a Trip to The Tree House Islamic Playschool

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Assalamualaikum wbt

EXPERIENCE

On 26^th April 2013, a group of students was invited to The Tree House Islamic Playschool at Signature Park, Kota Damansara. The trip was actually organized by the lecturers of ELM2263 subject which is our Introduction to the English Language subject. Our trip was chaperoned by our awesome lecturers, Brother Nazriq, Madam Adibah and Miss Adilah. The purpose of the trip was to make an observation on First Language Acquisition (FLA) Process enrolled by the kids in the playschool. It is the second class trip to the playschool since the other sections already visited the playschool a week before the second trip. So, the remaining sections went to the playschool last Friday morning and Alhamdulillah our second trip to The TreeHouse Islamic Playschool went smoothly.

First and foremost, the students were selected by their own group mates because there was only one member out of a group consisted of three members that can join the class trip. Basically, there were 5 groups in 704 section which is my section and I was grouped with my lovely classmates, Fany (Siti Farhani) and Fera (Sheera Shaheera). It was an unplanned decision to put me in the class trip since our first choice was Fany but she had to step off due to her commitment to other works. Hence, they chose me to go to the playschool and I guess I should thank them for giving me this golden opportunity.

On the day of our class trip, I woke up very early in the morning just to find the most suitable outfit for the trip and I found one which was my neighbour’s outfit ,so, special thanks to her for lending me her newly bought ‘jubah’ . She bought the ‘jubah’ in Kelantan and I think it suited me well for the trip but Fany ended up commenting that I looked dull for the kids. She said that I should dress up in colorful outfit to attract the kids. I guess my instinct on dressing did not turn very well on that day. Okay, drop the ‘jubah’ subject. Next, at 10 o’clock in the morning, my friends and I gathered in front of the Khadijah Mahallah to listen to our briefing about activities for that day by Brother Nazriq and we departed about fifteen minutes after the briefing. Brother Nazriq told us to find our own cab since he only can take three persons with him in his car.

My friends and I departed from CFS by a cab but before finding the right cab we faced a few difficulties when some of the cabs that day resisted from taking us to the playschool but we managed to get the good one. The journey took about 15minutes and we reached playschool at 11 o’clock. Our arrival was greeted by Madam Muntaza who is the principal of the TreeHouse Playschool. She is the nicest principal I have ever met. She insisted to call her Aunty Mun instead of Madam Muntaza. Furthermore, she brief on the activities in her playschool and explained that the playschool combines Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio teaching methods. She also introduced the group of kids whom learn in the playschool.

There are three groups of kids which are Baby(BB) Khalifah, Little(Lil) Khalifah and Junior(Jr) Khalifah. The BB Khalifah are children from 18 months to 36 months old and are confined in special area. They are not encourage to mix with other older khalifah since they are still young and need more supervision compared to others. Whereas the Lil Khalifah are children from 3 to 4 years old which were born on 2009 and 2010. The next group is the Jr Khalifah which are children whom born on 2007 and 2008. Hence, they are 5 and 6 years old kids. There are small in number of children since the playschool just operates for several months. So, most of the children will get full attention by the teachers.

We were very eager to start our task and got along with the kids. Therefore, from the point we entered the playschool, we started to take pictures and amazed by everything in the playschool. I think it was the prettiest playschool I have ever visited. I was mesmerized by the warm environment promoted in the playschool. The teachers promoted conducive and comfy place for the kids to grow up.

Before we were given a chance to meet and mix with the kids, Aunty Mun firstly advised us to use our inside voice while communicating with the kids so that they will feel ease to interact with us and told us to not rush in making communication with them because some of the kids hardly got along well with strangers. To be frank, I felt very nervous on that day since I am not the so-called-kids-lover but I attempted to draw out my nervous after getting to know the kids. They were not bad yet AWESOME!!

My friends and I got a chance to accompany the kids during breakfast, playing, reciting Quran and nap session. During breakfast, the kids were making so much noise and talking with each other non-stop so I decided to have a talk with them and thankfully they responded to me. They will say their names and their ages and ended up explaining everything about their day in the playschool. They were friendly much I guess.

