I have been invited by S.U.C.C.E.S.S. to give a talk on dyslexia in Cantonese in early April. The details are available on the dyslexia-talk. For a long time, parents who do not speak English struggle to make sense of dyslexia without the benefit of having literature that explains this medical condition adequately. As a result, there is a great deal of misunderstanding and unnecessary fear.

My hope is that through this free workshop sponsored by S.U.C.C.E.S.S., non-English speaking Chinese parents can now breathe a sigh of relief and come to realize that they are not alone. Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities plaguing school-age children who are learning to read. Help is just around the corner. Dyslexia can be managed successfully and it is possible for dyslexic children to learn to read with proper instruction.

See you at the workshop! And don’t forget to register.

I was very sad to find out from an email sent to me that my former academic supervisor, Professor Mary Ashworth, had passed away on January 20, 2009.

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Professor Mary Ashworth taught in the Department of Language Education between 1967- 1988. I was fortunate enough to have been under her supervision when I was working on my M.Ed. degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). I will always remember Professor Ashworth for her frequent allusion to a saying from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible – “There is nothing new under the sun.” I actually put this verse on the front page of my M.Ed. graduating paper! I guess, this was the observation from a “seasoned” veteran who had fought the “system” time and again for the sake of ESL children in British Columbia.

I am particularly grateful to Professor Mary Ashworth for the sage advice she gave when I was her student at UBC. She was always helpful and practical. I still remember how she used to tell us not to treat our master’s thesis or M.Ed. major paper as “the writing that will change the world.” Her admonition was: be sensible, do what you need to do, graduate, and then you can change the world!

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Professor Ashworth is probably smiling down at all her former students now from heaven above. I hope I am one of these students!

We love you, Mary! And we are so proud to have been you students.