Paying Attention in Heguru Class

Prior to the Raya break, Valerie has been extremely naughty in class. Not only turning circles next to sensei, she has even started walking left and right, and up to the abacus, played with it and came back. When I tried to hold her to sit still, she arched her back and wanted to cry. I have to let her go and wander around the class because I didn't want her to cry. Cry meant putting stress on the baby and thus shut her right brain of learning.

Every time she walked around, she started to attract new accomplice. One week, it's XY (girl, 2 months older), then another week it's JY (girl, 1 month younger). At the end of the class, Sensei Sandy always say 'Valerie.... '. Sigh.. she didn't scold or say anything la.. but I know that Valerie has been a cause of chaos in class. *blush*. So I asked Sensei if there was any suggestion to get her to pay attention in class. She asked me to try to sit her down and talk to her. She said children this young do understand what we are telling them. We just have to keep reminding them what is the appropriate behaviour.

So armed with new hopes, I kept talking to Valerie every now and then for next 2 weeks since there's no class on Raya. I told her to listen to Sensei, pay attention to Sensei what she is showing in class. Join each activity, when sensei say 'Attention', do the bowing action, when it's Mandara, look at the screen and remember all the colours. I talked to her as detail as possible. Heck, I've even tried the 5 mins suggestion, talking to her right after she has gone to sleep. Whatever works...

So last Saturday it was a moment of truth. I thought if this still doesn't work, I'm considering of stopping the class but I really hope not cause I really enjoy the class. The first 15 mins went by in a breeze. During the 'Attention' time, she actually followed sensei and do the bowing action. Then at relaxtion time, she put her hands to cover her eyes on her own. I thought that was a marked improvement. At the Mandara session, she actually looked at the screen first before doodling on the paper. Last time she won't bother to look, just grab a colour pencil and start drawing lines.

Then 30 mins went by and still no sign of her going to the abacus. On and off, she did try to stand and walk around but I held her back and reminded her to pay attention in class. And she would sit down and not rebel. Also, she seemed to enjoyed every single song that was being played. Where there were actions, she would try to follow them. By then time we reached 45 mins, I was almost relieved. We were almost done with the class and still no sign of her delinquency. Instead, the other two girls did have a go at playing the abacus, but thankfully Valerie just sat and watched.

At the end of the 1 hour, Sensei usually came to each of us to sign attendance. For the first time, she said 'Valerie, you're a very good girl today'. I was completely elated!!! Yes, finally she's not in the naughty list for a day! Later Ivan told me, he's been peeping from outside the room and didn't go shopping. And he too said he always saw Valerie sitting down , not like how I've always described her :P

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed until the next class...