2012 Violin Concert at the Babies' School

Excerpt of violin concert (Year 3s - could be hard on the ears)

So where do I start? I repeat myself if I say I've been busy, for have I not already mentioned it yesterday? But I have been occupied true enough, much as I have nothing much to show for my business (so that was how it came about!) except panda eyes and empty boxes leftover from express deliveries (my favourite Chinese word at the moment : 快递).

MIL reads my blog and while Hub doesn't, he has friends who do. I should really emphasise the hard work I've put in to be a (good) wife and mother, but one thing that attracted me to Hub in the first place was his intelligence so I guess that he wouldn't buy that.

I might as well admit my recent addiction to Taobao (淘宝). Limited only by my lack of Chinese money (note - not Chinese, it's amazing how much Chinese I can suddenly read when it comes to Taobao). But I've also been doing the usual grocery shopping (and I'm checking out online organic supermarkets as well), running around the kids' schools, meeting a few friends, attending meetings about Global Child Day, dining out during Shanghai Restaurant Week, preparing for Baby Boy's birthday, attending charity galas, making a mosaic tray with the neighbours, learning Chinese calligraphy, psyching myself up for the dinners we will throw come spring...

I do not have much time to do heavy housework nowadays and can only hope that the once-weekly help I've been getting for the past 3 weeks suffices. But I find not having my own ayi liberating. 小朱 works for 2-3 families in the residence and only helps out at my place on her only off-day in the week. She does a bit of ironing (Hub said she ironed badly - but better her than me), vacuums, mops and cleans the toilets. I make sure that the kitchen is clean and the whole house tidy when she comes. She told me this morning that she was surprised that my house was this clean and tidy though I have 3 kids and only have her come in once a week. I told her I was secretly a sorcerer with a magic broom (unfortunately not made in Germany).

Anyway we'll see how long I'll last. If I am sick of doing most of the housework myself, I can always hire a daily ayi again. It's hiring one and having to manage or fire her that's the tough part I prefer to live without.

stage was empty except for the violins

So let's start with the 2012 Violin Concert at the school. All Years 1 to 3 kids in the school have to learn how to play the violin. It's supposed to help them learn Chinese better. And they display what they've learnt annually at the Violin Concert. This was Baby Boy's last concert and he stops learning the violin at school after that. But he'll continue with his violin lessons at home with his own teacher.

Stage filled up with the young players (282 of them)

Like last year, the sounds were quite horrible coming from the bows pulled by small children. But I was really touched seeing such young children valiantly pulling their instruments and displaying no signs of nervousness. I really like this school with its moral education, own curriculum, mixed population and humble facilities (compared to some of the larger international schools here). If the canteen food could be better, if they could provide a bus service after ASAs and if they could offer French - it would have been perfect.

teacher warning them that they were about to start

Baby Boy's private violin teacher said that the pieces he was playing at the concert were actually too difficult for a child who has only been learning the instrument for a few months. Most of his comrades have been playing the violin for a few years. But the school's violin teacher felt that he was good enough to play with the normal group and the boy himself thought so too. I still haven't figured out how one could make music with 4 strings, so anything goes by me.

the Year 3 kids playing

Next year I'll put Baby Girl back on the piano whether she wants to or not. There may still be time to cultivate a small ensemble in our household.

My little star waiting for the concert to start

Chicken Pilaf and Egyptian Day At School

Chicken Pilaf

While the kids were excited about Egyptian Day and have probably learnt quite a bit about pharaohs, mummies and ancient Egypt, mums like myself were up to here (picture the chin) having to run around getting a costume ready, find material to help them create their projects (e.g. posters, models...) and cook something for the Egyptian lunch.

Part of the small buffet spread (didn't feel that there was enough food this year)

I actually had a costume tailor-made (for 250rmb!) last year when Baby Girl was in Year 3 so I was keen for Baby Boy to use it. It took some heavy-handed negotiation as he refused to "wear a skirt". I had to throw in a pharaoh's headdress, a jewel-studded stick, a necklace and the threat not to contribute anything to the buffet to get the boy to agree to wearing said costume. It was well-worth it as he looked quite splendid in the set-up and I believe that he had a great time this morning.

The Pharaoh with his Mummy best friend

I also managed to find an ingenious way to avoid having to work on our friend's project. Kids' projects are often parents' projects, who was the school trying to kid? I was inspired while picking up Lego pieces all over the house to suggest to the boy that he make a pyramid (model) out of Lego. I must admit that he surprised me. Took under 2 hours to build a pyramid - all on his own - and even thought of building an entrance leading to a chamber where a body was being mummified...Isn't he clever or what?

Baby Boy's Lego Pyramid

See the cadaver inside?

