Tutor Time ...<\/p>\n
Ingrid's little boy was growing fast. Soon he would have to go
\nto preschool. She started looking around for a good one. Ingrid
\nfound many schools in Jakarta but none that really satisfied her
\nexpectations.<\/p>\n
Reluctantly she put her son in one but without feeling good
\nabout doing so.<\/p>\n
While on a holiday in the U.S., Ingrid made a chance visit to
\nTutor Time, the child-care provider for NASA at the Kennedy Space
\nCenter in Florida.<\/p>\n
This was it! She wanted her son to have his first learning
\nexperience in a place like Tutor Time.<\/p>\n
What really impressed Ingrid was the cheerful atmosphere of
\nthe place.<\/p>\n
She found the facilities painted in bright colors.<\/p>\n
She was even more happy to see how concerned the school was
\nwith the safety and security of its toddlers.<\/p>\n
Safety<\/p>\n
Parents could enter the campus only by using a special code
\nthat opened the gates, and it was impossible for them to exit
\nwith their child without entering the same code.<\/p>\n
Television monitors were installed in every classroom to
\nenable parents to watch their children from the reception area
\nwithout disturbing classroom activities.<\/p>\n
Inside the campus she found an area called the Village, a
\nlarge two-storeyed structure resembling a little town used by the
\nschool to develop the creativity, imagination and socialization
\nskills of the children.<\/p>\n
She found the two playgrounds, one for preschoolers and the
\nother for toddlers, spacious and safe.<\/p>\n
Ingrid was so inspired that she returned to Jakarta determined
\nto establish a similar kind of preschool.<\/p>\n
That was five years ago.<\/p>\n
Facilities<\/p>\n
By the time she found the means and facilities to open the
\nfirst franchised Tutor Time center in Kemang in 1996, her son had
\nalready graduated from preschool.<\/p>\n
However, hundreds of others, both Indonesian and expatriate
\ntiny tots between the ages of one year and five years, are using
\nthe campus in Kemang and the Kelapa Gading areas.<\/p>\n
It includes all the above facilities along with self-contained
\nclassrooms with attached toilets and diaper-changing counters,
\nnot to mention a computer lab, music and movement room, art, math
\nand language corners.<\/p>\n
Five-year-old Justine is one of the senior students at
\nKemang's Tutor Time. His favorite place at the school has always
\nbeen the Tumble Room where he can travel in and out of gigantic
\nplastic tubes that are painted in the different colors of the
\nrainbow.<\/p>\n
Blue-eyed Justine loves to come to school every day because
\nthe teachers tell him tales about sharks.<\/p>\n
It was discovered that the theme of the week when The Jakarta
\nPost visited the school was all about life below the ocean.<\/p>\n
Morgan, four, loves the Village and likes to stand on duty at
\nthe fire station.<\/p>\n
He uses the post office to send off letters and visits the
\ngrocery store whenever he feels like buying himself his favorite
\nsnack.<\/p>\n
Doe-eyed Ayesha, four, returned to Jakarta recently from
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
Although she is an Indonesian child she insists that she is
\nThai.<\/p>\n
"I like to come to school because I have friends here," she
\nsaid while Australian Hannah, also four years old, shows up every
\nday simply because she can play so much.<\/p>\n
Rohan who is in his last year at the preschool looked forward
\nto going to a big children's school soon.<\/p>\n
In the meantime he was busy fastening a helmet securely on his
\nhead as he still had a lot of unfinished business to do before
\nthe school day ended.<\/p>\n
Curriculum<\/p>\n
"Monthly curriculums for each age group are prepared by Tutor
\nTimes in Florida and mailed to all of its 200 centers around the
\nworld, including Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The curriculum is a combination of traditional, progressive
\nand Montessori teaching methods taught by teachers trained by
\nvisiting staff from the headquarters in Florida," explained
\nMelania Hamdan, center director of Tutor Time, Kemang.<\/p>\n
The result is a campus full of happy, smiling faces -- both
\nchildren and teachers -- which is no mean achievement if little
\nones are to cherish for the rest of their lives positive memories
\nof their earliest years of learning.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tutor-time-1447899208",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}