After taking their breakfast, we were responsible to be their Iqra’ teachers for the Jr Khalifah. I got a chance to be Shahim’s teacher. Shahim is a 5-year-old boy. I taught him to recite the Iqra’ though he was already good at it. He talked so well and told me about his family, friends, his likes and dislikes. He is such an adorable, charming and handsome Jr. Khalifah. I miss that boy. LOL

Next, after having a session with Lil and Jr. Khalifah I decided to step into the BB Khalifah area. Most of the caliph  are still in diapers (IDK why I am explaining this). Most of them were hardly to get along very well but if you spend a time playing and treating them nicely then they will fall for you. BB Khalifah still need an extra care. Hence, the teachers will feed and bathe them since they still cannot do it on their own. Therefore, I spent my time just playing with the BB Khalifah and helping the teachers managed the babies. I used to take care of my little sister back then so I was quite good at putting on their clothes and feeding them. LOL

It was already late after hours spending time with them. Some of the children were already finished their school hours which ended at 12pm. So, the remaining children whom finished their school at 3pm will take their lunch and bath. After that, they will be asked to take a short nap around 1pm. Consider that the kids wanted to rest, my friends and I decided to go back to our mahallah. I bid the kids farewell and there was one cute boy, Muhammad , secretly told me that he wanted to follow me back to mahallah and begged me not to leave yet. I guess I was not so bad with the kids. =)

Before we left, we were given some refreshments from the teachers and thanked them for willing to have us in their tree house. Then, we went back to CFS by a cab and arrived at mahallah around 3pm. My friends and I spent RM30.50 for the cab fare which irritated me most. Aside from turning broke that day, I felt like losing my legs since we took a really long walk just to find a cab to go back. I bet all of us slept like a log right after we reached mahallah. However, it was an unforgettable memory to just spend a day in the playschool. I don’t think that I would ever spend another day of my life in a kindergarten again if it was not for this class trip.

 OBSERVATION

The main purpose of the trip was to observe the Language Acquisition Process enrolled by the kids. Basically the kids are still at an early age so they are still under the First Language Acquisition Process which a process where one acquires language by some form of interaction during the critical period with an input of an adults or in other words, they are able to learn language with an exposure from the adults.

From what we have learned during the previous ELM2263 classes, based on Eric Lenneberg, he mentioned that during the critical period a child manages to absorb anything from the environment at an age from 0 to 7 or 8 years old yet they tend to absorb lesser as they grow up. So the roles of parents and teachers during that age are vital in order to shape them into a great caliph in this world on this earth.

At The TreeHouse Islamic Playschool, I observed that all the kids can communicate in English language as for the Lil and Jr Khalifah. The English language seems to be the main medium for them to communicate with each other. Lil and Jr Khalifah are children from 3 to 4 years old and 5 to 6 years old respectively. I asked a few kids if they use English at home but denied it and insisted that their parents only use Malay whenever at home but still they are good in English because they are already exposed to the foreign language as they go to school every day and spend most of their day in the school playing and interact with other friends and teachers mostly in English language.

As for the BB Khalifah, most of the babies can utter a simple word since majority of them are only 18 to 36 months old. Besides, some of them only pointed or draw out body gestures in order to voice out something. Similarly, from what we have learned in previous ELM2263 chapters, the kids at that age only established the last three stages which are the Two-Word Stage, the Early-Multiword Stage and the Later-Multiword stage.

The other beautiful thing that mesmerized me during the class trip to the playschool is their warm environment. The playschool promoted beautiful premise and awesome play-learn facilities for the kids as the environment is also another vital thing in the development of children. Based on Dr. Maria Montessori, a prepared environment is important in education of children.

For your information, the playschool also applied the Montessori environment as a part of the syllabus in daily learning. The philosophy at The TreeHouse share inspirations from the Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio Emilia (project-based) approach and any other early childhood discipline which promotes the importance of a holistic, child directed, experienced based learning that enhances the development of the whole child. Furthermore, the playschool still remained the Islamic aspects as they created a Khalifah-inspired environment from a combination of Islamic Waldorf and Islamic Montessori.

Montessori Theory

In the Montessori Theory, there are principles that can be applied across all ages. Those principles are: Independence, Observation, Following the Child, Correcting the Child, Prepared Environment and Absorbent Mind. It is within these concepts we find the reasoning behind why things such as the Montessori environment is quite useful in The TreeHouse Islamic Playschool.

Independence

"Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed." – Maria Montessori.

Well, at the playschool, most of the children do things on their own as the kids will take their dirty plates after having their meals and wash their own dishes as the teachers believe that if the kids are able to do things for themselves, there will be an increase in their self-confidence and probably the kids will become more independent in the future.