For the buffet, I wanted to make life easy and just bring fruit. I mean what did the ancient Egyptians eat besides bread, beer and foie gras? But baby Boy objected to it, which was just as well since most of the other parents brought bread or fruit which would make the meal a little too healthy kids being kids. I made 2 portions of Chicken Pilaf this morning and it was one of the few mains on offer which explained why it disappeared within minutes of lunch starting.

Chicken (Lamb/Beef/Shrimp) Pilaf :

500g chicken thigh meat (deboned)

100g plain yoghurt

1½ tbsp curry powder

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp butter

1 small onion (chopped)

2 bay leaves

5-6 curry leaves

1 small cinnamon bark

4 whole cloves

4 green cardamom seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tbsp ground coriander seeds

2-3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

2-3 cups basmati rice (rinsed and drained)

3-5 cups chicken stock

½ tsp salt

Garnishing (optional)

raisins

sliced almonds (dry roasted)

fresh coriander leaves

fresh mint leaves

fried shallots

Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinate them with the curry powder, pepper and yoghurt for a few hours. Only salt as you are cooking the meat.

In a frying pan heat a bit of oil till smoking and brown the chicken pieces. Remove and set aside.

Heat up the vegetable oil in a large pot and fry the onions, bay leaves, curry leaves, whole spices, ground spices and ginger-garlic paste till fragrant.

If using vegetables like peas, long beans or carrots (all chopped, of course), add them now.

Add the butter and the basmati rice and coat the grains thoroughly with the fragrant oil.

Stir the cooked chicken into the rice. Pour in the chicken stock, stir in the salt. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to the lowest and let the rice cook in its own steam for 15-20 minutes.

Before serving fluff up the rice with a fork and garnish with raisons, nuts, fresh herbs, fried shallots etc. As the school has a nut-free policy and kids usually do not like to eat anything green, I cooked a very simple Chicken Pilaf for the occasion.

A few of the projects presented by the other Year 3s

Global Child Day 2011 at YCIS Pudong

Art Auction @ YCIS Pudong (Babinou's Kandinsky-inspired piece)

We chose to put the Babies in YCIS Pudong because it is one of the smaller international schools in our part of Shanghai. And it puts quite a bit of emphasis on Chinese learning, in fact they have both an English and a Chinese teacher in each classroom.

Global Child Day 2011

Today was Global Child Day in the school. Every nationality in the school had been encouraged to participate either with its own stand, or grouped with a few others to occupy one. This year's theme was "the way it used to be" so every stand would display toys and games that children used to play in the country in question and there would also be demonstrations and/or opportunities for visitors to try their hand at some of the games.

France : Museum of Ancient Toys and Games

Babinette helping out at the French stand. Face drawn by the Brazilians.

There were also country-based costume parades, musical, dance and other performances - and of course a big buffet. No money changed hands on this day except for the art auction (proceeds were to go towards planting trees in Mongolia) and the right of entry consisted basically of bringing a dish to share with everyone. Since I have volunteered to do duty as well as cook for both France and Singapore, I have decided to keep things simple and made Apple Tartlets and Savoury Tartlets (for France) and Kaya Bread (for Singapore).

India : snakes & ladders had been invented by Indians

Japan : very lovely toys and origami

S.E. Asian stand : zero point, 5 stones, sepak takraw...most stands have loads of student volunteers working to consume CAS hours

Every child was given a passport when they entered the Fair. In it you'd find all the different countries participating in the Fair and some information about the country or a toy/game linked to it. Then there was a question on each page. The children were expected to answer the questions and visit all the stands to collect a stamp on each page, plus watch the different demonstrations as well as try out the various toys/games themselves (with the possibility of winning a prize).

My apple tartlets and mini-quiches

Part of the buffet spread

The buffet was BIG. So much food and such an interesting variety of dishes. It was held in the school canteen and basically we were only allowed into it once - unless there should still be food leftover for seconds. I was totally delighted to find kueh lapis among the offerings - thanks to the Indonesian delegation. The S.E. Asians had nasi lemak (sponsored by a restaurant here) and chicken curry, not to forget the very popular sticky rice with mango dessert. I suspect that it was somewhat easier cooking food in quantity here because most will have domestic help.

Nigeria : you can communicate on the drum

Classical music interlude : most schools here have a good music programme

Korean stand : using rice stalks to make toys

Year 1 and 2s painted a few pieces of work for the art auction and Babinou wanted us to bid for his work (that he did with a few other kids). I won the auction and carried his masterpiece home at the end of the Fair - and it's now hanging on the wall next to his bed.

