Thread: A serious question for you teachers

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

At present I'm giving my speaking/listening exams to P-1s. When I ask the questions: (flashcards) Can you name this animal. What colour is this banana, about 25% of them will answer by repeating my question, word for word.

I rest my case.............

ROTE Learning.

Nothing productive comes of it at that age.

Originally Posted by buriramboy

My daughter has just turned 5 and i was wondering what is the best way for me to teach my kid some basic maths, as in some simple addition and subtraction, this may sound a stupid question but i'm serious as i know f-all about teaching.

Buy an abacus

Maria's ideas came at about the same time as Steiner's. Not so different.

Waldorf education (also known as Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf education) is a pedagogy based upon the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy.

Learning is interdisciplinary, integrates practical, artistic, and intellectual elements, and is coordinated with "natural rhythms of everyday life". The Waldorf approach emphasizes the role of the imagination in learning, developing thinking that includes a creative as well as an analytic component.

Studies of the education describe its overarching goal as providing young people the basis on which to develop into free, moral and integrated individuals, and to help every child fulfill his or her unique destiny (the existence of which anthroposophy posits).Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula within collegial structures.

The first Waldorf school was founded in 1919; there are now about 1000 independent Waldorf schools and 1400 independent Waldorf kindergartens located in approximately sixty countries throughout the world, making up one of the world's largest independent educational systems; there are also Waldorf-based public and charter schools, homeschooling environments, and schools for special education. Waldorf methods have also been adopted by numerous educators teaching in other state and private schools.

We started at home with simple recognition of colours and pictures and the abc etc at around 2 from memory....obviously more fun and games than anything, but they all learn and remember it.

Originally Posted by BalconiesR4drinkinon

little boy is 3.5 years old. At what age should they be able to start reading and writing and counting etc.? Or what age should I be trying to teach him the basics?

Read to him, every night. Make it a ritual. Never miss out. Going to bed means "story time".
Slowly but surely kid will start following Dads lead, mouthing the words etc. The most important thing at this stage is to get the kid to understand, accept and embrace reading. Reading is a GOOD thing, done for pleasure and not a chore.

Originally Posted by Nawty

We started at home with simple recognition of colours and pictures and the abc etc at around 2 from memory....obviously more fun and games than anything, but they all learn and remember it.

Perfect. Just keep it going.

It might be worth thinking about developing a bit of a regime.

By that I mean a planned 1-2 hours a day/evening. Everyday. Just to keep it organised. A Diary is also usefull. He can tell you what to put in it.

"What did we do to day?"

He tells, you write.... for now.

Communication is what it's all about.

And alway let your child see you reading too. Use that childs need to want to be like mom or dad in a positive way by letting them see you read.

Originally Posted by BalconiesR4drinkinon

My missus' little boy is 3.5 years old. At what age should they be able to start reading and writing and counting etc.? Or what age should I be trying to teach him the basics?
I'd like him to get a good start but don't want to baffle him too early either.

Start now.

Numbers
Letters
Colours
Directions

But it must be a game.

Read to him, every night.

There's some great books out there with fantastic graphics which little kids love to look at whilst you read. The reading must be a ritual. Best start in the world.

Originally Posted by CSFFan

And alway let your child see you reading too. Use that childs need to want to be like mom or dad in a positive way by letting them see you read.

Very, very good point.

Fill your kids living space with books. Buy it by the hundredweight. Comics, magazines, books, stories. What ever. Swamp the place with reading / looking material from the age of two. So what if they eat it.

And then spend time sharing it with your kid.

You'll feel so good when 2-3-4 yr old "whatever" comes up to you with a book or something and THEY want to share it with you.

Then you're sorted.

Thanks for the advice, he doesn't speak english yet and my thai is woeful, so I guess I'll use books with plenty of pictures.

That's the way. With kids in a bilingual home it's often a concern.
Fear not they'll cope. Pictures, with simple text is good. Your wife can do the same in Thai. The kid'll work it out eventually, and be so much better off for it.

The Cognitive period, around 5-6-7 is when it's all start coming together for him/her.

Then he/she'll start to see the difference 'twixt Thai and English and and it'll start working.

It's a bit like throwing / giving him the peices of the jigsaw. Right now he's looking at them. He'll start putting them together as he develops.

Originally Posted by jandajoy

Fill your kids living space with books. Buy it by the hundredweight. Comics, magazines, books, stories. What ever. Swamp the place with reading / looking material from the age of two. So what if they eat it. And then spend time sharing it with your kid. You'll feel so good when 2-3-4 yr old "whatever" comes up to you with a book or something and THEY want to share it with you. Then you're sorted.

And thats the perfect post...remember that learning starts at home.

Yes it is a concern, beacause I keep thinking he'll get confused with the 2 languages, at the the moment I speak my pidgeon thai to him, would it be better to speak only english? He does pick words up pretty well.

Originally Posted by jandajoy

Read to him, every night. Make it a ritual. Never miss out. Going to bed means "story time".

very good advice.

Originally Posted by BalconiesR4drinkinon

Yes it is a concern, beacause I keep thinking he'll get confused with the 2 languages, at the the moment I speak my pidgeon thai to him, would it be better to speak only english?

actually yes.

Its better he learns that you speak one language and mom another.

pidgin whatever will just end up confusing him as to which language is which.

Originally Posted by BalconiesR4drinkinon

Yes it is a concern, beacause I keep thinking he'll get confused with the 2 languages, at the the moment I speak my pidgeon thai to him, would it be better to speak only english? He does pick words up pretty well.

You stick to English - real English, not the English you use with your wife.

Wife and family stick to Thai.

Eventually he'll start to differentiate, around 6-7 yrs old. He may stutter a bit at that age or seem strangely quiet. Don't worry. Imagine what his head is processing!

The differentiation is quite important. You can make it clear to him when you read.

"This book is English"

When you wife reads to him she does the same, "This book is THai"

Fear not, he'll get it.

I speak only english to my kids and wifey speaks both thai and english, but her english is pretty good. Nanny only thai.

As a result, both kids, 6 and 3yo are fluent in both lingos, as fluent as a 3 and 6yo can be in any language at that age.

My 6yo son was translating to me at 2yo.

We never do the bed time book thing. Don't know why, dont recall ever being done with me very much as a kid. It certainly has not effected his abilities now. But I might just go and get some books for him to read at home some more. he does enjoy it.

The book at bedtime is great.
it instills love of reading, which lasts for life.
Books are fun, books are great, lets pick up a book today and read.

Originally Posted by Nawty

Now, my questions....should a 6yo be bringing home piles of homework at thia age. I never remember having homework at that age. I feel so bad for the poor kid as they are up at 6.30am to get ready for school, they leave at 7.15am, home at 4pm and then he has at least an hour of homework to do almost every day.

I have the same problem with my 7-year old. I can't understand the amount of homework he has. He goes to extra classes after school so finishes at 5:30 most days. One day a couple of weeks ago he had about 4 hours of homework, given by different teachers. Most of the homework my wife and I oversee is fairly stupid and is material that really should be covered in class, particularly in his social studies class.

I never had that much homework. Granted, I was in a different country and a straight A student, which my son is not, but I still think it's excessive.

I share his joy, and his sister's when they come home and answer me, "No homework, daddy!" I'm happy for them because I think they generally have too much.

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

The book at bedtime is great. it instills love of reading, which lasts for life. Books are fun, books are great, lets pick up a book today and read.

I agree. I picked up my love of reading about age 7 and I still have it. Unfortunately, my kids don't speak understand enough English yet for me to do the bed time reading, my wife handles that every night. I never hesitate to buy books for the kids, and am waiting for them to graduate from 'comic' books to real ones, hopefully soon.

Originally Posted by MisterStretch

I share his joy, and his sister's when they come home and answer me, "No homework, daddy!" I'm happy for them because I think they generally have too much.

Unfortunately many teachers just give out homework for the sake of it, not because it may enhance or consolidate the learning covered in classes.

There is a good arguement these days for NOT giving any homework....

I doubt many thai schools have heard of it yet.

You CAN go and speak to the teachers invovled, question the amount of homework being given, question the appropriateness of the homework, question the principals, ask the teachers to coordinate together so that the students are not overwhelmed.

Many schools will accommodate these requests, do not just accept it.

A few years ago I was flabbergasted to see my then current girlfriend (who was completing her school certificate as a mature age student) be given a homework assignment of draw up the peridodic table in science. I asked he why not draw it using a computer program?

Not allowed? So she spent 3 hours drawing a grid. she knew fuck all about the elements or how to read the periodic table, but at least she had drawn one by hand!

Nice to know others feel the same and it is happening elsewhere.

I too am wondering if it is just handed out willy nilly and why the same stuff is not covered in class.

We received a request for my son to do after hours schooling also, this was straight after school finished for an hour and half. No school bus then, so we had to pick him up and the content was to help the child complete unfinished work, complete homework and so on.

I told them to stick it up their hooters. Far as I am concerned they should be completing all works in school hours, particularly at this age.

Originally Posted by Nawty

Far as I am concerned they should be completing all works in school hours, particularly at this age.

Maybe I can help answer this question, I work with 110 Thai primary teachers. But what I can judge for teachers in Thailand comes only from one source, my little private school of employment.

The key work is jaded! Next is over-worked. Next is under-paid. Next is disrespectful Thai kids where the main objective for a teacher is crowd control.

We have 50+ students per class and the teachers earn 10,000 a month, that's all teachers, new and old. They have two resources: blackboard and chock.

Now if your child's school has better paid teachers (we aren't in BKK) or considerably smaller classes, AC, good resources, there are no excuses for giving so much homework .. just Thai laziness.

zillions of kids math books at SAED and Asia Bookstores

bet the kids love em