Semester recap of Nykki's British Council Journey

In a blink of an eye, Nykki had completed her first semester at the British Council Tampines outlet where she attended the British Council's enrichment programme and further developed her love for learning, reading, writing and even learning about different cultures. 

From the time she started on the programme till a short few months later, Nykki had grown from a shy reader with little confidence in reading to one who tries to read complex dinosaur names! This is exactly what the British Council aims to achieve too- to develop independent and confident readers through a variety of activities, games and materials. 

This is made possible because of the team of highly qualified and passionate teachers working with them. 

Sending Nykki to the weekly enrichment classes has always been such a joy because she looks forward to very much and will often remind me that it's Wednesday and she needs to be sent for lessons there. And after each lesson she will excitedly tell me all that she learnt in class with a beaming smile on her face.

Courses are aligned with MOE

With a variety of courses suitable for the kids, teens and adults, I really like how they are all aligned with the syllabus set by the Singapore Ministry of Education. 

Developed by the world's English experts, the British Council's enrichment courses internationally qualified teachers in a safe, supportive and dynamic environment. 

In fact, each classroom is disinfected before and after each lesson and students each have their own lanyards which are particularly helpful for the younger students so they can easily be identified by the educators and staff at the centres which helps them know where the students should be at the time.

The lanyards come in different colours for the different age groups

The parents guide allows us to know what the kids learn each week

The British Council provides holistic learning in terms of whole child development. This is geared towards developing the essential 21st century skills and proficiencies to enable them to thrive in our fast-changing world. 

Learning shouldn't feel like a drag to the young ones especially if we want to cultivate them to be inquisitive and discover new and better ways to do things. In fact, it should be an adventure! And that's exactly what the kids get when they attend the programmes at the British Council.

The courses here at the British Council are designed to incorporate active learning and hands-on exploration to develop our little one's speaking confidence and socialisation skills. I can safely say that Nykki has definitely achieved this through her weeks of classes through the enrichment programme. In fact she was so excited to be speaking to her classmates for show and tell and even asked her sisters to be her audience at home so she could practice and ready for the actual day. 

The gusto she has in public speaking now is hard to miss.

With their written and oral communications being polished through the lessons here, it just prepares them to excel in school and even beyond that. When a child is confident in speaking and communicating, their chances of success at school and social settings just elevates without a doubt. 

The various age groups and courses in the Early Years enrichment programme each have a different focus too.

1. Early Years (3 to 6 years old) 

   - Learning Time with Timmy (Nursery to Kindergarten) 

     The British Council partnered with Aardman animation Studios to rope in their famous character of Timy-Time and his friends to capture children's attention and enable them to improve on their vocabulary and grammer. 

  - Kindergarten 2 (6 years old)

    This programme further nurtures the love of reading by equipping the little ones with early-literacy phonic strategies that will increase their confidence in reading, thus preparing them for Primary 1.

  - Speech and Drama (5 to 6 years old)

    This course is best suited for kids in Kindergarten 1 and 2. This course uses plenty of rhymes, poems, songs, storybooks, discussions and drama activities elevate the enjoyment of communicating in English.

  - Reading Booster (6 years old)

    Geared towards nurturing a love of reading by equipping students with early-literacy phonics strategies that are so important to develop their confidence in reading and preparing them for Primary 1. 

   

A Confident and Self-Driven Learner

As a parent, I am extremely happy to see my child take books from the bookshelf to read on her own and not have an ounce of hesitation to seek help when she needs it. This shows up when she has to do her homework from her preschool too. She will happily take her assignments out to finish it up and will even ask me to check it before she turns it in.

The drama part shows up too of course. With 3 older sisters who dote on her, she easily has an audience when she wants to tell a story that she created with her imagination and they'd sometimes even put up the lights and the camera just to help her record another episode of her Nykki Show! Haha. 

Fellow parents, I do highly recommend letting your kids experience the programmes available at the British Council. It's much more than academics that the kids will pick up and it will definitely help them in this ever-changing world.  Do visit the British Council's website to find out more or take their virtual tour.

The Various Centres:

Tampines

Address: 11 Tampines Concourse, #01-02/03/04, Singapore 528729

Phone: 6807 1597

Napier Road

Address: 30 Napier Road, Singapore 258509

Phone: 6807 1597

Toa Payoh

Address: 480 Lor 6 Toa Payoh, #09-01, East Wing, HDB Hub, Singapore 310480

Phone: 6807 1597

Marsiling

Address: 1 Woodlands Street 31, #04-01, Fuchun Community Club, Singapore 738581

Phone: 6807 1597