I only to realize that children are not naive nowadays as they used to be (as I used to be). Dealing with a 7-year-old Ah Boy was a real challenge to me. He still can be considered a good boy, not a mischievous child. However, he sometimes did make me nearly… ~~Pengsan~~
P/s: The following conversations are translated from Mandarin into English.
First day…
I need to run Diagnostic Tests to discover his weakness.
First Diagnostic Test-Mathematics:
Me : Ah Boy, come and count this.
Ah Boy :(Reluctant to count and he continued to play)
Me :(Aiya… how to make him count?)
Suddenly I saw a box of colorful paper clips. I took out all the paper clips and put them on the table.
Me : Ah Boy, here have so many paper clips. Can you help jie jie (sister)?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : Ah Boy, jie jie want to group them into their colors. Here got so many paper clips and jie jie have problem with them (scratching my head). Can you help jie jie? The pink colour put there, blue put here, bla… bla.. bla…
Ah Boy : OK. (He really helped me grouped the paper clips!)
Me : Hmm… Now, how ar? Jie jie need to count the number of the paper clips for each colors. How ar?
Ah Boy : One two, three… (He counted all the paper clips and I wrote their numbers near the paper clips)
Me : Hmm… Jie jie want the total of this pink paper clips and the blue paper clips. How leh? What is the total?
Ah Boy did give me the correct answer and this ‘questioning and answering session’ continued until I knew his weakness in Mathematics. Haha… he did not realize that he was actually doing Mathematics :p
Next was the Diagnostic Test for English:
Me : Ah Boy, come here and do the exercise [about preposition].
Ah Boy : (Run here and there. Reluctant to do the exercise)
Me : Ah Boy, let's play game.
Ah Boy : Yeah! (Sit in front of me, get ready to play game).
Me : OK, when say ‘under’, you put the pen under the chair, ok?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : When I say the word ‘on’, where do you need to put the pen?
Ah Boy : On the chair. (spoke in Mandarin).
Me : OK, good. So, we start now.
And our game started. After that, I asked him to do the related exercise on the book. Again, he did not want to do the exercise. He kept on playing with his plasticine. So, I took away his Plasticine. Suddenly, he sat on his chair, kept quiet. I tried to speak to him many times, but he did not want to talk to me. He treated me by saying that, “Tomorrow I do not want to come here already!” Aiya…. Sudah merajuk! So, I just left him calm down and he sat on the chair until… he felt asleep! Thinking that there was no use for me to force him to wake up and study, I just let him rest.
I told myself, “I cannot use ‘harsh’ technique… punishment will only make him to rebel.” So, the next day, I tried to use ‘soft’ technique and I was BULLIED by him! He did not follow my instruction. He watched the television and played around for the whole day.
Second day…
Laughing, my mother went to the kitchen and told me this story:
The TV was on and Ah Boy was watching the cartoon. Suddenly, my father changed the channel because he wanted to watch the news.
Ah Boy : Ee yo…! I want to watch the cartoon.
My father: Go and change the channel yourself. (Pity my father… couldn’t watch his news. He was ‘bullied’ by a 7 years old child!)
Ah Boy : Haiyo… really ‘ma fan’(troublesome) ar!
My father: ……???!!!
Ah Boy had his lunch with my family. While I was eating with him…
Me : Come… eat these foods. You can eat as much as you want.
Ah Boy : (Eat and chat with me)
Suddenly…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, you still do not have a boyfriend ar (still single)?
Me : …….. (Stunned. Wah, he is still young and he could ask such question! I nearly wanted to tell him that he is my "new boyfriend" but I chose to keep quiet- better speak less. I pretended to eat… very busy eating, no time to answer his answer :p).
That afternoon, I had a walk with him, holding hands. We walked; we chased each other etc. (I have turned into a child!) He suddenly made me realized that he is just 7 years old. He just lives in this world for 7 years but already burdened with school works and studies, even during this school holiday. Standard 1 syllabus has changed. He needs to know how to read, how to form sentences in BM, BI and BC. He has no choice but to study. Otherwise, he’ll left behind. What an innocent child! While I was holding his hand, I suddenly felt like hugging him (but I didn’t :p). I feel that this child needs to enjoy his childhood, not feed with books all the time. He needs love, he needs to play around and he needs to explore his surrounding naturally. Should I take away what he supposes to enjoy at this moment, as a 7 years old child? But at the same time, I have to do my responsibility as what I have promised his mother-to teach him. I really do not know what I should do. Sigh…
Third day…
Me : Today, we are going to play Station Game. If you win one station, jie jie will reward you a star. Do you want to play?
