Holly's birthday cake

Holly's birthday cake, originally uploaded by xterlim.

"Holly, Teacher Esther is going to bake you a birthday cake! What flavour do you like? "

Holly was jumping up and down, exclaimed "Yeah!!!!"
Then she stopped jumping and think, "Hmm... Vanilla! maybe chocolate!??"

Sonia nodded her head and said, "YES! CHOCOLATE!"

Aimee rejected, "Noooooooo Chocolate please!!!!!"

Joy smiled and ok with both.

I set my mind and said "Ok, I shall bake a vanilla flavour cake with oreo topping for your birthday when you come to art class!"

Holly agreed and carried on with her artwork :)

Kenny Tan says...

The mothers and I were chatting and talking about our mothers in law on how they treated us as their daughters in law differently... I was holding 18yo Kenny's hand to guide him with his painting while he was listening to our conversation. Then he suddenly added, "...and that is challenging!" We stopped, stunned and laughed our hearts out!

Then his mum added, "Kenny, you're the challenging one!"

Hmm, Kenny seemed to be interested in our conversation! ;D

5yo Justine says...

A new trail student 5yo Justine said, "Teacher Esther, I dream all the times!" I was like Oooh in my mind and asked, "What do you dream about? Cartoon?" He said, " I dream about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!" Then I continued, "Do you dream during the day?" He replied, "Yes!" I reminded him, "Ok, please do not dream during my lesson ok!" Then he followed and agreed, "OK!" I'm thinking this child must have a BIG dream when he grows up ;)

4yo Shayna says...

4yo Shayna refused to colour the gaps that she told me she was going to, then I put my hands on my waists and looked at her, and she went, " Teacher Esther, are you pretending to be angry??!!" Gosh, I didn't expect she would said that! I told her, " Yes, Teacher is very angry if you don't do your work properly," "Oh yes Teacher Esther, you are pretending to be angry! Hehehe!" When I show her how others did their work, there she followed :) Oh Shayna ah Shayna :s

Sonia Hanke says...

10yo Sonia Hanke asked, "Why are we having art class today?" I asked her why? Because your mum requested to have  art class today, that's why... She complaint, "I'm so tired today, I had another art class earlier..." I asked her where was she learning, she said, "At home!" I was giving my brother an art lesson..." I was amazed, Sonia teaches her brother ART! I asked her what did she teach him today, she replied happily, "I taught him how to draw hamsters!" in my mind, Sonia has grown up! :)

A familiar face...

Today, I saw a familiar  person who was sitting at the bench outside the public toliet where I bought my art students for outdoor drawing, we were drawing the laundry shop which located just beside the toliet. Yes, it was Uncle Henry, I observed him a little moment while my students were still drawing. He was caring for himself applying cream on his arms... I was wondering the walking stick belonged to him or the other elderly who was sitting next to him... Next few mintues, my students exclaimed they'd finished their drawings and I was goging to walk them around with their  handmade lanterns, as promise. I decided to walk to the toliet direction and greet a long time no see Uncle Henry!

"Uncle Henry! How are you??" He saw me and started to recognize me and responded me back by another "Hello!"

Then I introduced him my students and adsked them to greet him and told him about I was having holiday workshop with my students here and he was just smiling, I said goodbye to himas I had work to do... Then i carried on my walk with my little students and one of them (Regan) asked, "Teacher Esther, who is him???" I told him, "He is a friend, a very nice person..."

From the distance, I saw him looking at our direction, I was thinking, will I see Uncle Henry again? Did he really recognize me when I greeted him? He looked like he had been retired from his security guard job. I hope everything goes well on his side :)

I never know I would meet him again but I know this man helped me and my students at the Maplewoods condo before with his kind heart :)

For Melody Lin

For Melody Lin, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Melody has been a great little helper to the little ones and me Teacher Esther when it come to my kinderart class (which is her little sister Marissa's art class), now they have advance to Picasso level and Melody has also playing a good role as a Little Art Teacher too! I wanted to make this little gift just for her! HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY to my Little Art Teacher! :D

KtDA Showcase Wining Entries At The Art House!

Hi all, don't miss this exhibition!

F1 Babies! 26.09.2009

(My 6pm to 7pm Kinderart class!) This is the cutest moment I ever experienced with my little tots! They drew F1 cars with speeding background! I showed them how to paint the strippy background by introducing sound effect of the racing car when I was painting... they gave me BIG EYES looking with astonishing expression with mouth opening which I found them amazingly CUTE! They were so happy what they were going to do after my demo, they made sound effect when they were painting which made them feel excited and by doing this piece of work is really ACTION! Too bad I didn't video their "Wowing" reaction and when they were working on the paper... I was too busy paying attention on them! They are brunch of innocent little tots... a truly interesting memory to keep...

