Julia Gabriel Centre (Bangsar)

I have an expatriate friend who sent his daughter to Julia Gabriel and swears by its effectiveness in promoting confidence through their speech and drama classes. It is one of the most established English enrichment courses available, and well known throughout the expatriate circles. Not cheap, though.

To end the session, the teachers led the children in a lively sing along session, filled with actions. I liked that both English and Chinese songs were sung, and the kids all had a great time dancing around to the music. The Bilingual PlayClub is a two hour weekly class, which seems like a great way to expose children to the Chinese language, especially for those who don’t have parents or caregivers who can speak the language. The fact that the lessons are conducted in both English and Chinese helps to create a non intimidating environment for children who are more familiar with the English language, as they are still able to understand what’s going on, for at least part of the class. During my brief chat with the English teacher at the playground, she highlighted the importance of modeling the right attitude towards both languages, which is something I noticed from the behaviour of all four teachers. The English teachers would listen attentively while the Chinese teachers spoke, and vice versa, but what impressed me the most was that all four of them would sing in both languages, showing the children that there is no “designated” language for each of them.