An Excursion: Singapore Changi Airport
I went on a school excursion with Ewan to the Changi Airport today. Come 2016, he will be entering Nursery 2 and *sobs* parents are no longer invited to join the school's field trips. He is growing up too quickly for my liking. As I write, my three year old is putting himself to sleep for the afternoon in his own room. I am torn about how I should be feeling about this new-found independence. Part of me went "Yay! He unlocked a new skill!" while the other part of me panicked, "He doesn't need his mommy to pat him to sleep anymore? He is only but three!" To be honest, it really isn't too difficult to send him off to dreamland so hmmm maybe I should continue to baby him. Ahhhhh *pulls hair* but I shouldn't impede his growth process! Oh bother.
It was a beautiful day and I was just as excited to go for this outing as he was. His father sent him to school as usual to have his breakfast and I joined him close to departing time. The children were all lined up with their little backpacks on their backs. When Ewan saw me, his face lighted up instantaneously and was eager to run into my arms! It was a beautiful moment. I stood there thinking the day he would wave and send me off on my way. That day will come and it will probably be painful. I relish in the notion that I am still his everything, his all, his world.
There were four parents from his class that came along. We took care of our own tots while the teachers handled the remaining seven. Everyone had their own partner and I was naturally his. When he strayed away from me, fascinated by the stories his teachers told, he'd run back looking for that hand to hold. My hand. It was a warm fuzzy feeling. Just like dropping him off in school and picking him up after lunch - that tight hug he gives when you say good-bye and that skip he performs when you arrive. A very warm fuzzy feeling. No matter how busy I could be, I'll never want to miss a day picking him up from school. Well, unless the grandparents ask to do the honour. They deserve their fair share of Ewan-happiness when they see him at school.
I got to observe my son today without distractions. We spent some much needed mother and son time without daddy and Faye. I love to do everything with the family but both our children deserve to spend one-on-one time with each parent. The experience is important and very fruitful for the soul.
We went on a walk-through from Changi Airport Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 via the Skytrain. The teachers emphasised on words and themes they've covered in school like Transportation, Recycling, Boarding Pass, Passport, Arrival, Departure and many more. The children were brought to the Arrival Hall and told facts about luggage belts and departure processes. Oh how wouldn't Ewan be familiar with this sight. He had been to the airport countless of times to receive his father and even dashed into the NO Entry zone once to give his father a big welcome! That welcome came with defining sirens and policemen ushering the duo out swiftly.
The children were totally engrossed with the Kinetic Rain in Terminal 1. It has this rhythmic and hypnotising effect in its performance. Watch video at 28 secs and you'll notice that it drafts out an aeroplane with those raindrops! Never knew huh? Watch intently the next time you visit and hopefully you'll catch a glimpse of that raindrop aeroplane.
His creative teachers came up with their own little airport adventure. They whipped out a stack of boarding passes for the children to fly to Maldives! Woo Hoo! What a happening destination for this bunch of children! Well of course it was a self-printed-self-laminated boarding pass. They explained that boarding passes are tickets to board the airplane but they must also bring along their passports. Without both items, they will not be able to fly. There is also a kiosk in the airport where you scan your boarding pass to check your flight information. These kids had a go at it and were whisked to the departure gate in hope that the policemen would play along this little game with them. Lucky lucky! A very kind policeman-on-duty acceded to the teacher's request for a role-play with the children. They definitely brought home a small win from this trip! Each student received a stamp on their fist just to prove that they've been "chopped and approved" for departure! He went beyond his call of duty and we appreciated it a lot. Of course when he had to check the passports of REAL outgoing passengers, he had the class stood by the side to wait till his job was done.
We toured the airport a little longer than expected because of the above activity. Therefore, we were late for the children's morning snack break. In school, breakfast starts at 0800hrs, morning snack at 1030hrs and lunch at 1200hrs. While we made our way to the viewing gallery to watch airplane take off, the children were going, "我肚子饿扁了!" literally meaning "I am so hungry my stomach has flattened!" I was totally amused.
They are blessed to be taught by two very passionate teachers who speaks mandarin to them all the time. Ewan's mother tongue improved leaps and bounds after joining 陈老师's class and Ms Mira (a Malay teacher) can actually do basic mandarin as well! 陈老师 would go on explaining at length about the Taxi Stands and Arrival procedures in mandarin. I wondered if the children understood what she was trying to convey (after all Chinese isn't the dominant language at home for most) and they surprised me by replying back in the same language. His teacher also shared that Ewan and many of his classmates replied in English at the beginning of the year but persistence paid off. Three quarters had past and we are all proud that our children are now equipped to reply in mandarin confidently. My swelling heart.
So! We ended up at the viewing gallery with hungry three year olds burrowing into their food rather than watching the planes go by.