Goodbye my little friends!

This photo was taken on 29th Aug 2009. I was a relief art teacher at Chua Chu Kang Crestar for these little tots, after 4 lessons with them, I started to miss these little people already...

Agasthya's Pool Party

Agasthya couldn't wait to finish his artwork because his parents were organising a pool party just for him! It was his 8th birthday on 11th Sep 2009! Teacher Esther was invited too! Sonia and Aimee were too shy to join the fun! I must say, Raji had baked an awesome birthday cake that is very creative and delicious!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGASTHYA!

HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY TO YOU!

On Monday, Prudence and Ethan's Dad bought us delicious Herbal Duck all the way from JB! Thanks for the delicious treat Mr.Chan! :D

On the actual Teacher's Day, my art students at Calrose gave me a surprise right after the art class! They sang "Happy Teacher's Day To You" in the Happy Birthday Song melody with a cute Hello Kitty Butter Cream Chocolate cake ;p I wanted to thank Li Lyn (Prudence and Ethan's Mum) for such a wonderful thought and gift for Teacher Esther ;p Thank You Very Much Children!

Dylan and Sammi made this bookmark for me ;p Guess what, it was raining cats and dogs on Teacher's Day ;p

Congrats 3rd Prize Winner Aimee and Merit Award Agasthya!

Finally the prizes had handed to the original winners, Aimee who won 3rd prize and Agasthya who won merit award for their KtDA Art Competition! Look, their friends are smiling happily for them :D Cheers!

Keep The Dream Alive Prize Prsentation 11 July 2009

An exciting and a very happy day for all my students who had won awards for the YOLO Keep The Dream Alive Art Competition. I purposely took a day off from my regular art classes just for this very important event. I was there to support and hearty congrats my students as well as Joeel and Janice who had won themselves Merit Awards for their category. On Aimee and Agasthya's behalf, I also represented them to collect Aimee's 3rd prize and Agasthya's Merit Award as they're both away for Summer Holidays and they're not in Singapore. Alternatively, I saw many happy faces of my winning entries students and smiles from their parents and thankful congrats from the organizers who had made this a meaningful charity and exciting art competition a dream come true for all ages artists and donors! Always Keep the Dream Alive! You Only Live Once! I find this theme very meaningful too ;) Cheers!

P.S. : For those who didn't win any prize from this art competition, do not give up, have faith in yourselves in whatever things you do children! It is part of growing up! Cheers! T.Esther

Joeel and Janice won merit awards for their category too!!!

CONGRATULATION Maplewoods!
Merit award: Shankar Agasthya for Children Category 1
3rd Prize: Aimee Ericha Scheurmann for Children Category 2
Teacher Esther represented Aimee and Agasthya for their prize receiving as they were both not in Singapore.

CONGRATULATION Calrose!
Merit Award: Ethan Chan, Dylan Ng and Prudence Chan for Children Category 1

CONGRATULATION Lakeview!
Merit Award: Looi SiaoSi and Wong Tein Foong
for Children Category 2
Though Looi SiaoSiang, Kenny Tan and Wu Jianli didn't win any award for this competition but I'm happy for their result already because they'd participating and contributing their love for art!

CONGRATULATION Crestar!
Winners of Children Category 1:
1st Prize: Wong Yew Ki
3rd Prize: Samantha Teo Xing Yee
Merit Award: Ashley Khoo Li-Ann, Darren Marcus Loo, Joel Preston Gn Yong Grn, Melody Lin
Winners of Children Category 2:
2nd Prize: James Sng Jia Hong
Merit Award: Chan Yi Bin, Goh Sher Hwyn Rebacca, Racheal Butt Jia En

OUTBACK DRAWING COMPETITION 2009

Draw your favourite Australian animal in the Singapore Zoo and stand to win $900 total worth of cash and prizes!

Date: 6 Jun 2009

Time: 8:30am – 6:00pm

Venue: Anywhere in-park

Competition is open to children 12 years and below.

Registration Fee: $3 (Normal admission fees apply)
(Participants will get a free TNCC candy sachet, while stocks last)

1st Prize: $300 Cash + Cadbury Hamper worth $100
2nd Prize: $200 Cash + Cadbury Hamper worth $100
3rd Prize: $100 Cash + Cadbury Hamper worth $100

To participate, just come down to Singapore Zoo on 6 June 2009 and sign up at our Outback Drawing Competition Booth at the Zoo entrance. Remember to bring your own drawing supplies and to submit your drawing attached with your registration form. Hurry, hop over!

KtDA RESULTS!

I'm SO HAPPY for my lucky students who had won prizes for themselves! I'd sent 80 over entries of my students's templates to the YOLO Keep the Dream Alive Art Competition! I was so surprised that I noticed a few familiar names from the results and there were 19 winners in total!

