Ryan finished off Edudrama at Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning a few weeks back. As I have mentioned before on this blog, we've decided that we won't be continuing next term.
Apart from the fact that the English and Mandarin classes will be held at separate locations from next term, we are not keen for a few other reasons.
For the English class, we feel that, in certain aspects, Ryan is too advanced, although he is the youngest in his class. According to Teacher Alexis, the main focus of the class now is to introduce the letter sounds and to familiarise the children with the alphabet. Ryan is more than familiar with the alphabet and letter sounds. I'd mentioned before that, at the start of the class, when all the names of the children are on the white board, Teacher Alexis will point to the first letter of each name and ask what's this? Ryan is the only one who identifies the letters (he shouts them out!). He is also the only one who can read his name. When Teacher Alexis points to Ryan's name (without saying it aloud), Ryan doesn't say anything - instead, he crawls over to the front of the classroom to acknowledge his name!
Another reason is that the class is not focusing on speech and drama at this stage and that was the area that we were targeting when we signed Ryan up. Teacher Alexis said that, at this stage, it is good enough for Ryan to have the courage and the confidence to get up and go to the front of the classroom to present the show-and-tell (and he does do this), even if he ends up not saying anything.
Actually, Teacher Alexis said that Ryan is doing fine. However, the fact that Ryan is doing well actually supports our decision to pull him out, because we feel that he doesn't need the class (at this point). We might consider enrolling him again when he's older, when the programme focuses more on speech and drama (this is when the children reach kindergarten age).
For the Mandarin class, we think it's not enough to help Ryan. Whatever is introduced in the weekly class is wasted because we don't practise it at home, so it's really pointless for us. Richard is seriously thinking of enrolling Ryan in a Mandarin pre-school!
Be that as it may, I think Ryan definitely had a lot of fun in the programme so the last day of class was a pretty sad one. Thank you JG! Ryan had a wonderful 1.5 years under your care!
6 comments:
Hi I came across your blog and it is such a wonderful interesting one. I am considering the once a week play club and am on waiting list.. Just wondering which ore school u sent your son to after JG..? I'm afraid mine may get so used to Jg n then having a change may affect him.. I definitely won't b able to afford the chiltern house fees u see..
Hi Fara! I think it's perfectly fine whichever preschool your son goes to after JG. Not all the children in PlayClub end up in Chiltern House, in fact most don't. No worries!
thanks pinkie pirate :)
i really hope my son gets a place in the sundays class..xx
thanks !
hi thanks! really do hope to get a place in the play club :)
if i dont then ill consider other options where i can spend time w my son ;) fara
Hi, it was really fascinating to read about your blog. I am so happy to read some unbias comment about JG. My son is currently at the PlayClub for term 1. I totally agree with you that PlayClub is not a place that will do magic to your child's development. I also started to find that they prefer kids who will listen and sit still throughout the routine. M
May I know which preschool do you send your son to after JG?
Hi Angeline, PlayClub is a good way to expose your child to a little bit of music, storytime, crafts, etc. Of course, there is just a little bit of each thing once a week, so I would not call it formative. Still it's fun. :) Ryan attends a playbased preschool now.
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