Ordinary Monday!

Today, Pablo came in without his glasses. So I asked him, where are your glasses....he said "Never mind....I'm ok without it!" (He's 5 and he's Spanish...and he's really cute!) So I showed him 2 fingers and asked him how many fingersI am showing, he said 2, I quickly took out another finger to make it 3.....and told him..."wrong...!!!" I laughed and told him without his glasses he cannot even tell I had 3 fingers out. We tried again. I showed 3 fingers and asked him again....He answered.."Threeeeee!!!" And again, I quickly took out another finger to make it 4. And laughed at him because he was wrong. He wasn't wrong, but I told him he was....just to tease him. In the end, I just wanted to make him laugh and tried one last time. Asked him how many fingers I was showing...(I had 4!)...Pablo...the smart Alec...said..."FIIIIIIVEEE!!!" .... mmmmmmmmmm

Inesh decided to join in our normal class and not coming for his free trial class tomorrow. So when he was at the centre, being in the pre kindy class, he was all by himself. he kept asking how come he's on his own. In the end, I found out he wanted to know how come Kayla wasn't around.....ehem!

Alif came in a hurry just now. When asked where he was going, he simply said..."I'm going to my mother in law's house..." The story behind it is, his mom always says that referring to Alif's grandma. However, this little young man picked it up wrongly.

Alif's concert

Today I went to a musical concert. I was invited by Alif & Sarah's mom. It's a nice gesture I should say. We've known each other for more than 6 years and I have known Alif's family before he was never even thought of!!! Sarah was 4 when she first came to me and now she's 11. I was told that they've both practiced so hard and was looking forward to today. They were happy when I agreed to accept their invitation.

Unfortunately, this morning, Sarah felt very sick and discovered she had "chicken pox'!!!!! So, we only had the chance to watch Alif (he's only 6) playing piano.

Today's theme was "the Christmas Shoes". The song they played were mostly Christmas Carols. I was actually very excited because I knew many more students of mine were going to be there. True enough, I saw a few. Let me recall,.... Syazlan, Sabrina, Jasrene, Venessa, Michelle, Themis, Annoula, Nicole, Krisha, Jessica, Claire, Maria...I think that's all.

Alif was funny. This was going to be his first concert. He begged his mom to let him wear a real suit. Just before Haloween, his mom managed to get him a tail-suit...and he actually wore that to the concert. Too bad he wasn't allowed to wear it during his performance because they were suppose to wear something red. The minute he finished the concert, he quickly ran to his mom. I was observing him and had to laugh out loud when I saw him quickly put on his "magician"tail-suit again. He told me he should have worn the bow tie as well.

I had a great time. He later asked me to join him and his mom for pizza.

One time, many years ago another student invited me for her school play (Stephen King's - Three Blind Mice). It was nice too.

We made it!!! 200!!!

I think meetings with parents are very important. That's why, I've decided to meet parents on a one on one basis every Tuesday and Friday morning. So far I've met quite a few.

I sent messages to mothers with children not showing progress so much for the last few months. During this time, I can evaluate also how much commitment parents are giving to ensure their children's success.

From now on, I'm going to use my students' names when I tell something about them. I am running out of names to call them, so it's only fair if I use their first names.

Finally, we have reached the aim we've set months ago. We have slightly more than 200 students now. I was just counting the other day.

Samantha is taking a break from the Standard 6 exam but will be coming in January together with her 5 yr old sister.

Last Friday, in the Pre Kindy class I saw how little children socialize and thought how easy it is for them, compared to adults at times. Inesh and Kayla both 4 were sitting next to each other when doing their work. When i was taking something and not loking Inesh asked Kayla quickly what he name was. Kayla went like this, "Hi, I'm Kayla and I'm 4. How old are you?" It just made me laugh because they even shook hands.

Alif who is 6 started when he was 4. From the beginning he had problem in holding his pencil. No matter how we taught him, he'll always end up holding the pencil the way he does. Now he's doing an advance level, but still holding his pencil that "wrong" way. However, I have no complains about his writing. It's usually neat and acceptable. I had a meeting with his mom on Friday. She brought up the issue, telling how his school teacher are telling her off for not training him to hold the pencil properly. His mom, later told me that her husband, till now, must be about 40 plus, is still holding his pen the way Alif does. So......I rest my case.

This is sad.....

My nephew will stop being my student from next month. It took him 6 yrs to come to the centre to enrol and now his dad (my cousin) has decided to take him out.

From the very beginning, his mom never liked the idea of him being under my care. (this is not just a goSSip!) When both parents were first called for Orientation, she made such a big fuss. She even called when we had started the Orientation to ask for direction to the centre, when it's only 3 minutes walk from her house. (to me, that's to show how disinterested she was) .

Anyway, after persuasion from her husband, they enrolled "my nephew". I've never really met my nephew before that. Yeah..that was already sad!

From the day he was enrolled, she never had anything nice to say about it. She'll always complain of how terrible his marks were, and how little progress he's made.

