enrichment Archives - Kids 'R' Simple

Eye Level Centre – Our Verdict on the English Lessons

Attending Eye Level English classes is really the very first time that my kids are exposed to an academic enrichment centre. Because of the “taste” of chance to spend time for extra-curricular academic assistance, they gain much in terms of knowledge as well as appreciate their freedom of no tuition. But having said that, 2 months after our last lesson at Eye Level, my kids still talk fondly of Teacher Jdrea and her lessons. They even told me that they do not mind continuing the lessons after the sponsorship! I certainly did not expect that! I guess that speaks volume for their experience with Eye Level!

Topics covered

After the Diagnostic Tests, Missy 12 was recommended to start from Eye Level English Level 6 and Master 10 to start from Eye Level English Level 5.
In case you are curious on what is taught, here are the topics!

Eye Level English Level 5	Eye Level English Level 6
Sentences	Verbs
Punctuation	Sentences
Parts of Speech	Punctuation
Vocabulary	Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension	Text Patterns
Informational Text	Informational Text
Literature Analysis	Elements of Literature
Research Skills	Genres
Writing	Writing
Figurative Language

What we like about Eye Level English Lessons

Independence

I believe when a child takes charge of his own learning, he will be responsible for the consequences of his efforts. I truly think that hand-holding for learning cannot achieve much and will cause more harm than good in the long run. The last thing I want to hear from any of my kids is that they are working hard for ME than for themselves!

I like that Eye Level trains the students to be independent even from small details like taking their own homework from the shelf to giving the students an “air-time” for one-to-one consultation to clarify what they do not know with the teacher. The best part of it is the full attention dedicated to the student during the one-one teaching. This, perhaps, constitutes a great part of success in Eye Level curriculum.

Duration

The duration of the lessons is well-timed to allow students to focus at best within 45 minutes. Even though it may seem short compared to other enrichment centres, slow and steady wins the race in the long run. You cannot force to cramp knowledge by extending excessive hours beyond what the students can absorb. Thus, the duration is just right.

Drilling on Comprehension

Yes, my kids complain on the numerous Comprehension practices during lessons and homework. I am totally with Eye Level that Comprehension practices are much to be appreciated in terms of training understanding, exposure to a bigger word bank, getting used to Grammar and sentence structures, etc. Painful as it may be, exposing to more Comprehension passages help in the long run.

However, Comprehension practices are not all there is in the curriculum. There are much more learning in the basics of English, like Quotation marks, Capitalisation, Tenses, etc that may seem trivial at Level 5 and 6 but totally helpful to correct previous inherited mistakes.

Learning at Own Pace

In my opinion, the allowance for students to learn at their own pace is paramount. The reason that many fall behind in normal school hours is because lessons are conducted to a class of varying learning abilities and intellectuals. If a child were to send to an enrichment class and similarly fall behind in the class pace again, this child will be deprived of proper learning and a chance to grasp fundamental concepts.

Eye Level curriculum tackles this aspect very well. The teachers cater to the learning pace of each individual student, allowing them to advance only when they have mastered learning concepts and are comfortable to move up. So, if you are a Kiasu parent who is looking towards a fast pace teaching, then Eye Level will not be a suitable option. Like I mentioned, “Slow and Steady wins the race”. Learning takes time, and mastering takes even more time.

Little Gesture Motivates

Another thing I like about Eye Level is more on Teacher Jdrea, whose practices I hope, are a representation of all Eye Level teachers. Instead of marking a cross on wrong answers, she put a circle instead. This serves as an encouragement to students in their learning journey. This may seem to you an insignificant thing, but I see it as an important gesture to boost a child’s confidence and motivates him/her. A cross, to me, especially when it is drawn in exaggerated dimensions, can be intimidating and demoralising. I certainly would not like my boss to draw crosses on my proposal when I present to him. What’s more, a child.

Feedback

As mentioned in my first post, I love the feedback given by Teacher Jdrea at the end of each lesson. Parents and Teachers should work hand in hand to complement each other in terms of educating a child. With that, I greatly appreciate that parents are given feedback on their children’s weaknesses and strengths. That helps me in identifying and focusing on the necessary areas of weakness.

American English

After singing so many praises of Eye Level, one thing I am not so in favour of is the American English that Eye Level is using for their English curriculum. As Eye Level originates from Korea, their books and lessons are all taught in American English. This is opposed to Singapore’s English which uses British English. As a result, I was afraid that my kids would be confused between the two. Schools do not allow American English to be used in examinations. Hence, I put up a request to Teacher Jdrea that whenever she comes across a part of the English language that uses American English, to explain to my kids the equivalent in British English. She was kind enough to accommodate to this request.

