Preparing Your Preschooler for Primary 1? Take note of these 4 things.
A friend, Lily, recently shared her frustrations of teaching her preschooler addition. Her child, who will be in primary one next year, showed little to no interest in learning.
I’ll bet that there’re tens of thousands of parents in Singapore who share the same anxiety. If their children, entering primary school soon, are not interested in learning, will they be ready for the challenges of formal schooling?
Children’s disinterest in learning can be due to various reasons. One reason is that like adults, children have preferences for certain types of content. When they are learning their preferred content (think computer games, apps, etc.) they are often self-motivated and self-directed. For content that they are less interested in, they will need more effort, persuasion and will to achieve a desired level of mastery.
However, educational psychologists believe that with assistance from other competent children and adults like parents, teachers and coaches, children are able to learn at a level that may otherwise be out of their reach if they are left on their own to learn. This observation, known as the zone of proximal development, was made famous by the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934).
The role played by parents in their children’s learning and development, hence, cannot be understated. In fact, most parents know this. But often they don’t know what they can or should do, or if what they’re doing are right. Through this post, I hope to share some insights that will help you lay a good foundation for your children’s lifelong interest in learning, even for content that they have little or no interest in.
4 things to take note of:
1. Is my child used to the format of learning?
Typically, learning in classrooms takes on a “sit and listen” mode. Compared to a play setting, such as at a playground, five minutes of sitting and listening is simply too long. Why? Because it goes against most children’s learning behaviours such as touching, exploring, talking, experimenting and running around. But the fact is that schools in Singapore are still organised this way; in classrooms, children are still required to “sit and listen”.
If you want to initiate your children to these “sit and listen” sessions, keep them short at first, say, 15–30 minutes. Your aim is to familiarise your children with the format in school. Some children may find it hard to adjust to sitting for half a day in school in primary one, and this may reduce their academic success and affect their self-confidence.
Also, don’t attempt to introduce new and alien content during these sessions. Start with content that your children already shows much interest in – even if it’s not related to the actual school curriculum. Remember, what you want is to get your children used to the formal learning format first.
2. Is the content too easy?
Young children seek out challenges, for they are natural problem-solvers. If they are bored by content that is too easy, their boredom can sometimes manifest as a lack of interest. It’s time to move on to content that challenges them.
3. Is the content too difficult?
When children are faced with stress, excessive pressure, or perceived threats, they react defensively by default. So when children have to learn content that is too challenging, their brains do what they are supposed to do, i.e. induce self-preservation. The children talk about things that are not related to the topic in hand. They get restless and walk around the room. They get angry. They zone out. These are natural responses. When they happen, you need to keep your cool. Taking the cane out or raising your voice at this time isn’t going to make matters better – and may make things worse.
Every child has his and her own unique learning trajectory. Let’s say your children don’t know the answer to 3 + 1, but it is something they are supposed to know. Don’t start off by putting them down; they have pride too, and they want their parents to be proud of them. Instead, revisit the fundamentals, such as counting, in order to access their level of understanding. Formally, we call this process scaffolding (which was made famous by the educational psychologist Jerome Bruner, a Harvard professor). Once your children shows competency in the content, remove the initial scaffold and build a higher scaffold to move them forward. Your role is to regulate the complexity and level of difficulty for your children. Put it another way: If you want to conquer Mt Everest, won’t you start by building up your stamina, then maybe climb Mt Kinabalu first? You won’t attempt to scale Mt Everest at the beginning, will you? That’s almost as sure as failure. When it comes to learning, the same process applies.
When teaching content that your children perceive to be hard, foster what the psychologist Carol Dweck calls the “growth mindset” – the belief that one can improve one’s skills and qualities through effort and perseverance. When children believe this, they will put in extra time and effort, leading to higher achievement. The growth mindset has been proven to work and improve children’s self-esteem and, eventually, their grades.
4. Does the content delivery facilitate understanding?
You have taught your children the content, but it doesn’t mean they have truly understood it. Look for signs of confusion or conceptual misunderstanding; you can tell from their faces. If your children are still unable to, say, tell you that 5 + 5 = 10, then change your teaching method. There’s no point going over and over again something that doesn’t work. You can, for example, start making balls with their playdough. Make five balls in blue and five in red, and place the balls with consecutive numbers in a line, to make the concept more concrete. The key thing here is that every child is unique, and the way he or she takes in information is different. You’ll need to find the teaching and learning techniques that suit your children best – that’ll be half the battle won.
Take another example: You want to to your children to learn how to tell time. Start with what is relevant to their daily life. Help your children understand that 7am is breakfast, 9am is the start of the school day, 12pm is lunchtime, 5pm is outdoor time and so on. From there, your children become familiar with the concept of time. Then, move on to what 9am looks like on the clock. What should the short hand and the long hand point to?
You can also incorporate the content that you want your children to learn into their play. For example, at the playground, as they are climbing up a structure, count the steps for them and also with them so that they can learn about numbers. When you’re building sandcastles with them, it’s a good time to teach them about weight. Fill both big and small buckets with sand and ask your children to hold them. Balance both buckets on a beam and let them see which side goes up and which goes down. Your objective is to help your children learn, so it doesn’t matter if the learning doesn’t take place in a formal setting. In fact, if your children learn while they are playing, chances are they will remember and be able to apply what they have learnt to new situations. This happens where true learning, which is beyond rote learning and memorisation, takes place.
What's our role as parents?
Studies have shown that children want to learn and will enjoy learning if they are motivated by their own successes, even in school settings where the learning is intentional. But they need adults to help them. We need to take up the challenge of helping them regulate the level of difficulty and cope better with effective learning strategies.
What are your favourite strategies to help your children learn? What concerns about your children’s learning do you have? Do share your thoughts in the comments.
Angeline Tong is an architect of narratives and Chief Curator at HOL, an experience strategy and curation consultancy. Angeline has a Master of Education (Human Development & Psychology) from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from Harvard University. She currently resides in Singapore.
To contact Angeline, email atong@hol.sg
