We are Not Smarter than the Kids We Work With

Every Saturday, the Whampoa Learning volunteers work with kids that usually don't have the best grades in class - far from it. At age 9, many of them can't spell simple words, don't know how letters sound phonetically, and many of them believe they aren't really smart at all.

And it's easy for us adults, no matter how well meaning, to fall into the trap of our own preconceptions.

Last weekend, we were working with 9-year-old D. He looks like he's 7 and he seems to have a max attention span of 10 minutes - or rather, the longest we've been able to hold his attention is 10 minutes. Mark, a volunteer who is an engineer, had alternated b/t reading to / with him, playing a vowel "hotdog" game in the iPad, chasing him around the room to get back to "work".

Then D saw me playing Memory Matrix with another kid, and wanted to play too. It's one of those games where squares flash on the screen, disappear, then you click on where the square were. We saw him getting up to 8 squares, and then 9, and then 12. When he'd gotten the hang of it - he was using two hands. Fingers bouncing on the screen as if he were playing the piano.  

NONE of the other volunteers - engineers, execs - could get close to his score.

So there - D's got an incredible memory. And btw - he also does mental math faster than any of us. But because he can't read, anything above Primary 2 math is a lost cause for him since most everything requires reading and reasoning.

Now - what do we do w/ that information? Where can we get expert guidance on how we can help D learn? Any ideas anyone?

Learning about Ramadan from the Whampoa Kids

Chicken Ham, Lettuce and Cheese sandwich comin' up

Learning about Ramadan from the Whampoa Kids

So, the sandwich/ party project last month was a great success. The older kids made the sandwiches in orderly chaos, and the younger kids kid made little crowns, and Cheryl did the games.

Last weekend, we did a session on Hari Raya where the kids did the teaching and quizzed the volunteers. Cheryl did the lesson plan and this was how it worked:

10am - Kids came and did a word search of Hari Raya related words. (There are sites online you can generate search words and crossword puzzles for free)

10.20am - We split the children in 2 groups. Each group had 1 minute (ish) to list as many words related to Hari Raya as possible. Volunteers prompted by suggesting categories like food, clothes, things they do, see, etc. 



10.30am - In their groups, kids discussed and prepared a mindmap/ presentation on on Ramadan.  3 aspects: a) the religious significance and Ramadan; b) the prep leading up to Hari Raya which culminates in Malam Raya (the night before Hari Raya); c) Hari Raya itself and the month of festivities that follows.

Social worker Khairun and her cousin were advisers since none of the other volunteers are Muslim. 

10.45am - Groups then presented and Volunteers asked questions or clarified.

11am - Kids then came up with quiz questions and quizzed us, the volunteers. They had a blast turning the tables on us. We'd learned a lot ourselves too.

The classes are comin' along. Next weekend we've got a training session with an organisation called Junior Achievement. They're donating a 6-hour module teaching kids about money smarts. Comes with games, lesson plans and course materials. And they'll teach us how to to use 'em.Lookin' f'd to it.

Sandwiches and sums

This month's theme is food. We're doing a four-week block of related classes.

Week 1: the kids made sandwiches and learned about nutrition. Steve demo'd how yeast makes dough rise. The kids were really into it- making sandwiches for themselves, the volunteers and esp. the social workers.
Week 2: the kids made a list of things they'd need for a party, and went to the supermarket with the volunteers to take down prices of stuff.

Of Sushi and Schoolwork

When the tsunami first hit, one of the kids came up to one of the volunteers, Mark, and started talking excitedly about it and about the session on plate tectonics we'd done last year.

The boy, 11, was football crazy and usually took us a lot of effort to sit still and pay attention. We certainly didn't expect him to come talk to us proactively about Japan and the earthquake. 

So, we decided to plan a couple of lessons around the theme of earthquakes. Last weekend, a group of volunteers who specialize in conflict resolution used the events in Japan in a role play.

The kids had to pretend they were injured the tsunami and had to argue for which of them should be sent to hospital first. Another kid was the "doctor"and had to decide who got priority and why.