Darren Tay Wen Jie accepting his award as he was crowned the 2016 World Championship of Public Speaking last weekend. Image taken off Darren’s Facebook Page.

2016 World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren Tay Wen Jie

I’m still amazed the fact that the past three winners of the World Champion of Public Speaking have come from Asia. Amazing feat!! First we have the charismatic Dananjaya Hettiarachchi (from Sri Lanka) who won in 2014 and he will be invited for the Brunei Conference in October. The following year was Mohd Qahtani from Qatar in 2015. Two days ago, Darren Tay, was crowned the 2016 World Champion of Public Speaking in Washington DC and his story revolved around bullying.

Looking at his resume, I’m pretty impressed for a man of his age (only 27) to achieve many things. According to his website, he is a prolific public speaker, debater and professional trainer. He founded the Public Speaking Academy in 2009 and has led the Academy to scale great heights in the school and corporate domains; including the successful organization of the annual National Public Speaking Competition since 2010.

He even won the Toastmasters International District 80 Speech competition in 2009, 20012 and 2014 for Speech Evaluation and Table Topics. Amazing feat indeed. He has also published his best-selling public speaking guidebook “Express to Impress” in 2012 and looks forward to subsequent publications in the future.

I do hope he will be able to make it for the upcoming Brunei Conference as a guest speaker and hoping for a favourable response from him. If it is a yes, then we will three world champion speakers for the Brunei Conference this October. Wouldn’t that be awesome? 😀

The top three winners of last weekend’s contest

Shawn Cassidy Narcis was there to experience the contest and this is a photo opportunity with all top three winners

 

Adam Groves with the cast and crew of Primaja at KBSentral last weekend

One of the lucky winners for Primajaya t-shirt during one of the quiz session

It’s less than a month away. The another locally produced movie Primajaya will make it to the local theatres on 15th September 2016. The movie was in production two years ago and I had a privilege to see some of the scenes during the shooting back in 2014. Back then, the good friend Seng Yee was one of the camera operators and I was interested to know how the scenes were shot and all. It was really good to know and appreciate what went behind the scenes and it was never easy since most of them were not full time actors and have other commitments. All of them from the crew and cast volunteered to be part of this project.

I remember two years ago that Adam Groves, the main man behind Primajaya (formerly known as Bahlol), shared with me that he has this project that one day it will hit the cinemas. He finally almost make that dream come true 😀 as it just weeks away before it’s being launched.

Adam Groves recently had a session with the public at KBSentral last weekend to share his experiences in producing his first feature film under the film production company Visual Dimensions Production.

Primajaya tells the story of a local teen who turned his life around after assuming a superhero identity named ‘Bahlol’ in order to fight crime in a fictional city. According to The Brunei Times, Groves reminisced his childhood years in Kuala Belait before moving to the capital where he found his calling for making films. He also shared with the audience the ups and downs he faced in the film industry before offering tips and wisdom to aspiring filmmakers.

Mind you, his upcoming feature film will also mark his 10th year anniversary in venturing into videography. The talk session also saw three lucky winners from the audience as they won Primaya t-shirts.

Good luck bro and see you when the movie hits the screen. All the best. Images courtesy of Visual Dimension Production.

The trailer of Primajaya

Adam Groves speaking to the public on Primajaya’s journey

Finally it has passed the censorship board earlier this year

 

Photo session for the students of Kumon Diligent which was held at Radisson Hotel to mark Kumon Diligent’s one year anniversary. Image courtesy of Kumon Diligent.

Yosuke Sagawa, Deputy General Manager of Kumon Asia and Oceania, officiated the event. Image courtesy of Azmi Zainal of The Brunei Times.

I was always curious how Kumon runs its session to their students and there are many institutions that help to educate young students. So what makes Kumon stands out? So I visited the premises, well their first outlet at BT Complex (near Times Square) and I met the owner Caley Lim as she shared on how Kumon Diligent works and I found it very interesting.

Kumon Diligent is a franchise from Japan and it has been a popular and also effective in grooming young children in improving their math and English. Let’s just say it’s an after-school enrichment program. The last I heard from Caley back in January, she has around 100 over students enrolled under her care and now it hs shoot up over 200 students. That’s quite a lot but she is assisted by her trained staff. It’s quite interesting the fact that the students were given tasks to answer on their own and only when required the trained staff will assist or guide them so the students can answer the questions.

