One fine afternoon last March, I visited my friend at her office tagging along my toddler just to have a short play time with her toddler. Then just before we part our ways, I thought of dropping by Cambridge since it's just within their building. We went together to check out the place and inquire for the rates as well. The complete name of the school is Cambridge Child Development Centre, a Singapore International Preschool.
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| March 26. Two toddlers playing at the 'outdoor' playground of Cambridge. |
Upon entering the class area, the toddlers ran loose towards the outdoor playground while the mommies were attended by Teacher Kevin to discuss their curriculum and fees. I personally felt excited while he was showing to us a photo album of students in action and how they conduct their class. Their approach is Project-Based Ecological Model or PBEM for short. I wasn't able to observe this during the 3-day trial class but you can research more about it here.
So we went there March 26 and because the summer class will be starting soon, April 6 right after the Holy Week, we weren't allowed to schedule a trial class already. The next available schedule was on May 4 which means our April will be vacant. Anyway, we were told to bring a pair of slippers, toothbrush and toothpaste and a set of clothes.
Fast forward to our first day of trial. We came in 15 minutes late despite that it's a 10-minute walk from our place. I'm actually the one excited since it's my first time as a mom to bring my child to a school. It's quite challenging to wake a toddler up, rush her to eat breakfast, change clothes and prepare her baon. Upon arriving at the center, everybody was busy since the sessions have already started. Baby A was assigned at the toddler class, separated from my friend's toddler.
The whole time I accompanied my toddler inside and observed the surrounding, from the students, teachers, materials, lessons, teaching method and of course Baby A's reaction and performance.
Circle Time
The first thing that I noticed was the class is just a handful. They started the class with action songs to engage the small kids and to warm them up. The teacher assigned to her class is Teacher Nicole, or T. Nicole for short. She was one of the Chinese teachers so they were conversed and taught with both English and Chinese songs and lessons.
Fast forward to our first day of trial. We came in 15 minutes late despite that it's a 10-minute walk from our place. I'm actually the one excited since it's my first time as a mom to bring my child to a school. It's quite challenging to wake a toddler up, rush her to eat breakfast, change clothes and prepare her baon. Upon arriving at the center, everybody was busy since the sessions have already started. Baby A was assigned at the toddler class, separated from my friend's toddler.
The whole time I accompanied my toddler inside and observed the surrounding, from the students, teachers, materials, lessons, teaching method and of course Baby A's reaction and performance.
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| May 4, 2015. Day 1 of the trial class. |
The first thing that I noticed was the class is just a handful. They started the class with action songs to engage the small kids and to warm them up. The teacher assigned to her class is Teacher Nicole, or T. Nicole for short. She was one of the Chinese teachers so they were conversed and taught with both English and Chinese songs and lessons.
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| Their syllabus |
