Mother’s Day at Kindermusik

My wife Florence, an awesome mom to our 8-month old daughter Maggie, spent their first morning session at Kindermusik in Regalia Park Towers, near EDSA Cubao. Teacher Jeannie, who began the program in 2003 in the Philippines and also a recognized Kindermusik Maestro Award educator globally, has offered a summer program called Village Adventures. It is more like an introductory summer program for a 60-minute session each for six Sundays.

There were actually several sets of program depending on your child’s age. Like the Kindermusik Village Adventures that my daughter has attended yesterday, is offered for children from newborn to 1 1/2 years of age. As mentioned, it is a short summer camp program since the regular session is in a 15-week stretch. Other Kindermusik offerings are: Our Time for 1 1/2 to 3 years old; Imagine That for 3 to 5 years old; Kindermusik for the Young Child for 5 to 7 years old; ABC Music & Me, a Preschool Music Program for 2 to 6 years old; Sign & Sing, a sign language curriculum for hearing children 6 months to 3 years old; and Family Time, a music class for families with multiple children for ages newborn and up.

Kindermusic session where children and parents alike
participate in the activities

It was bonding and fun-filled moments for the participants who were also first-timers in the program. My wife, who is likewise a licensed Kindermusik educator, was the one who attended to our daughter most of the time. I assisted my wife from time to time especially on the sessions where I was the one who needed to carry and gently rock our baby daughter because of her weight. Like me, there were also dads who had participated and helped with their wives as well in the different activities. It was truly a wholesome experience.

Teacher Jeannie leading the children and parents
during the drum session

Maggie playing with her rattle

Into the plastic tunnel

    

Tucked with wireless microphone, teacher Jeannie, together with her two co-teachers in yellow-striped uniforms led the singing, while the CD containing songs and music exclusive for the Kindermusik Village Adventures session was playing at the background. The high-quality musical instruments such as rattles, shakers, and drums were also distributed accordingly depending on the programmed activity. The kids on the other hand, guided by their parents corresponded with the rhythm played from the CD through dancing, singing, and playing with the said musical instruments. Big plastic balls and tunnel were also introduced for the kids to play with. A multi-colored parachute-like with a diameter of around 12 to 15 feet, which is as large as the playing area were also introduced. The parents held the chute for awhile making gestures such as up and down and carousel-like movements as children played underneath. My daughter actually missed this activity when she got tired, hungry, and eventually fell asleep. Towards the end of the session, teacher Jeannie, held a hardcover book entitled Oh, What Busy Days! where she read and told the story. The take home materials include the said hardcover book, CD similar to the one they played in the session, musical shapes bell, and activities poster, for the parents to continue the activity with their kids at home.

Mother and daughter

Kindermusik which derived from a German phrase, Children’s Music was founded in the United States in 1978. Its framework is based from music and movement that uses high-quality digital recordings, instruments, and award-winning literature books along with traditional nursery rhymes, finger plays and songs to build a strong foundation not only in music education, but other areas of development, i.e. cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and language skills1.

When my wife and I played the CD at home, our daughter Maggie actually paused for awhile, eventually recalled the familiar music and perhaps remembered the activity that corresponds with the said music. From that very brief moment, we actually witnessed the effect in our daughter. We are looking forward for another Kindermusik session on Sunday which we think is worth investing in, that is beneficial for our daughter as well as for us parents.

For more information on Kindermusik classes and respective schedules near your area, you may check on Kindermusik Philippines and Kindermusik with Teacher Jeannie & Company.

Reference:
1 Kindermusic, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindermusik

One more thing...
To all the mothers and especially to my wife, Happy Mother's Day!

"The Miracle of Life nurtured by a woman who gave us love and sacrifice... MOTHER" 
- Joel Barquez

Innovation and Enterprise in Singapore Education

Three months ago, the Government of Singapore has announced that it will improve its entrepreneurship program in schools as posted at GovMonitor1 last 15th of November 2010. It is an effort by the government to promote the spirit of Innovation and Enterprise (I&E) in all schools in Singapore in order to prepare the students meet the demands of the competitive global economy2.

