Hear what Shannon and Shannon’s Mum think of My English School. Shannon has gained the writing skills she needs to express herself confidently in her school journal.
| Shannon | My name is Shannon Wong. |
| Teacher | How old are you? |
| Shannon | I am 8 years old. |
| Teacher | And what level are you in school? |
| Shannon | I’m Primary 3. |
| Teacher | How long have you been coming to this centre? |
| Shannon’s Mum | Since you were in kindergarten. K2… if I’m not wrong. A friend told me that it’s important to get them to know how to read before they get into school and it was a reminder to me because I’ve seen how our son went through Primary 1 without knowing how to read. He only managed to pick up reading at the end of the year in December, which actually short changed him quite a bit because in our Singapore system we need to know how to read especially for Math and for English. If you do not know how to read you don’t understand the questions at all. So with that in mind, I actually put her into My English School enrichment class, which is here… until now. And I guess she has improved tremendously because at her age she is actually a year-end child. She is born the last day of the year and she can read even before getting to Primary 1 and so it helps her in understanding a lot of questions that the school books and which I think was very important. |
| Teacher | What kind of things does she talk about at home? What’s her reaction to the school? |
| Shannon’s Mum | She is writing school journal now and I think is a very good encouragement from school teachers because she has learnt here she actually can put it down in writing… [Teacher: Oh good!] … in the journal so they really do correct her English just let them free-flow… So I’ve seen some of the things she learnt here she put it in her journal. |
| Shannon | I write about home, I write about myself. |
| Shannon’s Mum | To me, I felt that that was a great improvement. She dosen’t really like to write stories. After learning from here, she actually can bring all this back home and put it on the journal. |
| Teacher | What kind of words have we been writing now? |
| Shannon | The other time was the noun, verbs, adverbs and something… it makes me… when I look back I still can remember them. |
| Shannon’s Mum | So it’s clearer when [your MES teacher] explains to you. |
| Shannon | Ya… so when in school I don’t need to worry. |
| Teacher | So, in school, you already know what nouns, verbs and adverbs. |
| Shannon | Last time I didn’t know, now I know. |
| Shannon’s Mum | Sometimes, in our education system, one teacher has to take care of too many children so coming to enrichment class will give them a clearer understanding of what is being taught in school. One thing good about enrichment classes is actually you guys can teach ahead so at least they are really aware of what’s going on before the school teaches them. |
| Teacher | Do you get to school sometimes and then you think “I know this already… Teacher Rachel has taught me this”? |
| Shannon | I think I know what I like. You got the story right… after that you get like a book… after that got words… after that got story right… after that got some blanks… after that got fill in the words. When I think I can write down… I like it. After that, you got the story in the book right… I didn’t know that was the story for the paragraph they gave me; that the line you gave me… for homework last week. |
| Teacher | Oh… |
| Shannon’s Mum | So you suppose to fill in the words inside the blanks. |
| Teacher | Oh yes… so the cloze passages is what you… |
| Shannon | Yes… the passages you gave me for homework last Monday. |
| Teacher | So if the teacher gives you a cloze passage in school… do you think that you’ll be prepared or more ready to do that? If the teacher gives you the story with the lines in it… do you think that you’ll be ready to do that? |
| Shannon | Yes. |
| Teacher | Why would you be ready? |
| Shannon | Because I done it here before, so I know what to do… |
| Shannon’s Mum | So you’ve got confidence when you see the same thing in school right? |
| Shannon | Right. |
| Shannon’s Mum | And I do agree. |
| Teacher | What kind of things do you hope to see her improve? |
| Shannon’s Mum | To be creative in her writing… I don’t want her creativity to be boxed up… she can write anything crazy as what she’s been doing all this while so it’s good if she can get out of the box… and write something that is uniquely different than anybody else. And that is my aim for her… and to be more confident to present herself in front of the camera or anybody. In terms of speech, mannerism… and I believe that this school has actually given her a lot of confidence from the moment that she started when she was a young child in kindergarten… until now; I see a great improvement in her. |
| Teacher | Do you think… do you think that your confidence is better? |
| Shannon | I think so… |
| Teacher | Well thank you very much for your time. |
| Shannon’s Mum | It’s our privilege to be here. I look forward to many good years to come… and Shannon can indeed grow here… me too… I look forward to teaching her… all the way up until P6. |
| Teacher | Hey, hear that? She’s going to be your P6 teacher too! |
| Shannon | Cool! |