Ah Boy : Want!
Me : OK. Station 1. Find a paper behind the door… "BEHIND A DOOR".
Ah Boy : (He followed the instruction and read it aloud)
Me : OK. Lets go to Station 2.
Ah Boy : Station 2… On that table!
Me : OK, you are at Station 2 now. Tell jie jie the names of these shapes…
Ah Boy : Cylinder, cuboid… (Pointing at the shapes)
Me : Good, jie jie give you one extra star. How about this one?
Ah Boy : (He was unable to answer it. He tried to change my attention by saying that he was going to skip this station and going to station 3).
Me : No, no, no. You won't know the location of Station 3 unless you finish this station.
Ah Boy : He tried to answer them with my help).
Me : OK. A star. Now, let’s go to Station 3.
Ah Boy : Yeah, Station 3!
Me : OK, now you are at Station 3. You need to count the number of red beans and the rice. Please count 72 red beans for jie jie.
Ah Boy : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 10-put in one group. 11, 12, 13… 20- put in one group.
He did count 72 red beans. However, when he counted them again, he did some mistakes by adding extra number of 10. I tried to solve his problem and wanted to teach him. Too bad, he did not want to listen to me ans started to play. Finally…
Me : OK, Ah Boy. You do not want to learn right? OK, now you play. Tomorrow you no need to come here already. Jie jie will not bother you. Jie jie does not want to friend with you. Jie jie does not want to play with you anymore. Bla, bla, bla…
Ah Boy : Tomorrow I will surely come de! (Bla, bla, bla… he talked a lot but I just pretended that I heard nothing).
Me : …... (Remain quiet for the whole day… better than scolding him-no need to waste my energy)
Ah Boy : Bla, bla, bla…
And the ‘cold war’ continue. Before he went home, I told him…
Me : Actually tomorrow jie jie want to play ‘snake and ladder’ (a game) with you. But you do not know how to do addition correctly wo, cannot add the 2 dices. So, never mind la. Tomorrow I will play with my mother. Mom, tomorrow I play that game with you ya…
My mother: Sure.
Me : Here is the addition exercise for you to practice. If you want to play with me, you need to finish them by tomorrow. It’s up to you whether you want to play or not.
Fourth day…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, I haven’t do the addition exercise.
Me : Haven’t do it?! Why?
Ah Boy : My left eye aches the whole night.
Me : Yes, yesterday jie jie saw your left eyes watering, you sure get infection. Later I’ll call your mother.
Ah Boy : I do the Math exercise now. (And he finished all the exercises!)
I phoned his mother. Later...
Me : Ah Boy, I have phoned your mama. She said later your aunt will come and bring you see the doctor.
Ah Boy : Oh…
Me : Then, you will stay at her house until your mother fetch you ya. You no need to come back here.
Ah Boy : Haa…! Stay at aunt's house? Nothing to do there, so bored!
Me : … (Got you! Haha, I know you are not that sick… still can think of playing instead of resting. Do you think that you can trap me to play with you and no need to study by saying that you are sick?). But, you are sick, you need to rest. Later rest at your aunt’s house, ok?
Ah Boy : Ooo… (OK).
Fifth day…
Me : Ah Boy, you have finished your exercise yesterday. As promised, let's play ‘snake and ladder’. Before that, have you taken your medicine? Come and take your medicine.
My mother: Usually after drink medicine, you will feel sleepy. If feel sleepy, you rest ya.
Ah Boy : Haa…! After drink will sleep? (Looking at our ‘snake and ladder’ game).Then, I do not want to take the medicine first.
Me : Ah Boy, you need to take the medicine. Otherwise, you will not recover. Come, let’s take your medicine.
Ah Boy : Yesterday I vomited after drank the medicine (antibiotic).
Me : But you need to take it. Come and drink it. If you can finish this, then you no need to drink it anymore. After drink the antibiotic, you drink this red color medicine (for cough). This red liquid taste good… Really taste good de. Come…
Ah Boy finally drank them :p. After taken his medicine, we played. Then, we did a big cone for him to put on his head. On the cone, we pasted 2D shapes and I asked Ah Boy to name them. He wrote the names on the cone.
