#003 From Math Failure to Math Master w/ Karen Lai

This podcast episode started out as a working session with Karen Lai from Mentorhood. As we started chatting about education, I recommended us to film our conversation because there were so many things that I came away impressed with her approach to teaching children math - especially in Hong Kong. We discuss her story on how she got started on her business, the problems she's out to solve, how games motivate children, the importance of losing, how both the progress and process are critical, and her own story of how she went from a math "failure" to a math master. We believe parents would get a lot of value from this conversation. Hope you enjoy! Check out Mentorhood's services in Hong Kong and Canada at www.mentorhoodmath.com. 00:00 - The kid who gave Karen her first boost with Mentorhood 02:30 - How Mentorhood uses games to teach math 04:20 - The importance of losing 05:30 - The psychology behind motivation 07:00 - The importance of relationships in Mentorhood 09:05 - How kids develop motivation 10:10 - Examples of games at Mentorhood 12:45 - The science of learning styles 17:40 - Acquiring life skills through math games 19:20 - The problem of gold stars (extrinsic motivation) in education 24:30 - Soft skills are being neglected 28:10 - What types of parents would work best with Mentorhood’s approach 30:25 - The importance of class sizes 34:05 - Why Karen started Mentorhood 41:15 - Going from failing math to being a math master; creating a fusion of Eastern and Western styles 42:10 - Comparing the math education in Canada with other parts of the world Video version available on YouTube channel “Dr. Jon Tam” Sign up for the free training "Stop Feeling Stuck in Your Career: Find Your Dream Career" Take a FREE and accurate career personality test Download PDF on How to find your dream career If you enjoyed the episode, please give us a positive review and let us know what else you want to hear about. Don't forget to subscribe if you enjoyed our content. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Join my group Career Change Advice on Facebook to receive regular updates and connect with others going through a career change here. Let's connect on social media: Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube