Oct 07 2009

To Grow Is The Job Of The Child, Not Ours

Category: Home — The Writer @ 4:04 am

What really goes on a child’s mind when he is on his own playing, doing his homework or just sitting around seemingly doing nothing? No one really knows. It is usually from their own creations like painting, art, speech, handwritten notes and many practical body movement like walking, jogging, running, sitting, standing or waving of the hands, do we begin to observe growth and development within him. The child learns from his environment, and he absorbs the knowledge, digests and processes it to help himself grow.

What kids say  will tell us that growing is a their job not ours:

A: “Wow! who taught you to do that?”
K: Nobody, I just learn it myself.
I really don’t need your help, I can do many things by myself already.

A: “What have you learn in school today?”
K: I don’t know.
He meant I am still processing the knowledge. Give me a break mum, I just finished an exhausting day at school. Don’t make me think and work again.H

A: “What would you like to eat?”
K. McDonald’s happy meal.
It’s not the food, it’s the toy I want.

A: “What is your favourite tv programme.”
K: Disney channel Hannah Montana
I am a kid anymore, I am a teenager in the making.I

A: “Do you know how to tie your shoelaces.”
K: Yes but mum bought me a pair of shoes without shoelaces.
It’s hassle free and mum does not want to wait all day for me to finish off the last knot.

A: “How often do you have to brush your teeth in a day?”
K: Twice a day.
I know that because I have been told many times since I ate my first chocolate cake.

A: “Are potato chips good for you?”
K: I like them very much.
I am not going to say no because I do want to think that I can never have anymore chips and everything else that goes with it, especially movies.

If a child does not grow, he has lost his job. Nobody does it best than the child himself.

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Aug 26 2009

15 Free Foreign Language Learning Resources for Kids

Category: Home, Resources — The Writer @ 10:32 am

This is a contribution from a guest writer, Karen Schweitzer who writes Guideto Business School at About.com.

Are you looking for a free way to teach kids foreign languages? The Internet has some of the best resources available for absolutely no cost. There are online games, flashcards, tools, videos, and many more resources that are great for parents, teachers, and students. Here are 15 free foreign language learning resources to try today.

Apples 4 the Teacher -

Within this site, you will find free foreign language activities for elementary students and interactive learning games for Spanish, Polish, Gaelic, and American sign language.

LanguagEGames.org

Provides free learning games for English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Games include crosswords, hangman, and word searches.

The Internet Picture Dictionary

Picture Dictionary provides pictures to assist with language learning. Through this site, you can learn Spanish, Italian, German, and French words for an assortment of categories.

Foreign Language Fun

Foreign Language Fun is weblog loaded with free resources to teach children French and Spanish. Within this blog, you can find language videos, games, lesson plans, and downloads. Not all of the downloads are free, but no-cost items are clearly marked.

Transparent Language

This free language learning site offers games and activities that can be used by younger students to practice and learn languages. Games include Wordseek, Plug-n-Play, Unscramble, and International Cafe.

Learn 4 Good

Learn 4 Good’s Kids’ Corner provides free Spanish lessons just for kids. The lessons cover colors, numbers, verbs, survival, and restaurant scenarios.

Kids Online Resources

Kids Online Resources features a wide variety of language lessons and tools that can be used for K-8 graders to learn and practice a new language. Just a few of the resources you can find on this page are Spanish games, a Japanese number chart, and French language activities.

123TeachMe

Spanish for Kids from 123TeachMe features fun, free ways for children to learn and practice Spanish. throughout this site, you will find games and activities for alphabet, numbers, colors, family, days, holidays, and more.

LiteracyCenter.Net

The LiteracyCenter.Net provides language games for learning Spanish, German, and French. The games and activities cover letters, shapes, writing, works, numbers, and colors.

Wikijunior

Wikijunior offers a free online languages book for children 8-12. This book provides a basic introduction to languages around the world. The basic concept of this book is to offer younger children some language skills while introducing the idea of other languages around the world.

LingvoSoftOnline

LingvoSoft features free online flashcards that kids can use to learn thousands of foreign words in a fun way. The site also offers free dictionaries, phrasebooks, and other learning resources.

Lang-8

This free online language community provides a place for older kids to connect with each other while practicing languages. Users write in the languages they are studying and are corrected by native speakers.

Digital Dialects

Digital Dialects features free, easy-to-use interactive games and flashcards for teaching over 50 languages to children. Covered subjects include numbers, colors, food, vocabulary, greeting, phrases, and more.

Babbel

Babbel is a free, fun way to learn languages using pictures, videos, sound, and interactive elements. Kids can
use Babel to learn Spanish, French, Italian, English, and German.

Nanduti

Nanduti is a foreign language learning site designed for kids preK-8. This site discusses the benefits of early language learning, program development, teaching resources, and professional development.

Education writer: Karen Schweitzer who writes for Guideto Business School at About.com. She also writes for OnlineCollege.org

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Jul 22 2009

How Not To Be Angry With Your 3 Year Old

Category: Home, Montessori — The Writer @ 2:42 pm

“A child of 3 comes to us like a new human being” Maria Montessori. What we do during the 1st two years will help him to shape his potentials but he does not know yet how to use them: his voice, limbs etc. It has nothing to do with character building or discipline. They do not follow structure the way we understand it. They are exploring all that is given to them, it is important for him to get it off his system, or he will not feel he is growing.

This is not deviance: it is a sort of deviation from the norm, which to us is the human person we want our kids to become. Patience, understanding and empathy help to reach out to a 3 year old who is constantly demonstrating zest for learning and experience. When we have the faith in him to grow at his own pace, he will calm down because he starts to feel he has the attention. It does not matter at this point what you have to do to help him listen to you. Our first step is calm ourselves down when our 3 year old toddler misbehave.

In a classroom setting, 3 year old kids have reportedly taken as long as 3 months to overcome separation anxieties and settle down for classes. Teachers have to literally carry the child to the mat to join the rest of his friends during circle time, and teachers do this repetitiously to demonstrate (not tell) the child, that is what is expected of him when we sing to the class “Everybody sit down sit down, just like me.”

Punishment or reward will not help a child to grow out of this phase. To him, he is just like us, a human being with the same potentials which he needs to use at his own will. We want him to be independent yet a deviant child shows his desire to be independent in the best way he can.

The simplest solution to deal with 3 year old kids who do not seem to behave, is to prepare a stress release corner. This is a retreat not an isolation chamber. Here the child gets to release his boredom and stress doing mindless activities like playdough, cutting, chopping, pressing or hitting on drums. Make use of recycled materials and do not leave sharp objects unattended. He should be allowed to use a pair of scissors and shown how to handle it too. A 10 minute lesson goes a long way in educating child the importance of handling a pair of scissors than an hour of nagging about who is to be blamed for not noticing the child is holding one in his hand.

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