My Child Writes Unrealistic Compositions
Unrealistic compositions: Are they problematic? When your child tells a story, does it tend to be ‘out of this world’ or removed from reality? This is actually quite natural in children’s stories, and even beautiful. With their innocence and childlike naivety, children often generate ideas that are utopia-like or ‘too good to be true’. For […]
If your child can’t keep still or stay focused, this one’s for you!
Dear Parents, Have you ever wondered why your child can’t seem to sit still for more than half an hour? Does your child seem to lack the ability to focus on one task at a time? Or perhaps, you have even thought that maybe he or she might have ADHD. But what if I told […]
5 Ways the IB Trumps the O’ and A’ Levels
Dear Parents, I’m sure that some of you have considered enrolling your children in an IB (International Baccalaureate) school or at least wanted to find out more about the IB programme. Having taught in both systems, (the A’ Levels and the IB Diploma Programme), I would like to offer my humble perspective. The O’ and […]
How Visualization got me to Harvard
In this article, our founder, Claudine Fernandez shares about the power of visualization that helped her achieve her goal of going to Harvard and how she has applied this powerful technique to the curriculum that she has designed in Artistic Strategies Academy. After my 5th year of teaching A’ Level literature in a local junior […]
The benefits of learning while moving
Have you ever felt frustrated at the fact that your special star just can’t grasp a certain difficult word or phrase? Communicating with our kids is one of the most pleasurable and rewarding parts of parenting. As parents, we’ve all been there – pulling our hair out when we’ve tried every single method to retain […]
How to score in PSLE composition writing and beyond…
Our founder, Claudine Fernandez shares tips from PSLE markers below on how to ace the Continuous Writing Section of English Paper 1 coming up in end-September. Vary your use of vocabulary and sentence structure. Show, not tell. There is no need for overly complex vocabulary; what is more important is to use the appropriate word […]
The Importance of Visual Storytelling
The Importance of Visual Storytelling What exactly is visual storytelling? Technically, it is the incorporation of visuals (pictures, photographs, paintings, images) in a story. We’d like to think of it more as a marriage of words and visuals when telling a story. What makes visual storytelling so impactful? Here are three reasons: 1. Increase understanding […]
3 ways to deliver good feedback
3 Ways to Deliver Good Feedback Dear Parents and Educators, When we are giving feedback to our children about their written work, it is important that we carefully word our feedback so as to boost children’s confidence, but also to guide them in addressing their areas of improvement. Feedback has to be balanced and objective. […]
Success Stories of our Students, K and K
Two sisters ? ? were enrolled in our weekly classes in January 2018. We shall call them elder K (who is 9 years’ old) and younger K (who is 7 years’ old). When they first started attending our classes, they were both struggling with the English language. Elder K had already been diagnosed with dyslexia […]
Your Child May Just Be a Startup Founder
Recently, we came across a number of interesting infographics showing how startups were formed and how they developed into full-fledged companies. Here are two of them: Source: Best Friend Bible Source: Best Friend Bible In today’s world where the start-up culture is rife and continues to grow, how do we prepare our children adequately to […]
Developing an Innovator’s Mindset in our Children
Many of us are familiar with the Growth Mindset, discovered by Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology. Such a mindset is encouraged in both children and adults because it is the belief that the “most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work”. (Growth Mindset Definition). Yet, George Couros, an Innovative Teaching, Learning, and […]
Writing Can (and Should be) Planned
There’s a famous saying that goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” While this paints the worst case scenario, planning before writing can certainly improve the quality of the writing and also make the process easier. Here’s why planning should be done : 1) The beginning is almost always the hardest and […]