May the force be with you

It started innocently enough. Earlier this year, my cousin gave us the complete digitally remastered Star Wars in a 6-dvd set. What we didn't expect was that it would spark off a Star Wars frenzy in Andre, to the extent that it dethroned even his beloved Lord of the Rings. Almost all of his daily tv quota thus far has been dedicated to reliving Star Wars episodes 1-6 in turn.

Every other day, I'll hear emanating from the screen, the original, ultimate climatic scene, which Andre loves to ham up:

Luke Skywalker: You killed my father.

Darth Vader: No (heavy breathing). I am your father.

Luke Skywalker: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

I was not a Star Wars fan growing up but I can see why it's every boy's fantasy. Flying, fighting machines, sleek robots, oozy, slimy creatures and of course, the fabulously cool light sabres.

I don't allow the purchase of any toy weapons in our home so Andre decided to fashion his own light sabre, using an empty shuttlecock tube and a part from a kids' basketball game set. Quite ingenious, I thought!

Last week, I found him recreating scenes from the Star Wars movies using Kenneth's stack of flip chart paper and coloured markers.

This is Attack of the Clones:

A New Hope:

Some close ups of key characters:









Alamak, somebody needs to work on his spelling.







Star Wars has its unexpected side benefits. Andre is always lamenting over his diminutive stature but recently, he told me, "Now I feel better about being small."

"Why is that?"

"Yoda is small but he's the wisest and most powerful."

The truth you speak, my young Padawan.

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?" - Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)

Let's hear it for art, music and PE!

I gave a little cheer when I read the headlines of yesterday's Straits Times: "Schools to develop 'soft skills' - Greater emphasis to be placed on physical education, art and music"

I can't provide a link as the online articles are deleted weekly and the full article is too long to post here. But for those who didn't read it, here's a condensed version reproduced from Straits Time online:

Focus on soft-skills

SCHOOLS will emphasise more on soft-skills such as creativity, innovation and global awareness to prepare students for work in a fast-changing and technologically advanced world.

The Ministry of Education on Tuesday announced that such skills will be stepped up through a range of strategies such as assessing them through project work other than pen and paper tests, increasing opportunities for co-curricular activities, more time for physical education lessons and placing greater importance on music and the arts.

The Ministry recognises that PE teaches student important life skills like team work and resilience and it will increase the time for PE lessons for Primary 1 and 2 pupils from 1.5 hours per week to 2 hours.

Primary 3 to 6 pupils will also attend 2.5 hours of PE, from 1.5 hours now. Sec 1 to Sec 4 students will attend 2 hours of PE from 1 hours now. These changes will be implemented in phases.

All new art and music teachers will be trained to teach only music or art so that they can specialise in the subject and improve lessons.

I think it's a step in the right direction. I'd previously mentioned how the Singapore education system is too overly focused on academic subjects, especially at the primary school level. It's not just about the number of hours allocated to art, music and PE. Right now, these are already at the minimal level but yet, they are constantly being cannibalised for more academic time. I've lost count of the number of times my kids have complained to me, "no art today, the teacher used the period for maths."

I've also heard many, many anecdotes of parents who enthusiastically start their kids on art or music lessons but gradually replace them with extra tuition or enrichment classes instead. Like it or not, these are generally still considered peripheral and almost always the first to be sacrificed.

A friend of mine once made a poignant comment on my Facebook account, which I'm taking the liberty to paste here: "I loved music and PE when I was in school but of course, they're never "important". I read somewhere 'when we teach our kids to draw, we're teaching them to see; when we teach them music, we're teaching them to listen.' Creativity and imagination are , in my opinion, far more impt than being able to spit out facts in record speed."

Isn't that what we need really? Not more kids who can work out algebraic equations faster than a calculator but creative individuals who can see beyond the end of their noses and listen amidst the cacophony of sounds.

As for PE, Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen acknowledged that sports allow students to acquire physical fitness and values such as self-esteem, teamwork, fair play and a can-do spirit. He also agreed to a comment from an MP that sports should be for all, not just for athletes who can win medals.

Sounds familiar? I've made all these points before on my blog. BUT the fact that they're finally publicly acknowledged by the authorities can only be good news moving forward. Hopefully with art, music and PE formally given more importance in schools, teachers, parents and kids will come to see these as so much more than just peripherals.

Andre's art attack!

Typically in primary school, art lessons are nothing to shout about. When the period is not being cannibalised for some other academic subject, it's usually filled with simple drawings or crafts that wouldn't inspire any Picasso wanna-bes.

Sorry for being so cynical but based on the art works that my kids have brought home over the years, I can see that things haven't really changed since I was in primary school. Can't really blame the school, in the Singapore primary education system, art is considered one of those peripheral subjects that don't even have its own dedicated teachers. Usually the teacher taking art happens to also be a form teacher or subject teacher that has been allocated an extra duty (same with music).

Anyway, I was expecting art this year to be pretty much the same as every year's (read: nondescript) until Andre brought this drawing (on the right) home after his first art lesson.

It was in his art file and at first glance, I thought it was a print-out and he had merely coloured it in, until I took a closer look and realised it was drawn.

From what I gather, Andre's art teacher had let his class watch a video on the computer which showed them how to draw this face step by step, using lines and shapes. He used a pencil first and drew over the lines with a marker later.

I know there are many doodle champs in Singapore so this is probably nothing to them, but I thought it was quite a good effort since Andre is no Einstein (the cartoonist, not the genius although he's not that either).

The following week, he came home with this:

Another cartoon! I was beginning to suspect that his art teacher (who's actually a science teacher) had no idea how to teach art and just hit on this winning method to engage the kids. I think my suspicion was correct because the following week, he produced this:

Hahaha! I just had to laugh as I wondered if Andre would be drawing cartoons the whole year round. Art educators will probably be appalled but you know, I notice that Andre is actually enjoying his art lessons now, unlike in the past three years. Granted it doesn't teach anything about art technique since he's probably just copying the steps in the guide but hey, art should first and foremost be fun, right? In this respect, the class is a-ok by me.

G-R-R-R!!