A young child’s mind is like a sponge; they are able to absorb an immense amount of information and gain knowledge from their environment. This is why it’s so important to provide them with the best quality early education available. Attending Preschool and getting a head start on early learning gives students the skills they need for success as they continue on their educational journey. The curriculum we provide at Raffles American School aims to develop those necessary skills in proven ways.

Language Development
At Raffles American School, we ensure that our Pre-K and elementary students are in an environment that fosters their creativity, problem-solving skills, and language development. Our educators are specially trained to give students the ability to express themselves and to engage competently in their learning activities. Preschool is the first time children are placed in an environment where they interact with peers through learning experiences and playtime. This fosters their language development and social skills. Our educators at RAS promote the development of foundational language skills by encouraging students to be confident in communicating with others. As they advance to elementary school, teachers continue to develop their English language skills in addition to Mandarin or Bahasa Malay for native speakers and language acquisition. Elementary students are also provided with tasks that allow them to ask critical questions and apply the knowledge they have learned in innovative ways.

Early Literacy
Students who enroll in preschool are also more prepared to attend elementary school, where learning starts to become more academic (Ristic, 2017). They begin to question, express curiosity, and seek answers. They are given opportunities to develop their creative and critical thinking skills in the classroom. By incorporating hands-on learning through play approach and early literacy, their senses become more enhanced, and their fine motor skills develop. In elementary school, they are provided with tasks that serve their reading and writing skills. Our Early Childhood team collaborates to provide support for all students allowing them to fully engage and express themselves in all of their learning.

Empowering Self-Esteem
Children’s psychological well-being is critical as they gain new experiences and meet new people. A person’s self-esteem can be defined as one’s belief to be competent and the feeling of belonging to a community (Education.com, 2009). When a child’s self-esteem is healthy, they are more confident in themselves and their ability to learn. Empowering their self-esteem is a priority at RAS, where there is a student-to-teacher ratio in each class to allow the teacher to understand their students easily, encourage their growth, and care for their well-being and safety.

Inquiry-Based Learning
We provide students with rich learning tasks that engage them as critical and creative thinkers who have opportunities to apply their knowledge and understanding of real-world problems and issues. Inquiry-based learning includes observation, questioning, investigating, conclusion, and sharing the outcomes of the results with their classmates. This methodology provides each student with the tools to question, reason, and solve any classroom problem or activity and can also be implemented in real-world situations.

Raffles American School strives to bring out the best in students, beginning in preschool and continuing all the way to graduation. For that reason, we focus on critical matters such as language development, early literacy, self-esteem, and much more to ensure future success.

Raffles American School (RAS) has recently won BabyTalk Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 for the International School in Johor (American Curriculum) category.

To learn more about Raffles American School, please contact inquiry@raffles-american-school.edu.my

References

Education.com. (2009, July 1). Building Self-Esteem in Preschool. https://www.education.com/magazine/article/preschool-self-esteem/Ristic, M. (2017, March 13).

6 Reasons Why Preschool Is Good for Your Child. Novak Djokovic Foundation. https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/6-reasons-why-preschool-is-good-for-your-child/

Walden University. (2021, August 17). Top 5 Benefits of Technology in the Classroom. https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/education/resource/top-five-benefits-of-technology-in-the-classroom