It’s back to school.. after a month’s off.
\nZara to Standard One in a Chinese school and Zaria back to her kindergarten alone.<\/p>\n
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![\"RM1](\"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/canteen.jpg\")
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\u2665Zara\u2665<\/strong><\/span> \u2665Zaria\u2665<\/strong><\/span> Asked if she wanted to go back to school, she said, “Go to school go to school, how many times more do I have to go to school? I like holidays more!”<\/span> o.O”<\/p>\n But no fuss for her when she went to school, happy to meet her BFFs.<\/p>\n \u2665Daddy\u2665<\/strong><\/span> \u2665Me\u2665<\/strong><\/span> Anyway, we shall see.<\/p>\n
\nWe went to school for orientation last Friday, to pay for her fees, collect her text books (from government) as well as to buy her work books.
\nThe headmaster then had a communication session with the parents, while the kids got familiarised with the teachers.
\nThe school is not too huge in size, there are 320 children in Standard One, out of which 80 are Malays (and our goverment is still in denial, not building enough Chinese schools).
\nShe’s in a class with 38 others.
\nThe amount of books she has is A LOT, so we had to get her a huge trolley bag (those of you with Trunkie, you can consider using that too. :P).
\nAfter orientation, I asked her, “So how? Are you ready for Standard 1?”<\/span>
\nZara replied, “I don’t think I’m ready yet.”<\/span>
\nI asked her again, “Then how?”<\/span>
\nShe replied, “Well, I don’t think I can go back to kindergarten, so I’ll just have to handle.”<\/span>
\nBig girl in deed.
\n(And no, her school doesn’t have the horrendous toilet mentioned here<\/a>, they have squatting toilets which are pretty clean)
\nShe doesn’t know anyone in her class, although some close friends of hers are in other classes (Standard 1 and 2); but this girl is sociable and she makes friends easily. I’m more worried about her Chinese than her ability to mix around.
\n1st day of school, she’s fine, even started swapping snacks with a friend she just got to know during recess. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
\nSeing how much there is to Standard 1 (the big bag, the books, the coaching that Daddy is giving Zara on her BM), she said, “I don’t want to go to Standard 1, I want to be four years old forever!”<\/span> o.O”<\/p>\n
\nWorried.
\nHe only realised on the day of the orientation that there is no more English maths nor science, and Zara will be doing both subjects in Chinese.
\nHow is Zara going to know the English terminologies? When all Chinese in China are trying to learn English, here we are sending our kids to learn Chinese.<\/span>
\nThese are his comments.
\nDo we have any alternatives? Malay school? Private school? But still these subjects are taught in Malay.
\nInternational school? Can we afford it?<\/p>\n
\nTired and Worried.
\nI have 1 attending school in morning, and another in the afternoon.
\nAnd a lot of people think working from home means you have all the time in the world to do all these chauffering, or homework coaching etc etc. As if.
\nAnyway, I’m doing some car pooling with neighbours.
\nI’m not trying to be kiasu, but the pressure is there; and because Chinese is not a language she’s comfortable with, am worried if she’s going to be held back due to the language.<\/p>\n<\/div>