“I Want To Be the Strongest”

The photo on this post is badly lit, mis-composed, and has no technical merit whatsoever. But of all the images I’ve taken in the past 12 months: from Russia, Turkey, Paris, Provence, this one, from beautiful downtown Whampoa, is the one I’m proudest of.

The “study” theme at the Family Service Centre last Saturday was the Olympics. I brought in an Olympic torch from the office (yes, the real McCoy. Lenovo designed the Torch at the Beijing Olympics after all), had them play some Olympics-themed word games, got a TINY bit of reading done, and then the kids had a choice of making a torch, complete with paper napkin flames, Olympic Medal, or the Olympic flag.

It was a bit of pandemonium

More on Whampao: froma fellow volunteer

It's been nearly a year since I've started working with the kids at Whampao, and every Saturday, the place runs thanks to some very very dedicated volunteers.

Here's a post from my friend Koh Joh Ju, who works with the K through P2 kids, and always reminds me that kids need patience and care from us more than they do discipline.

A story about positive reinforcement

On Saturday, we had a group of really sweet n kind young volunteers, eager to please and help. Completely fresh of the boat. Naturally, the kids were on to them and we had a tough time getting the 4-8 year olds sticking to do any reading, writing & speaking.

Some 15mins to closing time, i managed to get a 5 year old to write 'colouring' into his activity file and i wrote in the remarks column GOOD JOB! i showed that to him and read out the words. Then i went to the next kid with this sample. And another kid. I ended up with 3 kids who wrote without coaxing.

(Very unlike Jan 23rd when every kid wld say 'u write for me' or 'i dunno how to write'.)

So, I know of 3 kids who can write COLOURING, GOOD and JOB. woohoo!

You know, this 'positive reinforcement' thingy is quite infectious. i was so positively reinforced by this tiny milestone that i've started work on a series of worksheets for the young ones. (as in, i created 1 worksheet. will need to crank out a few more before the next class hits!)

Note to Self: Don't Write off "Disruptive" Kids

OK - I have to admit. I was annoyed as hell. It was the second Saturday back at the Family Service Centre, the kids were restless, and the younger of the "L" brothers was running around and being disruptive.

I was really quite glad when he left the group to do his own thing. I had enough kids to work with.

After the morning's session, when all the kids had trooped off home with their Milo and sweets, I went to one of the student volunteers who spent time with L and gave him a sympathetic "you had to look after L huh? How was it?"

"Actually, pretty good," he said, throwing me for a loop. "We took him outside to the void deck. Found out he likes playing Chinese chess. So he's obviously intellectually bright. He just needs the individual attention so he's not bored."

Hmm. So much for snap judgements. Even with kids.

Not Your Typical Provence Photo

In Avignon now, where it'll a high of 3 degrees C today.

It's been a great week. (Although cold. Cold, cold, COLD! By my tropical standards anyway)
Love the little markets. Great cheese, proscuitto, baguette, fresh fruit and veg! NY Eve dinner in Avignon. Subtle use of truffle. Great service.

So many small towns and so much great food, friendly people. Cute buildings and castles. It's like walking in a page from a fairytale. This was shot at a winery earlier this week. Lotsa fog and tons of atmosphere. Although it warmed up to the teens later in the afternoon.

You wouldn't believe how many "Provence in the winter? Why?????" questions we got. But hey - having a great time anyway. No crowds, lots of parking, no queues for restaurants, and no need to elbow other tourists and their cameras out of the way.

So, maybe sometimes the road less travelled, in the off season, is not so bad. Now - I'm going to find a sweater and bundle up.

Make a Smilebox greeting

KIDDIE POLLOCK


The image in this post was the work of one of my colleague's kids from a recent Lenovo Kidz@Work day. (Yes, ALL parents survived thank you, and no conference calls were hurt during the event)

It was a terrific day by all accounts. It was especially amusing to see kids come to their parents desks during break - and if their parents were not there the kids would put on their parent's headsets and pretend to be doing conference calls. Although one little girl did say she didn't want to be like her mum when she grew up because "who wants to be on calls all the time?"

The kids at the Family Service Centre are on holiday break. Last Saturday was the last one for the year, so we had a chocolate cake party. Charles supplied the cake. Before the cake, there was still work to be done.

The two "L" brothers were running around, wouldn't sit still, and one of the other volunteers had them this time. I had a table with five girls aged 7-11, and a teeange volunteer from the uni helping me out. (I love her - she's a brilliant, cool, young woman and she'll do great things when she graduates). We were doing the Human Body - reading about what makes up blood, how long it takes for blood to circulate, sticking femurs, biceps, triceps onto this gigantic sticker book. One of the girls got bored and said she couldn't read without her glasses and left. The others were really engaged. And smart. And I think it took the "L" brothers, who were in another room, a long time to get UNbored.

Their younger sister, who's 7, was in my group, and I have to admit I had REALLY low expectations of her - having worked with her brothers. Dumb prejudice. She totally held her own - she's a really smart kid. So were the other girls who stuck around. So I said to the social worker maybe I should just focus on this group of girls from now. They're interested and they're smart. And I'll know my time's well used.

And she said, in a nice way "well...that's the thing about the education system here. Everyone wants to focus on the smart ones - and who's going to help those who are not?"

Sigh - food for thought. Should I expend my energy chasing the kids around the room who want to be playing with their yo-yo's and bothering the other kids? Or focus on those who are interested in learning something and find it fun? Jury's still out for me.

Saturday's Kids

Last weekend a bunch of the older kids (P4-6) were lucky enough to be sent to camp. Looking forward seeing the kids again to hear about it.

So, two kids, who weren't at camp, came in. I got to spend some one on one time with Shakila and Samir (not their real names). We read about Africa from the Disney Geography book and then the kids wrote a bit, and then we played Scrabble.

Shakila wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. How do you tell a kid that - well, in the real world - you can't really be whatever you want to be. You don't. You can only believe that they can be better than where they are now and help them believe in themselves too. I think.

So, I asked her what she needed to be good at to get there. And she said Science and Math. I added English - which she said was her weak subject. We went and got a book about Science (NOT a textbook - they're the most boring things ever invented). Someone had donated a really good Science BOOK several days ago. Lots of colourful pictures and decent sized typeface. And so we read about blood cells. Then Shakila checked out a Science book from the bookshelf to bring home - along with a worn, yellowed, Secret Seven novel.

I happened to be at Parkway on Sunday and found some really good phonics books for the younger kids. It bugs me that 7-year-olds can't write their names and no one at home's helping them to. It also bugs me that parents don't see to it that their kids are at the centre every weekend, and that many of them think it doesn't really matter whether they show up or not. Where's the sense of ownership and responsibility?

Anyway, back to the Parkway book sale. Found a REALLY cool book on the human body. Comes with re-useable stickers. So, the kids can do a session on anatomy and the digestive system etc one weekend. (Next week they're doing the Water Cycle and weather.) Psyched about finding the sticker book, but still really bothered about the parents. How do we break this cycle for the kids? How do we help the parents help the kids?