“Arrange these numbers in the right order,” the lady teacher conducting the entrance exam gave Sema five wooden blocks marked 1 to 5.

Sema did as instructed without any difficulty. He could have easily done the same with numbers 1 to 100. At that time, he was already familiarizing himself with the thousands. In fact, he even devised his own counting system: his eleven is onety one , followed by onety two, onety three …; this is derived from his self-made rule that tens should go as onety, twoty, threety, fourty, fivety, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety and tenty. I don’t have the slightest clue on how he made this up.

The teacher then asked him to identify the basic shapes: circle, square, triangle and rectangle. No sweat! He could already recognize pentagons, hexagons, heptagons and octagons.

“Now, match these shapes with the ones you see on this paper,” the teacher continued the interview. After Sema finished, the teacher then asked about colors.

“What is the color of my shirt?”

“White!”

What is the color of the carpet?

“Blue!”

After identifying all the other colors, Sema got a pencil and volunteered to write the alphabet on a piece of paper even if he was not asked to.

“Super!” the teacher exclaimed. The oral exam was over. Sema scored perfect. “His English is very good. Would you like to have a place in the school?” the teacher asked me. I was watching everything outside near the door.

“By all means,” I replied.

On our way home, Carol called. She heaved a sigh of relief when she learned Sema was already accepted. The night before, during their practice quiz, she was worried because he only answered “Meow, I am still a baby!” Not exactly the kind that would impress any examiner.

A week after, we accepted the formal offer and paid the tuition, putting behind us a worry that perhaps nags every parent like us with children about to start schooling.

Not that it is difficult to find a school in Doha. There are hundreds of public and private schools available. On the way to Carol’s office alone, we pass by about three international schools. And, with the government’s “Education for a New Era” program, which seeks to provide world-class education in Qatar, more private or independent schools are expected to open soon. Private normally means existing foreign schools setting up their campuses in Qatar, offering the same curricula and, in most cases, granting the same diploma degrees as their base. Cambridge and Montessori are among the well-known British schools with branches here. The American School of Doha was founded in 1988 for children of North American expatriates. It is also open to other nationalities. Compas caters to Dutch children or to anyone interested in the Dutch educational system. There are also schools for the French, Norwegian, Indian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Bangladeshi and Filipino communities. There are two schools for Filipinos: Philippine International School of Qatar and Philippine School of Doha. The first one, with about 2,000 Filipino students, just relocated recently to a newer purpose-built venue.

For higher education, one can also “study abroad” without going abroad. The Doha branch of College of North Atlantic of Canada offers courses in Information Technology, Health and Sciences, Business Studies and Engineering Technology. CHN University Qatar is one of Christelijke Hogeschool Nederland global campuses offering Bachelor of Business Administration degree with specialization in Hospitality Management and Tourism Management. VCU Qatar a campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in the US has programs in Fashion and Graphic and Interior Design. Weill Cornell Medical College teaches the same curriculum taught at Weill Medical College of Cornel University in New York City. Texas A&M University at Qatar provides the same engineering courses - chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum engineering - as in its home base, College Station, Texas. Carnegie Mellon Qatar gives the same US undergraduate degrees in business administration and computer science. Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar provides future world leaders with Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, major in International Politics.

There is also the state-run University of Qatar, which caters to the Qatari community. Its huge sprawling campus in the outskirt of Doha houses five colleges: Education, Arts and Sciences, Sharia and Islamic Studies, Engineering, Law and Business and Economics.

For students who want to specialize in sports, there is the Aspire Academy, which has the best sports facilities in the world. And, for children with special needs, there is the new Shafallah Center with its state-of-the art facilities housed in a 400,000-square meters compound.

Home schooling is even available especially for expatriates needing specific educational curricula.

In other words, there is no shortage of options when it comes to schooling in Doha. It is just a matter of making a choice and meeting the standards set by your choice.

For us, the location was the prime consideration. Almost all of the British and American schools are in the opposite side of the city. Going there requires traversing the busy and crowded heart of the city. It is quite easy to spend four to six hours a day on the road especially if you take the school bus. That would be too much stress for a four-year old.

That’s why when a new English international school opened its campus just fifteen minutes away from home, we immediately booked Sema for the admission test.

Luckily, Sema found the exam easy. He was even slightly disappointed that the teacher did not ask him to spell his name or butterfly or apple or some common words. “Mommy, the teacher only knows 1 to 5. She doesn‘t know 6,” he told Carol that night.

