I learn to ask....

Date: 14th January 2013
Day: Monday
Time: 4:30 - 5:30pm

I will speak politely
As I stepped into the class this afternoon, the children told me that Derek said something inappropriate. As Chinese New Year is just around the corner, we did some discussion on what to say. Politeness is very important as it's believe that everyone should speak in good words during this festival. So I reminded the children that we have to have courteosy in our words when we speak.

Revision on storybook - "Chinese New Year"
We did a revision on the storybook that we read last Friday to see if the children can remember most of the storyline in it. As we go through the book in brief, these are the words that I picked for the children to relate it to the festival:
     shirt, skirt, pants, dress, decorate, celebrate, lion dance troupe, pussy willow, eve, reunion dinner,  feast, visit

I learn to ask...
On the other hand, I also bring this part in as I wanted the kids to ask and answer in full sentences. We picked the Chinese Zodiac Sign as an example for this exercise.

Teacher: How do you ask a question when you wish to know a new friend's name?
Jia Jia: Your name is what?
Bee Chien: Your name is who?
Teacher: Don't you think there's something not right about the question?
Everyone was looking at the board puzzling what was wrong with it. Suddenly Phoeon said,"I know. What is your name?"
Teacher: Yes, that's the correct way of asking it.

Here's the activities that we did. We all sat in the circle. The 1st question and answer game is to ask about a person's name. Then it followed by asking about each other's Chinese Zodiac sign. Most of the children can go it without any guidance. Only one or two of the 5 years old children need to be given hint then only they manage to carry on with the practice. This would be one of the task that I would give to the children to ask the parents about their Chinese Zodiac Sign. I would appreciate if parents could co-operate and answer in full sentence or encourage your child to ask in English and not just merely getting an answer for it.