Correcting the child

“Children will make mistakes and we need to teach them in a nice manner. Giving the children freedom and choice, supporting them in their choice by making sure they are safe, feeding their inquiring minds in a way that they can understand and observing their needs and fulfilling these can be the key to helping your children develop their full potential.”- Montessori

I do think that this principle is the most important principle out of all principles because it is the best way to teach children to learn from their previous mistakes. Correcting children may result in them being scared of repeating the same mistakes. At the playschool, whenever the kids commit mistakes the teachers will scold them softly without any need to raise their voices. For example, if a child spoke harshly with one another then the teachers will ask them to speak nicely and mannerly. Instead of ‘Hey, pass me the cereals!’, the teachers will ask the kids to say ‘Fadhlan, can you pass me the cereals’. And they are trained to say thank you in every action they have done.

Prepared Environment

The environment must be comfy for the kids to work. Dr. Montessori insisted the word ‘work’ instead of play because every activity the child does is creating themselves and exploring the world freely.  I bet the TreeHouse Playschool is the first playschool ever that truly applied the Montessori environment since I can see that the kids in the playschool really feel comfortable playing and learning in that kind of environment.

Absorbent Mind

‘Montessori observed how children learned the language without anyone teaching them. This sparked her idea for the "absorbent mind". Children under the age of three, do not need to have lessons in order to learn, they simply absorb everything in the environment by experiencing it, being part of it. It is therefore important that the environment set up is good, nice and positive since this is what the child will absorb whether he chooses to or not. The language of the adult is one that a child will easily pick up.’- Montessori

So, the adults have to be careful with their speech so that the kids may not pick up something negative. That is why, at the playschool, the teachers are really keen in promoting the English language among all the children as they know that this is the language that the children will pick up and ended up mastering them since they will absorb or imitate anything from the adults.

 In a nutshell, kids at that age have a sponge-like brain as for Eric Lenneberg, he uses the elasticity concept such that a rubber will stay elastic at the very first beginning but it will become loose as we continuously pull it. Similarly, the kids tend to absorb everything from the environment at an early age but as they grow up they will become less elastic and their learning ability started to become poor compared from earlier years.

I guess the Montessori theory is an acceptable method in the development of children. Besides, the First Language Acquisition Process during the critical period is quite important to enhance the communication skills among the children.

REFLECTION

This class trip actually was the hardest assignment ever for me because apart from spending a wonderful day with the kids I ought to do it in a blog post and conclude my observation on that day into an essay. This assignment actually carried 10 marks for my upcoming final exams so it was a huge burden for me to succeed in this assignment and not to let my groupmates disappointed.

I found this kind of assignment gave me a lot of new experiences that I would never encounter in any other subjects. Apart from wasting our precious RM30.50 to the cabs, it was a fun and enjoyable trip because I got a chance to know the kids and spent more precious time with them. It was a priceless memory.

Even though it was hard for me at first because some of the kids were hardly can communicate well and they refused to interact with some new strangers in their life. Hence, we must be very patient and keep treating them nicely so that they will feel free to communicate and mix with us.

I realized that kids are easy to shape. They will follow whatever the adults do. So, it is important to give and show good examples for the kids. We can shape them to become good and educated caliphs that will make better change for everyone by exposing a nice and conducive environment. Hence, the inputs and roles of an adult are vital during the development of the kids.

Al-Bukhari as follows:  Every child is born on Fitrah, then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian just as the animal produces its baby with perfect limbs. Do you see any deficiency in its shape?

This means that every person is naturally disposed to believe in Islam but it has to be taught by the actions of every parent.

As can be seen, all the kids in the playschool use English language as a medium to communicate with each 

other and it really surprises me since I only can speak in English as I entered the primary school. The teachers in the playschool use English to communicate with the kids so they tend to use English because they already exposed to that foreign language. Thus, an exposure to the English language at an early age is crucial to enhance the kids to speak in English.

This trip makes me realize that in order to have a good command in English language, it has to start from an early stage. Children at that age will absorb every input from the adults so it makes me realize that in order to shape a child into a good caliph it has to do with correcting our attitudes first before we start asking them to do so.

written by,

Nur Fareena Eleesha Azmi (fera)
123621

edited by,

Siti Farhani Muhammad Fisal (fany)
125670

credit by,

Sheera Shaheera Abg Mansor (fera)
124828

long live...

The Tri0Fss
^_^