Trans-por-ta-tion 交通工具. A four-syllable word that probably children in our time couldn't pronounce. Today, our children bewilder us with big and fanciful words (English and Chinese) they learn from their daily musings. I bet they could even do Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
My son is crazy over bus rides and we will sometimes ditch our car to go on public transportation day. I love it that my husband do entertain us with our requests most of the time. He dislikes crowds but would do anything to catch a smile on his children's faces. The bus ride to and fro airport and school was a highlight for Ewan as well.
What a memorable day this had been. I wished I could have gotten this post done and published over their nap time but the nature of my job doesn't allow me to. I started to write only to be disrupted by a stirring Faye. I have to put her back to sleep not once but thrice almost every afternoon. Each post gets a little closer to its finishing paragraph after they next go to bed again. I get very drained by then from after-nap-activities, dinner, winding-down-activities and putting them to sleep. Still, blogging today's episode is worth losing that couple hours of shut eye. I shall now join the rest of the house in snoring symphony. Oh dang! It's 0100hrs?
I got to observe my son today without distractions. We spent some much needed mother and son time without daddy and Faye. I love to do everything with the family but both our children deserve to spend one-on-one time with each parent. The experience is important and very fruitful for the soul.
We went on a walk-through from Changi Airport Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 via the Skytrain. The teachers emphasised on words and themes they've covered in school like Transportation, Recycling, Boarding Pass, Passport, Arrival, Departure and many more. The children were brought to the Arrival Hall and told facts about luggage belts and departure processes. Oh how wouldn't Ewan be familiar with this sight. He had been to the airport countless of times to receive his father and even dashed into the NO Entry zone once to give his father a big welcome! That welcome came with defining sirens and policemen ushering the duo out swiftly.
The children were totally engrossed with the Kinetic Rain in Terminal 1. It has this rhythmic and hypnotising effect in its performance. Watch video at 28 secs and you'll notice that it drafts out an aeroplane with those raindrops! Never knew huh? Watch intently the next time you visit and hopefully you'll catch a glimpse of that raindrop aeroplane.
His creative teachers came up with their own little airport adventure. They whipped out a stack of boarding passes for the children to fly to Maldives! Woo Hoo! What a happening destination for this bunch of children! Well of course it was a self-printed-self-laminated boarding pass. They explained that boarding passes are tickets to board the airplane but they must also bring along their passports. Without both items, they will not be able to fly. There is also a kiosk in the airport where you scan your boarding pass to check your flight information. These kids had a go at it and were whisked to the departure gate in hope that the policemen would play along this little game with them. Lucky lucky! A very kind policeman-on-duty acceded to the teacher's request for a role-play with the children. They definitely brought home a small win from this trip! Each student received a stamp on their fist just to prove that they've been "chopped and approved" for departure! He went beyond his call of duty and we appreciated it a lot. Of course when he had to check the passports of REAL outgoing passengers, he had the class stood by the side to wait till his job was done.
We toured the airport a little longer than expected because of the above activity. Therefore, we were late for the children's morning snack break. In school, breakfast starts at 0800hrs, morning snack at 1030hrs and lunch at 1200hrs. While we made our way to the viewing gallery to watch airplane take off, the children were going, "我肚子饿扁了!" literally meaning "I am so hungry my stomach has flattened!" I was totally amused.
They are blessed to be taught by two very passionate teachers who speaks mandarin to them all the time. Ewan's mother tongue improved leaps and bounds after joining 陈老师's class and Ms Mira (a Malay teacher) can actually do basic mandarin as well! 陈老师 would go on explaining at length about the Taxi Stands and Arrival procedures in mandarin. I wondered if the children understood what she was trying to convey (after all Chinese isn't the dominant language at home for most) and they surprised me by replying back in the same language. His teacher also shared that Ewan and many of his classmates replied in English at the beginning of the year but persistence paid off. Three quarters had past and we are all proud that our children are now equipped to reply in mandarin confidently. My swelling heart.
So! We ended up at the viewing gallery with hungry three year olds burrowing into their food rather than watching the planes go by.
My son is crazy over bus rides and we will sometimes ditch our car to go on public transportation day. I love it that my husband do entertain us with our requests most of the time. He dislikes crowds but would do anything to catch a smile on his children's faces. The bus ride to and fro airport and school was a highlight for Ewan as well.
What a memorable day this had been. I wished I could have gotten this post done and published over their nap time but the nature of my job doesn't allow me to. I started to write only to be disrupted by a stirring Faye. I have to put her back to sleep not once but thrice almost every afternoon. Each post gets a little closer to its finishing paragraph after they next go to bed again. I get very drained by then from after-nap-activities, dinner, winding-down-activities and putting them to sleep. Still, blogging today's episode is worth losing that couple hours of shut eye. I shall now join the rest of the house in snoring symphony. Oh dang! It's 0100hrs?
 |
A stay at home mum, blogging to widen her social life.
We want to echo the sound of love through our lives to inspire other mothers alike.
We want to echo the sound of love through our lives to inspire other mothers alike.
Comments
Post a Comment