Soon, I found out that perhaps my fears were unfounded. My kids seemed to be able to differentiate between American and British English without difficulties. It could even be a plus point, like what Teacher JDrea said, for them to be exposed and know the difference between the two. After all, kids, by nature, are excellent in adapting to changes and differences.

Then, I was told a GOOD NEWS! Daekyo, the parent company in South Korea, is in the midst of reviewing the syllabus to replace the American English Curriculum with British English Curriculum! More details will be out as soon as they have firmed it up! That means my only concern on Eye Level English Class will be eliminated!

I have written our verdict on Eye Level English Curriculum, now is a chance for your child to experience for himself/herself!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Thanks to Eye Level Singapore, I have the pleasure to host a very generous GIVEAWAY for Kids R Simple Readers!
Not 1 or 2, but 5 lucky readers will get a chance to attend a ONE-MONTH FREE LESSON with a choice of Math or English at Square 2!

Contest details:
Prize – 1 month free lesson to 5 winners (choice of Math or English at Square 2)
Giveaway ends – 28 July 2359
Announcement of winners – on facebook post and this blog post

Steps to participate:
– Answer this question on the facebook post: Give 2 reasons why you think Eye Level will benefit your child.
– Complete the steps in the Giveaway App below.

1 Month Free Lesson @ Eye Level Square 2 x 5 WINNERS

Winners Picked!! Congratulations to all of you! Eye Level personnel will be contacting you via email soon!

Joanne Ho
Denise Yu
Olimomok
Anita Kaur

More information on Eye Level Centre:
Fees: $140 for 1x per week lesson; $180 for 2x per week lesson
Website: Eye Level Singapore
Facebook: click here
To enquire: call 6397 6117
To find a centre near you: click here

Click here to read my first post on how the English lessons at Eye Level is conducted!

Disclaimer: We were invited for 8 English lessons at Eye Level @ Square 2 for the purpose of this review. I would like to thank Daekyo Eye Level Singapore for the pleasant experience that my kids had in attending the lessons. I am happy that they have positive feedback and enjoyed their time while learning new things.

Learning English at Eye Level Centre

Hey! Didn’t I advocate no tuition for my kids? Didn’t I say I place absolute trust in MOE teachers to teach our kids well enough to excel in PSLE? Well, indeed I did and we are still going the NO-TUITION way towards PSLE, just in case you wonder. But while we are doing the revision on our own, it is a good opportunity to review an Enrichment centre’s program to learn good tips and tricks so that we can use them at home, just like what I shared about the MCE workshops’ precious takeaways!

Hey! Didn’t I advocate no tuition for my kids? Didn’t I say I place absolute trust in MOE teachers to teach our kids well enough to excel in PSLE? Well, indeed I did and we are still going the NO-TUITION way towards PSLE, just in case you wonder. But while we are doing the revision on our own, it is a good opportunity to review an Enrichment Centre’s program to learn good tips and tricks so that we can use them at home, just like what I shared about the MCE workshops’ precious takeaways!

Heard of Eye Level? Let me introduce to you that Eye Level originates from Korea 41 years ago!! What a long history and still going strong must show something for sure! There are 18 centres in Singapore islandwide. It specialises mainly on Math and English. Eye Level caters to all students of different learning abilities and pace. That’s one thing I like about the flexibility of progressing according to the students’ needs. Eye Level also encourages self-directed learning and one will see that the students here are encouraged to be independent and everything is kind of systematic and has its own place.

Eye Level’s curriculum takes students from the basic motor skills needed for reading and writing, through the building blocks of Grammar, to the more complex concepts that allow the mastery of verbal and written communication.

What Makes Eye Level English Different?

– Fundamental Language Skills : consists of basic language arts and reading with vocabulary.
– Individualized Program : allows students to begin at the point where they are able to work independently with confidence.
– Interesting and Fun : helps to foster students’ interest in reading, writing effectively, and approaches it in a fun, creative way.

Eye Level English guides students in the mastery of English language proficiency through in thematic approaches, repetitive practices, and strategies that combine listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Here are the topics the English program covers:

Environment

Eye Level Centre at Square 2 is located at Level 4. It has 2 rooms, one to conduct Math lesson and the other for English. There is a waiting area outside with benches for parents to lounge around waiting for their kids. Not only that, it has a low shelf with toys and books to entertain little ones too. I think that’s very considerate.

Diagnostic Assessment

Prior to the first lesson, Missy 12 and Master 10 had to take a diagnostic assessment test on a booklet. This is to gauge their level of competency to determine which level they should start with.

