Imagination and creativity learning at the Science Centre

Want to encourage imagination and creativity in your child? 

Great news!  The Science Centre Singapore is collaborating with Make*Believe, a company specialising in children's enrichment programmes to roll out a series of themed Make*Believe programmes for students aged 18 months to 6 years.

Interactive blocks for kids to build anything that seize their imagination.

The first in the series is a 50-minute enrichment programme called "Common Spaces", which is based on architecture and urban planning.  There are 4 hands-on stations for the pre-schoolers to explore. Learning activities are built around a local landmark building (Central Fire Station), fire engine, fireman and city planning.

There are two types of common spaces, said Ms Juliana Teo, co-founder of Make*Believe and principal architect of Metropolitan Office of Architects. She explains that common spaces exist in the physical form like a playground or a sand pit, but also exist in the children's mind, so let's pretend to be pirates or princesses.  

"We aim to provide a fun-filled learning experience which cannot be easily replicated in school," said Michael Chay, Director of Marketing & Communications of the Science Centre Singapore.

Lay Wee Mee, a mother of 3 and co-founder of Make*Believe, adds that she hopes the exhibition will give parents some idea on how to engage with their children further and the teachers different perspectives to encourage the spirit of learning in children.

Using the Central Fire Station as a  backdrop, students learn about the design of Singapore's oldest fire station and are guided to piece together puzzles and cubes of varying levels of difficulty.

Signs in the City - Students take on the role of city planning and learn about shapes, numbers, space and more!

3D puzzle blocks

To Believe is to have confidence in, to have an opinion of, and to accept as real.  

Make is to create, transform, build, change and to put parts together to make a whole.  

Make*Believe is the coming together of the imagination and reality. Through different activities, mediums and platforms, children are encouraged to explore and experience concepts and make new discoveries through the lens of science, architecture and design.

Come and play with your kids.  They just might teach you something new.

Common Spaces is open to public on weekday afternoons and weekends.  For more information on timing and admission fees, please contact the Science Center Singapore at 6425 2500.  

The Singlish Dilemma

I cringe every time I hear my children speak Singlish. “I cannot lah,” they’ll say or “Why so like that one, ah?” And then, there are these definite shudder-inducing phrases, “mummy, today eat what”, “I already eat” and “can go or not?"

Courtesy of theAsianparent.com

Now, before you get all worked up, this article is not about dissing Singlish or Singaporeans.  It is rather about the challenges we as Singaporeans face when it comes to speaking proper English. Without a doubt Singlish has become very much a part of our identity today, and I am not an advocate of eradicating it; we all know how useful it can be. The real dilemma is in how to encourage the use of proper English, while not necessarily eroding our Singlish heritage.

At the launch of the recent “Speak Good English Movement” initiated by the government earlier this month, Minister of State Mr. Lawrence Wong, said that the objective of this year’s movement is to “enable every Singaporean to speak Standard English – that is grammatically correct, commonly understood around the world and intelligible to English speakers everywhere.”

When I met with Mr Goh Eck Kheng, Chairman of the movement, he was quick to point out that “Singlish has a role in Singapore and is a marker of Singapore’s identity.” He emphasized that “we are not here to eradicate Singlish but to promote English because it is an advantage that we already have in the international community and it is something we cannot afford to lose.”

So, why do we have so much difficulty speaking in a language that is recognized by the international English community?

Mr. Goh believes it all boils down to the mind-set.  “You can speak in simple English even if you are at the hawker or to the taxi uncle. Try saying ‘Uncle may I have some chilli?’ instead of ‘Uncle, chilli.’”

He stresses it is important that those who can speak well must not give in to societal pressure to “dumb down” their language. Instead they should serve as role models so that the standard of English in Singapore is elevated. He also advocates that one must know how to switch between Singlish and proper English, and learn to effectively use both languages to build relationships under appropriate circumstances.

Georgina Knight-Hassel and her husband, Chris, have been living in Singapore for the last 14 years.  Originally from the West of England, the couple settled in the heartlands of Singapore.  When their older daughter, Elizabeth, was younger she spoke in Singlish despite her parents being native English speakers.  Her mother explains that this was mainly due to her social activities with the local children in school and at the playgrounds.  But during her visits to England, Elizabeth realized that her British cousins and relatives could not understand her ‘colloquial English’. She quickly became aware that if she was to be understood elsewhere, she needed to speak in proper English.

Her younger sister, Lily, on the other hand, was more influenced by Georgina’s presence and spoke in proper English.  But when she entered a local primary school, she too began to speak Singlish.

Are they “dumbing down” as Mr. Goh suggests? Definitely not, said their mother.  ”The girls are merely trying to fit into their environment.”  She adds that both girls, now 7 and 11, have learnt how to easily switch between Singlish and British English with ease.

