I brought Alicia for trial at Kindermusik on Saturday. I had been looking forward to it but in the end, I felt that it was quite a letdown. Perhaps my expectations were too high since Kindermusik's so well-rated. I was expecting the lesson to be more educational musically but it was quite commonplace and really, I could have conducted the class myself at home with Alicia.
The lesson started with letting the kids play with a ball each for awhile to warm up then we were given some percussion instruments like the maracas, shakers, and other miscellaneous ones to play with throughout the lesson to various rhymes and songs. Could I have done it on my own? I pretty much think so. In fact, I would have included more activities that didn't just centre round the same concept of moving and shaking percussion instruments to the beat. Bored I was with the lesson. And I think Alicia was too coz she was busy walking and crawling to various parts of the classroom to pull interesting stuff down to play while all the rest of the babies managed to remain in the circle. She was particularly in love with this plush toy dog and she pulled it down, hugged it, sat on it like it was a horse then hugged it again. Everyone was amused by her. But I think deep down inside they were irritated and annoyed coz she kept disrupting the lesson with her antics. Honestly I couldn't quite bring myself to blame her either. And even though I think she was apprehensive and scared at her first lesson at Staccato, I believe she actually enjoyed herself better there. And I would think Staccato has more potential to teach little tots the fundamentals of music as it has more varied activities and covers a larger scope. Well, that's just me critiquing the music lessons from my own standpoint. I'm sure there are parents who swear by Kindermusik. Perhaps I'm too quick to judge it. But well, I'm not going back there for now and for quite awhile.
Meanwhile, I'm gonna start work on making materials to teach Alicia music on my own... :)
Showing posts with label Enrichment Class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enrichment Class. Show all posts
11/02/2009
10/24/2009
Flashcards
We brought Alicia for a trial class at Baby Jumper Gym last Saturday. We were expecting a gym lesson so we were kinda shocked when we were led to a classroom instead. As usual, we were late for class so the teacher had already told a story (fortunately, that was the only segment we missed out on). When we first entered the class, it was already flashcard time. We were SHOCKED at the speed at which the teacher flashed the cards! I mean, I was aware that flashcards are flashed pretty quickly but i really had no idea it was that fast! Anyway, I think Alicia was shocked too... haha.. Photography's not allowed in class so we couldn't take any photos or videos during class. Not that we could have had a chance anyway since the class was jam-packed with short 5-minute activities (except for the gym segment where they had a bit of freeplay for awhile).
The teacher actually after flashing the cards to the class, went round to each individual toddler and asked the toddler to point at the flashcard she asked for. We were stunned and speechless that Alicia got them right! Well, she didn't get all right, she only got the first one wrong coz i guess she didn't know what the teacher wanted and she was new to flashcards. I only introduced flashcards to her after the class upon witnessing the power of flashcards on the toddler's mind! But anyway, it was really stressful coz we kept worrying that Alicia would answer the questions wrongly coz the other 2 boys in the class seemed quite used to flashcards. At the end of the class, we realised that Alicia was placed in the wrong class! She was placed in the Walkers 2 class instead of Walkers 1. No wonder the 2 boys seemed more advanced... haha... oh well, it's hard to be a parent these days!
Anyway, we bought 2 packs of flashcards from Borders: one for numbers 0-20 and the other for alphabets. Alicia is simply amazing coz i only started on the alphabet cards 2 nites ago and when her daddy was just casually playing with her last nite, she managed to pick the right flashcards when she was asked! And it wasn't just a one-off thing and actually my hubby made it quite difficult by asking to choose among 4 cards and not just 2 (which is what the teacher did in class). A toddler's brain is simply awesome!
Below is an attached pic of alicia's favourite flashcards from the alphabet series:
Alicia will make eating noises when she picks up the pictures of food! And somehow she thinks all animals go "moo"! She used to only go "moo" when she sees pictures of cows...
10/12/2009
Alicia's first class!
On Saturday, just before we brought her to the clinic for her MMR and chickenpox vaccination, we brought her for her first class of any sort! This was a free trial class at Staccato (a music school at Horse City). I was introduced to this place and given the opportunity of the free trial as I'm a reader of Brenda's blog and this music school happens to be her friend's. Thanks Brenda! :)
We had trouble locating the place coz we kept thinking it's at Turf City but it's actually next door at Horse City so we had to drive back down the road and look for the place all over again. It's really an interesting place where there are small little houses all tucked away at a really serene place. From being early to just on time, we became late for the class coz we had trouble locating the little house in the rain. Finally there was someone in sight who spotted us having trouble locating the place - a yoga teacher who only communicated with us through hand gestures through an open window. And finally, we were at the music school! It's pretty new I guess coz there are no pianos in sight except for the one at the reception and the rooms/studios are still pretty empty, except for the room where Alicia's class was conducted.
