Maita was so happy yesterday evening that she decided to read a book aloud to show her Mom. This was the first time I saw Maita read a book all by herself. I suspected that she already knew how to read but this was the very first confirmation of this suspicion. We are very encouraged by this as Maita is probably one of the few finishing the 3 year Montessori program who has picked up the ability to read. We hope that this gives her a good background for learning English as she grows up here in Taiwan.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Ready for school
Probably two weeks ago, Erika went along on the car ride to Maita’s school. We sometimes do this as one of us needs more time at home to get ready. In this case, I just got back from Europe and needed more time to get organized for work.
When Erika came back home I noticed that she had a new toy, a music box. I asked L how much it cost and it was a whopping NT$ 500 for the new toy from the convenience store. We normally don’t buy toys anymore for our kids and there had to be a special reason for this purchase.
It turns out that Erika went into Maita’s classroom and did not want to leave anymore. She left the school crying and kept saying, “I want to go to school,” in the car. L had no choice but to take her to the nearest convenience store to buy whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, she picked an expensive toy.
We think that Erika should now be ready for pre-school. She’s basically already toilet trained and she can do most things by herself now. She’ll probably go starting summer this year. We hope that she’ll show similar progress as Maita but recognize that they are different and might have different results.
When Erika came back home I noticed that she had a new toy, a music box. I asked L how much it cost and it was a whopping NT$ 500 for the new toy from the convenience store. We normally don’t buy toys anymore for our kids and there had to be a special reason for this purchase.
It turns out that Erika went into Maita’s classroom and did not want to leave anymore. She left the school crying and kept saying, “I want to go to school,” in the car. L had no choice but to take her to the nearest convenience store to buy whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, she picked an expensive toy.
We think that Erika should now be ready for pre-school. She’s basically already toilet trained and she can do most things by herself now. She’ll probably go starting summer this year. We hope that she’ll show similar progress as Maita but recognize that they are different and might have different results.
Dance
Maita’s teacher from school called yesterday to ask whether they could let Maita join a Hsinchu city program this Saturday. From what I understood, the program allows Maita’s school to send two Da Ban (Big Class) students to perform a dance. Apparently, Maita’s dance teacher selected Maita and another student to represent the school.
We got the call while we were driving back to the office from a customer. L and I had a discussion about why Maita was chosen. From the previous yearly school programs, all the students had to get on stage to have a song and dance performance. Maita always struck us as being very concentrated and at times comical because she had the most exaggerated movements among her classmates. It shows that she concentrates quite well and is quite serious when she sets her mind to it. And, we think that’s the reason why the dance teacher picked Maita. She takes instruction well when she sets her mind to it.
L also remarked that if the choice was left to her normal teachers (the dance teacher is part of an extracurricular activity), Maita would not have been picked. When I asked why she thought this, L said that Maita had her own mind (and often strong opinions) and the other teachers might not like this in a student.
At the end of our working day, we went to pick up Maita. She was in a euphoric mood and this extended all the way to bed time! We’re guessing that she’s so happy she’d been picked to dance for the school.
We got the call while we were driving back to the office from a customer. L and I had a discussion about why Maita was chosen. From the previous yearly school programs, all the students had to get on stage to have a song and dance performance. Maita always struck us as being very concentrated and at times comical because she had the most exaggerated movements among her classmates. It shows that she concentrates quite well and is quite serious when she sets her mind to it. And, we think that’s the reason why the dance teacher picked Maita. She takes instruction well when she sets her mind to it.
L also remarked that if the choice was left to her normal teachers (the dance teacher is part of an extracurricular activity), Maita would not have been picked. When I asked why she thought this, L said that Maita had her own mind (and often strong opinions) and the other teachers might not like this in a student.
At the end of our working day, we went to pick up Maita. She was in a euphoric mood and this extended all the way to bed time! We’re guessing that she’s so happy she’d been picked to dance for the school.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
