His Mandarin class

Hubby and the extended family (especially my in-laws) have been voicing out a lot of concerns concerning my 2.5 yo's inability to converse with Mandarin. So I have actually been looking for Mandarin classes at various schools since last year. However, the classes that suit us (location and timing) are always packed and I'm real fed up of being put on the waiting list. I finally managed to get him a place at Julia Gabriel and the hubs accompanied him there. But we did not enrol him there as hubby felt that the fees are too exorbitant (SGD40 for a 1 hour class which in actual fact is only 45-50 minutes due to 10-15 minutes of free play).

Thus, when Lexuan, a Chinese Language School opened its doors at the mall opposite our condominium, I enrolled Joshie there. Three trial classes for $110. Comes to nearly $40 a class but it's a 90 minute lesson. He started his first lesson last week. It's a parent-accompanied class.

Only student in class. Since they are newly opened, they are still busy advertising for more students.

Joshie and his teacher.

Actually I was quite horrified to see the way Joshie behaved in class. I have not accompanied him for classes since Jan this year and thus, I do not know how he behaves in school. Last year, he used to stick to me and would obediently listen to teacher. However, this time, he was only quiet for the first 10-15 minutes. After that, he didn't want to sit still. He was walking, running and dancing around the room. Pulled the paper wall deco off the wall too. Didn't really listen to teacher and when she asked him to repeat a chinese word, he would say "ju ju" cheekily. Even stuck out his tongue at her. Gosh!!!

Cheekiness aside, I seriously don't think my son would enjoy this class. I don't agree with the teacher's method of teaching. She is too strict and doesn't give my son freedom of choice. She expects my son to sit still on the chair for the whole 90 minutes. Only sang 1 song throughout the entire class and there were no actions to accompany the song. A lot of flash cards. No interesting activities or craft. I know my son. He wouldn't enjoy this method of teaching. That's why he was restless and wouldn't concentrate.

Thus, we are not going back there anymore. Just gonna wait till January 2012 when I enrol him into LeapSchoolHouse for a 5-day week, whereby Tues and Thurs lessons are purely in Mandarin. Joshie enjoys the teaching method there and I have seen how much he has learnt through his thrice weekly English sessions there.