Ah Boy : Jie jie, later you please don’t tell mother that I do not learn anything and just do this craftwork, ok?
Me : OK. (I told myself,” Haha, he did not realize that I am teaching him the 2D shaped)
~“Objektif pengajaran tercapai.”~
Sixth day…
Me : Today we do a big cube. Do you want it?
Ah Boy : I want!
Me : Come… let’s we do it.
Ah Boy : (Realizing that he was going to learn and write, he changed topic). Jie jie, I want to draw fish.
Me : OK. Jie jie draw a big fish and you draw another fish, OK?
Ah Boy : OK.
After finished the drawing, I asked him to color the fish while I did the cube. I pasted all the 3D shapes on the cube. Later, I asked him to label the shapes but he reluctant to write them (he doesn’t like to write and learn).
Me : Ah Boy, come and label the shapes.
Ah Boy : (Playing with the fishes). Two fishes meet. They like each other, then kiss, kiss.
Me : … (Stunned. Wah, so small already know this!). Ah Boy, hmm… you can only kiss your mother, your grandmother and your brother ya…
Ah Boy : (Laughing).
Me : OK, let's name these shapes.
Ah Boy : (Reluctant to name them)
Me : (Patiently, I chased him but I realized that this would go to nowhere)
Ah Boy : (Playing around)
Me : Ah Boy, just now I wanted to give you this cube. But now, I want to give this cube to my uncle (he afraid of my uncle).
Ah Boy : Just now you said want to give me.
Me : But you do not know how to name the shapes.
Ah Boy : Who say I do not know the names of the shapes?
Me : OK, what is the name of this shape?
Ah Boy : Cone.
Me : This? (Pointing at the cylinder)
Ah Boy : Sphere.
Me : Then this? (Pointing at the sphere)
Ah Boy : Cuboid.
I corrected his mistake and the lesson continued. :p
In these six days, I have learned a lot from him. I realized that it is very hard to raise a child. It is very challenging to deal with a child. I have to think of new teaching method everyday. I need to be creative. To understand him is a must. In my opinion, I do think that this little boy is in stress and feels frustrated in learning and writing. He told me that he does not like the teachers in school. I need to phyco him. Sigh… so tiring. Hopefully he will progress. Love him so much!
P/s: The following conversations are translated from Mandarin into English.
First day…
I need to run Diagnostic Tests to discover his weakness.
First Diagnostic Test-Mathematics:
Me : Ah Boy, come and count this.
Ah Boy :(Reluctant to count and he continued to play)
Me :(Aiya… how to make him count?)
Suddenly I saw a box of colorful paper clips. I took out all the paper clips and put them on the table.
Me : Ah Boy, here have so many paper clips. Can you help jie jie (sister)?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : Ah Boy, jie jie want to group them into their colors. Here got so many paper clips and jie jie have problem with them (scratching my head). Can you help jie jie? The pink colour put there, blue put here, bla… bla.. bla…
Ah Boy : OK. (He really helped me grouped the paper clips!)
Me : Hmm… Now, how ar? Jie jie need to count the number of the paper clips for each colors. How ar?
Ah Boy : One two, three… (He counted all the paper clips and I wrote their numbers near the paper clips)
Me : Hmm… Jie jie want the total of this pink paper clips and the blue paper clips. How leh? What is the total?
Ah Boy did give me the correct answer and this ‘questioning and answering session’ continued until I knew his weakness in Mathematics. Haha… he did not realize that he was actually doing Mathematics :p
Next was the Diagnostic Test for English:
Me : Ah Boy, come here and do the exercise [about preposition].
Ah Boy : (Run here and there. Reluctant to do the exercise)
Me : Ah Boy, let's play game.
Ah Boy : Yeah! (Sit in front of me, get ready to play game).
Me : OK, when say ‘under’, you put the pen under the chair, ok?
Ah Boy : OK.
Me : When I say the word ‘on’, where do you need to put the pen?
Ah Boy : On the chair. (spoke in Mandarin).
Me : OK, good. So, we start now.
And our game started. After that, I asked him to do the related exercise on the book. Again, he did not want to do the exercise. He kept on playing with his plasticine. So, I took away his Plasticine. Suddenly, he sat on his chair, kept quiet. I tried to speak to him many times, but he did not want to talk to me. He treated me by saying that, “Tomorrow I do not want to come here already!” Aiya…. Sudah merajuk! So, I just left him calm down and he sat on the chair until… he felt asleep! Thinking that there was no use for me to force him to wake up and study, I just let him rest.