Yesterday, Kumon Diligent celebrated its one year anniversary by holding an award ceremony for its students at Radisson Hotel. According to The Brunei Times, a total of 23 students across three categories — advanced student honour roll one, two and three — receiving awards acknowledging them for their efforts in tackling study material, which are above their current school grade level.

Caley highlighted that the event was also the eve of the school’s one year anniversary, and it represented the culmination of hard work and love for her team. She also expressed her gratitude to the students’ parents and the students themselves for their support throughout its first year.

In under one year, Kumon Diligent has seen over 200 student enrolments. As of June this year, 33 per cent of its students, who have been enrolled for seven months or more, are studying above their current school grade level.

Kumon Diligent is open on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and is located at Unit 31, Ground Floor, BT Complex, Kg Jaya Setia, Bandar Seri Begawan.

The school can be contacted at 7193231 or by email at kumondiligent@outtlook.com and congratulations once again, Caley and her team, for making Kumon Diligent a successful centre for young students. You can also follow on their Facebook page for updates or instagram @kumondiligent

The assistant in blue apron assisting the students with their work. The students, however, will do their own tasks and only ask for assistance if required. This helps them to be more independent on answering tasks given and also building their confidence along the way.

After their session, the students will clean their own area before another session by other students. It teaches them to be responsible too. Pretty good.

The different level of modules catering to different skills of the students.

Caley Lim, the chief instructor of Kumon Diligent, is truly proud of the students’ growth and appreciates the parents for trusting Kumon’s methods of enrichment. The numbers do speak for itself. Keep up the great work!!

(From L) President of Kumon Asia and Oceania Atsushi Yamada, Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Noriko Iki and Chief Instructor of Kumon Diligent Brunei Caley Lim during the launch of Brunei’s first Kumon Diligent Learning Centre in Kg Jaya Setia last August 2015. Image courtesy of Amanda Yap of The Brunei Times.

 

Wu Chun, managing director of Fitness Zone with the management form AOX Natural (Brunei).

Press release form @aoxbrunei. From month of August onwards, Fitness Zone members can enjoy Natural Antioxidant-rich Alkaline water from AOX Natural. DescGroup Enterprise is the sole distributor for AOX Natural in Brunei Darussalam. AOX Natural was founded with the vision of helping many improve their health and has been awarded as the Asia Pacific Super Health Brand 1st Winner in Singapore Alkaline water industry.

AOX, the champion award winning brand ionises your water through the generous infusion of hydrogen, oxygen and negatively charged ions. This gives your water millions of powerful antioxidants which is highly effective in preventing free radicals damage. Antioxidants works just like Vitamin C! They strengthen your immunity system and promote anti-aging, keeping you looking and feeling fresh and youthful.

AOX mineralises water with health-sustaining minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium and silica to promote healthy cells, bones, joints, organs and skin.

AOX removes dust, sand, rust and other forms of sediments in the water. AOX removes harmful chemicals and cancer causing substances such as chlorine, THM, pesticides and carcinogens. It also eradicates odour in the water, making it smell and taste great!

AOX showroom is at Unit 12, spg 1080, Lot 27772, kg Kilanas, Negara Brunei Darussalam. For details, contact 8289089 or 8739948

“I strongly feel there is a huge synergy between Fitness Zone and AOX as we share the same vision that is to provide healthier lifestyle to our members,” said Wu Chun. He added: “Our members deserve the best that’s why I choose AOX because they are a trusted brand in Singapore supplying water dispenser to thousands of households, offices, hospitals, clinics and government offices including Prime Minister office, 365 Cancer Prevention Society, Kidney Dialysis Foundation, Crossfit boxes, Momentum Lab, etc.”

Sam, the Sales Manager of AOX Natural highlighted, drinking AOX Natural can help the body to eliminate acidity and detox more effectively, thereby preventing many of the diseases which are caused by a diet high in acidic substances. Other benefits includes Daily-Aging, improves metabolism, improve immune system, improves blood circulation, etc.

He continues, AOX also reduces water molecules to smaller water clusters which mean that your body is able to hydrate more effectively than normal water. Any protein drinks make with AOX become immediately more effective, simply because more of it is getting into your cells.

You can follow updates on their IG @aoxbrunei