The disaster! It sucks to fall sick in a foreign land, but thank God for my Margaret Family and Cohort 2. And those who showed their concerns for me like Geri, Gou You, Meinu and many others.
I vomited the night before and I didn't attend school today. Bored to core in dorm alone. But I slept a lot. I think I'm super tired due to the lack of food, water as well as the coming of Ang Ang.
I think the vomit is due to my gastric and not food poisoning. I ate vitamin right after food and tt's what happened. I think I might wanna try eating just half a pill to reduce the dosage.
I was exceptionally touched my dearestest ger who bunked in with me with the special lil note on my class notes which she collected for me, the medicine from mama, hot water and drinks from lalalove, chua and pammie ang, dearestest, steph and evon who came specially to bring lunch for me w/o having their luncheon first, gladys who patted my back while looking at the ugly mess I made in the toilet bowl and the rest who dropped by or asked if I'm alright while passing by.
Thank You SO MUCH.
These lil things really ease my homesickness. I miss my mama who's always there for me when I can't slp (she'll pat me to slp) and when I'm sick she'll bring me to the doctor and some hot mama love hot water and porridge.
I'm Loved. :)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Visit to MIT's Technology Center (TCC) at Stata Basically, the TCC Stata caters to a rather high-end demography, which is the direct opposite from the Head-Start Program. TCC campus centers enrollment is limited to MIT active affiliates, defined as current employees; postdocs; students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs; visiting engineers, scholars, and scientists; and a limited number of specifically named MIT-affiliated organizations. MIT TCC Linc enrollment is open to the general community, with priority given to MIT affiliated families.
TCC has 2 infant, 3 toddler and 2 preschool classrooms. It also has part-time schedule offerings, which are set at Tues/Thurs and Mon/Wed/Fri. These schedules complement each other, allowing them to fill rooms to capacity, establish consistent peer groups for the children enrolled at TCC. I don't think SG childcare has such programmes due to curriculums we need to complete. Lessons are usually conducted in the first half of the day to cater to children from half-day programmes.
TCC Stata was designed with inquisitive children in mind. The descriptions of the play corners are written from the child's perspective. It helps me to understand how the child would proceed in doing the activities in the corner and how they will learn while playing in the corner.
Also,they use an electronic system quite similar to Cambridge Centres we visited in Singapore. They keep electronic copies of the children's data, use email and sms system to keep in contact with parents as well as sent them weekly reports about the activities children has done in the particular week. Parents also use the system to sign in for their children, so there's less work for teachers (in terms of the marking of attendence, which usually caused long queues in SG childcares).
There's also a low teacher-child ratio for each classes. And I feel teachers in the centre are rather privileged as they have time off from class while the supervisors/directors goes in to take care of the children while they plan for the curriculum of the week. Curriculums are planned according to children's interest and there's no strict thing they have to follow, which is quite different from SG. Teachers in the centre cook snacks for the children while the children bring in their own lunch from home. In SG, teachers almost do everything and anything, except cooking. For the more privileged teachers, they might be exempted from showering for the children. There's also no showering routine for children here, probably that's why there are two male teachers around in the centre.
Think that's about all. Tata! Last visit to Corner Co-op Nursery School on 15 Jul, Wed.
Rainy morning with sunny afternoon and evenings! Wooo~ Bring me REAL SUMMER PLS! We went Prudential Center today (not the SG one) with the intention to go for the Skywalk if the weather's good (on top). Well, it's still misty and cloudy despite the sun. And there's an event going on, soooo... mission aborted. Instead, we ate lime cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. It has quite a refreshing sour taste. Seng! Seng! BTH! Think papa would love it, but too bad.. I cant ship it to Singapore. Thereafter, it's shopping at Lechmere again! Wooo!!!! Last day of sale for Payless shoe (That's ger trying on shoes!). Got myself a pair of American Eagles at 11USD. Went to Wet Seal too, gotten 2 skirts and a top:) Yay! Although moody due to my coming Ang Ang, shopping does wonders with therapy.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
To summarise my weekend...
Friday, June 26, 2009
Talk about Helping children cope with grief and loss- Paul Thayer
Lessons I learnt:
1. Looking at children's persepective, people die due to three reasons: old age, death and for being bad people.
2. There are actually developmental norms for children's reactions to death.
3. Kids younger than three do not understand death, but thay doesn't mean that they are not affect by it.
4. Apart from children, we need to suport parents as well- grieving parents often didn't have energy to deal with the child, leaving the child with a lot of unanswered emotions.