I told myself, “I cannot use ‘harsh’ technique… punishment will only make him to rebel.” So, the next day, I tried to use ‘soft’ technique and I was BULLIED by him! He did not follow my instruction. He watched the television and played around for the whole day.
Second day…
Laughing, my mother went to the kitchen and told me this story:
The TV was on and Ah Boy was watching the cartoon. Suddenly, my father changed the channel because he wanted to watch the news.
Ah Boy : Ee yo…! I want to watch the cartoon.
My father: Go and change the channel yourself. (Pity my father… couldn’t watch his news. He was ‘bullied’ by a 7 years old child!)
Ah Boy : Haiyo… really ‘ma fan’(troublesome) ar!
My father: ……???!!!
Ah Boy had his lunch with my family. While I was eating with him…
Me : Come… eat these foods. You can eat as much as you want.
Ah Boy : (Eat and chat with me)
Suddenly…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, you still do not have a boyfriend ar (still single)?
Me : …….. (Stunned. Wah, he is still young and he could ask such question! I nearly wanted to tell him that he is my "new boyfriend" but I chose to keep quiet- better speak less. I pretended to eat… very busy eating, no time to answer his answer :p).
That afternoon, I had a walk with him, holding hands. We walked; we chased each other etc. (I have turned into a child!) He suddenly made me realized that he is just 7 years old. He just lives in this world for 7 years but already burdened with school works and studies, even during this school holiday. Standard 1 syllabus has changed. He needs to know how to read, how to form sentences in BM, BI and BC. He has no choice but to study. Otherwise, he’ll left behind. What an innocent child! While I was holding his hand, I suddenly felt like hugging him (but I didn’t :p). I feel that this child needs to enjoy his childhood, not feed with books all the time. He needs love, he needs to play around and he needs to explore his surrounding naturally. Should I take away what he supposes to enjoy at this moment, as a 7 years old child? But at the same time, I have to do my responsibility as what I have promised his mother-to teach him. I really do not know what I should do. Sigh…
Third day…
Me : Today, we are going to play Station Game. If you win one station, jie jie will reward you a star. Do you want to play?
Ah Boy : Want!
Me : OK. Station 1. Find a paper behind the door… "BEHIND A DOOR".
Ah Boy : (He followed the instruction and read it aloud)
Me : OK. Lets go to Station 2.
Ah Boy : Station 2… On that table!
Me : OK, you are at Station 2 now. Tell jie jie the names of these shapes…
Ah Boy : Cylinder, cuboid… (Pointing at the shapes)
Me : Good, jie jie give you one extra star. How about this one?
Ah Boy : (He was unable to answer it. He tried to change my attention by saying that he was going to skip this station and going to station 3).
Me : No, no, no. You won't know the location of Station 3 unless you finish this station.
Ah Boy : He tried to answer them with my help).
Me : OK. A star. Now, let’s go to Station 3.
Ah Boy : Yeah, Station 3!
Me : OK, now you are at Station 3. You need to count the number of red beans and the rice. Please count 72 red beans for jie jie.
Ah Boy : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 10-put in one group. 11, 12, 13… 20- put in one group.
He did count 72 red beans. However, when he counted them again, he did some mistakes by adding extra number of 10. I tried to solve his problem and wanted to teach him. Too bad, he did not want to listen to me ans started to play. Finally…
Me : OK, Ah Boy. You do not want to learn right? OK, now you play. Tomorrow you no need to come here already. Jie jie will not bother you. Jie jie does not want to friend with you. Jie jie does not want to play with you anymore. Bla, bla, bla…
Ah Boy : Tomorrow I will surely come de! (Bla, bla, bla… he talked a lot but I just pretended that I heard nothing).
Me : …... (Remain quiet for the whole day… better than scolding him-no need to waste my energy)
Ah Boy : Bla, bla, bla…
And the ‘cold war’ continue. Before he went home, I told him…
Me : Actually tomorrow jie jie want to play ‘snake and ladder’ (a game) with you. But you do not know how to do addition correctly wo, cannot add the 2 dices. So, never mind la. Tomorrow I will play with my mother. Mom, tomorrow I play that game with you ya…
My mother: Sure.
