Teaching and Learning

Lil E turns 17 months old today. Of lates, I find myself worrying about my boy's learning. Am I teaching him enough or even the right things? E is becoming more alert by the day and yet I am still doing the same routines with him...which includes lots of television and very little mummy and son interaction and learning. To make the matter worse, he started creche again last week (on top of the LAEP play session on Mondays and Babygym class on Fridays). And I find myself rushing in and out of the house at least four days a week, trying to juggle with his schedule, cooking our meals and household chores...which leaves me with very little time and energy to teach the boy.

My MIL told me not to be too worry...claiming that Lil E is still young. Well, its true that the boy may be still young, but we all know for a fact that kids' brains are like sponge at this age, they learn things tremendously fast. I should facilitating his learning as much as possible now...instead of relying on the tv programs to do the teaching. The irony of all, I am supposedly a teacher.

On attempts when I tried to do teaching...I find myself having difficulty maintaining his attention or running out of patience. Perhaps its too much TV right from the start. The little one just cannot sit still for a minute except to view his favourite programs. Whenever I try to sit him down with me to teach, he would wiggle and twist his way out. The same goes for the babygym class. While all his classmates are all listening to instructions from their mummies, you will find Lil E running all over the place or rolling on the ground...and me chasing him like a mad woman.

Halfway through writing this entry, I paused and tried teaching the little one about the names of fruits using powerpoint. I sat him on my lap and ran the slides on the big tv screen. He was able to sit quietly on my lap for two minutes or so (ok...so good so far...not a bad start..). Then he recognises the banana..calling out "NaNa" (bravo!) and the next second, he was gesturing with his fingers like he was grabbing the fruits and putting them into his mouth, making the "Mmmmm...mmmhh..." sound totally ignoring me as I continued saying out the names of the fruits. I do not know whether to applaude or frown. Well, he did not say out the name of the fruits as I wanted...but he is certainly using his imaginary skill very well. -.- I think I really got to read up on how to teach pre-school kids...

I decided to note here a list of sounds or words that the boy can say now. Perhaps I can track his learning this way.

When refering to: Lil E would say:
His dad...........................papa or dada (which he would call out all the time)
Me..................................Mama (sadly only in moments of need)
Dog.................................woof woof
Cat..................................Ngiam (his sound for "meow")
Aeroplane......................Ah-bian
Eating............................Mumb mumb
Milk................................Neh Neh
Bird................................bird
boat...............................Boa
Bye................................ Bai
Hello..............................Allo
Peek-a-boo..................boo
Cow..............................Owwl
Cheese.........................Eeesss
Fish.............................Feessshh
Nose...........................Noh
Banana......................Nana
Apple........................Ah-Ple

He can also say:
Oh oh!.....whenever he does something wrong or if something drop
Wow!.......whenever he sees somethings he is amazed with or when he is engaged in activities involving height or speed.
Mmmm....when he munching on food he likes
Muak.......when he kisses or sends a flying kiss
Ouch!......when he "deliberately" or accidentally knock or hurt himself

That's pretty much the things Lil E can say for now.