Boston - Week 2

Last week was spent exploring and adjusting to Boston. However, I feel that I spent this week enjoying every moment of living in Boston! I have yet to feel home sick. I enjoy every lesson that I attend and every place that I visit, whether the museums or shopping malls. I think the only thing that I miss about Singapore is the food. I miss hot and spicy delicacies. I miss Asian soups and home-cooked meals. My friends and I started to have cravings for these Asian foods. We were able to find a few restaurants that sell Asian food. We enjoyed Indian cuisine and Korean cuisine. Both are one of my favourite back in Southeast Asia.

There are a few places that were the highlights of this week. We visited the Museum of Science. It was such an amazing place that the 2 hours spent there was insufficient. The museum was accessible for everyone and covered many any facets of science. I was especially fascinated by the details displayed in the childbirth section and the section about sea creatures. I definitely had a blast at the museum and even consider going back again if there is extra time.

The site visit to Bright Horizon was another highlight of the week. Being brought around the centre opened my views in a preschool environment. I was astonished by the design of the preschool and the arrangement of the furniture in the classroom. Through the classroom environment, I was able to learn so much and would consider bringing some ideas back to Singapore. I particularly liked how the teachers regard the children as friends and not students. This is something new to me. The teachers in the preschool engage in journal writing for every child. The teachers document the children’s learning experiences in the journal. These journals are brought home for the parents to read and even to include their children’s learning at home. This is one example of an idea that I would consider using in Singapore. One interesting thing that we found out in the centre is the existence of a male teacher. It is encouraging to see how this male teacher is so passionate about the early childhood field even though there are many criticisms about male early childhood educators.

The theatre sessions with John are amazing. I learnt in the session this week that theatre and drama not only teaches children how to speak and express themselves, it teaches children to find out who they are and experience the emotions that we all have. This is something that I never thought of. The experience of feeling different emotions during the activities opened my eyes in terms of theatre and drama. My knowledge about drama in young children has expanded and deepened as I was challenged to think about how my experience in drama can be transferred to coaching children to experience similarly.

I will continue to cherish the time I have left in Boston. Definitely will soak in every moment, though it may be a little wet and cold the last few days. Hopefully there will be sun on Independence Day! I can’t wait for the 4th of July!!!