Me : Here is the addition exercise for you to practice. If you want to play with me, you need to finish them by tomorrow. It’s up to you whether you want to play or not.
Fourth day…
Ah Boy : Jie jie, I haven’t do the addition exercise.
Me : Haven’t do it?! Why?
Ah Boy : My left eye aches the whole night.
Me : Yes, yesterday jie jie saw your left eyes watering, you sure get infection. Later I’ll call your mother.
Ah Boy : I do the Math exercise now. (And he finished all the exercises!)
I phoned his mother. Later...
Me : Ah Boy, I have phoned your mama. She said later your aunt will come and bring you see the doctor.
Ah Boy : Oh…
Me : Then, you will stay at her house until your mother fetch you ya. You no need to come back here.
Ah Boy : Haa…! Stay at aunt's house? Nothing to do there, so bored!
Me : … (Got you! Haha, I know you are not that sick… still can think of playing instead of resting. Do you think that you can trap me to play with you and no need to study by saying that you are sick?). But, you are sick, you need to rest. Later rest at your aunt’s house, ok?
Ah Boy : Ooo… (OK).
Fifth day…
Me : Ah Boy, you have finished your exercise yesterday. As promised, let's play ‘snake and ladder’. Before that, have you taken your medicine? Come and take your medicine.
My mother: Usually after drink medicine, you will feel sleepy. If feel sleepy, you rest ya.
Ah Boy : Haa…! After drink will sleep? (Looking at our ‘snake and ladder’ game).Then, I do not want to take the medicine first.
Me : Ah Boy, you need to take the medicine. Otherwise, you will not recover. Come, let’s take your medicine.
Ah Boy : Yesterday I vomited after drank the medicine (antibiotic).
Me : But you need to take it. Come and drink it. If you can finish this, then you no need to drink it anymore. After drink the antibiotic, you drink this red color medicine (for cough). This red liquid taste good… Really taste good de. Come…
Ah Boy finally drank them :p. After taken his medicine, we played. Then, we did a big cone for him to put on his head. On the cone, we pasted 2D shapes and I asked Ah Boy to name them. He wrote the names on the cone.
Ah Boy : Jie jie, later you please don’t tell mother that I do not learn anything and just do this craftwork, ok?
Me : OK. (I told myself,” Haha, he did not realize that I am teaching him the 2D shaped)
~“Objektif pengajaran tercapai.”~
Sixth day…
Me : Today we do a big cube. Do you want it?
Ah Boy : I want!
Me : Come… let’s we do it.
Ah Boy : (Realizing that he was going to learn and write, he changed topic). Jie jie, I want to draw fish.
Me : OK. Jie jie draw a big fish and you draw another fish, OK?
Ah Boy : OK.
After finished the drawing, I asked him to color the fish while I did the cube. I pasted all the 3D shapes on the cube. Later, I asked him to label the shapes but he reluctant to write them (he doesn’t like to write and learn).
Me : Ah Boy, come and label the shapes.
Ah Boy : (Playing with the fishes). Two fishes meet. They like each other, then kiss, kiss.
Me : … (Stunned. Wah, so small already know this!). Ah Boy, hmm… you can only kiss your mother, your grandmother and your brother ya…
Ah Boy : (Laughing).
Me : OK, let's name these shapes.
Ah Boy : (Reluctant to name them)
Me : (Patiently, I chased him but I realized that this would go to nowhere)
Ah Boy : (Playing around)
Me : Ah Boy, just now I wanted to give you this cube. But now, I want to give this cube to my uncle (he afraid of my uncle).
Ah Boy : Just now you said want to give me.
Me : But you do not know how to name the shapes.
Ah Boy : Who say I do not know the names of the shapes?
Me : OK, what is the name of this shape?
Ah Boy : Cone.
Me : This? (Pointing at the cylinder)
Ah Boy : Sphere.
Me : Then this? (Pointing at the sphere)
Ah Boy : Cuboid.
I corrected his mistake and the lesson continued. :p
In these six days, I have learned a lot from him. I realized that it is very hard to raise a child. It is very challenging to deal with a child. I have to think of new teaching method everyday. I need to be creative. To understand him is a must. In my opinion, I do think that this little boy is in stress and feels frustrated in learning and writing. He told me that he does not like the teachers in school. I need to phyco him. Sigh… so tiring. Hopefully he will progress. Love him so much!
