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Why Choose Creativity-focused Art Lessons? 

I have been teaching a variety of art programmes in primary schools for many years and raised two SOTA kids. I feel that what we have experienced in art in our growing up years has influenced us to think, say and behave in ways that might not do our kids justice in their creative development and to survive better in an AI world. First, we need to check on our expectations of what they can create at their age. When they return home with artwork that looks messy and average, do you immediately assume they are not creative and have no artistic ability? Next time, stop yourself and ask these questions instead: 

How did you decide to do this artwork?

What did you enjoy most in making this artwork? 

What did you learn from making this artwork?

Did the artwork turn out the way you wanted? 

These questions help you and your child focus on the learning that has occurred in making the artwork, not the final outcome. It is impossible for a child to create a neatly finished, display-ready piece of art on the first attempt.  Adults would struggle with that expectation too! If we focus on seeking and praising the outcome only, there is pressure for schools and teachers to create lessons that focus on outcomes, rather than the process of creative thinking and learning. How do we teachers do that? By giving the child the ideas, creating templates, showing examples to copy. The child doesn't have to think too much. Just copy. 

MOE schools allocate just one hour a week for art and that doesn't provide much for practise time needed for mastery. When I teach at schools, I have to figure out how to get the best outcomes for a class of 40 and this almost always means I cannot give the students enough time to think and time to experiment. Parents, you can do your part at home. When they bring back artworks made in school, ask them the questions above and ask if they would want to make it again at home. It is unlikely they will like all art forms and projects so let them practise the ones they like at home. Support their personal skills discovery by letting them think and experiment again at home. Ask them to teach you too and you get parent-bonding time and will give your brain an anti-aging boost too! 

With AI here to stay and getting more powerful every day, let's put in more effort to nurture and teach our kids creative thinking survival skills and to develop a positive lifelong learning attitude. More than ever, they need to love to learn.

Have a fun and creative day! Cheers! 

❤️ Tr Laura 

How I Became a SOTA Mum

I didn't set out intentionally to groom my kids for SOTA, in case you were wondering. You might also assume I have an advantage as I have an art education and graduated from art school since I teach art classes now. I actually graduated with a broadcasting, theatre and journalism degree and never went to art school. I did take costume design and stage craft courses and self-taught graphic design in my job before leaving for my degree. So how did I do it? 

When my 2 kids were in pre-school, I knew they were playing and drawing every day. So I didn't invest in added art lessons for them. When they entered primary 1, I started them in an art school programme once a week. I also started to see that in art school, the teachers focused on technical skills. It was good as I was definitely lacking in that area. However, I was a tad disappointed there was little or no time given to letting them draw from imagination. They chose an existing artwork and recreated it. 

My kids attended art school all the way to primary 6. They also attended ballet, jazz and tap dance lessons and since my hubby and I are hopeless in Chinese, we decided we would get them a Chinese tutor. I used these enrichment lessons as incentives to do well in their school work. The enrichment fund either goes to fun classes or math/science tuition classes. If they took care of their school work, they could continue the fun classes. I think it worked. Both did well for PSLE and got into SOTA with only art and dance classes and Chinese tuition. 

My elder kid decided quite late she wanted to go to SOTA. A friend had shared her son got into Literary Arts at SOTA and we had initially thought she would pursue that since she was winning storywriting competitions and was a bookworm. She devoured books. We took a trolley to the National Library to maximize all our cards to borrow all the books we could. Reading before bedtime was our currency to incentivise good behaviour! We would threathen "No books tonight if you____" Sounds so bad that we did that but they would actually behave for books. 

Anyway, we went to the SOTA open house when she was in Primary 5 to learn about the Literary Arts programme. She visited the visual arts exhibition too and nothing more was said after that. I told her if she is keen to apply, she probably needs to start saving her compositions and do more storywriting to add to her porfolio. The external art school she was attending since primary 1 offered a portfolio prep programme too but since she never asked, we never enquired. 

In March her PSLE year, she said she wanted to apply to SOTA but for visual arts. We were stunned. We asked the art school if she could join the porffolio prep course and they said it was too late. I had to call to beg and promised I would help her at home and also not hold them accountable if she didn't get in. My kid also talked to her teacher and I think they relented as she seemed like she really wanted to give it a shot. So in her PSLE year, she was going to the art school every day except on her school CCA Badminton days to prepare her porffolio. She was still in dance too and didn't want to quit so we just played the role of supportive parents and drove and paid for lessons so she could have a decent portfolio to apply. During the prep classes, she shared with me that some friends in the group were not even motivated to do the work and they were there because their parents wanted them to go to SOTA. They weren't really interested at all. I was rather shocked to learn this and wondered why these parents would invest time and money in something their child wasn't interested in. Anyway, that's a conversation we can have another day. My kid was a top scorer for PSLE despite all the art, dance and badminton she played and made it and now she's at NTU School of Art and Design. Have more faith that your child can do a lot (if they want to). Maybe don't bog them down with subject tuition and invest in other skills they will work hard on. 