The entrance exam indeed appeared easy enough but we were surprised to learn afterwards that not all applicants made it. We couldn’t help but wonder what was difficult about arranging numbers 1 to 5, matching shapes and identifying colors.

Later on, we realized that it was not so much about knowing numbers or shapes as about understanding questions and instructions given in English and with British accent. If Sema did not know English, I am sure he would have failed also despite all his knowledge. But, during the exam, Sema showed he was very much at home with the language and found no problem with the British accent either.

And, this was a greater mystery to us. Two months ago, he suddenly stopped using Tagalog and started talking to us in English with British accent. Where did he learn all this?

Certainly, not from me. I never made any effort to teach him English, forget about British accents. Since he was born, I’ve always talked to him in Tagalog. Definitely, he didn’t learn from Carol who is in the office practically the whole day. And, there was no way he could have picked it from the nursery school where he lasted only a couple of months because he kept getting sick. The only remaining possible explanation is that he absorbed it from the TV, DVDs, CDs and internet.

Until he was one year and a half, he was exposed to the news, lifestyle and comedy shows Carol and I regularly watched on BBC channels. When he could already tell what he wanted, he wouldn’t miss Dusty and Smudge, a BBC kid program. When he discovered Thomas and Friends, another British cartoon series on trains, it was the end of TV-watching days for Carol and me. All we could see on our newly acquired Bravia were toy trains and all we could hear was “They‘re two, they‘re four, they‘re six, they‘re eight / shunting tracks and hauling freight / read and green and brown and blue / they‘re a really useful crew…” Teletubbies, Barney, Dora the Explorer, Pingu, Spongebob, Baby Einstein, Little Einstein, Tigger and Pooh, Bob the Builder, Micky Mouse Clubhouse, Bunny Town, etc. were soon added to his favorites. Needless to say, he bought all available DVDs of these series. Carol and I never watched so much cartoons in our life.

In addition to cartoon series, he also has a collection of movies: Finding Nemo, Madagascar, Wallace and Grommit, Flushed Away, Bug’s Life, Chicken Little, Sharks Tales, etc. He had played them probably several hundreds of times. On some occasion, just to amuse himself, he would watch them in Arabic, Spanish, French and Dutch and would really have a good laugh.

Then he discovered that his cartoon characters could be accessed in the net through my laptop. That was the end of my laptop. Almost immediately, he learned how to turn it on and to navigate to these children websites. Somehow, even without my help, he could figure out the games instructions. Carol introduced him to some software and he ended up learning how to write words using Microsoft Words and creating graphs and pie charts using spreadsheets. But, what he enjoys the most is painting graphics with Publisher Pro.

Even in the car, where he and I spend considerable time, his exposure to English is not interrupted as we always listen to music with English lyrics. Before, he had no choice but to listen to my music. Now, I have no choice but to listen to his. For the last two weeks, “Power of the Dreams” of Celine Dion has been his obsession and now he sings along with it.

Looking back, we realize there was no way English could not have seeped in after so much immersion in English programs, music, videos and websites. And, knowing now how vital English was in his entry to school, are we glad we allowed him to have his way with my high-tech gadgets!

He was a picture of excitement on his first day of school.

But, all this was dampened when the principal told us he could not continue going to school until he learned how to operate without nappies. He needed to be toilet trained. I admit that was something I overlooked. Changing nappies had become so routine for me that I didn‘t realize at some time it should stop. It was even more discouraging when I read in the Internet that the process usually takes three to six months. If it took us that long, we could forfeit our place. He needed a crash course.

Our only choice was to explain to him the gravity of the situation: he could stop going to school. He cried but somehow he understood and was willing to let go of his nappies and to follow instructions. The first day was a miserably wet day for him. The miracle took place on the second day - a complete transformation. Except one time when he was quite far from his potty trainer, he managed to keep his pants dry when relieving himself. On the third day, it’s as if he had been doing it all his life. We gave him an extra day allowance just to make sure. Overall, he only missed two days of classes because the other two coincided with the weekend. We attribute his record-breaking achievement to his ability to understand what is asked of him. He wasn’t just acting on instinct.

Two days have passed now since he went back to school. So far, he has kept his pants dry. Carol is so ecstatic about this major progress. I consider it an accomplishment greater than learning English.

There is no doubt our way of preparing him for school and for the toilet was anything but orthodox. We don‘t recommend it to anyone. But, it worked and, for us, it is all that matters.

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine