Each child is different, and each child is a genius in their own way.

Meet Anli! Friend of Saturday Kids, director of EtonHouse Japan, outdoor enthusiast and dad to Kaishi (10) and Taisei (4). Also a lead instructor for Saturday Kids Unplugged Summer Camp in Japan (organised in partnership with EtonHouse Tokyo) he spends weeks on end in Japan’s national parks introducing little ones to the great outdoors – an experience that is every bit as meaningful and exhausting as it sounds.

Anli in his element!

Based in Tokyo, we chat about what prompted his switch from a career in finance to education, why he’s an advocate for outdoor education, and what he wants kids to take away from the experience of going unplugged.

Hi Anli! What’s your story, and what sparked your passion for outdoor education?

“I’ve always enjoyed sports and being outdoors. A friend introduced me to triathlons, and when I moved from Singapore to Japan (I’m half-Japanese!), I started going to different places in Japan to do triathlons and really got to love nature. Going for races all over Japan allowed me to see different parts of Japan, and appreciate different types of nature all over the country.

When my first son was about 3 years old, I started taking him camping. City life and going to malls in Tokyo started getting a bit boring to me, so one day I decided to try camping with my family.

I noticed that he really loved being in nature, and it was like he was a totally different person. He was always so happy there, and wanted me to take him back again and again.

This made me wonder why kids are so fascinated by nature and I began to do more research into it.” 

From your inquiry into the pedagogy of nature, as well as your experience with your own kids and with other schoolchildren: what do kids learn from the great outdoors, and why do they love it?

“Kids are fascinated by the fact that nature is always changing. A shopping mall is the same every month – nothing changes. But you could go to the same park or campsite and it’s always different.

There’s changes in the weather – on days after it’s rained you see different things coming out of the ground; on sunny days you see more dragonflies.

Kids get curious about all the science behind nature. For example, observing and learning about bugs, asking how they fly and why they exist. Digging up dirt, looking at rocks. Putting things into fire and watching the natural reaction. Through this, they also learn a lot about the coexistence on which ecosystems thrive.

And then there’s soft skills like confidence and resilience. Climbing a tree or a little hill or crossing a river are challenges to young children, and when they take those risks, they gain confidence in themselves.

In a natural environment, when they go for hikes or a long walk, they tend to forget they’re walking for such a long distance. Or they could be running around a grass patch for hours. Somehow, I don’t think they could do that in a city. 

I see this in my own kids who are now 4 and 10. We began taking them out in nature when they were very young, and I think they’re more confident than most kids their age; they dare to challenge themselves and try new things.”

You used to work in finance in Hong Kong and Singapore. What led you to switch paths in your career – from finance to education?

“When we moved to Tokyo, my wife and I did research into preschools and couldn’t find one that we were satisfied with. When we learned about EtonHouse and their approach to education, we decided to set up a school in Tokyo. Their curriculum was child-responsive, child-driven, not top-down and not teacher-directed – I could immediately feel the difference. 

EtonHouse was also one of the pioneers in using the Reggio Emilia approach which leverages kids’ natural curiosity to help them reach their potential. Our teachers look deeply into children’s interests and listen to their thoughts, preferences, and character to craft programmes based around their needs. Each child is so different, and so to bring all these children together to run a programme together is not easy. That’s where our teachers’ strengths come in – they’re able to listen and also provide the space for the children to express themselves.”

What do you want kids to take away from the experience of going unplugged?

“Ultimately, for kids to be themselves! For them to embrace the freedom to explore, and to make new friends. They’ll get to do many different activities they’ll enjoy, and I believe that when they enjoy themselves they can learn a lot.

And 5-10 years down the road, I hope they’ll remember the time they spent there and how much fun they had.

I’ll always remember this child who arrived at camp on Day 1 with her mother and refused to separate from her – she told her mother that she was scared of bugs. It was very difficult for her the first few days, she wasn’t used to it. When her mother left, the child was just sitting there by herself. 

It took some time – we need to give kids time to adjust to new environments – but on the last day of camp, she was touching and holding bugs and showing them to her Mum! It really shows that nature can deeply change a child’s mindset.”

If you were to write an open letter to other parents, what would it say?

“I would encourage parents not to conform with traditional education or to the system that they’re in.

Academic skills won’t be so important in the future. What’s more important is building children’s character – each child is different, and each child is a genius in their own way.

