When we were gearing up to visit our friends in Singapore, Will mentioned that he could hook us up to visit Billy's school and maybe even visit a classroom. Heck yeah we were interested!
Ms. Selvie's Class
Will worked his magic and before we knew it we were booked to visit Ms. Selvie's 3rd grade classroom at the Singapore American School (SAS). Ms. Selvie was Billy's 3rd grade teacher, and she goes down as one of his favorite teachers at the school. Will connected us via email and shared a bit of our story. We responded to tell Ms. Selvie how excited & grateful we were at the chance to come meet her and her students, and talk a little bit about our travels and learnings so far. Our visit was well timed because the class was just kicking off its unit about Culture.
Ms. Selvie gave us some questions to think about before our visit, to guide our discussion with the class. Things like . . . What does culture mean to you? How have you been forced to change? What were your expectations embarking on this world tour? When traveling, what adaptations did your family make? We warned Ms. Selvie that the girls would likely be shy up in front of the class, but that we'd help prep them and that they'd likely warm up as our discussions went along.
Filling in the Girls
This plan came to fruition about a week before we arrived to Singapore. We figured speaking to a class of kids about our travels would not exactly be something the girls would choose to do on their own. We know enough to know they'd feel embarrassed and self conscious being put on the spot like that, as neither of them particularly like to be the center of attention. Nonetheless, we felt strongly this was a wonderful opportunity and an experience that was important they have/work through. Similar to our day volunteering at an elementary school in Luang Prabang, Laos.
We were on the plane from Penang, Malaysia to Singapore. We hadn't gotten around to telling the girls about our classroom visit, and we wanted to make sure they knew before we arrived to our friends' place. Impromptu decision . . . The airplane seemed as good a place as any to share the news with our captive audience :)
About 15 minutes before landing in Singapore, we explained to the girls that we have a chance to meet 3rd grade students (Paige's year, exciting!) at Billy's school and talk to them about our year of travels. We got the response we expected . . . whining and complaints. Questions/responses like, "Why do we have to do that?", "It's so embarrassing.", "Why do you guys get to pick what we do?" We were armed and ready with appropriate responses to counter their remarks, and set them on a positive path about the experience. At the end of it all, they still weren't truthfully excited, but they knew it was a commitment we'd made, and that they'd need to participate, keep an open mind and make the most of the opportunity.
We made a point of bringing up our visit to Ms. Selvie's classroom during family dinners with Billy, Sachiyo & Will in Singapore. Billy was awesome at sharing with us why he liked Ms. Selvie so much, and what was cool about her 3rd grade class. Our thought was that Billy's excitement for this teacher could help destigmatize the whole thing and help open the girls' minds to the fact that it might actually be fun! :)
School is in Session
The day arrived for us to visit the school. We hoped in a Grab with Will and made our way to the school. We had some extra time before our 9:00am classroom start, so Will walked us around the SAS campus. Talk about amazing!! This school has such fantastic facilities (multiple pools, multiple music rooms, several auditoriums, awesome libraries, a cooking lab!, etc.). You could see the girls' eyes widen with excitement and awe. A little different than PS166 in Manhattan :)
We arrived to Ms. Selvie's classroom right at 9:00am on the dot. She welcomed us warmly into the classroom and introduced us to her class of about 20 students. We sat perched on four little chairs in front of the students, facing them and their questions :) Ms. Selvie had asked the kids to prepare questions for us in advance, so after some introductions, we started calling on kids to ask us their questions. Ms. Selvie had already shared with the kids a bit of our story, even showing them our blog and a few pictures/posts (including our recent monkey scare in Langkawi, Malaysia). That made it fun & easy for us to dive right in!
RTW Q&A
Ms. Selvie's 3rd grade students had loads of insightful, fun & often unique questions. Things like . . . How was the traffic in Bangkok? What was the funniest moment you had? Did you have any natural disasters? What was your favorite country you visited? Were you ever afraid? In the beginning, Doug & I had to answer the questions; the girls were like deer in headlights. But as the questions continued, the girls warmed up to answering some themselves (often in a quiet voice & we had to repeat their responses more loudly), which was awesome. Sadie remained quiet during most of the session, but about half way through she started whispering answers & questions to me, to repeat back loudly to the class. Truth be told, I wish they had felt more comfortable participating & answering themselves, but we knew this would be out of their comfort zone, and I'm proud of them for gradually participating and building their confidence & comfort muscles through the experience :)
After the Fact
Joint family dinners with Will, Sachiyo & Billy were the best in Singapore. We introduced them to our traditional game of High/Low at family dinners, and we all joined in to share our high/low moments of the day. That night at dinner both girls said that visiting the classroom & Billy's school was a high point of their day. Hopefully the experience helped strengthen their belief that they can do things that at first seem challenging or embarrassing/uncomfortable, and have fun all the while!
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