Canadian, eh? Singaporean lah!

 Being in the education field for so long, I really had no clue that Singapore Math was a thing outside of Singapore. Heck, we all just called in plain, old, simple Math in Singapore. Here, with the gaining popularity of learning Math they way we learnt in Singapore, it is actually hilarious when people ask me - wait so you know Singapore Math? Did you learn Singapore Math yourself growing up? No... I just learnt Math growing up! Math is Math - Singapore Math is just another way of learning it. It is an effective way no doubt - just look at Math scores in Singapore if that is any indication. It's been quite an experience, teaching Canadian kids about the model method, practically forcing them to draw the bars when we do word problems, because it doesn't come naturally to them and to be honest - feels kind of childish to them, for someone in Grade 7 or 8 to be drawing stuff in Math. Everything should be abstract by then? Sure, but pictures never hurt, no matter how old you get. ...

So this National Day, as with all National Days, my wonderful Canadian husband and I went out to a restaurant to enjoy some Singaporean food and mark the occasion in our own small way. At the restaurant, I saw a table of people of different ethnicity all dressed in red and white and I knew - they were definitely Singaporean. Taking a chance, I approached them and made conversation, and I was right of course. But what I discovered from them was even better - there's a group on Facebook called Singaporeans in Ontario! Man, my day was made!! I have now made contact with quite a few Singaporeans living in this province, and it just feels so good to know I'm not alone with my strange quirks and completely unidentifiable accent. Here's to making new friends in a new country, but feeling like I'm back home!