The Language Boutique - Reading Explorers

When The Language Boutique approached me and emailed the courses available, Jolly Phonics and Reading Explorers caught my attention.  Jolly Phonics being something I started looking into a couple months back and as for Reading Explorers, it sounded very much in line with our interests and getting the boys to enjoy reading.

Over the summer (oh well, we do not exactly have summer in Singapore, but for international schools, they have summer breaks / holidays which sometimes overlap with the Singapore's school holidays), The Language Boutique will hold seven weeks' worth of group classes for all ages and abilities which are designed to be fun, interactive ad engaging.  

For the Reading Explorers course that D attended, there were 5 books introduced - one new book each day.  Together with the books introduced, there were activities such as craft work, charades and yes, some worksheets.  I also learnt about International Baccalaureate ("IB") and how each of the IB learner profile will be touched on and possibly applied even after the course.  We believe that the way to start children to read is not to simply shove the books to the children, but to let the children enjoy the process of reading a book.  When the boys were young, we used to form songs out of the simple few words in the storybooks.

Two of the 5 books read during the week long course

With a maximum of six children per class, each student gets a lot of attention from the teacher in the 2.5 hours class.  In D's class, there were Koreans, Australians and Indians.   Sarah, the teacher for the Reading Explorers course, is from Canada.  It was a chance for D to interact with the different nationalities, probably even trying to understand what everyone says.  Definitely an experience for him as he hardly interacts with different nationalities - which is something B and I think is important as English is one of the most spoken language internationally.

Photo credit : The Language Boutique

I really like that each day, after a book is read, the children were given activities to do and from those activities, the children actually learn new words, new forms of expressions, new verbs and even synonyms.  What they bring home everyday is also different.  As I mentioned earlier, an IB learner profile was also touched on.  Unknowingly, the children learnt words like being a risk-taker, communicator, thinker and so on.  Now, D knows what is meant by a risk-taker and in fact it helps in certain situations when we asked if he wants to be a risk-taker and try!

A letter to Goldie (D's name for the whale) after they read Dear Greenpeace.  D's first attempt in trying to write a letter and at just 6 years old, he tried his best.  What is encouraging is that he now wants to write a letter to someone special!  To me, it is such little ways to encourage him to write sentences and how fun the class was that he did not realize that he is actually learning something.

D looks forward to the class everyday for that week and now, he tries to use the word "Pardon?" instead of "Huh?" when he wants the other party to repeat himself / herself.  

Conducted at The Language Boutique's sister language school, Manhattan English Language Studio, it is in the Bugis vicinity, 5 minutes walk from Bugis MRT Station.  Adults may take a walk in nearby shopping centers while the children enjoy the classes.  There will be breaks with healthy snacks served.  How creative are the folks at The Language Boutique as fruits are served in various ways:

Photo credit : The Language Boutique

Photo credit : The Language Boutique

Reading Explorers is one of The Language Boutique's popular classes and this meant that some children actually enroll for two or more different weeks.  Thus, the books read may be different each week but how the courses will be conducted will be similar to what D experienced.

With Teacher Sarah

If you have a child whom you want to introduce the fun of reading, you may want to have a go at this week long course.  Seriously, gone were the days you ask a child, especially those learning to read, to sit down and read a book by himself / herself. 

Can you guess which sentence was contributed by D?

Photo credit : The Language Boutique

About The Language Boutique
The Language Boutique is an independent tuition school which specializes in personal one-to-one English or Maths tuition for children ages 3 to 18 and takes place at any location that is convenient for the student, usually at their homes.  Their lessons, conducted by native English speakers, are designed individually to respond to each student's specific needs.

For more information, click here to visit The Language Boutique website and here for its Facebook Page.

Just for you, my readers...

If you would like to sign up for any of the summer courses at The Language Boutique, quote "B.C.D.E. That's Us!" when you speak to the friendly folks there and you get a 10% off!  A pretty good deal I would say.  

And yes, for those who are already in schools, it might clash with the school hours.  However, for those who are only in schools for half days or pre-schoolers who only attend 3 hours of school each day, I think it is a good exposure for the children.   

Disclosure: We are sponsored by The Language Boutique for the Reading Explorers course.  No monetary compensation was received.  Unless otherwise stated, all opinions and photos are true to my own.

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