News / Halaman York / 2019 / July 2019

Half a year has passed us by.  I have seen wonderful growth and development in the children both physically and mentally. I am glad to observe the closeness the children‘s rapport with each other. They have bonded well with one another and play creatively together.  When the class is over, they reluctantly say goodbye to one another and usually want to just hang around together a little bit longer in the class. 

The youngest children are becoming more and more independent.  They get along well with the bigger children in the class and play creatively with them.  They can change and put away their own personal belongings neatly and eat on their own.  Often they are ready ahead of the others when we prepare to go to lunch.

The middle group of children needs some supervision and encouragement to get ready whenever there are changes of activities in the daily class rhythms. They are active and creative.  So, they are so engaged in their play that they need more time and guidance to clear up.  However, watching their creative plays often make the teachers happy.  They are bonding with each other and creating precious childhood memories with their friends.

The big children in the class have become capable and confident.  Thus they have been entrusted to be ‘teacher’ during times for clearing up, drinking water and during lunch hour. Our joy is to watch the children grow more and more capable and confident in time. 

Recently, the children brought home bamboo with their wishes hung on it. It was Tanabata Day when Teacher Iren and

I write the children’s wishes to hang on the bamboo branches. Honestly, we felt a little stressed and lost whenever we have to do this task because it is not easy to get the little children to tell me what their wishes are. 

However, while we were writing their wishes this year, something wonderful happened between the children and us. We were able to capture more of their inner voices showing love and concern to their parents, siblings and grandparents rather than the usual demands for toys and playthings. 

One girl wished that her mum need not work so hard as she does not want to see her mum feeling so tired. A few remembered the good times that they had with their family holidays and wished to spend the same vacation with their families again.  A boy wished to learn swimming together with his sister while another one wished for her pet to live with her forever. Another child recalled her mummy’s wonderful soup and wished for her mum to cook it more often and another one wished that her little brother could grow up faster so that she could play with him. And the list goes on…….

Their warm and sincere wishes touched us so much that we felt the need to share this experience with all of you. We also felt so privileged to be the ones to convey each and every one of their little inner voices and love to all of you. Some of the children came back to us and said that their wishes had come true. Within the same week, the teacher have told them the story about Tanabata.      

                                                                                             Teacher Chithra