Visit to Chaoyang School on 16th April

Today, we visited Chaoyang school and got a chance to sit in for 2 classes. Both lessons were related to lifeskills. This was only our second time interacting with the students and we learnt many things from it. Below are our reflections after the interactions with the students:

Zhuo Yang
I found today's lesson observations in Mdm. Lai and Mrs. Tan's lessons very useful for me. Not only did I get to see the standards of the pupils in terms of their proficiency in life skills, I got to see how we should and will be conducting lessons for these children in the near future.

I was quite amazed by the discipline of the students and how it seems automatic to them to make simple drinks or food. I believe they have gone through much training in terms of hygiene and cleaning up, and this should be helpful for us as we would not need to worry a lot about these elements when we conduct our lessons. I found that the students took great pride in cleaning up the place after activities were done, for example, the entire class was mopping and sweeping the floor, wiping the sink area, cleaning up tables, etc after their pizza and tea session. That was a very encouraging thing to see. One student saw that these lessons are essentially helping him to gain the skills of life, thus he was cleaning everything throughout the lesson, that was very sensible of him and I found that to be beyond my expectations as well.

As for the students' character, I found that most of them were very virtuous, and I was very happy to see that. For example, the students were very polite to each other, and they used 'please' in their requests for friends to pass things around. Besides that, they were caring for their friends and aware of each others' safety as well. For example, ***** stopped her friend from pulling ******* by his leg as she knew it was dangerous, while ***** showed concern when she asked *** **** to stop cleaning up and join the rest of the class in having the pizza as well. These little things show a lot about the good education which their homes and Chaoyang have given them, and I look forward to working with kids of such upright character.

I felt a little sad in one of the classes when we were brought to the topic of education with the students when they asked us which schools we were from. The students assumed that we will be going on to Sec 5 and to ITE, mainly because this path has been fixed for them and drilled into them. A boy commented that he would go on to junior college, which I felt was nice to hear but his friends dismissed the statement immediately. While this has no immediate effect with my project, I think these kids should not walk a standard path which their predecessors have gone on, and they should be encouraged to strive for what they can achieve to the best of their ability, after all, they might be able to make it to a polytechnic or the like.

Lastly, I disagreed with the teaching style to a small extent as the teachers emphasized that students should remain quiet, and should not complain. While I understand that this is to keep the class in order, I feel that this should not be the way to go when teaching such students. I feel that attention should be given to these kids, even if it means that we will sidetrack slightly. Students should be encouraged to speak up to make their comments heard, although unnecessary noise should still be cut out. This is rather idealistic, but I hope we can adopt this policy in the classes we conduct, where students can voice their opinions and comments freely and not be restricted from their freedom to speak. For example, by offering chances only to those who do not volunteer, or do not speak, would bring across the wrong message, thus I feel that this should be changed.

Samson
Today, we sat in two classes of 10-11 year olds and got a chance to interact with the students.

The first class consisted mainly of students which are of a younger age. Mdm. Lai was the teacher of this class and I felt that she might be a bit too strict on the students. To be honest, I was quite shocked when she sent one of the students out of the class for being too noisy. I felt that this might actually interfere with the child’s growth. After all, these children need attention and I would rather have students who are overly enthusiastic than students who show no interest in learning at all. On the other hand, this might be the only way to effectively control and class. Perhaps the use of a stricter teaching style is needed to ensure that the students continue to learn.

The students in this class were very friendly and were extremely enthusiastic when we walked into class. The students were supposed to make horlicks today by themselves. I was quite impressed by their ability make their own drink. This far surpassed my expectations on them as I thought that they would not have the patience to do so. It gave me hope that we would be successful in teaching them what they need to know about the internet café. When biscuits were given out, the students were very friendly to each other and were very willing to share with each other. What they did afterwards was even more impressive as they had the responsibility to wash their own cups.

The second class had slightly older students. They were very well behaved and listened attentively to the teacher, who was teaching them how to cook pizza. As they were doing so, I noticed this guy who was cleaning and area around and sink and making sure that it was very clean. I found out that this was what they were suppose to do this boy is the only one who really enjoys it. It was really touching as even though these children are intellectually disabled, they have basic life skills and have the potential to become just like normal students. How many of us even clean up after ourselves? Many of the students also took every opportunity to interact with us. Some might be more playful but they were all very virtuous. When someone needs help, they would willingly offer it.

This class has shown me that the children in Chaoyang are very friendly and treat strangers like us just like friends. They were very polite and even offered us drinks as they knew we were guests. Looking at this, I am sure the children would have no problem running the café. Another student in the class was initially sleeping in a corner until we tried talking to him. As we interacted with him and gave him more attention, he started to open up to us and was eventually telling us what he likes. This is a good example on the importance of guidance to the children. As long as we give them a chance, the students of Chaoyang are actually unique in their own way and have they own potential.

The topic of school was later brought up by the teacher. I felt quite sad when the teachers told the students that we were from RI and would be going to RJC and university and one of the students said “I would be going JC too”. Although the teacher dismissed it, it was really very touching as the students have a very positive attitude in life. They want to live a normal life just like us. As long as these students continue to be well educated and are giving the opportunities, I am sure that the students have a bright future ahead of them.

Overall, today’s interaction with the students was certainly an eye opener for me. The students were extremely friendly and are curious about everything. They willingly posed for photos and also gathered around when they found something interesting. When we left the classes, the students shook hands with us and some were so enthusiastic that they bumped right into us. Even as we were leaving, they wanted to follow us. Today’s experience has certainly be unforgettable.