Each Eye Level lesson has a duration of maximum 45 minutes. I am totally pleased with this duration as I have learnt from my #30minrevision that kids’ attention span is really just that short. Eye Level recognises that and thus 45 minutes is sufficient to grasp the kids’ full attention and efficiency in learning.

Self-directed Learning

On our first lesson, we signed in attendance via the Tablet at the reception. We were greeted by the friendly Teacher JDrea whom my kids took an immediate liking already when we first met for diagnostic test. She spoke clearly and softly and has a warm smile. I liked her instantly too! I always believe if the kids like the teacher, they will tend to excel in the subject. Considering this is the first time the kids attended an academic enrichment class, I was glad that they had a good experience and thus, would continue for the next 7 sponsored classes. My worries about their reluctance to go for their first academic enrichment class were unfounded!

The kids were brought into 1 of the 2 rooms in the Eye Level Centre at Square 2.

All students have to take off their shoes upon entry and the next thing they do is to find their marked workbooks from previous lesson from the shelf with their names. Then they will each go to their respective study desks which are divided by partitions for privacy. They listen to audio and do assigned exercises.

There is an English curriculum to follow through. Every lesson targets to complete 2 exercises per workbook which is to be brought home as homework. And each workbook has 4 topics and that makes it 1 workbook to be completed within 2 lessons.

Teacher’s guidance

During the 45 minutes of lesson, each of the kids is assigned another booklet to be used in class. They are to complete the selected exercises and go to Teacher JDrea to go through their mistakes. This is a 1-1 session of 5-10 minutes whereby the student will have full attention of the teacher to guide him/her through the topic to ensure the student understands the mistakes made. This is akin to what I have done during our weeknights’ 1-1 #30minrevision where I assign Missy 12 to complete some exercises and go through her mistakes right after that. But the difference is that we have now a proper English teacher to help her in her English as opposed to me, an amateur, self-taught English tutor!

Feedback to Parents

You know what? I love to talk to educators, instructors, trainers and facilitators! I get to learn lots of knowledge and even get refreshed and corrected on what I had learnt before! Each time I talk to Teacher Jdrea, I learnt something new in English. I never knew I have got some simple Grammar rules wrong! Sometimes, I feel a tinge of regret that I had not read enough books and spent more time on language. But, it is never too late to learn now, alongside my Missy 12!

When the lesson ended, Teacher JDrea would give me a summary of what the kids had learnt for the day. She bothered to explain in details on each topic of English Grammar that they had covered. I find that very useful to me as I got feedback on which areas each of the kids was weak in and needed more practices. With that, I am able to focus more on their weak areas during our own home revision.

Homework

As Eye Level encourages self-directed learning and independence, naturally there will be homework to do. To be frank, the kids were not so keen to do the homework assigned. Who loves homework anyway? They found that there were many Comprehensions to do in the workbook. As much as I could feel for them, I appreciate the many Comprehension practices because it helps to train the kids to understand Comprehension passages and learn how to answer them. By reading more passages, it helps to boost their understanding and exposure to sentence structure and Grammar rules. Only by doing more of such Comprehension practices will one improve the Comprehension segment of the exam paper.

Reward

I have heard of many enrichment centres dishing out expensive rewards. I am not so sure if that won’t make the kids materialistic and consequently send the wrong message to these young ones. But Eye Level did it just perfectly. Each of the students is given a reward sticker board. They need to collect about 20+ stickers before they can fill up one board and get to choose a reward gift on the gift shelf. I look through the rewards and they were mainly practical stuff like stationery and small toys. The value of these rewards is not too pricey but enough to motivate the kids to work towards collecting them. I am definitely not for expensive rewards and find such high value rewards tend to desensitise the kids’ idea of what a reward should be. Even for me, I give my kids a small gift of their choice that is within the budget of $20-$30 for the hard work they put in for the whole academic year. I don’t believe in expensive rewards as a motivator.

Assessment

Before a student proceeds to the next level and a new skill set, an Eye Level instructor will give the student a level test to evaluate if they have achieved mastery of the current material. This constant monitoring of the kids’ competency with close teacher’s guidance during the 1-1 sessions, allowing learning at the kids’ own pace, plus the Feedback from Teacher to Parents and vice-versa are really the strong building blocks to effective learning. Many Enrichment Centres hold big classes which makes learning at own pace impossible. Further, 1-1 sessions are limited or none. With such comparisons, I come to appreciate Eye Level way of helping the students to learn effectively.

Well, stay tune for my next post on more information on Eye Level English Curriculum as well as our verdict of Eye Level Centre!