Anyway, last month, "my nephew" has been collecting homework and never passed up his homework, claiming that he's there straight from school. I warned him last week and wanted to wait till today, before I decide to make a move to tell "my cousin". However, before I even get to do that, he called me yesterday. Actually to find out how his son is doing and if he still owes us.

I told him about the missing homework, and he told me about how badly his son has done in the last exam. So I decided to tell him that he will only show positive progress if he changes his attitude and starts to be serious about doing his work daily. At that point, he decided that this method doesn't work.

To me, it'd work if he's given the chance to change and given a lot of encouragement, not just from daddy, he'd show some progress. But thinking about how much effort "my nephew" has done and still never got any kinds of acknowledgement from his mom, ...I feel that I should back out. It's already a family thing, and I should not get involved.

However, today, "my nephew" had tears in his eyes when he told me he will have to stop coming to the centre. He almost shed those tears when I told him he can always come by to the centre if he wants to and I'd always be there to help....even not as a student. After all, it's only 2 mins by bike, 3 mins if walking and 30 secs by car!!!

The Presentation

During the Students' Orientation, I decided to do it step by step. First we gave the students their diagnostic test. From 3pm to 3:25, we gave all of them at least 2 diagnostic test. After that, some managed to do the Number Board.

Right after the test, I gave them a short briefing. I wanted to give them a brief idea of why they were sent there. Because the age group were from 4 to 13 yrs, I could not talk the way I would to bigger children. I had to make sure the little ones (age 4) would understand it too. However, I could not please everyone. 3 of the students do not understand English. So i had to promise them that I'd tell them what I was saying in their next class.

After that, we had a short tour. Funny how they waved to their mother when we passed the waiting room. Somehow, they looked kinda happy to walk around....in the 1650 sq ft centre. What did they see? The toilets, the mini liabrary, the Pre Kindy Room, the waiting room, the folders' lane and..... that's it.

Everyone had to do their classwork for the day after all that. They all looked quite pleased before they left....well of course...they were eating "cloud 9" chocolate.

Free Trial Orientation

I've been terribly busy for the last few weeks. At some point I almost thought I had a weak heart. I wanted to just stay under the covers and sleep for a long long time. That never happened. Instead, I met 20 over new students and am very happy that they have started to call me just like my other students. We had an orienation for the students last Friday. Despite the rain, they all came in on time. All looking excited, but when asked if they knew why their parents sent them there, not all answered immediately. One girl, half American, half Indian, said out loud.."to make us smarter....!" she's only 4.

This month, we've also decided to accept children below 4. So far we got 3 to 3 and a half. We've got "Smart Boy's Little Brother" who is also very talkative and smart. On his first day, he decided to tell us that he'll be our no: 1 student one day.

Little prim and proper followed all the rules, but I think all she can remember of the first day is "cloud 9" chocolate and "Higgly Town" stickers. Yes, yes, yes......we bribed them all that on the first day!!!

Little Lady Like had her purple handbag in her arms. When she came last week, she had a maroon bag with a little butterfly on it. She'd do everything she's asked to do, but in the end of the session, all she wanted to do was colouring. I thought that was good, because it helped her a lot with her motor skill. She's holding her pencil properly now, and she's only 3. This doesn't happen all the time. I can't even remember if I was able to do that when I was 3.

We have another "ketul". A tough little kiddo. I think he's the most difficult one in this group. He's only 3 and a little spoilt. His favourite word is " I don't want!" I can't even make him sit still for 2 minutes. He loves to sit on our little writing table while talking to me. He's kinda cute at this age, being chubby, and grumpy....but in years to come, if he doesn't change...I think I'm going to have a difficult time.

Aiyoooooh!!!!

Mr "Aiyoh! My school ah, many ppl ah, the maths, not nice....." came yesterday and asked for another 105 flyers!!! why the extra 5!!! I don't know.

Free Trial Campaign

What a week it has been. After a long break, the students came back with a lot of unmarked homework. We're all going nuts at the centre trying to finish all the marking as soon as we can.

I feel like I have constant headache, trying to prepare for the free trial campaign.

Today we had our first Parents' Orientation. I hope by next week more people are aware of our free trial campaign. In trying to spread the news, we've decided to give 3 flyers each to our students, so that they can give them to their friends. We didn't think the students would be excited. Our tag line was, "Give them to your 3 good friends so that they can experience the program!" We had a lot of different feedback. Here they are:

1) "Haiyoooo! I have more than 3 good friends!"
2) "Never mind, I don't think my friends want to do homework like me"
3) "Give me more, at my school, a lot of them ah.....their maths, not nice" (meaning: alot of my school mates are not good in maths.)
4) "Teacher! you gave me 4!....NAH! " while giving me back the extra flyer.
5) "My three good friends are S...,M,...and P...." .... they're all our existing students!!!
6)"Teacher give me more, I will put in my neighbour's post box!"

Complains

A long break is not always good for the brain. I'm just complaining because having 2 staff still not present, and having to answer calls, teach and evaluate students all at the same time isn't easy at all.