Marina Tan, EDUTAINER    

Greetings! Hope you're having a great day!

My name is Marina and I work with children. Edutainer is a term I adapted from the dotcom era... from "edutainment", a combination of education and entertainment.

That's right, I made it up.  Whee!But then found a host of likeminded individuals all over the world also proudly wearing the same title. More power to us! ;)

My many (many) years of “worldly” (and very useful) experience lies in writing, communications and HR, and I'm still active with the writing house Words Wizards.

My passion in life, though, is working with children. Hence my “day job” last year was teaching at a kindy in Bandar Utama - I love starting my day with the sunny smiles (and runny noses!) of little children. Through other activities such as tuition and enrichment education, I also work with children ranging from primary to lower secondary level.

“‘Working with children’ – What exactly does that mean?”

I get asked this a lot. Well, you name it, I do almost all of it. I :

• teach / tutor (various subjects, Primary to Form 3)

• work with special children

• tell stories (currently a regular at Borders, Trisha & Sasha and Little Mozart Music Academy)

• paint faces

• sing, dance and act with kids

• do art & crafts with them

• play with them, and

• write and illustrate for them. Spiel alert : catch my works in print soon! Or commission them privately now while I'm still relatively unknown and a little bit cheap! ;)

Occasionally I even help to put little underpants on. But when they get cranky or smelly, ah, that’s why the little darlins're called “other people’s children”… ;)

Special Education

I also work with special children, formerly with a centre called Pelita Development Centre for Individuals with Special Needs in PJ. If you have any enquiries regarding disabilities mild or severe, a great resource is the Kiwanis Disability Information and Support Centre (KDISC) in Kelana Jaya. Am constantly looking to develop in this area, so would appreciate any leads on ongoing events, contacts, etc, as well as affordable, reputable courses. Anyone interested in taking up sign language?

Drama for Kindergartners

I also teach a Drama for Kindergartners module for enrichment centres/kindergartens. It's fun, beneficial (in addition to the benefit of fun, that is, hehe) and targeted to the 4- to 6-year-old age group. It's currently offered at Little Mozart Music Academy in Ara Damansara on Saturdays at 3.30pm.

Other stuff about me

I'm also a member of the MMN-spawned band 9@heart (WOOHOO!), the Philharmonic Society of Selangor (The Phil) and a former member of the a cappella/rockappella group Six2Eight. I used to be the group’s resident rock queen, although the effect is skewed somewhat when you have 10 kids turning up for your concert and chirpily cheering, "Teacher Marina!!"

I'm passionately in love with life right now, developing my strengths and talents wherever I find them and however I can. I guess that's my philosophy of life - keep your mind open and you never know what talents and interests life will show you in yourself, every day, forever.

What else do I do? In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, learning phrases in new languages, and writing and illustrating for children. Errm... I kind of have not much spare time left, so please forgive me if there's a delay in replying GB greetings and PMs. I do read them, and appreciate the good wishes left by friends and friends-to-be. Eheh, and in closing, aside from kids, I also enjoy the company of cats, dogs and snakes ;)

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by! Do say hi below, and see you again soon.

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