Student-Led Conference

Student-Led Conference provides an opportunity for student to show parents their learning and works which they are proud of. During the conference students are in charge, not the teacher and not parents. The students will guide and share their selected works and and talk about their learning experiences, what they think they do best and the things which they find challenging or difficult. They will also talk about their goals for the rest of the year and how they are going to achieve it. They are encouraged to speak and talk in their mother tongue or their most comfortable language.

The teacher will act as facilitator and will be there to support and guide the students and help to maintain focus on the learning and to confirm student goals for the rest of the year. Now, the role of the parents is to encourage students to talk confidently about their learning and achievements. We are asked to be sensitive to our child's feeling as sometimes their thoughts and opinions may not be a true reflection of their ability and achievements. If we have any concerns, we may talk to the teacher at another time.

Ilham's conference was on the 26th March at 2.10 pm. His EAL teacher was also there, which was a disappointment because I had already made an appointment to see him separately at 3 pm !! I had so much to ask him and the conference did not allow me to do that because time was limited. Apart from that, everything went well. Ilham said he likes Grade 2 and he likes Unit Of Inquiry the best. He thinks he is a good reader and can spell hard and difficult words :) He likes reading a variety of books and his favourite is Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. He finds mathematics rather challenging (in other words difficult). His goals are to improve his cursive hand writing (which is messy) and to practice Mathematics at home.

He showed me his "book" called "The Dragon and The King", which according to the teacher he wrote himself based on a folktale during the previous Unit Of Inquiry.

That is a very nice and long story Ilham, keep writing.... And I can see why you want to improve your handwriting !!!

Don't worry, Mama will ensure that you practice at home ok. Ms Kimura had already given me the book on "Handwriting" to photocopy :)

Dutch Language

Yesterday I had an appointment to see Ilham's Dutch teacher, somebody whom I had wanted to meet because she gave good remarks on his Dutch in the December School Report. I was curious you see. Since Friday 26th and Monday 29th were Student-Led Conference for Lower School, I decided now is a good time to go and see her.

I was surprised to find out that Ilham is in Intermediate class. I thought he was still in Culture (for new students) where they learn about Dutch culture, food, celebrations etc. I assumed that new students will be in Culture class for about a year of joining the school.

Then Ms Murphy gave me a very interesting news, Ilham is her best student in the class!!! Now, I do not know exactly what they learn in Intermediate level, but it made me really happy when she said that! According to her, Ilham can speak good Dutch and that he sounds like a Dutch when he speaks. Wow! that impresses me! At the rate he is going, he will be in Advance class next school year in August. That is pretty fast she said, because some children take about 2 years in Intermediate level before they can go to Advance. Then, they can join the class where the native Dutch students learn. She really likes having him in the class and that she does not want him to go to another teacher. It seems that he always motivate the other children, helping them to pronounce correctly. She jokingly said that he was her assistant in the class, something like a second teacher. Ilham was sure happy when she said that.

Now I know why Ilham received "Exceed Expectation" under Dutch Language in his school report in December. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that, and I had been wondering whether the teacher made a mistake. Normally teachers refrain from giving Exceed Expectation in the report, they normally give Meet Expectation.

I never really heard him speak Dutch, perhaps because there is no one for him to speak to at home :) But normally I would ask him the meaning of the words and he was able to explain most of them.

I am glad that I met the teacher, it was so wonderful to hear her said all those things. Though I couldn't help wishing that he have the same progress on Muqaddam....