Today we have the award giving ceremony for Ten-Mile junction.
It is a ceremony to encourage the students who have tried hard and excel. Never mind whether it is gold, bronze or silver. They are getting a pat on the back to let them know they are heading the right direction. That to me is very important.
Here you see, Theophilus with the rest of the kids waiting for the ceremony to start....
While the brother is waiting... so is the sister... need to keep her occupied... come on, let's do some writing...
In case you are wondering, yes, she has hit pass her letter "J" now and moving on to "K". She is quite a self-motivated girl. She practises her writing of alphabets on her own.
There is a very interesting video clip of the students... what they want to be. Here is a short list from what I remembered:
1. Doctor
2. Teacher
3. Soldier
4. Chef (not bad huh?)
5. Judge (wow)
6. Fireman
7. Accountant
8. Astronaut (my son!!!)
Well, I have thought of most of them as I was a boy too (especially the fireman and soldier too). I did consider muscian, mathematician and at one point a scientist. Not a doctor. I hate needles. Never mind about poking others and not myself. I still got to look at them when I inject someone isn't it?
Here you have it, Mr. Yang and Theophilus. Mr. Yang is his teacher... very patient with him, believe me when I say teaching him maths can be just one level above eating broken glass. The "funny" thing is that once he gets it, he flies faster than I could read the question!
He is getting his Gold award this year.
Gracia cannot keep up with all these... she needs food...
Theophilus is excited about his prize. He was just expecting his usual medal, but it came with an additional suprise - a set of vouchers too.
Here you have Mr. William Tan making a speech.... I am glad that he told the kids to quiet down... what a din! And now William and Theophilus taking a photo together. It ended well...
Forget about the food, let's take another shot with Mr. Yang again...
I always try to look at what he does with the awards.... I caught him again polishing this new medal (and it can be polished!!!)
He was using his shirt to polish his new medal!
Now, the medal sits on his piano top besides his trophy and believe me, he says this is such a nice medal. To me, I think so too - it has a star on it and to the kids ... stars mean something special to them.
BTW, in case you wonder about something. I think it was really very nice that William taught the students to thank their parents (and people who have helped them). Theophilus thanked us more than 3 times after the ceremony, and I know he really meant every word that he said. To me that's a virtue I want to instill in my kids - gratitude. Not just being an intelligent kid, we need to have kids who show gratitude. It will go a long way in life - more than the fractions that he is doing now....
And what does Theophilus wants to be?
Yes, he wants to complete his journey in Kumon - to be a Kumon completer, I think he is heading in the right direction.
Well done, boy!