More information on Eye Level Centre:

Fees: $140 for 1x per week lesson; $180 for 2x per week lesson
Website: Eye Level Singapore
Facebook: click here
To enquire: call 6397 6117
To find a centre near you: click here

Disclaimer: We were invited for 8 English lessons for the purpose of this review. It is a good first time for the kids on academic enrichment class and we have many takeaways in terms of gaining knowledge and intangibles which I shall share in my next post. All in all, I am glad that they have a good experience with Eye Level!

Chinese Show and Tell Camp – KidStartNow

{Sponsored Review}

This June holidays, I had planned a series of activities for the children. The very first one is KidStartNow Show and Tell Camp for my 8yo boy. If you do remember that 2 years ago, he also attended Chinese enrichment holiday classes at the very same centre and the experience was a very enjoyable one. And 2 years later, when he was invited for this 4 day Show and Tell camp, I was a little skeptical about whether he would enjoy as much now that he is older. Nowadays for any media invite, sponsored classes, I would have to ask the kids if they would like to attend. Kids have grown up and they need to have a say in what they are attending right? So when my boy heard that he would be taught by HongMei laoshi again, he was ecstatic and agreed immediately. Wow! I didn’t know a short 4 day camp 2 years back can have such positive impression on this boy.

As before, my boy received an invitation card prior to the day he went for the camp which is always a pleasant surprise. Which kid does not like an invitation mailed to him?

This time the class was held in the newly open branch at Bedok Central. I was impressed by the interior design of the centre which has a Super Hero Panda theme. The panda theme is also the theme for the classes. Yes, the classes have a theme, so, it engages the kids well.

Continue reading “Chinese Show and Tell Camp – KidStartNow”

Chinese Enrichment Holiday Camp @ KidStartNow + Giveaway!!

I have never sent my kids to academic enrichment classes before. However, I had once let XX join a 3-day Math holiday camp during a school holiday period because I did not want her to waste her time at home doing nothing much. Also, I believe holiday camps are fun and kids are bound to enjoy the learning-through-play camps. When YH had the opportunity to attend KidStartNow’s story-telling themed Chinese enrichment holiday camp, I was really happy and Continue reading “Chinese Enrichment Holiday Camp @ KidStartNow + Giveaway!!”

Enrichment activities – Are they enriching others ($$$) or enriching your kids?

Some months ago, I had bought a set of edutainment books for my kids. It is called Logico. It comes in Primo series (intellectual development for age 2-5) and Piccolo (for age 5-9), a fun thinker (comes with 10 books and match frame) and 4 Disney Word books. It does not come cheap. From a mummy’s view, I thought these would give hours of fun learning for my kids. I paid for them and cross my fingers that my kids do not throw them aside after 3 days.

Well, on the first day, they were excited about them. On the second day, they walked past, remembered, and played for less than the time on the first day. On the third day, they walked past, but they did not touch them. Disappointment kicked in and I felt I must have made a wrong choice. One small relief was that at least they were interested in the Disney word books and still are after these months of owning these expensive books.

Hmm, what’s the lesson here??

1) Kids do not need expensive books /edutainment or whatsoever.

2) Kids prefer the old fashion way of getting mummy to read books to them and indulge in a world of unlimited imagination.

3) Kids would rather enjoy their time with mummy playing silly make believe tea parties, funny faces, etc than to be self-entertained or self-learn with the expensive edutainment.

4) Kids are kids. They want mummy’s or daddy’s company.

5) And again. Kids are simple. We adults are the complicated ones.

Many parents around me have more than one enrichment activity for their kids. Shichida, Kumon, I can read, Berries, piano lessons, ballet class, art class, etc. Like them, I wanted my daughter to learn more than her Yamaha Junior Music Course (YJC) which takes place once a week. I wanted her to learn violin, swimming, ballet, dancing… Sensing side-track, my husband will pull me back and remind me of over-enriching our kids.

Over-enriching = Less time for play = Less happy times to remember when they grow up!

I have to constantly remind myself that kids are simple and they should grow up happily. The really complicated ones are the parents themselves. Parents send their kids to this and that classes on the hope that the kids start out on a better headstart and more advance path than others (not to say if that’s the right path!) Also, parents subconciously make their children fulfill what they have missed out on their own childhood.

Right now, I am satisfied with the once a week YJC for my girl. My boy has started his since he turned 4 this year.

Spare me the hectic and disruptive lifestyle of sending my kids to numerous classes. Let my kids enjoy a full time-table of play, play and play before they start formal school.

Childhood is short. I want my children to remember a childhood full of happy memories.

Tag: enrichment