The school term is almost coming to an end. Teachers are almost done with the assessments and wrapping up the different units for their teaching. Field trips, class plays and other activities are usually organised during this period.
Darling son YW's class put up two plays, each lasting five minutes. He was the narrator of the play, Click, Clack, Moo. Here's our three narrators.
And here's Farmer Brown, the cows who love to type, and the chicken.
We had fun watching the play. The kids worked hard rehearsing their play, and they did well! Being younger, they were given shorter lines, and each play lasted only five minutes.
I think these plays help to boost the kids' self confidence and their public speaking skills. I really hope that Singapore's primary schools can be just as fun and as nurturing. Memorizing phrases for composition is not being creative. Doing lots of homework is no fun. Staying back for extra lessons is exhausting. Why did all the fun and creativity go then? Kids are kids. And kids learn best through play, not through numerous assessments. You want them to learn a skill and to know their strength and weakness. You don't want them to learn a fact to get an "A", only to forget about it a couple of months later.
So for the time being, I'll let my boys enjoy their childhood as much as they can, before entering the stressful education system in two years' time.
Enjoyed this post, the kids are so cute in their headgear. :) I think YW must be one of the best in reading and speaking, that's why he's the narrator, right? So smart-looking too.
ReplyDeleteBtw, the school lessons are very interesting now lei. Much better than our time. At least for neighborhood schools lah, not stressful and very fun. ds1 had a lot of skits and games too for both P1 and 2. No exams.
However, I heard upper levels are still stressful. Perhaps they are changing the system from lower levels. I hope by the time ds1 is in P6, the PSLE is totally revamped! :)
I think they get to chose what role they want to play. ONe of the narrator's mom said her son didn't want to play the role of animals, so he opted for the narrator role, as he could read from the script and hid behind the sheet of paper. But for KW's play, the teacher randomly assigned, using numbering.
ReplyDeleteI think the schools in the pilot project have a more relaxed curriculum and fun activities. I heard that the very good schools still have a lot of homework leh. And they teach the P6 syllabus in P5, so that they can just do revision in P6. So I guess from P4 onwards, it's accelerated learning.
I think he read really well. :) Watched your vid on FB.
ReplyDeleteYa, heard that too, wonder how it'll be for the boys in couple yrs time.
Abt the not marking for spelling, I noticed in the previous sch in Tianjin, they were like that too, not wanting the kids to be inhibited or care too much abt spelling.
So far, this aspect hasn't changed here in Sg, they still are strict abt this. I think lower levels shd be more free to express. For Chinese though, we are lucky his tr marks for content else he'll fail his compo-writing-- too many mistakes!
the kids in Grade2/3 have spelling "test" every week. so i guess it is ok for not being able to spell correctly in K/1. but more importantly, to learn to read, write and expand ideas at a younger age, since you get all kinds of silly and fun ideas at that age.
ReplyDeletei read that sg international sch in hk does the same. as in not correctly the spelling, but focus on ideas in writing instead. so why aren't they doing it in Sg? I really think the teaching in schools kills their creativity.
silly yw memorised his lines, even though he knew he could read from the script. will let him know that you write about reading well. he will be happy =)