蔡 子 潁 上學 (Katy at school)

A couple of weeks ago, I suddenly realised with a jolt that we had not had school photos this year at Katy's school.  So I asked around and was told that for some reason at KCS, there are no school photos in K2.  However, Katy's teacher Liao Laoshi is very flexible and accommodating, an agreed to let me come to take some class photos, after I told her that I had a school photo every year while growing up and I wanted Katy to have the same.

In addition, Liao Laoshi also asked me to take some informal photos of the kids in the classroom.

So, here is a "typical" morning at in Katy's classroom.

School starts officially at 8.45am but unofficially at 9am.  Katy usually arrives around 8.30am and by then, there are a few other kids around, and they get to have a play.  One of the kids who is usually there early (because she has a brother in Primary School, which starts earlier), is Nadia.

When the kids arrive at school, they have to hand in their homework, or if it has not been completed, they need to sit down and finish their homework.  They get a little bit of homework every day.  Not much, usually some Chinese writing.  Chinese needs to be learnt by rote and generally requires more homework time than other subjects.  Liu Laoshi is one of the two assistant teachers, and has to sort out all the homework for the kids.

At around 9am, Liao Laoshi plays a Chinese song on the piano and the kids know this is the signal to put away all the toys and sit at their desks to sing a few songs. 

Liao Laoshi then introduces the new material for the day - words or numbers.  On this day, she was introducing the word 毛巾 (towel).  The kids discuss how the characters are similar or different from other characters they have learnt, and they make sentences using the word.  Then they settle down to start off their Chinese writing homework.  Each group has a leader for the day.  On the day I was there, Katy was selected to be the leader.  The leader has to collect and distribute all the pencils for the kids to use.

Once this is done, they line up to go to the bathroom!

There are 39 kids in Katy's class!  The class is divided into three groups.  Katy started out in 蜜蜂組 (Honey Bee Group).  Now she is in 紅紅花組 (Red Safflower Group) with Zee Zee (Alexandra, with whom she had a playdate last year and a lunch date earlier this month), Chloe (who plays the harp!), Toby, Ava (who was also in Honey Bee Group), Nadia, and several other kids.  

 Then the kids have reading time.

 

On the day I was there, we also took the opportunity to take pictures of small groups of the kids playing with toys while the others read.  Katy's friend Natalie is in Honeybee Group but she sits really close to Katy.  They are always telling each other secrets, especially during snack time.

After snack time, Miss Tabbie, the English teacher comes in.  The kids have around an hour of English every day.

 On the day I was there, Miss Tabbie discussed working professions.  When she put up a picture of a construction worker of African heritage, several kids said it was Bob the Builder, but Natalie said "no, it's not Bob the Builder 'cos he's not brown".  When asked what was a stethoscope, Elsa replied "it's to listen to your heart to see if you're dead."

 Katy was called upon to circle all the equipment that a policeman needs to do his job.

 After discussion, the kids sit at their desks to complete some worksheets, and the group leaders have to go get the pencils again.  Sometimes, apparently, it seems there might be a face-off between group leaders as they scramble to get their pencil trays.  Katy got a bit aggressive with poor Matthew, who meekly handed over his extra pencil tray.

 The last lesson of the day is for Miss Tabbie to read a story in English.

 

Then the kids line up to go to the bathroom again, come back to their classroom to pack up, and sing their Goodbye Song, before they take a bus or are picked up to go home.  Lu Laoshi is another of the assistant teachers.  They all seem to play the piano!