The Talking Mountain

  7th Day: Way Forward for School (Roadmaps)   The final day was full of sharing and discussion on the way forward in the Five Areas of Development. I came to understand and revisit many things that I have missed in the previous sessions. Indeed, it was a great relearning. The roadmaps shared by different participating schools was interesting. However, throwing some light feedback and suggestions by participants and facilitators has made the roadmaps more SMART.    I have learnt so much on interconnectedness of different areas of development through roadmaps shared by other schools. It was fun getting so many insightful comments and suggestions from colleagues. We were informed about The Royal Academy (TRA) approach of examination and implementation of 5 areas of development in the curriculum context. The whole idea of these practices at TRA is to refine, model and transfer each child into their real life situation, making them a mindful citizen, more – zhabthogtog ...

 6 th  Day: Physical areas of Development This old saying has so much weight in it –If wealth is lost, nothing is lost, if health is lost, everything is lost. It relates so much in everyone’s life. I was happy to learn that physical health education would be more likely to come as part of a formal curriculum.  If a small "pimple" on the face is enough to trigger a massive mental health and wellbeing, and impact one's physical health, the area of physical development should be given the top most priority at school. Because there are thousands of young lives undergoing such tight daily situations and more importantly, there are other hundreds who want to pursue professional academics in the fields of games and sports.    Remaining physical fit is one area; I grew up taking it so seriously. To keep myself fit with a sedentary lifestyle, I engage myself playing different games, community service, hiking, birding, simple yoga and more recently cycling. Therefore, eng...

  5th Day: Spiritual areas of Development I am dumb struck. There was so much I didn't know about the spiritual aspect of life, which I came to learn through this particular session by two scholarly figures. There was so much I came to know about spirituality through open sharing, discussion and self-realization. The topics spelled out for the day were all relevant and important.    It was great to learn that, The Royal Academy practice of  Ngondro  for 30 minutes everyday was one success story that made our way forward more promising and open. With the same hope we want to cultivate many other good practices to happen in our schools is the most expected out of this workshop. I strongly feel practice like this must come as part of the curriculum, rather than making it a co-curricular activity or something else. To me spiritual development means, by large knowing the root of one's existence, co-existence of all sentient beings, knowing the existence of the God or...

It wouldn't be fair on my part to say that cerebral development isn’t important. Although the human brain is such a complex organ, it is very important to know how it functions every second. Perhaps, the little organ called the brain immensely controls every part of the body. Its a wonder!   First few slides were more like sharing a good piece of information on the human brain, 86 billion neurons, around 1 quadrillion connections (1000 trillions) and the brain continuously growing till dead.   The most interesting part of the day's activity was the exercise on the battle of two hands. We were asked to write our own name first by the dominant hand, followed by the other hand under a minute time condition. I was able to write 12-time with my dominant hand, which is right, whereas I could barely write 5-time with my other hand. However, as we were asked to write at least three times each by both the hands in different conditions, however, it only got better. I felt more comf...

Who am I   I am …, Short as Ferrari Look as Lenardo  Fair as k-pop   I am always in action With small and talking big, All for the nation  like someone with Herules in power  And hot as Sun at the heart of equator.    I am …,  Joker with no sense of humor  Intelligent with no brain of thinking  Smart with no looks of Sergyel.    I am …,  A maker of Bhutan  A maker of future  A Nation builder!    No one knows my existence  But I,  No one knows my simplicity  But I,  No one knows my sacrifice  But I,  No one knows my goodness But I,    I am as tiny as an atom  and I sing about this atom  to my children wirh fun  and I carry a Pen mighter than a power of Gun.

Of hundreds of books I read, Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence is on the top list for good reasons. I have even recommended this book to one of my friends 4-year ago, and today I have had the formal training on ways to build one's emotional state. This is a good start for me as a teacher and a parent. Thank you The Royal Academy for the vision. Initially we were given a task to define emotion. It wasn’t easy and neither was it difficult. It took a good amount of time to reflect self and beyond. However, as we were given a few more slides to think about, I came to know that I was aware and already had some qualities of an emotionally developed person. Deep inside I had a strong sense of satisfaction and happiness, and silently thanked Mr. Goleman for writing such a good book. Perhaps, I was happy that the other slides gave an idea of the quality I would like to develop to become a sincere, mindful, astute, resilient and mindful human being. If everything goes as planned, t...

Human beings are smart social animals. The whole idea of social skills are not only in humans but also in other living materials that share this universe along with humans. This is such a great tool to be with, no matter how powerful and rich one can be, social development is a must skill.    Through the sharing of ideas, it clicked with me so much about being a good neighbor, which I believe is a fundamental and instrumental part of coexistence living. Looking at the presentation and sharing of ideas, I felt so happy that I was already strong in this area of development. I'm good at social skills, knowing of self, community, nation and beyond. More so at my level, I was effectively imparting and promoting good values on nation building concepts by being mindful of waste, sanitation and environment imparting the same knowledge to my students. I was also equally happy to share that I've the good concepts of a just and harmonious society, which I use to practice with my students...

The Vision of The Royal Academy -The Bhutan Baccalaureate is something very new for our education system and in fact a historic one.  The general introduction by the program coordinator on the 7-day training on The Bhutan Baccalaureate, way forward seems so special in many ways. The idea and concepts of the Royal Vision was spelt out well and to the grassroots level. Every single program seems so relevant and special, especially for our pupils and community.   My learning of the day was immeasurable and special. I could learn education through transitioning the Bhutan Baccalaureate into reality from Bhutan for Bhutan to across the world.    As I listened to our program coordinator and facilitators and participating schools, I felt so lucky and didn't know how the day had gone.    Almost every aspect of presentation and learning were new to me in particular. I am happy to say that I have learnt tons of new paradigm shifts -perception, mentality, goodness of ...

  Down on the hills I see flowers of different variety Rose, Rhododendron and Orchid My favorite is the Orchid   Down on the hills I see flowers of different colors Red, purple and yellow My favorite is the yellow    Down on the hills   I see flowers of different petals Single, double and three-fold My favorite is the three-fold   Down on the hills   I see flowers of different height Tall, medium and short My favorite is the medium   Down on the hills   I see flowers of different leaves Broad, small and thin My favorite is the thin   Down on the hills I see flowers of different fragrance Sweet, fruity and classic-lily My favorite is the classic-lily   What's your favorite flower?   I love Orchids!  A gift to my GIRL -YESHA BABY

Life is all about math! From early morning till bedtime, everything falls within math whether one is literate or illiterate, rich or poor, east or west. Everything at home is math. How one prepares, and eats every single meal is the fundamentals of math. From shopping to cooking to playing to music to art, it's the multiple of mathematical principles.    For me math is as simple as this, suppose I am preparing an evening tea for my family. I should know the total number of heads, plus the quality of the tea. The important aspects I must know is how much tea leaves, sugar, milk and other ingredients I need for a quality tea. I have to do a simple math within my head before I lay my hand in action for a tea-making job.  In everyday happenings, however, one doesn't need to be good at math class or math activities. It all needs one's imagination relating to figures, numbers and the situation.  Let me share a small anecdote that I can recall of my math class and one of my...