The Naughties Club Newsletter
 Our
Goal
The first ten years of the 21st century are referred
to as "the Naughties". The term suggests innocence and creative
subversion. Being one of "the Naughties" is to extend all existing
boundaries in an innovative and playful way.
The Naughties Club was established in March 2005.
It is an international non-profit organization that aims to form
a friendship network among its members from all corners of the
world.
The Naughties Club's goal is to help its members
worldwide to:
- Pursue an innovative, flexible and fun worldview.
- Promote an international friendship network that crosses all
kinds of geo-political and cultural barriers.
- Prepare for an amazing age of global communications and cultural
diversity.
Members of The Naughties Club are those who are born between
January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009. All those who belong to
the first decade of the 21st century are invited to become its
members. [Top]
 Recent
Stars
- Daniel G. will be one year old on July 30, 2005. He is an
active and playful child who has plenty of energy all day long
(that is, from nine o'clock in the morning through to midnight).
When Daniel was eight months old, he was as tall and heavy as
an average fourteen-month-old toddler. He loves his father's
suitcases and shoes. He also enjoys accompanying his parents
when they cook together in the kitchen. Daniel has his own remote
control (which controls nothing but his daddy and mummy). His
favorite hobby is to move his toys, one by one, from one end
of the room to the other, then back again. Daniel lives in Melbourne,
Australia.
- Kiera G. will also be one year old this year. Her birthday
is on September 20. Kiera is a friendly baby who smiles all
the time. When she was born, her paternal grandmother came from
Northern Ireland to visit her. Her maternal grandmother also
came from China to help look after her for three months. With
all this tender loving care, Kiera is a healthy girl who enjoys
her life in Melbourne, Australia. With her eight teeth, Kiera
loves all the food her mother prepares for her. (The best recipe:
A combination of potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, chicken, carrot
and zucchini.) She also adores her father who simply cannot
stop kissing and hugging her. [Top]
 Do
You Know?
In recent years it has become a fashion for parents
to buy for their children the so-called "learning aids" - miniature
personal computers that teach pre-school kids how to recognize
numeral and alphabetical symbols, sounds, and shapes.
For example, in Australia, the electronic "learning
aids" market was worth 3.5 million Australian dollars in 2000.
But sales have ballooned to more than 28 million Australian dollars
in 2004.
However, recent studies show that by introducing
these "learning aids" to our children, we may be turning them
on to technology too early.
There are two sides to the story. Supporters of
"learning aids" emphasize that these electronic gadgets have an
undeniable educational value. They may help young children with
letters, phonics, rhyming, spellings, numbers, counting, addition,
subtraction, art and music.
Many parents are also believers of these products.
They want their children to learn and be educated at a young age.
On the other hand, academics, educators, social
workers and children's psychologists are concerned about the real
values of these "learning aids". They argue that there are huge
marketing and advertising campaigns directed at children and their
parents. Parents are warned: "You have to give your kids a head
start. If they don't know how to use a computer by the time they
start school, they will be at an disadvantage."
Others scholars point out that such marketing and
advertising campaigns are playing on parents' fear that local
communities, parks and playgrounds are no longer safe. They would
rather have their children happily amused in their lounge rooms
than playing outside.
Indeed, everyone agrees that in pre-school and early
childhood years, the best way children learn is by direct experience.
Tracing dots on a computer with a mouse is definitely not the
best way of learning when compared to drawing with crayons on
paper.
Nonetheless, there may be a balance between technology
and direct experiential opportunities.
For example, scholars are always amazed at how quickly
children can integrate technology into their lives. A group of
children may get together and talk about what a computer paint
program can do, but not to see it as a purely solitary activity.
Furthermore, children learn by imitating adults.
When they see their parents working at home on computers, they
would naturally also want to do it.
The best way may be for parents themselves to find
a balanced approach. While our kids should be encouraged to participate
in physical and social activities with other children, we need
to monitor and ensure what our kids learn from "learning aids",
personal computers and the Internet is safe.
Most importantly, we need to be aware that our children
are not exposed to too much advertising too early. [Top]
 Global
Village
There is a city in northern Italy called Udine.
Northwest of Udine is the small town of San Daniele del Friuli.
The most famous event in San Daniele is its annual prosciutto
festival. Every year in August, visitors from all corners of the
world come to this town to tour around its numerous prosciutto
factories. It is in these factories that they can admire thousands
and thousands of legs of ham, and to search for and taste the
best among them.
The prosciutto festival runs for four days. The
whole town of San Daniele turns into a giant canteen with long
tables and seats in every piazza. It is recommended that the best
way to enjoy this festival is to get your prosciutto, grissino
(a long, slender crusty breadstick) from the dozens of counters
and then sit and eat all day or all evening.
Prosciutto is a seasoned, salt-cured, unsmoked ham
that is usually sliced thin and served without cooking. In emergency,
very thinly sliced bacon can be used instead of prosciutto. But
food lovers all recognize that prosciutto is always the best choice.
The biggest rival of San Daniele's prosciutto is that from Parma,
which is in north-central Italy. [Top]
 Cross-Cultural
Communications
The following contribution is from Steve G., who
lives in Melbourne, Australia.
