LNT - trial class

we managed to secure one last slot for mon cherie for today's trial lesson at little neuro tree (LNT). it's a free trial of 3 sessions in 3 different languages, ie. english, mandarin and japanese. we attend the japanese language session today; it being the last lesson for this term's trial class.

here's a quick note on the trial lesson (no photography allowed) which mommy attended with mon cherie.
* small class of 6 pairs of child-parent with one teacher (we had chenko-san, native japanese lady)
* some toddlers (all are in the same age group; born in the same year) are regular while 3 were on trials. those regular seemed to be more participative and able to concentrate on tasks given while those on trials, well... distractions, distractions, distractions...
* lessons comprises of:
- sing-along-songs - about 3-4 songs and all in japanese so we just listened...
- flashcards - quite a few sets were used today, numbers, animals, colors, food, occupations, etc
- eye/memory training - kids were shown pictures for a few seconds (from 2 - 5 seconds) and later asked recall what they saw by putting objects in the same position as shown in the earlier picture shown. it was not easy - even mommy forgot what goes where...
- maths - for this term, the kids were already learning to count backwards (yes, backwards!!) from 20 - 1. they were encouraged to 'read' out the numbers while physically transfering objects from one place to another.
- alphabets - kids got to learn about the japanese hiragana; and 3 of them too! and there's even homework on for them to bring home to practice their hiragana! GAH!!!
- concept of 'opposites' - kids got 2 sets of similar pictures but of opposite sizes.

* after the lesson, each kid will get a sticker that they choose themselves and paste it on their exercise booklet.

the trial lesson is about 1 hr but for japanese language session, ours dragged to almost 1.5hr. i brought this up as obviously it was too long for toddlers to sit down and concentrate! later was told that because it was in japanese, the teacher needed more time to explain, otherwise it should be within the one-hour duration.

well, mon cherie was able to participate in a few activities but for a few others, she was fidgiting and distracted by other kids who ran about, wailed or screamed during class. and i think she called out to her daddy at least 3 times; probably asking him to rescue her from her misery!! ahahaa... even mommy was tired out after the lesson!

oh well, another 2 more trial lessons to go and we shall see how she can cope with them in a more familar language. and hopefully she will get to enjoy the class/activities more in the coming 2 trials.

here are some shorts of miss cranky (after 1.5hrs of sit-down lesson, i'd be cranky too! ;p ) after class. roaming about the reception area...


daddy got her to sit down at the kids' area and play some lego...


i think she missed PDS - coz she started to 'tap tap tap' on the table!!! awww....


getting more interested in wat's in the box... something colorful that catches her eye!


and finally willing to enjoy the legos with daddy... oh, doesn't she look serious in this photo?!