My wish is for parents to promote their own child according to their strengths, not according to the education system. Because the system presupposes all kids are the same, kids are graded according to their ability to finish the same test. But that’s not right.

My advice to parents is to focus on their own child and shut out what other parents are saying.

Don’t compare children to each other because each child is a genius in their own way. Just focus on their strengths and what they like to do – don’t get hung up about what other kids are doing or what they can do.

And, enjoy the outdoors! I haven’t met a child who doesn’t thrive in the outdoors yet.” 

. . .

The Saturday Kids team met Anli through a mutual friend (shout out to Hoi Leong!) and bonded over our shared philosophy in wanting to raise kids to be creative and independent thinkers – and we haven’t looked back since!

While our Summer 2020 run of Saturday Kids Unplugged in Japan has been cancelled due to COVID-19, we’re looking forward to more opportunities to immerse kids in the wonders of the wilderness through outdoor camps in Japan and beyond. Shoot us an email if you’d like to be kept in the loop about future unplugged camps!

The post Friends of Saturday Kids: Anli of EtonHouse Japan on What Kids Learn from Nature appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

Walking through the woods of Karuizawa is a great way to slow down, take a step back from moving from task to task, and think about stuff.

What came to my mind when I was walking in the forest behind Hoshinoya is this question – the purpose of education. Schools were invented at the turn of the 20th century to churn out young adults with sufficient knowledge to work in factories. This knowledge-based education model survived more than a hundred years and even today, a large part of mainstream education is about knowledge. In the last decade, there has been a growing emphasis on skill-based education – equipping students with the skills to be successful. Perhaps why there are so many coding schools for kids popping up everywhere. Even adults are being told to upskill and reskill. The Singapore government’s SkillsFuture initiative is exhibit #1.

While skills are important, I believe the next evolution of education will shift focus from skills to mindset.

More precisely, the mindset of being curious, asking questions, and being a lifelong learner. The world is evolving too fast for any education system to keep up. That is why a skill-based education model will not work. Nobody knows what skills our kids will need in 2050. The only way to prepare for an unknown future is to stay curious, be resilient, and keep learning. As Noah Yuval Harari puts it, “To stay relevant   you will need the ability to constantly learn and to reinvent yourself. To keep up with the world of 2050, you will need to do more than merely invent new ideas and products, but above all, reinvent yourself again and again.”

The job of educators in a world where learning is about mindset rather than skills or knowledge is to first and foremost inspire curiosity. We should encourage kids to learn through play and to become self-directed learners. Second, we need to get kids to see the world with a wider lens. Help them understand they live a sheltered life and that there’s a whole world out there for them to discover, that humanity is running out of time to solve some of the biggest issues we are facing. Climate change for example. Third, educators need to give kids the creative confidence to be able to solve any problem they set their heart on.

Singapore – or the world, for that matter – doesn’t need more lawyers and bankers. We need our kids to be mavericks, to be original thinkers. The world has many problems we need our kids to solve, and equipping them with the mindset and confidence to solve those problems is key. 

What we’re trying to do through Saturday Kids Unplugged is give kids the space to develop that sensitivity and awareness to the world beyond themselves, and to cultivate the innate curiosity that they’ll need to tackle the world’s wicked problems.

My kids had a great time going unplugged in Karuizawa during the camp – catching (and releasing) tadpoles, making new friends, and learning about their place in the great outdoors – and I believe the other kids who joined us did too.

If what I’ve shared resonates, here are a few things you can do. Embrace our philosophy of getting your child curious, give your child the time and space to learn through play. Second, tell your friends about us – who we are, and more importantly, what we stand for. Third, get your friends to sign up for the same camp next year. We want to bring hundreds of kids from Singapore to Karuizawa, not just because they’ll have a great time but also because they’ll benefit so much from the experience of being outdoors and learning through nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson has this great quote. Trust thyself. Every heart vibrates to that iron string. For Emerson, the task of every human being was to find his or her voice and give expression to it. He believed in the importance of authenticity and unique thinking. Let’s help our kids work towards higher order ambitions than simply better grades. Let’s help them become mavericks and original thinkers. The world needs it.

…

John originally delivered this as a closing speech at our very first Saturday Kids Unplugged Summer Camp in Japan in June 2019. Keen to join us at the next one, or just curious about what this looks like? Find out more here! 

