School Boy

Recently, my son's teacher told me that he is hyper. Actually, what she said was "ochitsuki ga nai." I find this a little surprising because whenever I've gone to open classes, he has paid attention and participated in class, with his little bottom on the chair. He is active, yes, and we love that! At home, it's the opposite. His dad wants to play catch with him (in the living/dining room, where the ball goes sailing onto the table and knocks over the soy sauce!), but Jio just wants to read his book.

Yesterday, his teacher told me that he does not hold his pencil or chopsticks correctly, and that he is always spilling food at lunchtime. I know that he does know how to hold them properly, because his dad went to a great deal of trouble to teach him. And I'm pretty sure that at home, he holds pencils and chopsticks the way he should.

Today his teacher told me that he needs to work on writing Chinese characters nicely. Granted, his writing is a bit messy. Also, they have timed exercises, like the SATS, where you have to complete tasks within, say, ten minutes. I asked her if public schools expected the same thing, and she said that it's important to be able to calculate quickly in preparation for the future. Whatever.

I'm not particularly bothered by these issues. I am very happy, though, that he has actually started to read in English. That's why I sent him to this school.