It was the first time she's attending a class and I thought that she would immediately jump in and join in the fun coz the class was playing with scarves and using the scarves to draw shapes in the air while music played in the background. As we were late, the class had already commenced and coz the studio was quite small, daddies were asked to leave while mummies stayed with the little ones. Thinking that Alicia would wanna join in the fun, I removed her shoes (coz shoes weren't allowed) and placed her on the carpeted floor for her to join the rest of the kids but she kept turning back and clinging onto me. But my brave little one didn't cry despite the stranger anxiety and she just took a little while to warm up and in no time she was happy to let me hold her hands as she followed the rest of the kids to walk around in a circle. After playing with the scarves (which I believed she was hardly interested in), it was time to play with the ball. The kids were given a ball and asked to throw/roll the ball to a partner. But as the kids were all too young to have the concept of passing the ball to the partner, the professor decided that all should have their own ball and just play around with it. Hahaha... Here's a short video of Alicia playing with a ball. You can still see the apprehension on her face at this point in the lesson:
After playing with the balls, it was time for flashcards and after that they were introduced to an African percussion instrument - which I can't, regrettably, recall the name. They all had a chance to touch the instrument with their little fingers and make a few sounds with it under the guidance of the professor. Eventually, they were given a small piano but there weren't enough to go around I think coz Alicia had to share it with a little boy who shoved her aside so he could have a go at the piano. We graciously let him play on the piano for awhile while I entertained Alicia with a tambourine that happened to be lying on the floor. After that, the boy's mummy let Alicia have the piano and here's a video of my little one enjoying herself:
I didn't sign up for the class after the trial, not because I didn't like the class or the professor but coz this is the first class that Alicia's attended and I'd like her to experience a few more classes by different enrichment centres before signing up for a term. We wanna make sure that it's a class that she really enjoys before we commit to it. :)
We had trouble locating the place coz we kept thinking it's at Turf City but it's actually next door at Horse City so we had to drive back down the road and look for the place all over again. It's really an interesting place where there are small little houses all tucked away at a really serene place. From being early to just on time, we became late for the class coz we had trouble locating the little house in the rain. Finally there was someone in sight who spotted us having trouble locating the place - a yoga teacher who only communicated with us through hand gestures through an open window. And finally, we were at the music school! It's pretty new I guess coz there are no pianos in sight except for the one at the reception and the rooms/studios are still pretty empty, except for the room where Alicia's class was conducted.
It was the first time she's attending a class and I thought that she would immediately jump in and join in the fun coz the class was playing with scarves and using the scarves to draw shapes in the air while music played in the background. As we were late, the class had already commenced and coz the studio was quite small, daddies were asked to leave while mummies stayed with the little ones. Thinking that Alicia would wanna join in the fun, I removed her shoes (coz shoes weren't allowed) and placed her on the carpeted floor for her to join the rest of the kids but she kept turning back and clinging onto me. But my brave little one didn't cry despite the stranger anxiety and she just took a little while to warm up and in no time she was happy to let me hold her hands as she followed the rest of the kids to walk around in a circle. After playing with the scarves (which I believed she was hardly interested in), it was time to play with the ball. The kids were given a ball and asked to throw/roll the ball to a partner. But as the kids were all too young to have the concept of passing the ball to the partner, the professor decided that all should have their own ball and just play around with it. Hahaha... Here's a short video of Alicia playing with a ball. You can still see the apprehension on her face at this point in the lesson:
After playing with the balls, it was time for flashcards and after that they were introduced to an African percussion instrument - which I can't, regrettably, recall the name. They all had a chance to touch the instrument with their little fingers and make a few sounds with it under the guidance of the professor. Eventually, they were given a small piano but there weren't enough to go around I think coz Alicia had to share it with a little boy who shoved her aside so he could have a go at the piano. We graciously let him play on the piano for awhile while I entertained Alicia with a tambourine that happened to be lying on the floor. After that, the boy's mummy let Alicia have the piano and here's a video of my little one enjoying herself:
I didn't sign up for the class after the trial, not because I didn't like the class or the professor but coz this is the first class that Alicia's attended and I'd like her to experience a few more classes by different enrichment centres before signing up for a term. We wanna make sure that it's a class that she really enjoys before we commit to it. :)
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