Our Experience with Algorithmics International School of Programming's Trial Class

 

My son has been coding in Scratch since he was three years old. I thought it was time to give him something more challenging. I held a webinar in my homeschool group last week and one of the sponsors was Algorithmics International School of Programming. They gave away free trial classes to all the webinar participants who opted for a seminar kit. This was perfect timing! My son tried the class yesterday. Here's what happened. 

I was actually a little late for the class yesterday as I had to run an unexpected errand. When I got home, my son was already talking to the teacher. The teacher was asking him how he heard about Python. (That was the class he was taking.) They talked for a little while waiting for the other classmates to come online. There were 3 students taking the trial class yesterday. When everybody was present, the teacher asked them a few questions and then said that they will take 2 minutes to do whatever - drink water, go to the toilet, etc. I think this is a good strategy before starting the class. Some students might be running late from another class and had to go online immediately. They might not have the time to go to the toilet or gather their thoughts before class starts or whatever. I think this was a good way to settle things down before they start learning. This way, the teacher can be sure that the students are ready. 

The teacher started off with an intro to Python. Then she went on to the lecture proper. I thought the teacher explained the lessons well. She explained the programming steps clearly while reminding the students to keep an eye out for small mistakes such as punctuation and spelling. She kept reminding the students that the code will not work if there is even one small mistake. This is a good foundation for a budding programmer. 

I like the fact that she started with a simple program - making a square and then making a triangle. Then she told the students to figure out how to make a hexagon. After that,  they put colors on the shapes and added even more shapes. I did a year of IT so I have a little understanding of coding.  I like the fact that she challenged the students right away. She was also very encouraging and very generous with praise. She praised the students whenever they did a good job with their codes. She also praised them when they were being experimental with their code, trying out different combinations. She let the students make mistakes but also encouraged the students to find out where and why their codes were not working. I like the fact that she wasn't spoonfeeding the students. 

The class was only for an hour but they were on for 25 minutes more. She saw that the students were enjoying and I think she was also enjoying the class herself and that's why she let them continue coding. At the end of the class, she asked the students what they learned, what the challenges they faced, and how they can learn from their mistakes. I was very impressed with this teacher. Oh, she had excellent grammar, too! If you read my last post, you'd know I'm a stickler for grammar. That's one of the things my son was looking out for yesterday because he was really disappointed with the last trial class he attended. Anyway, I like the fact that she asked those questions after class. It shows that she really cares whether or not her students learned something. It's very rare to find teachers like those. 

The teacher was very professional. She had all her notes and presentations in place. Their platform was working well, no bugs. The lesson progressed nicely, not all over the place. The lessons were easy to understand. My son is 8 years old and he hasn't mastered typing yet but the teacher waited for him to finish his codes. His classmates were already teenagers, one was already going to college this year, so they were able to quickly type their codes.  I'm thankful that his classmates and his teacher waited for him to finish coding.

The teacher knows her topic well. She spoke clearly and slowly. She repeated things that needed to be repeated. 

The 1-hour trial class was so sulit! My son learned a lot in such a short amount of time. He kept on coding for over an hour after class ended because he enjoyed the class so much and learned so much from it. He tried different things with the different codes he learned. He went to his dad and talked about how much he enjoyed the class. My husband asked him a few questions about how to code this and that. He's a programmer. He was impressed that my son was able to answer all his questions. 

We had a wonderful and very exciting experience with Algorithmics. I asked my group mates yesterday about their experience with Algorithmics and one of the parents said that they were excellent and that her daughter was graduating from one of their programs. My son said that he wants to continue his studies with them. Based on this experience alone, I highly recommend Algorithmics International School of Programming for children who want to learn coding to have that extra edge to be globally competitive. The school also offers other programs. To learn more about the school and its programs, visit: https://sanjuan.alg.academy/en