Winners of Children Category 1:
1st Prize Wong Yew Ki T****862I
3rd Prize Samantha Teo Xing Yee T****6242
Merit Award
Ashley Khoo Li-Ann T****376A
Darren Marcus Loo T****219G
Dylan Ng Zhen Hao T****080I
Ethan Chan T****638J
Jachin Thio T****636D
Janice Tan Jing Wei T****881C
Joel Preston Gn Yong Grn T****894E
Melody Lin T****604E
Prudence Chan T****677E
Shankar Agasthya G****942T

Winners of Children Category 2:
2nd Prize James Sng Jia Hong S****268Z
3rd Prize Ai Mee Ericha Scheurmann 200/u/JS/2000
Merit Award
Chan Yi Bin S****
Goh Sher Hwyn Rebacca S****733B
Looi Siao Si T****563J
Racheal Butt Jia En S****214J
Wong Tein Foong S****596B

Also, not to mention Uncle Joeel also won Merit award in Open Category for the art competition too ;p

Cheers!

Abigil's Belated Birthday! & Their Cupcakes Making

On previous Monday, my students told me they wanted cupcakes for their snack again! I think we should have a purpose to bring nice food in class and asked, "Whose birthday fall on May???" Abigil raised up her hand, "Do you want us to celebrate for you?" She nodded her head shyly... Ok, I'll bake you cupcakes for you on next Monday! The whole class cheered "Yea!!!"

Just nice, they also make mini size cupcakes from paper clay. First of all, they visualised different kind of cupcakes they want to make from the clay. The cupcakes have to look appealing and delicious!They took 3 lessons to complete this little project ;p See their cupcakes creation!

Double Bliss

Aimee's Mum called me and asked who is Yellow Octopus and where did they come from... I told her they're the Creative and Media Company, then she said Aimee has won a 3rd prize for her YOLO Keep The Dream Alive (KtDA) Art Competition! Wow! I'm so happy for Aimee!

Follow on, another line came in, this time was Kenny's Mum! She read a letter that she received from St. Andrew Autism School... Our Kenny Tan has won a Sliver award from the Youth Challenge Art Competition for his Cherry Blossom Tree painting in oil! Well done Kenny!

It was really a double bliss for me today ;D Cheers!

"REFLECTION" A PHOTO COMPETITION/EXHIBITION

Organised by South Zone Centre of Excellence-Design, National Geographic and supported by an entire community of concerned organizations.

Winning entries will be featured on a two week exhibit from 26 May - 7 June 2009 at the National Geographic Store at Vivocity. Apply now. Download entry form at

For details:-
www.reflection.yolo.sg

sponsors:
National Geographic Store (Singapore)
Panasonic
Large Print
YOLO
Cathay Photo
The Photographic Society of Singapore

Little Tots

Let me introduce my new Little Tots from Saturday Art Class ;D They are lovely and adorable little Artists! Look at the heart shape cards they'd made specially for their Mothers!

From the left: Wei Ting, Issac, Phoena, Charmaine, WenHui, and Alicia. Gabrielle was too shy to be appeared in the camera ;p Jia Ling, Leanne and Marrisa were absent due to fever... hope they are getting better!

Sonia's 9yo Birthday

These pieces of work required 2 lessons to complete. The idea is to introduce basic 3 dimension (3D) drawing in their visual art. Well, they did a pretty good job ;)

Sonia's birthday is TODAY! We celebrated her birthday yesterday after they had finished their paintings! ;) I baked her cupcakes as promised and I hope this birthday present bring and share joy & love with her little art friends! Happy Birthday Sonia Hanke!

KtDA Annoucement

Message from Mr. Kevin Thio:

Thank you for sharing your dreams as a participant of the Keep the Dream Alive Art Competition!

We are amazed by the enthusiastic responses and great diversity of entries that poured in through our doors! Stay tuned for the announcement of the competition results on Thursday, 30 April 2009.

All winners will be notified by post.

For the latest updates, please visit our website

www.keepthedreamalive.yolo.sg

OIC Portrait Day

Hi all, Joeel and other local illustrators will be there to draw you! Go and have fun! Cheers!

KtDA Sembawang Little Artists

This is their first time participating art competition,
I think it is a good try for them!
The children exclaimed "I want to be a doctor!",
"I want to be a Power Ranger!" See how they expressed
their idea on the given templates ;)

Claudia is painting her artwork with care.

Claudia Tan Shi Ting 6yo:
"I want to be a doctor who can take good care of the babies."

Reanne Goh 6yo:
"I am a pretty princess."

Kristin tan Hui-En 6yo:
"A day as a princess."

Jolene Tan Hui-Xian 5yo:
"I want to be a fire fighter!"

Jaden Tan En 6yo:
"Power Rangers to the rescue!"