The movement that involves both the private and public sectors to create a more entrepreneurial environment in Singapore, called Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), has recently conducted a survey among its youth. The report said that 26 percent of the respondents aged below 26 strongly agree that their barrier to entrepreneurship is the fear of losing their jobs and income. The percentage rises to 35 percent for those aged 26-30, and 44 percent for those aged 31-35. Another findings also found that youths are more likely to be inspired by successful entrepreneurs, with 75 percent of 267 young respondents agreed. The said findings reinforce ACE’s belief in focusing on youths in its effort to foster an entrepreneurial culture and mindset, which are encouraged to start a business while they are still young. This framework motivated the revision of its national school curriculum to inject innovation and enterprise in Singapore’s education system. According to Dr. Vivian Balakrshnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports that, for Singapore to succeed in the future, it will not be enough to have first world infrastructure, nor having the rule of law with honest civil servants and consistent reliable regulatory frameworks, nor enough to improve productivity to be cheaper, better, or faster. These are necessary so as to make steady progress yet risky being overtaken by global competition. The only way to generate exponential growth is for innovation and enterprise to flourish3. This is part of Singapore’s strategy, since its near-saturated domestic market means that the country has to create external economies with strong links with domestic ones. Thus, its government’s mindset is to start the entrepreneurial culture within its academic institutions.

Education in Singapore is both underpinned by Realism-Pragmatism ideology. Realism generally see its academic institutions develop the students‘ abilities in reasoning, observation and experimentation. Pragmatism on the other hand, generally see schools as more than academic institutions, but also aims to develop the students’ cognitive capabilities4,5. From self-government in 1959 until the mid 1990s, the government has used Realist method of education. Its system is highly centralized and structured, and students were streamed into different tracks based on their academic performance. All the schools adopted a uniform of curriculum where subjects such as English language, indigenous languages such as Chinese, Malay and Tamil, and moral and civics education were compulsory for all students. The schools also used standardized textbooks, and prepared students for centralized national examinations. Its method of teaching was mainly teacher-centered and the role of the teacher was to teach essential skills for their students to find jobs later in life. However, since 1997, the government has increasingly adopted the Pragmatist method of education under the Thinking Schools, Learning Nation (TSLN) vision. It is a move from a unified, hierarchical educational system to one which offers different types of schools and programs in Singapore. The curriculum has also been revised to promote customized and interdisciplinary study, rather than a curriculum that is common, standardized and classified under different subject-matter disciplines. The role of the teachers has also changed as it no longer just experts and dispensers of content knowledge, but also as resource persons to facilitate the students‘ learning through creative and student-centered activities. Both of these methods - the Realist and Pragmatist approaches are applied into the system of Singapore’s education2.

The Thinking Schools, Learning Nation is an umbrella vision introduced in 1997 by Mr. Goh Chok Tong, then Prime Minister of Singapore, as part of its national strategy. According to the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE), Innovation and Enterprise (I&E) is not new in the system but a strategic part of TSLN. Clarified by then Acting Education Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, that what they are trying to achieve in I&E is not a new set of activities or programs, but a set of mental attitudes amongst their young, a new culture or outlook on life. What they wanted to nurture are the mental traits that will serve these students well in the future full of challenge and opportunity - a robust spirit of inquiry, a willingness to take untried paths, and a certain ruggedness of character. These are the intangible factors that will make the difference for Singapore in the future, the minister said.

References:
1 GovMonitor
2 From School to Economy: Innovation and Enterprise in Singapore by Pak Tee Ng and Charlene Tan Assistant Professors for Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
3 Search SMB Asia, searchsmbasia.com
4 Ozmon, H.A., & Craver, S.M. (2003). Philosophical Foundations of Education, 7th Edition, New Jersey: Pearson Merill Prentice Hall
5 Gutek, G.L. (2004). Philosophical and Educational Voices in Education. Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon