by Victor Cherubim
We are told that education is an experience in learning. Instead of being forced to learn something children are not interested, it should become a cycle of exploration. The sheer joy of discovery is what learning, if not life today, is all about?
Learning at an individual pace rather than being one of many in crowded schools is being trialled out in many parts of the world. As smart ones jump grades and weaker students can grasp concepts at their pace and ease, the question of catching up with the brightest or the comparing of the weakest, is no longer the view of educationists. They are experimenting on finding the right learning pattern for children of all ages.
Strategies for learning
Children differ from adults in their learning pattern, but there are also surprising common features across learners of all ages.
A study of young children has provided some interesting insights of children as learners. It was common thought that infants lack the ability to form complex ideas. Most psychologists were of the view that “a new born’s mind is a blank slate on which the record of experience is gradually impressed”. It was further thought that language is the obvious prerequisite for abstract thought and in its absence a baby could not have “knowledge”.
But challenges to this idea have been vented. Armed with new methodologies, psychologists began to accumulate data about the remarkable abilities that young children possess that is in stark contrast to older thesis.
The Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget observed that infants actually seek environmental stimulation that promotes their intellectual development.
After Piaget, others studied how new born began to integrate sights and sound and explore their perceptual world.
As information processing theories began to emerge, the mind became the metaphor as the computer, information processor and problem solver.
Although a great deal of children’s learning is self-motivated and self-directed, while others like parents, teachers serve as guides, so too powerful tools notably TV, now the mobiles have come into play. A great deal of assisted learning has come into prominence, whether it is face to face, or through the electronic media and related technology.
The method of visual expectation
Infants and even children will look at things they find interesting. Gaze patterns have been analysed to determine comprehension patterns of visual events. Studies have demonstrated what infants are capable of perceiving, knowing and remembering. As a result of this research, the methodology of infant understanding of the physical, the number and language have become remarkable.
Without delving into all the positive outcome of the learning process, let me introduce you to the process of learning and mastering a language.
Learning a language
Children have the opportunity for learning a new language, whether it is the mother tongue or a second language, because they can use context to figure out what someone must mean by various sentence structure and words. A child could determine the general meaning of “mango”, “eat” and “throw”. Similarly, if a mother says, “get your shirt” while pointing to the only loose object (a shirt) on the floor, the child begins to understand the meaning of “get” and “shirt”. Language is learned or rather acquired in an effortless way through action, by demonstration.
“The child uses meaning as a clue to language, rather than language as a clue to meaning” said MacNamara in 1972.
Say we want to learn English?
The fun way of learning English is not by the method of learning grammar, what are verbs, nouns and pronouns, but by “Search Word” and practice. Listening to words and searching their meaning and repeating the word over and again, is the first step to language learning.
Learning Words has to be fun. It must become a pastime, it must become a game.
Relating words by association, is the name of this game. The time to play this game
Is called: “English Time”. The start of this time is when they imitate their teacher or when they listen and learn, when the observe the coordination between mouth movements and speech –lip movements synchronised with sounds, it becomes interesting, and when it is interesting the child wants to practice this “Word Sound”
and gets a kick out of saying it over and over again, in jest. This continual physical action is called “practice”. A well-known language strategist, Janellen Huttenlocher (1996) has shown the fastest way to learn a language is by practising it as an ongoing and active process, not merely passively watch TV.
Another strategy for learning a language and used also to improve memory performance is called “clustering” or organising disparate pieces of information into meaningful units, to remember words and their usage. It is called by another name as “organising knowledge.”
From this view of learning and development we may come to conclude that learning is development and development is also learning.
The relationship between learning of English and go shopping at Lidl supermarket?
Lidl is the relatively new and highly competitive German supermarket chain of 280 stores all over Britain. In keeping with its philosophy of innovation, it has recently introduced a “Fun Size” supermarket trolley in its stores to temp children not to be bored while their parents shop. Kids often accompany parents during their shopping sprees and kids want action, pushing shop trolleys. Size and steering is difficult.
As well as getting kids engaged, in fact keeping them distracted, and parents to be more relaxed with their purses, Lidl has introduced these Kid’s Trolleys each named after items of fruit and vegetable in the store for the week, aiming to get children eating more healthy food, rather than sweetie diets.
It’s not knowing where this will end?
We are told that education is an experience in learning. Instead of being forced to learn something children are not interested, it should become a cycle of exploration. The sheer joy of discovery is what learning, if not life today, is all about?
Learning at an individual pace rather than being one of many in crowded schools is being trialled out in many parts of the world. As smart ones jump grades and weaker students can grasp concepts at their pace and ease, the question of catching up with the brightest or the comparing of the weakest, is no longer the view of educationists. They are experimenting on finding the right learning pattern for children of all ages.
Strategies for learning
Children differ from adults in their learning pattern, but there are also surprising common features across learners of all ages.
A study of young children has provided some interesting insights of children as learners. It was common thought that infants lack the ability to form complex ideas. Most psychologists were of the view that “a new born’s mind is a blank slate on which the record of experience is gradually impressed”. It was further thought that language is the obvious prerequisite for abstract thought and in its absence a baby could not have “knowledge”.
But challenges to this idea have been vented. Armed with new methodologies, psychologists began to accumulate data about the remarkable abilities that young children possess that is in stark contrast to older thesis.
The Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget observed that infants actually seek environmental stimulation that promotes their intellectual development.
After Piaget, others studied how new born began to integrate sights and sound and explore their perceptual world.
As information processing theories began to emerge, the mind became the metaphor as the computer, information processor and problem solver.
Although a great deal of children’s learning is self-motivated and self-directed, while others like parents, teachers serve as guides, so too powerful tools notably TV, now the mobiles have come into play. A great deal of assisted learning has come into prominence, whether it is face to face, or through the electronic media and related technology.
The method of visual expectation
Infants and even children will look at things they find interesting. Gaze patterns have been analysed to determine comprehension patterns of visual events. Studies have demonstrated what infants are capable of perceiving, knowing and remembering. As a result of this research, the methodology of infant understanding of the physical, the number and language have become remarkable.
Without delving into all the positive outcome of the learning process, let me introduce you to the process of learning and mastering a language.
Learning a language
Children have the opportunity for learning a new language, whether it is the mother tongue or a second language, because they can use context to figure out what someone must mean by various sentence structure and words. A child could determine the general meaning of “mango”, “eat” and “throw”. Similarly, if a mother says, “get your shirt” while pointing to the only loose object (a shirt) on the floor, the child begins to understand the meaning of “get” and “shirt”. Language is learned or rather acquired in an effortless way through action, by demonstration.
“The child uses meaning as a clue to language, rather than language as a clue to meaning” said MacNamara in 1972.
Say we want to learn English?
The fun way of learning English is not by the method of learning grammar, what are verbs, nouns and pronouns, but by “Search Word” and practice. Listening to words and searching their meaning and repeating the word over and again, is the first step to language learning.
Learning Words has to be fun. It must become a pastime, it must become a game.
Relating words by association, is the name of this game. The time to play this game
Is called: “English Time”. The start of this time is when they imitate their teacher or when they listen and learn, when the observe the coordination between mouth movements and speech –lip movements synchronised with sounds, it becomes interesting, and when it is interesting the child wants to practice this “Word Sound”
and gets a kick out of saying it over and over again, in jest. This continual physical action is called “practice”. A well-known language strategist, Janellen Huttenlocher (1996) has shown the fastest way to learn a language is by practising it as an ongoing and active process, not merely passively watch TV.
Another strategy for learning a language and used also to improve memory performance is called “clustering” or organising disparate pieces of information into meaningful units, to remember words and their usage. It is called by another name as “organising knowledge.”
From this view of learning and development we may come to conclude that learning is development and development is also learning.
The relationship between learning of English and go shopping at Lidl supermarket?
Lidl is the relatively new and highly competitive German supermarket chain of 280 stores all over Britain. In keeping with its philosophy of innovation, it has recently introduced a “Fun Size” supermarket trolley in its stores to temp children not to be bored while their parents shop. Kids often accompany parents during their shopping sprees and kids want action, pushing shop trolleys. Size and steering is difficult.
As well as getting kids engaged, in fact keeping them distracted, and parents to be more relaxed with their purses, Lidl has introduced these Kid’s Trolleys each named after items of fruit and vegetable in the store for the week, aiming to get children eating more healthy food, rather than sweetie diets.
It’s not knowing where this will end?
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