My wife and I are keen for our son to learn some
Chinese (her first language) at the same time he is picking up
English. Experts say that kids absorb language quickly and efficiently
between one and six years old, when it is an ideal time for them
to become multilingual.
I don't know any Chinese, but I am keen to learn.
My excuse has always been "too busy", which is not false in itself.
But that's because modern life is indeed "too busy" for everyone.
So, if I'm going to learn some Chinese in a dedicated manner,
the motivation level cannot be higher than learning it when our
young son is learning language.
Our son is now ten months old. So if I'm going to
get some Chinese language under my belt before he starts learning
language rapidly, I need to start NOW.
While it is certainly harder to learn a new language
when you're no longer young, there are some advantages. Number
one is that you are much more likely to know your limitations.
Another is that you know which styles of learning work with you,
and which ones don't.
In my case, I was never good at vocalizing a new
language, without a significant in-depth knowledge of the language
in the first place.
What I can do is to learn a written language well
(I've always learned new computer languages directly from reading
books). That seems to me like the best way to personally get into
Chinese - learning the written language before the spoken language.
Of course computer languages are a far cry from human languages,
but they do have syntax, semantics and grammars (always non-ambiguous
grammars, mind you, which makes them much easier to learn).
A British Library note titled "The Story of Writing"
seems to provide an encouraging endorsement with regard to this
possibility. When introducing the Chinese language, it says this:
"During the 4000 years of its established history
the Chinese script has undergone only minor changes. The original
pictographic element is still clearly recognizable in some contemporary
characters. Chinese is still basically a word, or, rather, concept
script (combining ideographic and phonetic elements) with all
the advantages and disadvantages such a system entails. One of
the disadvantages is the large number of characters necessary:
50,000 for the rendering of highly literate and classical texts,
at least 2000-4000 for more mundane use. The advantage lies in
the fact that, as a concept script, Chinese does not depend on
the spoken word; it can be read without regard to, or even a knowledge
of, the spoken language. This has made it throughout history,
an ideal means of communication in a country with people who spoke
a large number of different dialects yet were all administered
by the same central authority."
Of course I want to learn the spoken language too.
But in my case, I'll be much more at ease in approaching the spoken
language, after I know the 2000-4000 characters necessary to read
a Chinese newspaper.
My wife seems to think that this less orthodox approach
can work, as she has heard of people who can read Chinese but
can't speak it. Better still, and much more importantly, she has
offered to undertake the long ordeal of teaching me to read in
Chinese - brave girl.
We have decided on traditional Chinese script for
starters, for a number of reasons. The pictographic characters
within the traditional Chinese script are closer to the original
graphic images of what they are related to. Furthermore, the simplified
Chinese script is just that - a simplified version of the traditional
script, which means that it is more abstract and the images behind
the pictographs are far less recognizable. I'm a graphic oriented
person (mind-set), so the closeness between the objects and the
pictograms in the traditional Chinese script is a distinct advantage
to me in the learning process.
Finally, they write in the traditional Chinese
script in Taiwan where my wife (and the Chinese-language newspapers
we subscribe to) come from.
So, first step in this learning approach is the
recognition of those 2000-4000 characters. No small undertaking,
agreed. Sounds initially daunting compared to English's 26 characters,
doesn't it? Well, not really, since English has some 50,000 commonly
used words in a typical school kid dictionary. So it all depends
on how you weigh up each language, in terms of the learning of
it.
Stay tuned.
Steve G., June 4, 2005 [Top]
 Notice
Board
With this second issue of The Naughties Club Newsletter,
we would like to thank those parents who kindly agreed to let
their children become members of the Club. We also want to say
a sincere "Thank You" to those who have expressed interest in
knowing more about The Naughties Club and its quarterly newsletter.
In the mean time, we would like to encourage parents
to share with each other their thoughts and feelings about raising
children. Being a parent can sometimes be a lonely task. It is
nice to know that, somewhere out there, people are experiencing
the same kind of ups and downs, joys and concerns, etc. While
one person's solutions may not suit another's problems, it is
helpful to know that support is always out there.
In this issue of The Naughties Club Newsletter we
have added two new sections, "Global Village" and "Cross-Cultural
Communications".
"Global Village" aims to focus on interesting cultural
events around the world. These include festivals, rituals, beliefs,
customs, foods, religions, and many other social and cultural
practices. Our goal is to encourage our members to open their
young minds to other cultures and their characteristics, to appreciate
their beauties, and to understand their origins and influences.
"Cross-Cultural Communications" aims to report and
analyze issues of all kinds of communications across different
cultures. These include cultures of different continents and countries,
as well as those of different ethnic and socio-political groups.
Our goal is to help our members understand the ways in which people
from different cultural backgrounds may comprehend or misunderstand
each other. Doing so, our members may learn to appreciate others
and other walks of life.
In this issue, we want to thank Steve from Australia
for sharing with us the steps he is taking to learn Chinese.
Again, we encourage parents to share with each other
their views and concerns about these issues - how to look at other
cultures with an open mind, to share interesting and funny anecdotes,
and to communicate with others with trust and respect. As our
members grow up, their insights into any aspect of these issues
will be specifically appreciated. [Top]
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