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Our first Shichida class

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

~~ Wednesday 9 July 08 ~~
Edison attended his first Shichida class last Saturday at HDB Hub Toa Payoh. His class starts from 4:15pm to 5:30pm (Duration: 1 hr 15 min).

As this was our first lesson, we were given a welcome kit that contains booklets about Shichida Method, a child observation book and a t-shirt (printed with a big GENIUS word on it!)

The class has 6 students, all aged between 9 - 12 months old, with 3 boys and 3 girls. The ratio is really good! Our Sensei (in Japanese, means teacher) is Ms Eunice.

Many of us may wonder what are actually taught in the class, especially when the students are still so young.

5 mins: Welcome routine ~ sing the welcome song in Japanese
55 mins: The Shichida Method lesson
15 mins: Child activity, communication between Sensei and parents, Q&A etc.

During the 55 mins, there are many activities being carried out. Some of them that I can still remember:
1. Energy Ball as warm up
2. Sensory Games to sharpen the innate senses
- Sensei used a picture of a frog (with bells attached to it). She moved the frog in 3 directions; zig-zag from left to right, up and down, and in a butterfly shape.
3. Image Play to improve their memory and strengthen visualization skill
- Sensei showed a series of picture in order for 3 times. After which, she asked the child to pick a card that shows the pictures in the correct order.
4. Music Play to develop good sense of pitch and rhythm
- Sensei played music in different languages; English, Malay and Japanese.
5. Memory Play
- Sensei showed a picture with Pooh and Tiger for 3 times. Then, she took out a paper with the same background but without the Pooh and Tiger. She asked the child to stick the Pooh and Tiger to the right location as seen in the first picture.
6. Flash Cards
- Sensei flashed the picture cards as quickly as she can, and she read out loud. She used as many as 100+ cards with different topics.
7. Speed Reading
- Sensei showed a short story book to the child. She read out the story in 3 speeds; slow, normal and fast. The parent will guide the child and use their finger to point at the words as the Sensei read.

Above activities are for right brain development. The class also focus on the left brain activity; learning phonics and reading ABC for example. All areas are well-covered during the 1 hour lesson.

Edison enjoyed himself with most of the acitivities, except the flash cards where he showed very little interest. The funniest thing is, towards the end of the class, two kids fell asleep! The remaining 4 kids started to make noise and they all have pacifier in their mouth! I think these kids need more time to get used to the class routine, to enjoy themselves in the class and get more exposure with the activities.

Well, this is the update on our first lesson. Stay tuned! We will update more as we progress.

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