Was utterly surprised today that I had
to do quite detailed marking sheets on classroom performance of pre-schoolers attending my Phonics Workshops.
There were three categories, learned
sound completely, failed to learn sound at all, and in between.
As we might expect the TH sound had
a few failed completelys, and also unexpectedly the X sound.
I was forced to mark hard on the few
children who were so daunted by testing that they could not speak hardly at all, and chalked them down in them in the middle
ground.
A few kids had totally perfect scores,
and I found it quite easy to say something encouraging to all the Tiny Tots, so adorable and well behaved at such a tender
age.
Humourously, of the boy
whose dad seems to be a fan of Hong Kong male action movies, judging from his karate kicks at the other male students, I tactfully
wrote, This boy is very lively and full of confidence.
My helper attributes this aggression
to - He is the tallest boy in the class.
One of the kids who got a perfect score
was a little darling boy who wears huge circular spectacles and is the shortest boy, always running to help teacher clean
the board, and then tearing around the room visiting the other children, and doing well on his work in addition.
Another girl student hasd very dark
skin and my helper wondered if she is of mixed race. I could not decipher what those races would be, though she may
be Chinese from Indonesia or Singapore where they have darker skins due to the sun.
Her smile is wide, and always on, and
she too loves to do well at school. I had not noticed before how good her pronunciation was, so perhaps these tests
are a good thing.
Then there were the very shy children,
and we did not forget to encourage those, being sure they understand the simple test instructions, and going slowly with them,
making them feel the test was not so important, just a bit of fun for them.
I truly found something positive to
say about all these children, who had given up their playtime on Saturday to improve their English.
Afterwards, my helper volunteered to
help wrap Christmas boxes at the Anglican church for Chinese poor and Chinese elderly, and we arrived late, feeling a bit
shy ourselves.
The Anglican leadership was so warm
and so welcoming, we were made to feel right at home, though I am a recent arrival tothis beautiful church. I am also
meeting new people here who value community work.
We all picked up boxes and walked around
the meeting room placing soap, hand cream, scarves, cookies, and socks in each box, which was then piled in a heap for Grandma
or Grandpa, according to gender.
There was a coffee bar for us with small
cakes, potato chips, coffee and tea.
The Vicar John stood up from time to
time with a microphone thanking us, and letting us know the full range of Christmas activities.
On this coming Saturday we will be driving
out to visit Old Folks Homes all over Hong Kong, taking our small gifts, and also some entertainment projects as well, such
as singing and storytelling.
Then on the Sunday at 5.00 and 7.00
we will have two services - you, my readers, are welcome at our church at this time of year - each of them followed by cakes
and mince pies and tea and coffee - and the highlight beautiful Christmas songs sung by candlelight.
Our church is on Nathan Road facing
Kowloon Park halfway up, right beside McDonald's.
We finished early, and my helper went
to the storage place with me, and helped me cart my last luggage to the ferry boat home.
