Dubai Vs Singapore

A picture of my favourite Khalifa that we bought to remember our time in Dubai. So many beautiful things to remember about it.. the layered sky and the beautiful musical fountain... the cool winter weather.. Aww.. missing Dubai already :)

Now that he has done a few months of school in Singapore, I asked Ace if he prefered school in Singapore or Dubai and what did he find was different about schools in Singapore and Dubai.

Ace says that school in Singapore is ok but he really misses his friends in Dubai..

Then, he listed the following things about how Singapore is different..

First thing he mentioned... which is of no big surprise is that "Singapore has alot of homework..."

But the next few things he mentioned was really quite a surprise to me...

"In Dubai, the teachers do not use negative words like "shut up" in class. Here in Singapore, the teachers do that sometimes when they are frustrated. In Dubai, all the teachers never use words like this one..."

Well, I do think Dubai teachers may also have it easier because they have a much smaller class size. And I think hor, as parents, most parents will ask their kids to shut up from time to time.. it is just how we were brought up... so maybe teachers are no different..

The other day, Ace told me one classmate got chided for not completing his work and the Chinese teacher teased him an said, "Don't cry like a girl..." And even though I think the teacher was trying to break pattern, I do think I will not hear teachers in Dubai say that at all as they likely will go.."What is wrong with crying like a girl?" Hahahaha..

But what he told me next was really surprising...  he told me that children in Singapore swear alot more than children in Dubai.

Apparently, according to Ace, his classmates go f word this and f word that all the time. In Dubai, they don't really do that... even though some do.. but most children do not use vulgar language freely.

Ace also mentioned that he likes to do group work here as compared to doing it in Dubai. When I asked him to elaborate, he told me that when they are asked to do group work, his friends here in Singapore actually do listen to him whereas in Dubai, everyone wants to have a say and no one wants to listen to him.

There was only one instance where he met a bossy group leader who always did not want him to do this or do that. But when I talked to him more about it, I found out it was because while they were doing sand art during art class, Ace being a self proclaimed "artist who is creative" and also a perfectionist always try to make what other people do.."BETTER". So they always stopped him from doing anything and went the extreme end of not letting him do it at all... I explained to Ace no one likes to be constantly corrected lah..  Need to respect other people's ideas of what is good as well..

For me, I think it is very likely that the learning here is mostly instructive as compared to the explorative play learning method used in Dubai but Ace also did not mention that Singapore is less fun than Dubai. He merely notes that the work that he is required to do here is more difficult than in Dubai.

Anyway, I am just glad that he enjoys school here and also enjoys what is calls "being close to my family so I can see them whenever I want."

Previous Post: I Am An Honest Boy