5. Be flexible about allowing child to bring in an object to provide sense of security, not about bending rules.
6. Be sensitive in word used, i.e. sleeping doesn't equals to dying.
7. How we, as teachers should react and respond is important to children.
It's the calling to be humane,
yet teach them that life still has to go on.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Ger and I went through an adventure this morning. We went down to the cafeteria as usual for breakfast. AND the sprinkler at our seating area bursted! We were drench in some kind of black oil with water. Ewwww~! It's worse for Ger i think, cos her bag's soaked in black oil with water too. Moreover, there are other girls who got it too. The fire engine came in and we had a real fire "drill", which was mentioned the first day we came in (which was not met to be). Now we gotta shower again. And we're late for half an hour for our first drama lesson :(
I don't know if pictures will be up. Cos I was too sian half to take any. Thank God I WORE DARK GRAY and BLACK. Gotta wash my tights and cardigan though...
God is still good! Cos, we were given complimentary lunch!!! YAY! Salad!!! I love!!!
Lesson 1 @ Wheelock Family Theatre
Acting is about metacognitive thinking, i.e. thinking about what we're thinking. It's like looking at ourselves from a bird's eye view, how we act, react and respond to different people and environment. I remembered that wise men once said, "Life is like a drama". Many times, it's so true. What we learn in drama, we can apply it to real-life contexts. We learn to look at the perspectives of someone else, e.g. the character in dramas helps us to put ourselves in the shoes of others- thinking about how will this person react, walk, talk, etc. And of cos, it is an exhibition of creativity, e.g. improvisations, which helps us to think out of the box. This is especially important for children as well- to learn to think.
One new activity that we did today was called flocking. It's a sequencial linking of movements in a big group with 4 leaders (Left, right front and back). The rest will flow as the leaders pass movements to one another continuously. I was being appointed as the leader on the right. At first I was preparing myself on what kind of movements I could do. But when the movement was passed to me, my body just moved! Like naturally. I was pretty amazed at my body didn't follow my brain. It helps to increase our movement vocabulary as different people have different muscle memories. Also, it is very applicable to children with strong kinestatic intelligences as it allows them to move! And teach others at the same time.
Another great lesson that I have learnt through the activity of standing at different parts of the stage as well as in a group or an individual makes a great difference. As teachers, we should "never leave things ignored", e.g. an anxious or crying child and just pretend nothing is happening. Or even force the child to perform (assuming that he could do it during rehearsals, doesn't mean he can do it infront of an audience!) It is not just about putting up a good show, it's about the children and what they have learnt. Short reflective sessions in between activities can help children understand why they are performing and not just to purely showcase and satisfy the audience.
Reception @ Wheelock Precident's House!
Hurray for the good weather today! God is Good!!!
Love Me for being Adalene
Aquarius
07|02|88
CHC E424
Wheelockie
Bachelor of Science in ECH & Leadership
LOVER of CHRIST.
[Testimony for God]
Undergoing SANTIFICATION
Imperfect being, slowly Perfected in God.
Ordinary but made EXTRAORDINARY
Keep on Keeping on
1. Spending time with those I love.
2. Backpacking all round the world with dear dear.
3. Do humanitarian work related to children and families.
4. Set up orphanages in 3rd world countries.
5. Specialise in play therapy (Masters).
6. Design my own apartment.
7. Learn to cycle, swim & rollerblade.
8. Cont learning dancing & muai thai
It sucks to fall sick in a foreign land, but thank God for my Margaret Family and Cohort 2.
Thereafter, it's shopping at Lechmere again! Wooo!!!! Last day of sale for Payless shoe (That's ger trying on shoes!). Got myself a pair of American Eagles at 11USD. Went to Wet Seal too, gotten 2 skirts and a top:) Yay! Although moody due to my coming Ang Ang, shopping does wonders with therapy.
Acting is about metacognitive thinking, i.e. thinking about what we're thinking. It's like looking at ourselves from a bird's eye view, how we act, react and respond to different people and environment. I remembered that wise men once said, "Life is like a drama". Many times, it's so true. What we learn in drama, we can apply it to real-life contexts. We learn to look at the perspectives of someone else, e.g. the character in dramas helps us to put ourselves in the shoes of others- thinking about how will this person react, walk, talk, etc. And of cos, it is an exhibition of creativity, e.g. improvisations, which helps us to think out of the box. This is especially important for children as well- to learn to think.
Hurray for the good weather today! God is Good!!!