I've been so tired the past few days with School Experience at NVPS and then work at the learning centre afterwards. So tired that I didn't wake up in time to watch Germany vs Spain but it's okays, because Spain won! Yay!!
So tired that I haven't been online in a while too, cos everyday I wake up just in time for me to prepare to go to school at 7.40am and I reach home at like 10pm due to work at the learning centre or outings with friends! But it's been a well-spent week & the School Experience made me really glad I chose the Primary track.
The Primary school kids are so uber cuteeee! I was mainly attached to a P2 class & I love that class. On the last day of my School Experience, my CT (their form teacher) kindly asked me & allowed me to talk to the class for a few minutes during their Circle Time (Form Teacher Guidance Period). At first, they were very quiet, didn't ask me any question & it was so awkward, so I asked some questions but not many of them answered my questions? But suddenly, the questions came fast & furious and they asked me all those small talk questions like "What's your favourite colour?" "What's your hobby?" etc. They were the most excited when I said I like to eat chocolate ice-cream and when somebody asked me about Facebook. Heh.
(P.s: The kids in the school I went to were exceptionally IT-savvy because the school's trying to move in the direction of a technology school. All the classes in the school uses Interactive Whiteboard! & quite a few classes have their own netbooks to be used in lessons.)
Then, the 2nd period, they went to the Library and I tagged along because I had nothing on and the kids kept following me around wanting to tell me this and that, asking me more questions & they started to tell me lame jokes, some of them which totally make no sense to me at all? But I guess a kid's logic is just different sometimes.
Ended the day with one of my favourite class by taking photos with a few of them during lunch (my camera battery went flat after a few photos :( ) and playing 'Lao Ying Zhua Xiao Ji', 'Mushroom' and 'Hide and Seek' with them for a while. Hope I'll get to teach them again when I go back to the school next year!
Some students of P2-8. So sad, I didn't get to take photos with the whole class!
Anyway, about the School Experience, I was rather impressed with the school actually. It's really different from the other schools, the culture, the way they teach, what they emphasized etc etc. When I was in NIE, we always learn about creative teaching methods, using a child-centred teaching approach, but in the back of my mind, I always feel like it's quite hard to implement and most teachers are still sticking to the old method of standing in front of the class and just teaching. I don't have anything against the old method, I think it's rather effective for me when I learn but I also agree that kids learn better when they're engaged and having fun.
So when I went to NVP, I realised, the student-centred approach is really workable, even the inquiry-based pedagogy was implemented in some way in the lower primary. The teachers facilitate with such ease and the curriculum was really different from what I went through last time. I think I would enjoy school more as a kid now.
the speech & drama class they have once a week
learning how to breathe in and out while showing all the different emotions
Students from the other P2 class I went to!
Back to 2-8 again. They were having their PAL (Programmes for Active Learning) class, & they're rehearsing for a performance they'll perform in the school's official opening ceremony.
So yeah, School Experience's an eye-opener. Secondary school next week!
