Crisis

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It has been a wonderful journey with my toddlers, I have loved every moment of every day with them. The parents support is amazing and I am so thankful for the parents. They motivates me, they inspires me. Most importantly, they value and appreciate me and my work.

To commence a new academic year, I will be taking a not-so-new class, I know them since they were tiny toddlers, was there as their caregiver for almost two years, watched them get toilet-trained, taught them how to speak and write and many stuffs. I guess life is a full circle, what comes around goes around.  

I wonder why are teachers often underappreciated. How can families and school empower each other? What is the purpose of work when passion weans off? Is this what they called quarter-life crisis? 

The Green School and The Anak Atelier

Alongside with my work colleagues, we set off for a long weekend cum pubic holiday trip to Bali, Indonesia. Personally, we spent time touring around the place - life was so different in a developing country, you realized how lucky you are when you're from Singapore, but also how mollycoddled you are, and also how protected you are. Professionally, we visited two very beautiful and successful international schools - The Green School and The Anak Atelier. There was simply so much to learn from these schools, ultimately, it is about what we can bring back to our local context. 

1. What is Sustainability in Singapore? Potential in Early Childhood.

At Green School, you could clearly see self-sufficiency of the large campus with abundant of natural resources. Natural resources are planted or attained within the local community - teak, bamboo, wood, plastic, fabric. Beyond just using natural resources in learning corners, all their building structures were made with bamboos! Learning takes place mainly outdoors and they values conservation of endangered species, planting their own food resources and managing long-term recycling projects. At Anak Atelier, we see re-purpose in recyclables ; using the same tools for a different purpose. Unlike recycling, reducing and reusing, re-purpose seeks new meaning in the recyclables. For instance, using plastic bottles as eco-brick. Singapore being one of the 'greenest' city in the world, honestly, we lack in educating ourselves on sustainability. I believe more work and efforts has to be invested to achieve our sustainability development goals. In terms of preschool education, there must be education and advocacy on protecting the planet. My suggestion - start by having schools without air-conditioning. 

2. Cultural, Tradition and Heritage. What is Singapore about?

At both Green School and Anak Atelier, you see that they prioritize outdoor play, specifically mud play, they have their own mud field. Why? Their rationale was genius because ingenious Balinese are farmers and spent most of their time in paddies fields. Mud Play was their culture, their comfort zone and their kind of lifestyle. Akin to water play and sand play, mud play promotes integrated learning and development. In my opinion, mud play would not be a smart idea in our local schools due to our culture and resources. We can go back to our heritage and discover who are we as a country, what is our history teaching us? Also, in foresight, if technology is our top priority, should preschools begin introducing coding and programming at a young age? 

In both schools, we see the strong collaboration with parents and community as well. Parents volunteer as tour guides for the school's open house and diversity of their cultures are embraced and evident. In terms of community involvement, it is beyond just going for a community walk. Their curriculum sets for children to do more for their community through sustainability projects, education and advocacy while  the community provides local resources to the school continuously. This reminds us that we must tap on our community resources - beyond just textbook knowledge, what can we do for the community? 

3. Outdoor Play as a core curriculum

Be it rain or shine, Balinese children spends at least half their school time learning about the natural world around them. There are substantial research on the importance of outdoor play for our young children and I wonder when would our curriculum shift out from paper and pencil. Sadly, outdoor play has often been compromised for core curriculum learning in our local schools. Simply put, we care too little on their physical development (except their writing and penmanship), we plan too little physical space for our children to utilize. If our land is scarce for large outdoor play area, what are some creative potential strategies? Co-sharing? Intentional public areas? 

I like how Indonesia has a rich and complex culture. Being a developing culture, they embraces, preserves and innovates their own natural resources and cultures. I'm in the amidst of planning for a potential childcare/schools visit in Shanghai and London in October, I would love to get in touch with you if you have any suggestions! 

New Bride in Town

It has been a hectic yet fulfilling 2017 so far. First and foremost, I married to the man of my dreams in March, a day after my 24th birthday. I must say we have been understanding and supportive partners in the entire process of the wedding - thankfully, both our ideas and mindset were aligned. We had our Solemnization with Mr Stephan Chia at National Museum of Singapore, Flutes. The ambiance, food and event line up was elegant yet simple - causal chatters among high-end service. The Flutes Team headed by Ms Eileen was professional to cater to our every needs. We were blessed with helpful friends and family members and we hope our guests enjoyed themselves as we much as did! Here are two highlights beautifully taken by Marcus Low (Instagram: ahliuxuekai).

That's all! Look out for my next post on my recent Learning Journey to Bali! 

Happy Chinese New Year

How times flies! I started this writing space to document my thoughts as a fresh early childhood educator, learning to surviving! As I look forward to my third year of teaching, let's look back on my first and second year. 

First Year was indeed, survival mode. 

Toddlers - food allergies, safety, picking eating, diaper rashes, hygiene, self-help, routines, parents, newborns...I failed, reflected and learnt! Taking an hour train ride during peak hour to get to work, that took time to get used as well. 

Second Year of teaching was about advocacy, for me. 

When I first received news that I would be a mentor to a student-teacher, I was unsure. I have worked with great mentor, and I wasn't sure if I could be of useful help to her. Asides from sharing my knowledge and experience with her, it was mostly about being a positive support for her to be successful. Being there for her to bridge her communication with parents, helping her to observe and understand the toddlers better and helping her to make decisions upon her imminent graduation. I was so blessed to have great teachers and recommendations throughout my academic career, and I was so thankful for my opportunity to help and inspire her along the way, paying forward. 

Advocacy through parent workshops too - oh boy. I followed the toddlers up in my second year and yes, the parents finally listened to some of my nagging. Great! Like many other parents, I have met parents who do not believe or practice learning through play, they wanted phonics, additions, weather for three-years-old. Along with my team, we advocate for early literacy through stori-gami, authors' study and wordless picture book. Authors' Study on Julia Donaldson was too much fun! With Room on the Broom, The Smartest Giant in Town and A Squish and A Squeeze, the toddlers displayed strong interest in literature, creative story-lines and confidence in storytelling! 

We advocate for early numeracy through block play, penne and macaroni play, class party, and many more. 

We advocate for early science through ice play, rain play and class pets and more. 

Lastly, I've worked with Times Publishing on a short ad-hoc article on Negotiating Effective with Young Children, you can browse through here: https://www.goguru.com.sg/cms/index.php/articles/details/negotiating-effectively-with-your-child.  Go goguru.com > article > Negotiating with Young Children. Do support them and they do provide great learning and teaching resources and workshops. I went to Austria for an overseas trip with AECES too, and I am still learning to bring the best from there into our local context. Takes some time and tweaking! 

Looking forward to an exciting third year! 

(PS: I am getting married in March, let's see how work-life balances?)