Check out more of our #postcardsfromKaruizawa:

• Gone unplugged: Reflections from our summer outdoors
• What kids learn from the outdoors, and why we’re going unplugged

The post What’s going unplugged got to do with solving the world’s problems? A perspective on outdoor education from John appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

Everything is interesting.

A contrast to tightly spun lesson plans and curricula, the kids’ time was only lightly structured with broad stroke anchor activities for each day (e.g. trekking to the waterfall, a high ropes course, scavenging for materials for the bridge building projects). What this meant is that kids had the leeway to run wild and free at the campsite and to just play and be – whether that was catching butterflies, playing football and catching, or going on adventures in imaginary new worlds at a natural playground. 

What we found kids loved the most was getting wet during a trek to the waterfall, wading in a stream, and catching tadpoles. It’s not rocket science, but the simple things that being in nature (and a little bit of encouragement) allowed them to do that made it to their highlight reel. One of my favourite moments is finding some of the girls using foraged twigs, leaves and flowers to build a little home for bugs – one of them even successfully bugged her parents to return to the campsite the day after camp ended to check if any bugs ended up nesting there!

With Japan the home of many of the world’s engineering marvels, our camp was themed around building bridges – physically, socially and culturally. This saw kids scavenging for logs in the forest to prototype their own designs, and learning to use saws, drills and the like along the way. We watched kids eagerly approach this project with enthusiasm under the watch of trained facilitators who very clearly set the ground rules, because you know, as one instructor bluntly put it: “I don’t want any of you putting a hole through your hands!”. As a parent of 2 young girls, I particularly enjoyed seeing the older girls undertaking this activity – who says tools are just for boys? 

Care and friendship come naturally.

We were glad to have a batch of diverse kids from the age of 4, to pre-teens, join us for this camp, and for a good part of camp the kids were split into groups for age-appropriate activities, before reuniting for activities where everyone was involved – such as the afternoon treks to the river and to the waterfall. On many occasions, we saw how the kids organically took on the responsibility of looking out for each other – giving each other a hand when they needed to cross the river, encouraging each other during the high rope course, and more. It made our day to see a kid as young as 7 volunteer herself to look after a 4 year old, and to find the experience delightful.

Do what scares you.

Away from their parents and in a foreign country, kids had been signed up to venture beyond their comfort zone, and as adults we were awed by the many, many instances where we saw how the kids challenged themselves to do things that initially scared them (think high ropes, and getting their socks and shoes wet in a shallow stream) – and turned out to like it so much they asked to go again and again. Speaking of victories: even the sheer fact that none of the kids really kicked up a big fuss of being with a group of strangers after getting dropped off by their parents is commendable.

When we took a moment to step in the kids’ shoes, we’re humbled by the kids’ courage.

Nature is all around us!

Yes, it is quite special to be able to do this in Karuizawa, and we and the kids were very privileged with the cool summer weather and the change in environment that made it an especially pleasant experience for everyone on the ground.

But it does not have to stop there! We are very lucky in Singapore to have access to an abundance of nature (albeit in hot and humid weather conditions), and whether your child is 4or 12 years old, there’s nothing stopping you from recreating similar experiences (thanks NParks!). A hike up Bukit Timah Hill, an early morning walk at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve (try spotting some interesting birds and crocodiles), looking out for monitor lizards at MacRitchie Reservoir, and many, many more – the point is, we have a lot at our doorstep to explore, not just for your kids, but for yourself too. 

. . .

My 4-year old twins had a blast and were flat out every day (camp activities ended at 3pm daily). They speak fondly of time spent catching butterflies, playing catching, dipping their feet at the chilly waterfalls, finding twigs in the forest, AND they absolutely loved sweeping the campsite (!).

As an organiser, parent and facilitator, I personally find it quite touching to observe how over the span of just 1 week, all these kids who were strangers prior, came together, formed friendships, proactively helped each other out, took it upon them to challenge themselves and overcome their own fears, and really got into spending time together in the beautiful surroundings of Karuizawa. The Japanese call it “forest bathing” – they believe that it’s good for health, it’s not hard to see why. 

. . .

This is just the beginning of #SaturdayKidsUnplugged, and for the parents who joined us on this first trip, we are very thankful for your support and trust. We’d love to continue doing this and to continue to curate learning experiences for kids from Singapore, and to that end, will be sharing more details about our plans for 2020, so keep a look out for that. Special thanks to Anli from EtonHouse International Preschool in Tokyo, and his team – we couldn’t have asked for a better partner who shares a similar philosophy with us to do this together. 