KtDA Bishan Little Artist

A class with their own mind and ideas finally have
an opportunity to express their art on the art competition!
I'm so proud that even a parent joined the art competition
to make this group more supporting!


Abbi Thio 9yo :
"I want to be a famous chef when I grow up to make
delicious and beautiful looking food and lots of people happy!

Jeremy Goh Eng Hui 7yo :
" A cinema screen on a busy river.
My dream is to be a Movie Maker when I grow up."

Jachin Thio 7yo:
"To grow up to be a soldier and protect the my family
and the nation. To fight the evil and keep peace!"

Isabel Chua Wee Shyan 5yo :
"I dream of being a baker who will make different kinds
different colours different shapes of cakes."

Ian Thio 5yo:
"I want to be surrounded by beautiful birds,
to protect them and enjoy them."

Daniel Goh Eng Chong 9yo :
"A Future city with many buildings."

This patchwork is hand sew and hand craft done by Cheryl Goh ;)
Daniel and Jeremy Goh's Mommy :D

KtDA The 3 Peter Pan's'

On 4th Feb'09, Sophia came and visit our art class!
Long time no see Sophia! ;)

These boys are just as amazing as I thought, they have wonderful dreams of their own! TienFeng and Siaosi also get inspired by their artwork ;) They eventually join the art competition too ;p

Wong Tein Foong 10yo :

"I drew this picture because I want to be a good chef
that cook delicious food that have
good nutritional values for people.
I also hope that one day I have a chance
to cook for the famous leaders in the world!"

Looi Siaosi 9yo:
"I hope this picture will help remind people to take care
of the environment so that we can continue to enjoy the
amazing plants and animals living with us in this beautiful world

Wu Jianli 18yo:
"I want to be a pianist."

Kenny Tan Zheng Wei 15yo :
"I love to go places, see the world!"

Looi Siaosiang 18yo:
""Why we have to run away from man the Hunter,
never safe and never free?"
Please be reminded that this beautiful planet
also belong to these beautiful animals.
So please help to keep the planet green and
give these animals a fair share of living on this planet."

KtDA Calrose Little Artists

I'm pretty surprised by their difference in this group. They are just like Fantastic Four with different super power :D

Sammi Ng Qi Hui 5yo :
"My dream Cat."

Prudence Chan 8yo :
"I dream of having a dog as a pet. But my mum says only when I am 13 years old. This picture shows me and my dog when I am 13 years old. My dog and I are jogging in the park. My dog's name is Bingo!"

Ethan Chan 7yo :
"I dream of taking the Singapore Flyer when there's fireworks, I think it will be very exciting!"

Dylan Ng Zhen Hao 7yo :
"Transformer in disgrace."

KtDA Maplewoods Little Artists

All the children are so spontaneous once they received what they want to draw for the templates! But I just can't get Sonia to join! Why, because she doesn't like competition :s I told her it doesn't matter if you win or lose, just enjoy drawing... she just doesn't want... she was motivated for once, then she changed her mind again... then again, she was motivated... changed her mind... finally I gave up :s Maybe there'll be other art competition that will interest her ;)

Sarah Hong Yoo Jeong 7yo :
"My dream is to live in a Big House! with a beautiful garden."

Alex Hong Gio 6yo : " Battle in the outerspace!"

AiMee Ericha Scheurmann 8yo :
"My dream is to be an Astronaut!"

Shankar Agasthya 8yo :

"My dream is to be a cowboy living in the carefree lifestyle."

We missed Uncle Henry!

We missed Uncle Henry!

He has pinky cheeks, white hair almost bold, a healthy looking senior citizen who used to work as a senior security guard at the Maplewoods Condominium. He is a caring person who loves children and take good care of us whenever we needed help from him for our art classes! He would let us use the function or meeting room when parents facing Internet booking problem or absent minded parents who forgot to book the venue!

I remembered 4 years back, I stopped teaching Art at Maplewoods. Uncle Henry gave the parents my contact numbers which I'd registered from the entrance guards. I think that time was very strict because of SARS, they would want us to fill up our contact numbers as well. My art classes regained with new students again! Old students came back too! Uncle Henry definitely made the art classes happening again when he got me back! I'm fully grateful for his assistance and being a responsible and caring security guard. He'd made Maplewoods a place filled with children's joy and cheers! I can tell in his eyes, he's very happy to see children cheering around when the art class is on! He has definitely see the children growing up!

This year, we don't get to see him in the security office anymore. The management told us Uncle Henry has retired... we are very sad....but, we hope to see him again if we can :D I am so regret that I never take picture of him with the children, however, his kind image is always on our mind. Hope he could come back one Monday and visit all of us!

Wish Uncle Henry has a happy golden years ahead!

With all our well wishes and blessing!