So I just returned from taking a week long intensive class in teaching English as a second language, or TESOL. I took the class as a means to an end. After taking the course I am eligible to do a distance learning course to get a degree in education. I want to get the degree as a safety net in case the work situation takes a nose dive. But after taking the class I am so happy I went for another reason. I learned that we are far underestimating the ability of our kids! And I don't mean just my wife and I. I mean society in general.
The class showed a video by The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. In it they showed how amazingly capable a child's brain is of learning new information and concepts at an incredible rate of speed. It mentioned how all kids are born geniuses and we de-genius them by not challenging them, especially in their early years. If you have children, especially under 6, I highly recommend checking them out. They use flash cards at a very fast rate of speed to teach kids "bits of knowledge". It is really amazing how fast our little sponges can learn things and retain them. Needless to say we will be challenging our girls much more now that we are informed.
We also learned some methods for making learning fun. We learned how to use physical activities to get the brain to register information more quickly and accurately. We learned methods to take better notes ourselves and how to get more out of meetings, talks or presentations we go to. For more info on that, Google Brain Mapping. We learned that learning a new language isn't as hard as it may seem. In fact, you really only need to learn around 800 words in any given language to be basically fluent for everyday conversations. And only 100 words to be 50% proficient. That little bit of knowledge makes learning a new language much less daunting.
Most of the methods that were taught make learning fun and interesting. It makes you do things like sing, dance, act, juggle, role play, and exercise all while learning. If our schools taught kids using these methods, kids would look forward to school instead of dreading it. We would have much smarter people graduating from school more prepared to face the world. Now if I only were rich enough to send my girls to a private school that does use these methods. Of better yet, had the time and ability to teach them myself. Regardless, we will be including these activities in our family time from now on.
So look out! I am going to let my girls stay the geniuses that they came to me as. Too bad it is too late for me!
The class showed a video by The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. In it they showed how amazingly capable a child's brain is of learning new information and concepts at an incredible rate of speed. It mentioned how all kids are born geniuses and we de-genius them by not challenging them, especially in their early years. If you have children, especially under 6, I highly recommend checking them out. They use flash cards at a very fast rate of speed to teach kids "bits of knowledge". It is really amazing how fast our little sponges can learn things and retain them. Needless to say we will be challenging our girls much more now that we are informed.
We also learned some methods for making learning fun. We learned how to use physical activities to get the brain to register information more quickly and accurately. We learned methods to take better notes ourselves and how to get more out of meetings, talks or presentations we go to. For more info on that, Google Brain Mapping. We learned that learning a new language isn't as hard as it may seem. In fact, you really only need to learn around 800 words in any given language to be basically fluent for everyday conversations. And only 100 words to be 50% proficient. That little bit of knowledge makes learning a new language much less daunting.
Most of the methods that were taught make learning fun and interesting. It makes you do things like sing, dance, act, juggle, role play, and exercise all while learning. If our schools taught kids using these methods, kids would look forward to school instead of dreading it. We would have much smarter people graduating from school more prepared to face the world. Now if I only were rich enough to send my girls to a private school that does use these methods. Of better yet, had the time and ability to teach them myself. Regardless, we will be including these activities in our family time from now on.
So look out! I am going to let my girls stay the geniuses that they came to me as. Too bad it is too late for me!
This is awesome! I'm guessing it's Harry Cotton? I want to do this so bad! Very cool blog! - Jess
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! I'm guessing it's Harry Cotton? I want to do this so bad! Very cool blog! - Jess
ReplyDelete