This post is a little late, I know. I've been working on the blog's new look and here it is! Hope you like it! There is a new section on Ryan's learning activities at home and there is also a link to our photo gallery (click on the tabs under the header) - hope you'll enjoy going through them.
Well, last weekend was quite interesting because, having turned 18 months on Thursday (22 July), Ryan became eligible to join the Bilingual Playclub at the Julia Gabriel Learning Centre. We had put him on the waiting list some months back and the school told us that they would give us a call once Ryan turned 18 months and we could bring him in then. We were not too optimistic that Ryan would get a place in the present term because he would only turn 18 months in the fourth week of the term and we thought that places would be filled up by then. As it turned out, the day after he turned 18 months which was Friday, we got the call, and so Ryan had his first class on Saturday (2 to 4 pm).
The class was led by four teachers, two who spoke in Mandarin and the other two, in English. The structure of the class is similar to the Playnest class that Ryan attended during the June holiday programme. Of course, the lessons/activities are a little more advanced. The class is also a little longer than Playnest but I think that's because there are many more children in Playclub so things take longer (especially the arts and crafts session).
I'm not sure if Ryan understood any of the Mandarin that was being spoken, certainly he had no clue when the teachers called him by his Chinese name. Embarrassingly, I also had no clue! I know what Ryan's Cantonese name is but the teachers were asking me how to write his Chinese name and I had to confess that I didn't know. I had to ask Richard to bring Ryan's birth certificate to show the teachers after class! Hmm, maybe I'll learn some Mandarin from this class too?
As he just qualified for the class two days prior, Ryan is the youngest student there. He is still quite tiny compared to some of the others. During the arts and crafts session, Ryan has to do his work standing on the chair, even though the chairs and tables are already child-sized!
After class, Ryan had a long nap and when he woke up, we went out for dinner. We met up with Richard's ex-colleague, David Tan, and his girlfriend at Clarke Quay. Ryan was all rested and energised from his nap and he wanted to stretch his legs - and so he preferred to walk about instead of eat. And boy did he want to walk about! He walked and walked for more than two hours! And for more than two hours, I had to follow him! Up and down the pavement, across the road and back again, up and down the stairs, in and out of the restaurant. When we got home, both of us collapsed into bed.
After a good night's rest, we went for our usual Sunday swimming session. Ryan is doing really well in class. Here's a (grainy) video of him in class - you can see that he can put his head underwater and he can kick his feet to propel himself forward. Confident and fearless, he delivers a high-five at the end.
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