Pupils' Response 5-Outside School Activities

Every Monday and Thursday nights, my elder brother and I attend Taekwondo training. We have attained Poom belt status. It is the junior black belt for those who are under 15 years old. When we reach 15 years old, we can take the grading exam to get the adult black belt. We enjoy going for Taekwondo lessons on Thursdays because we get to do more sparring and practise our kicks. We also like being treated with respect because we are now more senior than most of the students. The lessons are supposed to be 1.5 hours each time, but the instructors usually keep us training for 2 hours or more. Mummy signed us up for Taekwondo lessons almost 3 years ago because she wanted us to learn something for self-defence. She says that we are not supposed to attack anyone using the kicks and punches that we have learnt. We can only use them during sparring and if anyone tries to attack us first.

Every Saturday morning, we attend Chinese tuition class at my tutor's house. She is a very good teacher who is both patient and kind. The class is about 2 hours. When she is helping us to prepare for our exams, she sometimes keeps us there for a longer time. My maternal grandmother found this tutor for us when I was in K2 and my brother in Pr 1.

On Sunday mornings, we attend art class at Crestar. Mummy has been asking us if we want to stop this class, but my elder brother and I don't want to. We like this class because we get to do both art and craft and we enjoy making things. The teacher is Mr Lin. He is also very patient and I think he is very creative. Every week, he has to think of something to teach us. Some Sundays are more fun than others. My favourite time is when Mr Lin asks us to make things like goldfish or giraffes from paper or cardboard or other recycled materials. This class is about 1.5 hours. My elder brother chose to attend art class instead of music class in K1. I joined him when I was in K1 the next year.

We attended in-line skating lessons in February every weekend. This was fun. We have stopped so that we can practise on our own before attending the higher level lessons to learn new tricks.

I think these activities are necessary for me. Taekwondo is for self-defence. There are bad people out there who may kidnap children or try to rob us or bully us. We should be able to defend ourselves and then run away. Chinese tuition helps me to keep up with my school work. Mummy says the art class helps to develop my right brain - whatever that means.... But I enjoy it, so it's ok. In-line skating was fun and helps me to exercise my leg muscles.


These activities don't affect my school work/studies because I enjoy them and I get to do other things besides school work. Chinese tuition helps me with my school work. I don't feel stressed with all these activities because I enjoy most of them.


I feel that pupils should be involved in activities outside of school so that they can experience different things besides school work and PE in school.