a slight case of Beijing nostalgia

Over the last couple weeks, I've been really frustrated with Niamh's school here in Singapore. It has made me even more nostalgic about Niamh's school in Beijing, Ivy Bilingual.

Niamh's first week of school last year

In my nostalgic haze, I started looking at their website again, and the parent journals. Basically, each family has a password login, that is a journal updated every Friday. This has a school note on things like upcoming holidays or events, a class note on what they learned at school that week (the letter C, the cookie man song, etc) as well as any class announcements or upcoming trips, and also a section on any personal notes for your child from your teacher (this last part is not always used, but in special occasions).

The best part of these journals however, is the media section, which has 4-5 photos of your child at school that week, doing different activities. I absolutely loved these journals, not only because if I was away I could 'see Niamh' but because they were great for keeping the grandparents happy! The captions on the photos would explain the context or a little story around what she was doing, and it was simply priceless.

Niamh dancing with her best buddy Anna, leading the class in song and dance

Missing the school and elements of our life there, I just went through week by week, and read all of them again (ok, mostly for the photos!). But I was shocked at how much I missed, they had a lot more going on than I realized, like some field trips I was probably unaware of and some celebrations we clearly didn't get the memo on (like when NIamh is the ONLY one not dressed up for Chinese New Year - oops!).

Niamh NOT dressed up for Chinese New Year...

But what I did find, was a note to us from her teachers on her last week of school. I'm sad that I missed this before, but its so sweet it just warms my heart that they put so much effort in, and makes me realize we have to make a change asap. As her first school, I may not have realized how good we had it.

Hi,

It was such a pleasure knowing your child, Niamh. I personally admire her character for being such independent daughter, fast learner and being sweet on her own little way. For being part of this community especially our class “nursery” we had great time together discovering and learning things together. Niamh showed such a big progress in terms of her social and communication skills. She is such an outgoing girl and her advantage of speaking bilingually helped her a lot in making friends at school.

One thing that I can’t really forget about her is, when she brought a toy from home and when she saw Alois crying with out us teachers telling her anything she was able to pacify Alois by sharing that toy with him. Most of the time, she would tell anyone the phrases: “please share,” “please stop crying” or “I like it too.” 

I believed what she really enjoyed and liked most among the centers in our class were: dramatic and book nook. There she was able to express herself freely by talking with her friends and classmates and had fruitful time playing with them. At the book nook, she was able to learned words and values based from the stories she enjoyed or heard from the teachers. Another thing is, she truly loves singing and dancing.

Generally, Niamh can express her needs through words and she always makes sure to politely express them to us. We hope that Niamh will also like her new school and we wish you all the best.

Thanks for being kind and supportive to us too.

Cheers

Tr. Jennifer
Tr. Betty
Tr. Emily
Tr. Tatsie
Wang Ayi

Niamh painting at school earlier this year
Original caption had read, "Niamh painting and singing wheels on the bus to herself, her favorite song to sing..."

One of the things in all these photos that strikes me is that Niamh looks like she is having a blast, and she looks super confident (excluding the picture from her first day). That's what we need to get back to.