In the last week of the June school holidays, Anya attended the ‘Underwater’ holiday programme at KidStartNow. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she could survive a 4-day Chinese programme because we hardly speak any Chinese at home, but according to her teachers in school, Anya’s Chinese is pretty good so I decided to let her give it a go.
Anya took some time to warm up on the first day and was a little anxious because it was a new environment for her and she only knew one other person there. But by the end of that day, she was looking forward to the next day of the programme and very keen to go back.
The Underwater theme was enough to pique Anya’s interest because she likes to watch ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Finding Nemo’. She particularly enjoyed the role playing and storytelling segments and after each day’s programme, she would be very excited to tell me about the games and activities that she took part in. I really appreciated how they used so many interesting methods to make Chinese fun for Anya and the other children.
One of the features that Anya really liked about the holiday programme at KidStartNow was the digital rewards system. Kids are given ‘coins’ for good behaviour and for answering questions and can use these coins to ‘buy’ stickers and other rewards. Like many kids her age, Anya is quite competitive and very motivated by incentives, so this digital rewards system was right up her alley. At the end of each day, she would proudly show me the stickers she had accumulated in her notebook.
digital rewards system
circle time
playing a game
comparing stickers
getting more stickers
role playing
I’m glad she had such a great time during the camp and I see her making an effort to use more Chinese at home and trying to increase her vocabulary as well.
To learn more about the programmes offered by KidStartNow, check out their website for more information or to sign up for a trial class.
KidStartNow
CT Hub
2 Kallang Avenue #02-09
Singapore 339407
Tel: 6444 8280 / 6444 6310 / 9820 7272
E-mail:
Disclaimer: We were invited to attend the June holiday camp at KidStartNow for the review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Photo credits: mummybean and KidStartNow.