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Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Kindergarten at the end of the road
One of my childhood memories was the year that I went to the kindergarten at the other end of Seang Tek Road in George Town, Penang. The kindergarten, whose name has totally eluded me now, was just a stone's throw away from the Anson Road Market. It was housed in a double-storey bungalow with a reasonably huge compound where we kids could run about. The master of the kindergarten was someone that we knew simply as Mr Poh.
Unlike nowadays when kids get to attend three or four years at nurseries or kindergartens, I attended this kindergarten for only one year in 1960. Yes, that was the norm then. A one-year pre-school to get us ready for Standard One in a primary school.
In my first few days at kindergarten, I remember getting to learn my ABCs and coming home proudly with my first workbooks where I had traced out the names Janet and John in huge letters before progressing to other simple words.
There were lots of music and singing sessions. I always loved the occasions where we were allowed upstairs to an open air balcony or verandah where the teacher would bring out vinyl records of popular nursery rhymes and we were asked to sing along. What fascinated me most were the coloured 45rpm records. It was the first time that I had seen coloured records; so different from the ones my father had at home.
The rest of the activities at the kindergarten is a huge blur to me, except the memory of a morning-long concert show at the end of the year. I would think it was the last day of the school year. The kids dressed up in various outfits to put on a show for the parents. Chairs were laid out in a big circle in the compound for the children to sit while their proud parents stood behind. Me? I didn't have to wear any outfit except a headgear of paper.
It was quite possible that this kindergarten operated until the late 1960s or early 1970s before it closed. I remember being quite shocked one day to see that some corrugated zinc sheets had been erected at the front of the compound. No way that anyone could have looked in and see what had happened to the building or compound.
And then just a few months ago, I saw that the corrugated metal sheets had been removed and some construction work had commenced. I would assume that the old bungalow had been torn down and some new building would be erected here. Well, that would be the last remaining evidence of the kindergarten I had attended in my childhood days.
Great write-up about the Seang Tek Road kindergarten in Penang. Brings back old memories to me. I used to live at Burmah Rd near to the old Rex theatre and i attended this kindergarten too. I recall that Mr Poh is Eurasian and his wife Mrs Poh who sometimes wore a saree was also a teacher in the same kindergarten. Nice couple.
ReplyDeleteThere were two kindergarten activities that i still remember.
[1] On "graduation day", i and some other kids were wrapped up in green crepe paper with a green cap, and each of us pretended to be a green bottle that "exploded" by tearing off the green paper forcefully in sequence as the song "Ten Green Bottles on the Wall" was played.
[2] Kids were given the task to produce coins that were made from paper tracings with coloured pencils; and we could use the fake currency to buy plastic toys and awesome figurines that were displayed like in a pasar malam. Those kids with rich mothers got to buy a lot more stuff coz their moms paid for them to receive more paper coins.
The school gate was a dark brown wooden one ... pretty solid. The school compound was covered with sand i think. And i climbed up to the staircase landing on the 1st floor once, to check out the view from up there with a pair of plastic toy binoculars. Kindergarten was scary and fun at the same time.
Cheers!
What a strange and amazing coincidence stumbling into this blog!
ReplyDeleteThis morning, I was at the Anson Road new food court having the awesome kochabi koay teow thn'g with my other half when we started a conversation with the second generation owner. I mentioned about how I attended Mr. Poh's kindergarten just next door back in the early 60s and he told me he was one of Mr. Poh's students too!
I remembered all that you mentioned in your comments and needless to say, the old kindergarten left a lasting impression on me till today after 66 years! 😁 I can clearly recall almost all of the nusery ryhmes that we had to dole out everyday! Thank you for bringing back those sweet moments. And.. when I started my primary one school at Wellesley Primary School almost half of the class were from Mr. Poh's.