Keng Chee
During this week’s visit to Chaoyang School, we interacted with the students for the second time and had an opportunity to learn from the teachers, on how to properly handle the energetic and bubbly children. For the first lesson on Life Skills, we observed how Mdm Lai taught the 9 year old children on how to make Ovaltine for themselves and practice table manners while eating biscuits. Although this was something that is second nature to all of us, from this lesson and the interaction with my buddy ******, I was given the opportunity to learn more about these children. Also, during the observation, I realized that Mdm Lai had patiently but firmly and sternly repeated her instructions to the children to prevent them from making too much noise and losing attention. She also sent a boy who was not behaving too well out of class to maintain discipline. I think this was a strong approach and stance in handling the students which is effective, but only to a certain extent.

However, in the next lesson which we observed which is on self-help, we saw Mdm Tan teach her eleven year old students from class 5/3, on how to practice proper hygiene while preparing food like the “pizza”, which was an egg omelette. However, Mdm Tan’s teaching methods were different from Mdm Lai’s in the sense that she was appeared to be more joyful and less stern to the students. Not only that, she gave incentives to the students who behaved very well, like giving them the chance to squeezing chilli sauce and ketchup on the omelette, and praising them in front of the whole class. However, Mdm Lai also managed to control her class very well, and does express her displeasure at the class when they misbehaved. Personally, I think this method of handling the students is more effective and meaningful as the children do enjoy the lesson more and both the teachers and students benefit.

Upon speaking to the teachers and some reflection, I understood the importance of being patient and the establishing of oneself to be the clear person who is in charge, while being kind and friendly to be effective. I strongly believe the observation and interaction which we had did indeed help us in deepening our understanding of the children, and gave us a better idea on how to handle and plan our lessons more effectively. I do look forward to having our first proper lesson with them… =)

Eugene Gan
The trip to Chaoyang school on the 16th of April was the most meaningful one yet. For the first time, we got to genuinely interact with the students and see how they do in their self-help and life skills lessons.

The first class we went to, was a very lively class, who welcomed us warmly. Their teacher was very strict with them, as she made sure they were quiet and behaved before she allowed them their activity of making an ovaltine drink. We learnt from her that the teachers needed to be firm with the students, so as to make sure they understand what is right and what is wrong. As I watched them eat their ready made drink, I was actually happy to see them enjoy what they were eating. The teacher gave them biscuits and taught them simple table manners. Sometimes I felt their creative young minds were restricted, for example the teacher did not allow one boy to stuff two biscuits in his mouth at one time. I thought to myself, “When I was ten, I would have stuffed two in my mouth too?” Sometimes I pitied the children; however I’ve learnt a lot how to teach such special needs students and how we are going to conduct our lessons. We need to be fun, give instructions in a simple manner, and be clear and firm about rules we want to establish. It would be a joy for them to learn so much more.

The second class was making a modified version of a pizza. The children were really excited, and their teacher was a warm and gentle lady, but firm in her teaching of the students. I think that is what we as student-teachers should strive to be when we teach the students. We have to be kind, caring and gentle, for these people have feelings, only that they don’t show it. We have to engage their heart, and teach them with conviction. A particular boy was really nice, he was helpful and he kept helping to sweep the floor clean while the rest were eating. He was a more mature person, he knew he was in the class to learn self-help skills, and to enjoy and eat. Such people are really respectable. I don’t think I would have done that when I was his age. And it speaks volumes of his heart; a student from a special school has so much heart for what he has to learn. I was given a flower by a young girl, she had some problems with speech, but I think it was a wonderful present. I was touched by their enthusiasm, such people really do deserve more, and I am determined together with my group to help them and nurture them.

Chun Yin
Today we sat in for 2 classes, one which consisted of 10 year olds and another of 11 year olds.

The first class consisted of a smaller number of students, which were, compared to the later class, naughtier, mischievous, or even more rowdy. The students got quite restless and began to misbehave when it wasn’t their turn to try out the making of the drink. The students learnt table manners as well. One observation is that some of the students were calling each other names, and did not stop even though we tried explaining to them that doing that is bad.

Some things that we can learn and apply to our teaching of the lessons in the café is that we should try to teach in a way that we can capture their attention at all times instead of giving them long breaks which tend to get them restless and mischievous. Grouping one of us with two students each would be a good way to teach the students as they might learn better in small groups. Another thing is to correct the students’ mistakes whenever they commit them, for example, telling them to stop calling names whenever they do so, so that it does not become a habit.

The second class provided an eye-opener as to how co-operative the students can be if they really want to. The students were generally smarter and more obedient. Most of them were very pro-active in helping to clean, wipe, mop, sweep etc, and seemed to enjoy the lesson much more then the students in the first class. However there was one boy who stayed out of most of the activities, and only interacted with us when we started doing things he is interested in. We also noted that some of the students want attention, as can be seen from the fact that they would gather and crowd around us.

As mentioned above, grouping two Chaoyang students to one of us would make teaching easier. It would also provide flexibility according to the needs of the students as we must understand that some of them are “rebellious” in the sense that they would only “open up” and interact if it is regarding something they are interested in. Recognizing particular good students for their good behavior by praising them or giving them rewards, is also helpful as it inspires the rest of the students

As can be seen from the reflections, this visit has certainly been a meaningful one for us as we not only got to understanding the students better, but we also gain greater insight on how we should cater our internet cafe to the students. Overall, this has to be the most meaningful visit yet.

Pictures would be up soon once I get them =)

Samson