About LW and Bandung

Mommy at home asked me to make an entry on LornaWhiston. I thought I have made an entry about it before so I go through my archives to search for the entry, but it turns out, I've never made one! But I still believe I have posted an entry before...or is it just an email to a friend who asked about LW? Ahhh...

Well, for the benefit of mommy-at-home and the rest of my blog readers, here goes...A Story About LW.

Ashraff joined this center in February this year, to a programme called PK1, which is meant for children aged 3 (or turning 3 this year). In other words, this programme is only open to 2004 babies. They have programmes for children younger than that age as well (I think they have lil crawlers programme or something).

The teachers are all native English speaker, so there is no opportunity for Ashraff to speak a single word of Malay with the teacher. During the first class, Ashraff got intimidated with his teacher, maybe because of the different in looks (mat salleh kan..) or maybe because of her English slang. I thank God Ashraff did not run away at that point of time.

We chose the weekend class so that we can send Ashraff to school. You can choose 3 times a week or 2 times a week if you want too, but it only runs on weekdays. Every class lasted for like 1 1/2 hours. And it goes through the same routine every time. Like, the first session will be a free play, where the teacher fills the room with lots of educational toys - like wooden peg puzzle, blocks, some blank paper with crayons, a doll house etc. The teacher will monitor and entertain the kids, and interfere should there be any conflict among the children (usually sebab kes tak nak share lah). Basically, this session is done for the children to warm-up while waiting for the rest of the kids to come.

Next will be the read aloud / story telling session, where the children are requested to sit on a special rug at all times. After the read aloud, they will sing songs and make some actions.

Then, they'll line up and move to arts room where they'll do arts and crafts, according to the theme of the day. They will all wear an apron each and either glueing, painting, colouring with whatever materials given. Sometimes they do collage...sometimes they sprinkle sand on top of the paper heavy coated with glue...sometimes they do finger painting...All materials must be shared. And children are required to do the arts given. If they are finish, they could wash their hands and are required to sit down at their place once again and wait for others to finish. If they disobey, the teacher will tell them to do so over and over again till they listen. Consistency is the key word here.

After that the children move on to the play area. This is more like an indoor playground with slide and hurdles. The teacher monitors and teaches the children the correct way to use the things there. For instance, to use the slide you must climb the stairs at the back and go down the slide and not the other way round.

Then it's the snack time, where parents are required to bring snacks that the child loves. Here, the children are encouraged to talk and socialize sambil makan. Sharing of foods are encouraged. But if you refuse to eat, you are instructed to sit on the chair and wait for your friends. After eating, children are instructed to wash their hands and return to their classroom (the first room) for games and activities, which is the last session. Here, the children plays lots of fun games according to the theme. Sometimes they use this session for role playing, where the children are to wear finger puppets each and act according to a specific song or something.

During the first few classes, parents are allowed to join in and watch. I had a hilarious time watching each child's behaviour. Some children are very cooperative. They will sing song, try to imitate the action done by the teacher, if the teacher asked they will immediately answer eventhough it's a wrong answer. But some couldn't care less. They run around, jumping here and there, kacau budak lain. My Ashraff is in this category...hehe...But what I love is that teacher with the help of her assistant could control the children, and make sure it participates in whatever activity being held.

What I also love despite the routine is that the children are free to explore and speak their minds. Like in arts and crafts class for instance, the children could do whatever they want with the materials given. You don't have to color within the black outline. When I tried to teach Ashraff how to color, the teacher approached me and said "Hey, it's ok. There's no right or wrong in art. Let him explore...He'll learn to do it properly one day." Mungkin dia tengok I stress semacam je kot...hehehe...

Ok, on the fees, I must say it's expensive as you must pay all these expats. I mean for us it is. For Ashraff's programme which is once in a week for 1 1/2 hour only, it costs us RM500+ for 10 weeks. So like every 2 1/2 month, we got to fork up extra RM500+ for only 15 hours of play session. Plus, you have to commit yourself to it. They'll be no replacement class should you miss any one session. But like I mentioned before, if you are looking for short session for your kids to learn in a fun way, you could try LW. But if you are looking for more academic sessions (like you want your child to be early reader), then I wouldn't recommend LW. It's all up to what you want...and whether you can afford it.

Phewhhh...a long story of LW.

Now on Bandung. Mak and Abah just returned from their second trip to Bandung. Oh, I really love Bandung. During our last trip, I had lots of fun. It's shopping haven! Lots of cheap but good quality things. I wanted to go there again, but nak tunggu budak-budak besar sikit.

Back to Mak and Abah's trip. Before the trip, I've given mak RM200 (equivalent to about 500,000 rupiah) to buy us things. And here's what mak and abah bought for us with the money that I gave them:-

Lots of long sleeve t-shirts for me (each price between RM10-RM20 aja buk..). And nice baju batik for Hubby...

Matching long sleeve t-shirts for Ashraff and Aliff...(ni rasa-rasanya bawah RM10 satu). Good quality cotton tu!

Spiderman tees...what else...

And lots and lots of t-shirts for everyday wear...I love the vivid colours...

And mak bought herself lots and lots of lovely embroidery blouses yang cuma berharga RM40 satu buk...

And lots of fully beaded tudung as souvenirs...Tudung ini cuma lebih kurang RM20-RM30 je satu...

Seriously, if you love to shop, I'd recommend this place. If you have business acutement, then this is also the place where you find your supplies. You can find the blouses sold in Malaysia for half the price (or more) there! Boleh jadi gilak tengok benda murah!! Hehehe...