Arya is going to the new school for about 2 months now. He is liking it
there. Teachers are friendly and nice. I was a bit afraid to send him by bus
initially and somewhat now too, but I guess I will have to get over it. He
loves the bus. They call the bus driver - Driver Kaka Sir and the lady in the
bus - Maushi.
I wake him up, make his breakfast and feed him. Yogesh takes him for a bath. I have to get him ready to go. My maushi gives him milk. We hug and say "Bye bye. Have a nice day. See you in the evening."
School might be pleasant for him. Activities they make them do are Taekwondo, garden play, sports, sand play, singing rhymes, and all. They show some cartoon video everyday on LCD projector. No wonder he loves it. They are teaching him writing & reading English letters and songs on phonics.
Arya talks many sentences in English. He can be seen composing them in mind before he speaks them out aloud. I encourage him to do this by waiting while he is fetching a word. I make sure I tell him new concepts and logic behind things. I talk with him in English and Marathi both, so he will grasp languages faster. His teacher wants us to talk in English with him.
The school is giving lot of work for parents to do under the pretext of making us more involved in their learning. So one day it could be ‘Send 2 pictures of objects starting with Y and K each’, or ‘Send pictures of living/non-living things’, or ‘Send a Rakhi’, etc. Few days ago, it was a ‘Blue object show and tell day’. Arya picked up many objects in the house and spoke about them in English. He showed his Thomas engine toy in class and said - "This is my blue Thomas". (*sigh* *sigh* *sigh* he just said 1 line out of so many he could have!). There was a ‘Dress up as a community helper day’. We made him an ‘Indian Farmer’, and I made a Spade out of a cricket stump and some craft papers. Teachers told me that he spoke well about a Farmer that day. They have ‘Color days’, where we have to dress him in specified color, and ‘XYZ Food day’, where we have to give him food starting with W, Y and Z!!!! Go figure!
He loves the tiffin I give him and finishes it, thanks to his teachers. Teachers tell children to finish food before the recess is over. I give bhaji-chapati, aloo / methi parathas, mix veg parathas, vermicelli, upma, pohe, sometimes rice, puri bhaji, pav bhaji, veg rolls, etc. I had given him a doughnut once which he didn’t like. He likes chapati bhaji the best.
At the end of the day I ask him what he learnt, and he tells me everything. He waits till I come home from office to tell me. We talk about things like – Who sat next to him today, who cried for parents, who was punished in class, who was sent to toilet, if he went to toilet, why was the didi not present in washroom, what did teacher say about his writing, what did the teacher sing today, sing a rhyme, how was taekwondo - teach us, what did you play in the garden, etc. He keeps talking.
He cooks up stories and tells me in English nowadays. E.g.
It was night. Moon was in sky. Watchman was sitting at gate. There was a rat in parking. Rat runs watchman legs nearby. Watchman don’t know it. Rat goes on road to Mahalaxmi shop. Rat has baby rats (almost all characters have babies)....
You got it right? Story changes direction suddenly without warning. E.g.
Babies are going in fighter jet. Fighter jet is very powerful jet. Big horse power. Very fast. I like fast planes. I like horsepower engine!
A poem he sings is:
I like Flowers
I like Daffodils
I like the mountains
And the rolling hills
I like the fire side when the light are low
Bom bi yaara bom bi yaara bom bi yaara bom bi yara.....
More on school stuff later...
I wake him up, make his breakfast and feed him. Yogesh takes him for a bath. I have to get him ready to go. My maushi gives him milk. We hug and say "Bye bye. Have a nice day. See you in the evening."
School might be pleasant for him. Activities they make them do are Taekwondo, garden play, sports, sand play, singing rhymes, and all. They show some cartoon video everyday on LCD projector. No wonder he loves it. They are teaching him writing & reading English letters and songs on phonics.
Arya talks many sentences in English. He can be seen composing them in mind before he speaks them out aloud. I encourage him to do this by waiting while he is fetching a word. I make sure I tell him new concepts and logic behind things. I talk with him in English and Marathi both, so he will grasp languages faster. His teacher wants us to talk in English with him.
The school is giving lot of work for parents to do under the pretext of making us more involved in their learning. So one day it could be ‘Send 2 pictures of objects starting with Y and K each’, or ‘Send pictures of living/non-living things’, or ‘Send a Rakhi’, etc. Few days ago, it was a ‘Blue object show and tell day’. Arya picked up many objects in the house and spoke about them in English. He showed his Thomas engine toy in class and said - "This is my blue Thomas". (*sigh* *sigh* *sigh* he just said 1 line out of so many he could have!). There was a ‘Dress up as a community helper day’. We made him an ‘Indian Farmer’, and I made a Spade out of a cricket stump and some craft papers. Teachers told me that he spoke well about a Farmer that day. They have ‘Color days’, where we have to dress him in specified color, and ‘XYZ Food day’, where we have to give him food starting with W, Y and Z!!!! Go figure!
He loves the tiffin I give him and finishes it, thanks to his teachers. Teachers tell children to finish food before the recess is over. I give bhaji-chapati, aloo / methi parathas, mix veg parathas, vermicelli, upma, pohe, sometimes rice, puri bhaji, pav bhaji, veg rolls, etc. I had given him a doughnut once which he didn’t like. He likes chapati bhaji the best.
At the end of the day I ask him what he learnt, and he tells me everything. He waits till I come home from office to tell me. We talk about things like – Who sat next to him today, who cried for parents, who was punished in class, who was sent to toilet, if he went to toilet, why was the didi not present in washroom, what did teacher say about his writing, what did the teacher sing today, sing a rhyme, how was taekwondo - teach us, what did you play in the garden, etc. He keeps talking.
He cooks up stories and tells me in English nowadays. E.g.
It was night. Moon was in sky. Watchman was sitting at gate. There was a rat in parking. Rat runs watchman legs nearby. Watchman don’t know it. Rat goes on road to Mahalaxmi shop. Rat has baby rats (almost all characters have babies)....
You got it right? Story changes direction suddenly without warning. E.g.
Babies are going in fighter jet. Fighter jet is very powerful jet. Big horse power. Very fast. I like fast planes. I like horsepower engine!
A poem he sings is:
I like Flowers
I like Daffodils
I like the mountains
And the rolling hills
I like the fire side when the light are low
Bom bi yaara bom bi yaara bom bi yaara bom bi yara.....
More on school stuff later...
