the right skills to learn, excel and improve their results.

And given the right skills, learning of subjects and doing of school tasks will become much more effective.

As parents, teachers and educators, many a times we concern ourselves with teaching the children WHAT to learn - grammar rules, vocabulary meanings, maths timetables, number patterns, etc and WHAT to do - reading comprehension, problem sums, spelling tests, etc.

And in the process we may have missed out on the equally important part of teaching them HOW to learn too.

Our school curriculum has no lack of subjects and performance driven tasks and work. Our kids have weekly spelling tests, topical reviews, mid-year exams, end-year exams and a myriad of assignments that are given with the aim to drill and impart content knowledge into our children. Of course, we cannot deny the good intentions behind these tasks; however, we must also look at the long-term investment into a child’s learning.

He/she learns the spelling words for the week with the objective to score 10 out of 10 or revises for a test or examination with the goal to attain higher marks than the previous test. And of course, these are also important outcomes to keep in mind. (Because if a child is learning effectively, then it is also only fair that we expect him/her to achieve good scores, right?)

Join our ambassadors, Mark Lee and Suhaimi Yusof and venture out to our museums and other heritage venues as Explore Singapore! returns once again! This year, the annual campaign organised by the National Heritage Board carries the theme “Heritage Hop-About”, and boasts of over 20 activities held at over 15 museums and institutions. And for the first time, 27 monuments will be open to the public through 16 walking tours during Explore Singapore! 2011.