What about our local kids?  Can they learn to switch too?

Mr. Goh believes they can.  With good role models, he assures us that little children can differentiate languages by listening and absorbing them.  For families who do not have a strong foundation in English, Mr. Goh suggests these options:

1. use the mother tongue to converse with the kids
2. outsource or find good English speaking role models for their children in enrichment centres or schools
3. children will recognize the efforts of their parents or caregivers when they consciously try to speak proper English and will follow suit.
4. allow the children to influence and help the adults at home speak better English.

Adel Ang, Channel Sales Manager at TREND Micro, has two kids, 3 and 5, who correct the way she speaks English.  She confesses that sometimes she doesn’t “feel at ease” when her kids correct her, but admits it has made her more conscious of the way she speaks English around them.

So, is it a parenting or an education issue?

Some parents like Ms Ng Yi Ling try to impart good English speaking skills to their children but say their efforts are thwarted whenever someone speaks Singlish to them.  Others like Ms Mei Loh blame it on impatience. “Children can be impatient to get the message across so they resort to using wrong grammar; parents are impatient too so they often fail to correct them.”

It seems it takes a conscious effort from parents, schools and the public in general to enable our children to speak in proper English AND be able to switch to Singlish when needed.

“Speaking in proper English is speaking in proper sentences,” says Georgina.  “While the school teaches them the technical aspects of grammar and vocabulary, as parents, we can supplement this education with guidance and encouragement as well as giving them opportunities to practice speaking in proper English.”

Georgina shares some tips she uses to help her kids speak in proper English.

1. Be aware and conscious of the way you speak around your child
2. Allow the child to hear conversations in grammatically correct English
3. Don’t correct your child each time he/she speaks
4. Remind them to speak clearly, not to mumble, and to pronounce the endings of their words
5. Practice makes perfect – have conversations with them
6. Encourage your child to finish his/her sentence
7. Discuss, debate and/or talk about the difference between colloquial and proper English
8. Give them the freedom to clarify the pronunciation of words – (eg. American or British pronunciation of tomato or mischievous)

Sure, my kids will continue to speak in Singlish.  They are Singaporeans after all. And I know I will continue to reply, once in a while, with my usual sarcastic “Excuse me? What did you just say? I don’t quite understand you.” But I’m pretty confident they are able to switch and speak in formal, proper English when required.  And that, I suppose, is fundamentally the most important thing we need to ensure.

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There are many more great tips and insights on the official website of Speak Good English movement. As with the learning of any language, it takes time, patience and perseverance to master a language. Share with us how you encourage your kids to speak proper English.

This article first appeared in theAsianparent.com

Are we over-scheduling our preschooler?

Singaporean kids spend an average of 20 -25 hours a week in school, plus an addition 5 to 10 hours in enrichment activities. That's equivalent to an average adult's work week! Are we over-scheduling our kids?

Like most Singaporean parents, I started my son at Julia Gabriel at 15 months. By the time he was 3, he was enrolled in art, music and swimming classes. By 5, he has additional classes in abacus, Chinese, phonics, soccer and MPM. On top of that, he has a full social calendar of play-dates and birthday parties (I became his personal secretary, so busy was he). These activities all took place after his regular 3-hour preschool/kindergarten program.

Whew!! Just thinking about it now is enough to make my head spin.

“At 3.5 years old, is it necessary to send for enrichment class?” Joeline asks, worried that her child may feel stress & loses his childhood freedom.

Nicki, a mother of 3 doesn’t think so. “At this stage, it’s more important to give them the chance to try different things that they might be interested in – sports, music, art etc.”

But what if he cannot catch up with the rest?

This eternal question fuelled by the fear of parents that they have not prepared their young ones well enough, has resulted in a multi-billion dollar enrichment industry in Singapore.

Whatever you dream for your child to excel in; there is a class for him/her to take. Select from a wide plethora of choices to enrich your child in – art, dance, music, sports, reading, writing, mathematics, science, brain-training, motivation, or a combination.

Jean, a mother of one, said that “3.5 years is not young already. They already understand and can absorb what they are taught. This is the best time to feed them with info. Don’t ever under estimate them; you will be surprised on how fast they pick up things. At the end of the day, you are the only one who knows your child best and you are the only one who knows whether he is ready or not… cos every child has different learning patterns and pace.”

Elaine, another mom agrees. She enrolled her child for right brain training at 18 month and felt that was kind of late.

Short-changing or Over-scheduling their childhood

So, are we short-changing our children if their post-school time consists of nothing more than watching TV, a snack and some plain old-fashioned playtime, rather than a round of ‘enrichment’ activities? Or is over scheduling more detrimental to their development, leaving them with little idea of how to entertain themselves?

