Ace's Art Class

I signed Ace up for an art class at the community centre. He was really excited to be going back to art class again and as he has been drawing and colouring quite often at home. He was so excited to hear about the art class that since I signed up, the first question tat he would ask me everyday when I picked him up from the school bus is, "Mummy, is today my art class day?" If I told him no, he would ask me when can he go for art class... the next day, he will ask me the same question again! hahahahaha...

To get him started, I bought him a drawing block and some crayons and gave him a new bag to be his "art bag". That is him at his new art class...

I left him in the class and went to my in law's place to watch TV till the time is up and then I can go and pick him up.... When I came back to pick him, I realized that when I was away, the whole class has finished their art work except Ace! Cos he said he was bz looking at other people's work and because it was his first lesson, he did not know wat to do.... His teacher said he can colour very well and say she will teach him how to use water colour to paint the background next week and gave him 4 stars.

But leh, I am really curious how the teacher taught them how to draw cos Ace told me his teacher helped him a little with the drawing of the bird...

I saw his teacher talking to other parents and didn't like what I observed...

Apparently, the teacher was complaining to a parent about her kid.. and commented that the kid has one BAD HABIT.. which is that he likes to use colourful colours. He likes to colour the sky purple and colour the trees all sorts of different colours.

"Huh? What is wrong with that?" I wondered in my heart. The kid is only 4! At four years old, I think that we should respect their creativity than force them to colour specific colours.....

At this point, I noticed that Ace erased away the smiling face he had in the sun he drew.. I asked him why and he said it was because his classmate told him that the teacher does not like them to draw faces on the sun... and I was quite angry.. whatever happened to respecting creativity and free will!? On top of that, the teacher can neither speak english nor chinese well.. everything she says.. is ji deh ji deh.. (one piece one piece) one... plus she as bad class control (if not why and how can ace wander around aimlessly and not know wat to do for so long?)

Hai, well, like wat my mentor used to say.. "Pay money, get peanuts..." The previous lesson that he went to was $40 a lesson. This one is $60 for 10 lessons lah.. so the focus of the lesson I guess is different.

The most important thing though is tat Ace learnt how to draw birds. He was so happy tat he kept drawing and even drew one more drawing of the same layout for Yeye.. Yeye and Nai Nai said it is very nice and that the would past on their mirror.. Nai Nai said tat his art is so good that his work will definitely be put on display.....

But because I still did not feel good about the way his teacher taught him, I had a talk with Ace about this....

I told him that I did not agree with some of the things that his teacher taught.. like not being able to draw faces on the sun.. because I feel that when we are doing art, sometimes it is important to draw exactly the same as what you see.. so if the son has no eyes, you cannot draw eyes.. but sometimes... or rather, most of the time, in art, creativity is MORE important than drawing it right... so I really love his photos with all sorts of colours and eyes in the sun ;)

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