Meet Max

Max and the Babies out in the garden

This is the year of the kids bringing home some soft toy and writing about the things they did with it. Which is fine with me as long as it doesn't get mixed up in my own pile of soft toys or require me to sleep with it. Tetete would be jealous.

Jumping on the trampoline

This dog is called Max. It came home with Babinou on Tuesday and played with both Babies all afternoon. They watched TV together, went for walks in the fields outside and even jumped on the trampoline together.

Policing the fields

In the evening, Max went with us to Old Wild West for dinner and then to watch The Sorcerer's Apprentice at the cinema. I'm sure that Max would agree with me that Nicholas Cage was quite gorgeous as a sorcerer who probably hadn't bathed in a thousand years.

Max and the Babies in the cinema

Shadow of Spring

Inside the tennis court

Went to pick the Babies up from their tennis lesson last Wednesday around 6pm and was greeted by this : trees outside the tennis court seen through the canvas roof because of the sun...

I thought that it was beautiful. Like wayang kulit...

This afternoon the school finished a week's breakdancing lessons with Ewen Hutchison (19 year-old from Scotland) with a whole-school jam session. This was to brighten up the kids after a cold and grey winter and give everyone something to do together. Parents were invited to the jam so I was there.

The kids were allowed to go to school in their own clothes today and Baby Boy prepared his last night before he went to bed. They all seemed really excited about this. Some of the other children even turned up with caps, grunge clothing etc to resemble street kids.

The jam session was a success. Every grade came out to breakdance (including the teachers and principal!), there was a group dance and then all the children formed a circle and individuals, couples and groups took turns to come out into the middle of the circle to perform.

You know that I haven't had an IBO education because if I hadn't studied a subject for 10 years and taken an exam every 6 months (and passed it well) you wouldn't see me perform anything. But after 5 days of breakdancing instruction (during P.E., music and after school), many of those kids were capable of quickly improvising on what they've learnt and coming out with a number in front of everyone...even the 3 year-olds!

I think they had a great time so that's PTA money well-spent. The good thing about the IBO curriculum is that there is always room for flexibility and fun in learning. Last evening, the Teenager and myself were freaking out over some technicality in French grammar (CNED Français du 4ème) and not even Hub is capable of providing the answer. I pointed out to him that that was pointless suffering because who in the world would remember the technical term for the use of the present tense in a récit du passé (narration of the past) after this? We just need to understand why this is done and surely there must be a less painful method to do so. The CNED (French distance learning) is my yoke at the moment, but we have to keep the Teenager at his French or he'll lose it altogether. French is not an easy language.

Skiing has to be cancelled for Sunday as they have predicted rain everyday starting tonight. We have been invited to lunch instead at the B's. Tomorrow will be busy, starting with a birthday party followed by golf lessons for the Babies - if it doesn't rain too heavily.

So I marvel at the beauty of good weather when I have it.

TIMSS 2007 Results

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a worldwide research project, taking place every four years and providing data about trends in mathematics and science achievement over time. It assesses the knowledge (e.g. transmission and assimilation) and skills of pupils aged 9-10 (e.g. Grade 4) and 13-14 (e.g. Grade 8) around the world, and enables researchers to collect extensive background information about the quantity, quality, context and content of teaching, which can be used to make comparisons between participating countries. Findings from the survey are used to inform education policy and to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science for pupils around the world.

The 2007 results came out in early December. 36 countries participated at Grade 4 level and 47 at Grade 8 level. Similar to earlier TIMSS assessments, Asian countries top at both the 4th and 8th grades in Maths. Among the 4th graders, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan were the top performing countries in Maths. At Grade 8 level - Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore in this order.

In Science, Asian countries once again top at both grades. At 4th Grade, Singapore was the top performing country followed by Taiwan and Hong Kong. At 8th Grade, once again Singapore outperformed all the other countries, followed by Taiwan and Japan. The study also provided results according to gender in each country. And mentioned the Human Development Index of all countries.

That is something we can be proud of, though of course 36 or 47 countries do not represent the entire earth though most of the developed world participated in the study. Like most "international" studies, it is to be taken with a pinch of salt and I have no time to go through the assessment papers or analyse the factors and results myself. And these tests do not usually assess children for their thinking skills (e.g. how to apply Maths and Science out of the assessment context), and we all know that in general children in Asia excel in taking exams and very often that's half the battle won. But at least we know that the torture we put our kids through back home is not for nothing and that over a span of time, the continuous effort made by MOE to innovate in teaching and assessment is bearing fruit i.e. learning is starting to be as fun as it has always been painful and the quality/quantity is not being compromised.