Questions or comments, and just wish to chit chat over coffee? Email us at hello@saturdaykids.com or reach me directly at nicole@saturdaykids.com. 

The post Gone unplugged in Japan: reflections from our summer outdoors appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

For one, learning takes place in an environment that looks nothing like the classrooms we’re used to. And secondly, no coding is involved (for the most part!).

Come June, with the help of our friends from EtonHouse Tokyo, we’ll be organising Saturday Kids Unplugged in Japan – a summer camp with a twist, spanning 3 days of immersive, unplugged outdoor learning in the gorgeous mountain town of Karuizawa and a first-of-its-kind urban inter-cultural coding jam in Tokyo with students from Saturday Kids Japan.

So how did this come about?

Rewind to November 2018: The Saturday Kids team ventured to Tokyo to lay the groundwork for the opening of Saturday Kids Japan (watch this space!). Besides doing necessary but unexciting things like opening bank accounts, we also got to meet really cool, like-minded people who’re equally passionate about leaning into kids’ intrinsic curiosity to inspire them to create a better world.

One of these people was Anli who heads the Tokyo branch of EtonHouse – the international preschool powerhouse known for its inquiry-based curriculum.

What most people may not know about the Saturday Kids team is that our priority is cultivating curiosity first, and the ability to code, second. While we don’t doubt that programming is a skill that will come in handy, our team shares the conviction the ‘soft’ qualities of being curious, inventive, and resourceful will serve every kid well, regardless of whether they grow up to be an artist, engineer, bus driver or magician.

For some time, we’ve been looking to expand our programmes for kids beyond digital literacy, and in meeting Anli, we found a serendipitous partner, aligned with the values that we stand for and equipped with the expertise in outdoor learning to do just that.

Find out what he shared about what kids learn from being in nature, and what skills we’re excited to have kids pick up at camp this June:

1. Risk-taking

Whether it’s choosing to study for a test, go for the ball, or taking on the class bully – the ability to calculate and take risks is crucial to every child’s decision-making. All of us make small and big decisions pretty much all the time, and the ability to evaluate and take risks makes or breaks the most significant turning points in our lives.

The outdoors is a hands-on sandbox for testing boundaries, pushing limits, and experiencing failures and success in a tangible way.

In embarking on a ropes course or climbing a tree, kids are compelled to confront their fears, weigh consequences, and grapple with the implications of their decisions independently – skills that will serve them well when they take on vaster and more complex challenges in life.

2. Resilience

In a VUCA world, resilience – the process of adapting in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or stress – is key not just to surviving but thriving.

While we promise that kids will have a lot of fun at camp, the experience won’t come without its challenges.

From our experience, getting kids out of their comfort zone through activities like long hikes in the woods, or building a sturdy, workable bridge using only natural scavenged materials won’t go down easy with every kid.

It will, however, build their resilience by proving to them what they’re capable of, and that through enduring a trying and difficult process they’ll come out stronger on the other side, and happier for it.

And as they discover what they’re capable of, they’ll also learn that these truths apply not just to physical challenges, but can help them persist and endure other trials in life as well.

3. Science, and how the world works

The natural world is the greatest science teacher. What’s missing from much of conventional classroom learning these days is the connection between theory and practice, information and application.

One of the things we’re most excited about for Saturday Kids Unplugged in Japan is the luxury of having nature as a resource to get kids to further develop their curiosity about the world around them, learn from the intrinsic inventiveness of wildlife, and practise resourcefulness in a different environment.

In this edition of the camp, as kids learn from the mechanisms behind naturally occurring bridges (think spiderwebs for example), they’ll be bridging their own theoretical understanding of STEAM and its real world applications, exploring concepts like biomimicry in the process, and bringing them to life.

. . .

What have your kids learned from nature, or what have you learned from your time outdoors? Let us know in the comments below!

Wondering how to keep yourselves occupied while your kids are having the time of their life at camp? We’ve got you covered – from hiking to outlet malls, check out Saturday Kids Guide to Karuizawa for the big kids.

Our next edition of Saturday Kids Unplugged in Japan will be postponed due to the global COVID-19 outbreak. Stay tuned for the latest updates here! If you’re interested in outdoor camps in Japan (and around the world), shoot us an email here!

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