International Week

This week is International Week at ISU. All students are required to turn up in Mongolian costume today. Thank goodness we have one. I bought  Cayden a deel over a year ago, as he had to wear it to perform at the year end consert his previous Mongolian kindergarten. But the government ordered all schools to close early due to the outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease in Mongolia. So the deel was kept in cold storage.

Today, we have a chance to use it! Yea! The boots were too small, but he still fits in the deel.

Pictures below:

It was freezing outside, but I still made Cayden stand outside to take a picture coz the lighting was better.

 

A brotherly moment. Cameron looked kinda stunned.

What to do?

I have been very anxious about Cayden's place in ISU. I was worried if he would be able to get into the Pre-school 1 class. So on Monday, when I received a call to go to school with Cayden for an interview, I was elated! 

So we went and saw the Head of Primary. I received a terrible news. The pre-school 1 class has been re-scheduled from the original timings of 8.15am - 12.15pm, to 1.15pm to 3.15pm! How stupid is that? 

First of all, the class time falls right during his nap time! Correct me if I am wrong, but don't MOST 3-year olds take afternoon naps???? 

Second of all, what can we expect them to teach the kids in 2 hours? 

Lastly, they tell parents 1 week before school starts? How on earth are we going to reschedule his nap time within a week? 

The reason given to me, was that Pre-school class (both 1&2) are overcrowded. In total, they have 36 students with 1 foreign teacher and 2 assistant teachers. So they decided to split the class. Pre-school 2 class is from 8.15am to 12.15pm. Pre-school 1 class is from 1.15pm to 3.15pm. Priority is given to 4 year olds, as they think its more important for them to learn. 

They can't split the class into 3 hour blocks, because the teachers then won't have time to eat. They need to eat with the rest of the teachers during lunch time or it won't be fair to them. 

They won't employ another foreigner pre school teacher so that both classes can run at the same time because then the teachers won't have anything to do in the afternoon. Its a waste. 

All in all, I feel that the school has then made the 3 year old class as a sacrifice. 

Who cares if they will all be sleepy, and will be in the least attentive mode when class is on?

Who cares if they learn anything or not? 

Who cares if 2 hours is not enough. 

As long as the rest of the school is treated well. We must be fair to the teachers. We must be fair to the 4 year olds. 

I have a good mind of NOT enrolling Cayden in this school, but I have no choice. There isn't any other International school around. The American school takes students from 5 years old onwards. I have to enrol Cayden this year, or I risk him not bring able to get in for Pre-school 2 class next year. Priority is given to returning students and not new students. 

What am I doing here in Mongolia? Why am I here? Cayden has no school to go to! 

LL. Bo bian. But I am still pissed. 

Finally Settled In school

Finally, Cayden stopped crying whenever I leave him at school. We arrived in school early today, and I spent some time with him in the classroom as his classmates are not here yet. When most of his friends arrived, I turned to him and said, " Ok, Cayden. Mummy will see you later, ok?" His face immediately turned red, and his eyes filled with tears, but he put up a brave front and said "OK" with a very sad voice... It was so heartbreaking for me!!!! I nearly teared myself. When I stepped out of his classroom, he waved to me and said " Bye mama! Bye! See you later!".

My brave boy! I was so proud of him!

Some pictures we took before his classmates arrived:


In his classroom... the playdough the school uses are home made.


The school's "make-do" Xmas tree!


Where are my friends?



He was bored so he started dancing


The school foyer

Still trying to settle in...

Cayden is trying to settle in class. In the mornings, he is still putting up a struggle when we send him to school.

On his third day at school, I did not walk into the classroom with him but stood outside by the door. When the class started, the teachers closed the doors and he started wailing! It was so loud that I could hear him at the waiting area for parents.

Ethan (the boy with the show off grandma) came with his mother and maternal grandma that day. Ethan was also quite upset that his mother could not stay with him in the classroom and started crying. When his maternal grandma saw from the outside that Ethan started crying, she blamed Cayden for crying and thus affected Ethan. She kept saying "That boy is crying, that's why Ethan cry" without knowing that I am Cayden's mother. After she repeated this comment twice, I looked at her and said "That is my son". I wanted her to know that so that she would not say more things that might upset me even more and cause me to argue with her. After that, she stopped making that comment. Yes, i am very protective of my child.

On his fourth day at school, Cayden also fussed when I left him in the classroom and he wailed when the teachers closed the doors. But this time, he cried for a much shorter time.

I hope things will get better next week.

Second Day at School

Today is Cayden's second day at Learning Horizon. I think he enjoyed the program better than yesterday. Once we arrive at the school, I followed him to the classroom but slowly made my retreat to outside the classroom. Initially he was doing very well, playing with friends and teacher, without needing my company. Then the boy with the "show-off" grandmother arrived. The boy whined a little, wanting the grandmother to stay with him in the classroom and she did. Once Cayden saw that, he started to look for me and ran outside the classroom to pull me into the room.

I took quite a while to convince Cayden to stay in the classroom to play with his friends and teachers without me. I left the classroom and after a long while, I heard him wailing. I decided not to go into the classroom and see if he will stop shortly. True enough he did. After 10 minutes, I peeped in the class and he was playing happily, colour Santa Clauz picture.

When the session ended, he came out of the classroom and told me excitedly on all the things he did in class. :)

Tomorrow will be another tough day, because from tomorrow onwards, no parents are allowed anymore in the class, so I am expecting more crying...

More update tomorrow.

First Day

Cayden started his first day of school in Singapore. No, this is not a permanent situation. We have been here in Singapore for the past month, to escape the harsh Mongolian winter. While we are here, I thought its a good idea to let Cayden join a playgroup that allows him to interact with other children. We couldn't get a place in the school with the regular program, as the class is full, so I have registered him for the holiday program instead! Its a 4 week program that is on from Monday to Thursday every week, 2 hours a session.

Today is his first day. When we arrived in school, some children were there already and 2 of the girls were already wailing away. I have to say it disrupted the class quite a bit. I mean, seriously, the girls were crying for a full 2 hours! The parents/guardian of the girls just left them in the class and went away. Cayden was somewhat affected by the crying and he started to fuss too. He became super-sticky to me and wanted me to go everywhere in the classroom with him. He also became quite sensitive - when a boy, Jonas, pushed him away from the alphabet board, he started wailing, which is a really unusual thing for him to do.

The teachers were telling me that Cayden did pretty well, taking into consideration that it was his first day in an unfamiliar enviroment and all.

One of Cayden's classmates was brought to school by his grandparents. This boy is new to the school, as he is regularly attending another pre-school but that school does not have any holiday programs, so the boy's parents enrolled him at Learning Horizon for this holiday program. The grandmother stayed in class with the boy, but after a while, she started showing everyone (including me and the teachers) a video clip on her mobile phone. It was a video of her grandson performing in his school concert. He was holding pom-poms and dancing. Nothing spectacular. She said that this current class is not advanced enough for her grandson. He is already doing to things that other children here cannot do, so the grandson is bored. I was amused and thought that she was quite a show-off. I wonder if she will withdraw the boy from this program?

This reminds me of a conversation that my friend Shareen & I had earlier. We said that parents are normally more humble when talking about their children, but grandparents are more vocal & proud. They often singing praises for their own grandkids, not shy at all.

To sum it all, Cayden wasn't terribly happy in school. Fingers crossed, he will enjoy school better.

Below are some photos I took in school:

Taken right before we left for school...

Strutting confidently to the car


During the crafts session of the class


Teacher Anna helping Cayden




Aha! I caught the ball!


Daddy & Cayden having a word...