For in Europe in general, the desire to include everyone in education, not letting anyone fail if possible etc has seen many countries move towards more tolerant assessment systems. Most Brits today do not know the O Levels and their A Levels have been watered down in difficulty over the years. I remember now that they phased out the O Levels in 1988 (the year I took mine) because too many of their kids were not making past the O Levels not to mention passing the A levels or even doing the S Levels (like I did - stayed till past 6pm most days at JC because of the extra lessons). But most British children are also confident public speakers. Not quite like the paper-churning robots we usually have in Singapore.

As you can imagine, I do not have any Maths or Science geniuses at home. But they are pretty good at disguising themselves as cowboys or pirates and playing for hours inventing stories and writing Hollywood-like scenarios all on their own. I will always have some regret that I couldn't make them suffer like I've suffered as a child, but when you're out of the system, you're out of the system. And does not being just happy count after all?

Teaching and Assessment

Yesterday we attended an Assessment Workshop for the MYP organised by the school. I am happy with the philosophy behind it, as I share the belief that we should assess for learning. In one of the insightful books I've read last summer (as part of the Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment Programme that Eldest Son went through), my guru criticised the classic assessment system for assessing only for knowledge and not for the learning/thinking process. The MYP is avant-garde so knowledge will only constitute part of the final grades. The assessor will also take into consideration other factors like

• thinking/reflection
• communication/oral
• investigating/learning patterns
• peer/self assessment

They also believe that one's performance should reflect the evolution of one's learning process, i.e. one should do better with each assessment - so the final grade will not be a simple average of all the grades, but reflect the improvement obtained towards the end of the assessment year.

I do have a little doubt though about the implied subjectivity of/in this assessment process. Teachers after all are human. And alot of emphasis is placed on teaching to think.

Learning and teaching = both sides of the same coin.

Still, learning is a subjective and slow process. Children have different learning capacities, speeds and motivation. Some thrive under pressure, others wilt. Some have problems like Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, ADHD etc. Family, social and other environments do affect learning. So if we use a more personalised learning process and a more holistic assessment process on them, we should theorectically give them a better chance to learn better.

At some point we had a Classic Education vs IBO discussion. Most of us are victims products of the classic education system (though it differs largely in different countries). Some still believe in it but have a few doubts nonetheless, I prefer the middle path, others seem to be happy converts though I sensed a certain romantisation of the IBO e.g. someone asked why anybody should dictate what we learn for classical Literature. I wanted to point out that whether it's public school, IBO, Steiner, Montessori or Home schooling, someone will be deciding what you learn for Literature. The major difference probably is how you learn it and how much of what.

I played the devil (as usual) by implying (or I could have said it) that maybe the MYP system's a little light in substance. Most disagreed loudly saying there's more to just pure knowledge/information e.g. "History shouldn't only be about dates", "Do you remember what you have learnt in the past?". I totally agree with them, though I did wonder if they weren't indirectly agreeing with the statement after all.

And I wondered about the person who left school thinking History's only about dates (and therefore linear?), since I never did (not even when I was 14) and in any case wouldn't remember dates even then. But boy have I had fun with the subject, it has given me some of my dreams/motivations when I was a teenager. And History is NOT linear, btw.

Anyway as far as I'm concerned both systems have their merits and demerits. Ceteris paribus both will come out with both successful and nondescript products - all of whom should find their niche in this world.

In any case, people who put children in International Schools move around (though increasingly local populations are attracted to the philosophy) and are relatively successful. So by definition, IS children belong to a world apart and are usually not destined to be Esselunga cashers or your friendly neighbourhood postman. And kids who have access to education in general should count themselves lucky because there are millions out there who don't.

But if the International School child came from a very different system and may have to return to it in the future, that's when the headache comes in. MIL's still very upset that the kids may have to repeat a school year if we return to France (c.ref. the September 1st dateline for which they make exceptions for the Italians but not for the French plus across the school today there are quite a number of other exceptions). Otherwise my kids are happy in the school and that for me is the most important. I have lived with parents' expectations and know how they felt. As such, I will not burden my children with too many any. Just want them to be balanced, educated, cultured individuals (OK - and not lose out too much if possible).

Finally a mother made a really insightful comment about some people who went through the classic education system with great success having a condescending attitude towards those who didn't and yet not being able to flow with the times etc. True, and it doesn't help with both groups not speaking the same language. I have a fascination for intellectuals (used to have crushes on my professors) but I suspect that they live on another planet most of the time. Still it's not given for everyone to survive any education system, if they are pleased with themselves, surely one can understand. Myself, I am hard on others, but I'm usually even harder with myself.

I think I ''failed'' our last exercise in the MYP workshop. Had to draw something without using words. My drawing sucks so I started out without words but took a short-cut and wrote anyway. Will have to remember instructions better the next time!