Child psychologist, Dr Harriet Tenebaum, said that “research suggests extra-curricular activities are related to improvements in children’s confidence and academic achievement. However, it is important not to over-schedule children because they need time to play and be spontaneous too. Spontaneous play helps children learn how to self-regulate their emotions and wishes, increase their imagination, contribute to their cognitive development, and help them learn how to act in different situations with a variety of different people.”

A mother of one, Dr. Tenebaum holds a degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and has a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education among her other luminous accreditation.

So, what can you do?

1. Watch out for over-scheduling

Children need downtime and unstructured play at home and with their friends. So, although extra-curricular activities can be fantastic, remember they already spend about 20 to 25 hours a week at school, and might have another couple of hours of homework on top of that. It’s all about balance!

2. Don’t put your children into the rat race too soon

Many Asian parents are compelled to enrol their kids in different activities out of fear or peer pressure when they see their friends or neighbours doing it.

If your child is tired enough after a day at school and prefers to simply catch up with their favourite toys at home, stick with that and try not to feel they’re missing out. A busy schedule of after-school dance and drama classes might create an all-singing, all-dancing child, but it won’t necessarily make them happier.

Once they enter primary school, they will have plenty of activities to occupy them. Enjoy their childhood with them as much as you can.

3. Stand firm

If they have different ideas each week about what activities they want to do or they want to do too much, it’s perfectly reasonable to limit them to 2 or 3 activities a week.

Trudi, who has a daughter, 9, and a son, 7, said “I will not force them to do anything. With any opportunities for classes, we let them make the choice to go. Once they have decided, they must stick with their decision for the duration.”

This article first appeared in theAsianparent.com.

I don't want to go to school

This is the singular phrase that parents dread to hear. While majority of our primary school kids troop willingly to school, not all children skip happily through the school gate.

School is a massive part of their lives and if they don’t like going, for whatever reasons, it can be extremely difficult all round. There are tons of reasons for a child not wanting to go to school – bullying, boredom, changes in their lives making them feel insecure and sometimes no apparent reason at all.

Antonia Chitty, author of What to Do When Your Child Hates School (White Ladder Press) says:

“If your child has always gone to school happily, it can be a real problem when suddenly they start to object to going. Primary-school-age children may not always be able to explain what the problem is either, so you need to do a bit of detective work to find out. Some children will tell you that they dislike school, while others bottle it up inside.

There are signs that show if your child is secretly stressed and many children make their dislike of school evident by apparent “bad behaviour. They may be actively disruptive and unable to sit still, or easily distracted and dream instead of doing what they are asked.

This range of behaviour can indicate one of a number of problems – speak to your child’s teacher and the school’s special needs coordinator (SENCO) if these include bullying and events in their home life such as a bereavement or divorce.”

Citrix Chee, a private counsellor from Kang Ren Counselling agrees, “it’s always a bad sign when a child does not want to go to school.”

What can you do about it?

It might just be a short phase, so don’t react too much initially.

Lots of children have a few days when they’re not too keen on the idea of school. Sometimes for no serious reason. You might just ride it out without too much fuss and by not overreacting will prevent it turning into a more sustained problem.

“We had a phase when both of them were complaining about going to school every day. It was tiresome and I had to chivvy them along a lot each morning. I don’t know what was going on but it stopped after a few days of me standing firm and insisting they had to go.” – Sangeeta (twin sons, 7)

If the problem is acute or persists, try and ascertain the underlying cause.

Work on getting your child to open up when it’s not a ‘heat of the moment’ time. So not when you’re late for school and they’re in tears. If they won’t talk to you about it, perhaps they will with someone else – grandparents, an aunt or uncle or favourite babysitter?

Common reasons to look out for include bullying / friendship issues, boredom, learning difficulties and a poor relationship with a teacher. A child who has a hearing or sight problem might also find school less enjoyable.

Speak to the teacher.

Find out what seems to be going on in school, especially if there’s evidence of bullying – a key cause of school hating.

“J started kicking up a massive fuss each morning and sometimes would be crying at bedtime about how she didn’t want to go in the next day. I couldn’t get out of her what was going on for a while – although I knew it was about friends. I managed to piece together more when I’d spoken to the teacher. – Deb (daughter,

Keep a dialogue open

If something major has happened in your child’s home life, such as divorce or bereavement, keep a dialogue open with the teacher. This way they can provide any extra reassurance or support for your child. You will also need to reassure them yourself that you/another carer will be there when they get home/to pick them up.

Watch out for fake illnesses

These are one of the most common signs of not wanting to go to school in children this age. Annoyingly, it can be hard to know when they’re crying wolf and when they’re really ill. Nine times out of ten, threatening a trip to the doctors will get illness fibbers to confess that they were making it up or make them miraculously better in seconds.

Excerpt taken from Raising Children – The Primary Years by Liat Hughes Joshi (Pearson)

This article first appeared in theAsianparent.com