Shichida
Sunday 7th April was Zia's first lesson at Shichida. Needless to say, I was the one who was super excited. :)
We enrolled in the Springleaf Tower branch instead of Toa Payoh Hub branch. Partly due to better reviews, mostly due to closer vicinity to Marine Parade. Funny considering I was offered a job as an instructor there. Passed their tests and interviews (boy did they have lots of tests - flashcard test, art/drawing test, open ended essay). The principal really wanted me to join, even gave me the contract to bring home to reconsider. But I rejected the offer as I needed a job that would pay better and have better salary increments).
Neway, wanted to take a bus to Anson Rd, but Zia fell asleep so we took taxi instead just the three of us.
Reached half an hour before class (as instructed in the letter) but admin staff at the counter said, "So early?" -__- So we took our Shichida starter kit bag and chose the free t-shirt size for zia and then headed down to explore. Found a Mac so me and the daddeh shared a double choc frappe (thereafter appointed as his new favourite drink).
Made friends with a Chinese couple whose daughter is one year old and Zia's classmate. The mummy seems really nice. :) I click better with Chinese ladies than I do with ladies who like to "step kakak2" or ladies who like to bitch and rant abt people.
There were 11 of us in the classroom. Teacher Shadiqin (she's a super nice Malay lady with a somewhat American accent), me & zia, bonnie & her daughter, two mommies with their babies and a dad with his baby. Rare to find a Singaporean dad more interested than the mom to attend things like this, so my respect goes to him. It's compulsory for parent to attend classes together with the child; Shichida believes that parent-child bonding is important for healthy and positive learning.
Class started with the Japanese hello song. Super cute. Had to bow konnichiwa sensei and konnichiwa minnasan (coincidentally good practice for the Japan trip). Then there was the energy ball exercises, parent/baby hugging bonding session, book reading, abc song (zia really loved the abc song, nope it's not the same usual twinkle2 lil star tune), alphabet recognition game, esp training exercises, song interval, flashcards, motor skills activities, telepathy exercises, more fun songs, then it was time for teacher to fill up observation book and we could go home. Total about 75 minutes. Class was really fun and rather fast paced so it's definitely not boring.
Nonetheless, there was a baby who slept thru most of the class. Understandable, baby is only 4 mths old so he needs more naps. He decided to wake up in the last minute of class tho. :p
All in all a good first day experience. Most importantly, Zia had a good time. ^_^ I would never have signed up anyway if I wasn't sure she would love it. She was so chatty and active throughout class. Bz talking to her friends, who either just stared at her blankly or smiled back. :p
After class ended, zia timely fell asleep still in the classroom. Too tired from all the fun.
Can't wait for the next lesson. X)
We enrolled in the Springleaf Tower branch instead of Toa Payoh Hub branch. Partly due to better reviews, mostly due to closer vicinity to Marine Parade. Funny considering I was offered a job as an instructor there. Passed their tests and interviews (boy did they have lots of tests - flashcard test, art/drawing test, open ended essay). The principal really wanted me to join, even gave me the contract to bring home to reconsider. But I rejected the offer as I needed a job that would pay better and have better salary increments).
Neway, wanted to take a bus to Anson Rd, but Zia fell asleep so we took taxi instead just the three of us.
Reached half an hour before class (as instructed in the letter) but admin staff at the counter said, "So early?" -__- So we took our Shichida starter kit bag and chose the free t-shirt size for zia and then headed down to explore. Found a Mac so me and the daddeh shared a double choc frappe (thereafter appointed as his new favourite drink).
Made friends with a Chinese couple whose daughter is one year old and Zia's classmate. The mummy seems really nice. :) I click better with Chinese ladies than I do with ladies who like to "step kakak2" or ladies who like to bitch and rant abt people.
There were 11 of us in the classroom. Teacher Shadiqin (she's a super nice Malay lady with a somewhat American accent), me & zia, bonnie & her daughter, two mommies with their babies and a dad with his baby. Rare to find a Singaporean dad more interested than the mom to attend things like this, so my respect goes to him. It's compulsory for parent to attend classes together with the child; Shichida believes that parent-child bonding is important for healthy and positive learning.
Class started with the Japanese hello song. Super cute. Had to bow konnichiwa sensei and konnichiwa minnasan (coincidentally good practice for the Japan trip). Then there was the energy ball exercises, parent/baby hugging bonding session, book reading, abc song (zia really loved the abc song, nope it's not the same usual twinkle2 lil star tune), alphabet recognition game, esp training exercises, song interval, flashcards, motor skills activities, telepathy exercises, more fun songs, then it was time for teacher to fill up observation book and we could go home. Total about 75 minutes. Class was really fun and rather fast paced so it's definitely not boring.
Nonetheless, there was a baby who slept thru most of the class. Understandable, baby is only 4 mths old so he needs more naps. He decided to wake up in the last minute of class tho. :p
All in all a good first day experience. Most importantly, Zia had a good time. ^_^ I would never have signed up anyway if I wasn't sure she would love it. She was so chatty and active throughout class. Bz talking to her friends, who either just stared at her blankly or smiled back. :p
After class ended, zia timely fell asleep still in the classroom. Too tired from all the fun.
Can't wait for the next lesson. X)