Shichida Review Part 1

I attended the Shichida lesson at Junction 10 for the first time today. The centre near my house do not have any vacancies until Oct14. So when Shichida informed me of this new centre setup which can commence the class in Aug14, I quickly sign up for it till end of Sep14 even though it is very far from my home. But I will be transferring back to the centre near my house in Oct14.

The travelling to Junction 10 is a nightmare. I shall relate this on a separate post.

Prior to signing up, I have done some research through some website and blogs reviews. Comparing other teaching method like Heguru, I prefer Shichida method as it emphasize more on the bonding between the parent and the child.

The methods which they will be teaching in class can be teach at home as well according to their brochure / introduction. I like the idea of putting the responsibility on the parent to teach the child.

My objective of sending my gal to the class besides exposing her to new learning and development, I am also keen to learn the teaching methods as well so I can teach her at home too. To be frank, once a week an hour program is too short for her to learn anything. The parent has to follow up with the learning at home to be effective.

We were late for the class so we only join in halfway. Within half an hour, the teacher taught shapes, phonics, singing, numbers, counting, flash cards, imagination and grouping. The teacher will teach once first, then hand over the tools to the parent and give instructions to the parent how to teach the child. After 1 to 2 mins, the teacher will collect back the tools and start the next activity.

I felt that the pace was quite fast for a first timer. The activities were done in a flash and I'm not sure if my gal has absorbed the learning. It is true that the activities which they taught in class can be teach at home but with the tools. The tools which they used are colourful and interesting so it keeps the kids alert. Unfortunately they don't give away the tools considering the fees are so expensive.

I notice in the class, there are other kids who are much younger even though they are born in the same year as my gal. Some are still babies below 1 year old. Actually I'm not sure if enrolling babies at such young age really help cos they tend to wander around the class. I felt that enrolling them between 15-18 months is the best time as they are starting to be aware of their surrounding and able to better relate to the things they learnt. Just my 2 cents worth.

I observed my gal at first was quite taken aback with the lesson. But after some activities to warm up, she started to get the hang out of it. I noticed she liked the singing part and the grouping/matching activities. She also tried to dance to the music too. However she don't really like the imagination part (Imagining the ball is a juicy citrus fruit, smell nice and taste good) and returned the tool back to the teacher even before the teacher asked for it. I think it is also because I didn't teach her this at home before so she was not used to it. So this is also something new I have learnt today too.

I'm still trying to remember what I have learnt today too. In the next lesson, I need to be more focus during the lesson to keep up the pace. I will try to record what we have learned during the lessons and my gal progress. This is also part of the learning process and if this is effective for my gal as well.