Helping Children to Learn

Three essential Es...
Encourgement
Encouriging and praising the children is a great way to give them confidence in who they are and what they do. Encouragment will make them more receptive to new ideas, experiences and skills.
Recent studies show that boys sometimes need extra encouragement with learning to read than girls.
Example
The best teachers are those who inspire by example.
How can we help
Show lots of enthusiasm for new experiences and new ideas. Getting the children engaged in any type of physical and social development by planying active games is great idea.
Tell stories and show that you enjoy reading and writing. When teaching numbers, do simple working out aloud so that the kids can hear the processes of adding and taking away.
Teachers should explain to the kids that we can't know everything all at once, sometimes it's great just to wonder.
Teachers should praise persistence, knowing when to stop and/ or take the next step.
Environment
How can we help
We should provide an invironment in which learning can thrive in the classroom. We should make sure that the children have plenty of opportunities for quiet so that they can develop concentration and learn better.

Why do we say?

Did you know when you say OK you're making a political statement? Well, at one time you would have been. Now a staple of English vocabulary, OK only caught on after it was a campaign reallying cry for the 1836 presidential candidate Martin Van Buren, whose nickname was Old Kinderderhook.
That's just one of many English words and phrases that have evolved over the years, making up an important part of the language and culture and one of the most colorful expressions used in everyday English without necessarily knowing what it means.

Useful Techniques for Effective communication in the Classroom

A central principle of groupwork is that each person's contribution is valued equally. Four techniques which encourage sharing and active participation by everyone in the group are circle, brainstorming, rounds and the use of games.
Circle: there are a number of advantaged to sitting in a circle to do groupwork:

• You can all see and hear each other.
• You can all make eyes contact.
• You are all equal.
• The facilitator or leader is a member of the group.
• It's easier to concentrate and listen to each other.
• You feel like a group.

The aim is for the circle quickly to become a safe place, where people can speak freely, express their opinions, share their feelings and contribute, or not, without fear of ridicule.

Brainstorming: it is important to get across to the group that you are going to take serioiusly whatever it is that they say. We feel that the best way to do this is to write down absolutetly everything they say, and censor nothing, even if it is silly.

Underlying all the purposes of brainstorming, there is one fundamental aim: the enhancemet of self-concept. It is not magilcal, it is not panacea, but it is a very subtle and effective method. The fact that all contributions are accepted and anonymous, that no one is excluded or evaluated, that most of the time the facilitator cannot even notice who is participating, all add up to a positive feeling in the group.

Round: A round is an activity in which is person in the circle has an opportunity to make a statement about whatever subject is agreed by the group. One person starts, and the turns move round the circle. There are two rules. First, no one may comment on what anyone else says; second, anyone can say ' I pass ' when it is their turn.

The round can be used at any point where there needs to be an expression of opinion, or feedback, or planning, or evalution.

Using Games: Games have many uses in groupwork. They help people to relax and they stimulate communication. Brandes and Ginnis have lots of good ideas for games that can be played in adult groups. They suggest that games can:

• Provide a structure to lean on .
• Initiate group work skills.
• Defuse tension.
• Build trust and sensivity.
• Enhance self esteem.
• Provide opportunity for everyone to participate (or not).
• Enhance academic achievement.
• Break down barriers.
• Promote good communication.
• Improve group functioning.
• Increase self-disclosure.
• Increase concentration.
• Encourage creativity and lateral thinking.

Some adults have an in-built resistence to any activity which is introduced as a 'game'. Yet just as a medicine doesn't have to taste vile in order to do you good, so activities don't have to be intellectual to have a seriouis learning purpose to them. On the contrary, people learn best when they are relaxed and energized. If games are introduced in the right way, people resiste them less and often discover that they have a wealth of creative talent. A group which keeps bursting into laughter while applying itself to the task in hand is unhindered by inhibiton or embarrasment and free to explore every possibility.