My 2nd child entered SOTA but pursued dance instead. She is also a strong visual artist but she can hardly sit still, only reads Young Scientist magazines and learns gymnastic moves from YouTube that we stopped immediately and sent her for real gymnastics lessons. When she wanted to pursue dance at SOTA, I was so happy as I thought I would not need to pay for outside dance studio lessons anymore! Nope, didn't happen. She got into SOTA dance and still continued externally as she loved the studio teachers and dance genres so much. SOTA only teaches ballet and contemporary. She wanted to continue jazz and tap and didn't want to quit ballet and contemporary either. It was a tough period for the world when she applied to SOTA as it was during COVID so we didn't want to create further disruption so let her continue.  Last year, she suffered a dislocated knee so she decided to give up her external dance lessons to recuperate. She's in year 6 next year. She's a very street smart, creative girl but not too keen in academics. We hope she figures out what she wants to work hard in next after she is done with her IB Diploma. 

In summary, I'd say both my kids ended up in SOTA coz we happened to have kids who attended a primary school that taught them well and they were responsible enough to do their homework to keep their grades up to continue taking non-academic lessons they wanted to take. We also focused on nurturing a positive learning attitude by always encouraging effort and hard work, playing games and exposing them to new experiences and explaining life positively and honestly. 

When I share this with friends, most tell me they can't trust their kids to do it on their own and start them on tuition so young, they lose the opportunity to gauge if their children can actually do it on their own. I'm hoping my sharing will give you some courage and faith to let your children surprise you with their ability to have personal responsibility. Pay attention to what they are naturally gifted in and support them by investing in non-academic lessons to let them learn and develop skills they enjoy and are keen to work hard on. 

Have a fun and creative day! Cheers! 

❤️ Tr Laura 

Mum to a Child with Food Allergies

When I fed my daughter formula for the first time when she was around nine months old, we had a terrible scare as she vomitted, then her body became red and patchy, like the map of the world. Her eyes were swollen and she looked really scary. We were in the USA then so we went straight to her pediatrician instead of the ER. He said she had an allergic reaction and ran the tests to determine other food she was allergic to. Turns out she was not only allergic to dairy, she was also allergic to peanuts and egg white too. We were told not to worry, it's likely she would outgrow these allergies by age 6. My firstborn is now 20 and she is now additional allergies to tree nuts and crustaceans too. 

Allergies are mysterious and once you have a child with these needs, you start to wonder what you did or could have done to avoid this. Was it my daily eating of soft boiled eggs, organic honey roasted peanut butter and chocolate milk cravings and intake that caused her to have these allergies? Seemed plausible. My hubby thinks it might be the immunization cocktail she took in the USA. You'd never know how it happened. But life has been ironically healthier for us since we have had to keep her safe at meals. 

How so? We eat at home very often. We read ingredient labels of everything we buy. When you see the ingredients of some processed foods, I assure you the item might go back to the shelf. So many chemicals, food colourings and artificial flavourings, basically ingredients you can't even pronounce just makes you wonder how you can even stay healthy if you eat these regularly. Since we cook and eat at home a lot, we end up eating healthier, well-balanced meals. 

The main challenges with managing food allergies is when we travel. She has gone on two university trips and has had to pack jerky, instant noodles and canned foods and even bread. You will be surprised to know there are only two types of instant noodles she can eat safely since most have egg as an ingredient. Even breads are a challenge as many loaves have milk. Every restaurant we shortlist, she has to show them her food allergies and show the dish she wishes to order to check if she can eat it before we enter the restaurant. So far we have had an easier time in finding food and accommodating restaurants in Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam. Japan restaurants are most sincere and helpful in accommodating food allergies. They show so much care and concern. It is so pleasant to dine out in Japan! JAL also takes care their passengers so well on flights. I think Singapore Airlines can improve in this service delivery aspect. 

I hope that my sharing here helps those who want to understand and empathise with friends with food allergies. It's a life-long journey of caution and worry for food allergy sufferers and their families too. We are always grateful when people are willing to put up with inconvenient requests of changing gloves, washing a pot before cooking her portion or even double/triple checking that the ingredients are safe. She has had to use her EpiPen twice this year. We hope she doesn't need to anytime soon.

❤️ Mum Laura