Bao Bei Reading Wonderland : Day 1

Today marks the first day Ethan attending Mandarin classes at Bao Bei. We went there 10 minutes early to have a look at the premise before enrolling Ethan. We did not get to see the classroom during our last visit there last week as they were in a midst of a class then.

Hand sanitizer

I saw ALL the kids getting their hands sanitized before entering the classroom. Thumbs up.

Can you spot Ethan? 

I was amazed at Ethan. I sent him into the classroom and he went straight to the toy box, ignoring me completely! He did not even look back for me. Thumbs up! :D I made my way out immediately as I see him comfortable with his friends already.

Now, let’s take a look at the premise..

Decorated walls

Lots of teaching aid on the wall. Thumbs up.

Teachers in pink

Teachers are early and ready for the day’s lesson. Thumbs up.

White board

White board is mounted very high. Thumbs down. I doubt the kids can reach it but then again, maybe the white board is not meant for the kids to write/draw on it. Still, I prefer it to be lower so the kids would not have to tilt their head so high.

Computer

Spacious. Thumbs up. I saw one desktop computer at the corner. I don’t know if the kids will use it but my guess is that it is for the teachers. I also saw an overhead projector mounted on the ceiling.

The wall

Lots and lots of reading materials on the walls. Thumbs up.

The door to the classroom is totally shut during lessons. No parents/guardians are allowed to enter during lessons. I totally AGREE to this! There is nothing I despise more than parents/guardians interfering during classes. At Bao Bei, you can’t even peep if you want to, there is no glass door or window for you to peek! THUMBS UP, UP, UP!

They started the class with a song. Well, though I can’t see a single thing from outside, I can hear clearly what is going on. After the song, I heard lessons going on. After some time, I heard the teacher say, “,Xiǎo péngyǒu, Qù cèsuǒ…and Hē shuǐ, Hē shuǐ, “. I guess what she is saying is, “little friends, go to the loo and drink water” :D

I heard Ethan’s voice. I heard him talking.. in English! lol.. At least he is talking :D

I also heard them talking about ‘da xiàng ‘ which I know is ‘elephant’ as it is Ethan’s favourite! I learnt that from my iPhone okay? See, iPhone teaches me Mandarin! The teacher asked, “Zhè shì shénme?” (what is this?) and I heard the kids answer, “Yǎnjīng” (eyes). I’m so happy! I actually understands what is being taught! Am not THAT banana after all! :P

I heard a lot of laughter and then there was music too. I guess it must be some kind of music and movement as I heard the kids jumping and running along with the music.

The teachers’ voice and tone was clear, calm and cheerful throughout the one and a half hour.

Ethan emerges from the class happy. The teacher gave me a full report of what happened in class today. Here is what she has to say about Ethan:

1) He is not willing to participate in the group activities and prefers to sit aside to watch and observe.

2) He nods his head when the teacher speaks to him in Mandarin (eventhough it is not a question :P) but once the teacher speaks in English, he will talk non-stop! @_@

3) He loves drawing! Haha! What’s new about that? :P He gets the teacher to draw him a duck but when the teacher drew a different duck than what he had in mind, he took the pencil from the teacher and show HER how to draw a duck! >_<

4) He knows how to go to the loo himself. He refused assistance and insists to urinate himself and wash after that :D

5) He did not, I repeat, did NOT look for his parents! Dunno to feel good or sad about this! =_=

Conclusion, she said it is his first day so she won’t force him to join the group for games and activity fearing that he won’t return tomorrow. I told her it is okay as he is an observer. He loves to observe and will participate once he gets more familiar with the environment :)

That is all for Day 1. I hope Day 2 onwards will bring more wonderful and positive results :D

Oh yeah, there is ONE major flaw that I totally dislike about the place. They are fully carpeted! I hate carpets as it is a dust trap! Carpets triggers allergy attacks and I hope and pray hard that it won’t be an issue in the near future! Thumbs down to that :(

Day 1 – At home, Ethan starts to say, “Wǒ yào siao pien” and “Zài nǎlǐ, Zài nǎlǐ” :)