I was intrigued by my son’s model of the digestive system. Apparently, that was his lesson focus today!

I never expected Chinese preschool education to be so advanced in Singapore. Primary school students only learn about the digestive system when they become third graders (= 9 years old).

What impressed me even further was when he could rattle off 消化系统. That’s ’digestive system’ in Chinese, if you haven’t figured it out. I didn’t even mention it to him when I went through the different organs because I assumed that was too difficult a term for him to learn. It seems that his Chinese teacher thinks differently. And thank goodness for these preschool educators for doing what they do.

I got my boy to bring this up to his mum during dinner. Because he could say 消化系统, my wife recognised the term because it sounds similar to the Japanese term, 消化器系（しょうかきけい). I’m not too embarrassed to share that my son got it during his first listening (as in, he understood the pronunciation and could replicate it himself), whereas I was hopelessly getting my wife to repeat herself a couple of times. Kids really absorb languages like sponges!

In a nutshell, my son can say: digestive system 消化系统 消化器系 Maybe this will help him attract girls in the future or something haha