Teaching 2-3 year olds in pakistan is so tuff on the childrens why?

Question

i have lived all my life in uk.now i am in pakistan just started to help in a local school playgroup i was surprised to see how much stress they put 2-3 year olds to memorise the alphabet,numbers,colours etc.i was so use to seeing kids play dance enjoy early school days in england.now i was wandering if anyone had any ideas which can help children here to enjoy yet learn aswell

Answer 1

Run into the same problem in Taiwan.  Some things I found helpful:

If you can find a puzzle that uses 4 colors and nothing else, get it.  I'm thinking maybe a puzzle of circles that has it cut into halves, thirds, and quarters.  Take all the puzzle pieces off it and give them to the children one at a time.  Say the name of the color and have them repeat it.  They can have it when they say the name.  They'll eventually learn it this way and it's not as stressful as sitting there teaching them.

When coloring, take all the markers.  Have them name the color before you give it to them.  Have them use one at a time.

Action words are big at this age.  A good song while you do the actions:

"Walking, Walking, Walking, Walking

Hop Hop Hop.  Hop Hop Hop.

Running Running Running

Running Running Running

Now we stop.  Now we stop."

After they're used to doing that, add other words.  "Spinning," "crawling," and "marching" seem to work well with my 2 year old students.

Numbers:  Songs are helpful here.  Try to find a song that has a part that is different from the rest.  Many songs have a singing part then a phrase or two that is spoken.  The children love saying these spoken parts.  Change your voice and make it obvious you want them to repeat what you're saying.  Make sure there are actions with any song you do.

Also with numbers, activities are important.  When you're working with stuff, count how many there are with them.  Do an activity where you're jumping and counting.  Start off with 1 jump.  Then do 2 jumps.  Then 3...all the way to 10.  55 jumps will wear you down...trust me.  But they'll eventually get it.

Use small puppets (not big ones at this age.  They may be afraid) to act out conversations.  The children will usually try to repeat anything you say, so saying, "How are you?" and training them to answer the question is difficult.  Have the puppets say "How are you?" to you and you reply with whatever answer.  Then have the puppet ask the child.  It may take a while...so don't get frustrated.  Just keep modeling how to give the right response.

Cheer a lot.  When a student gives the right answer or tries to give it, give them lots of applause.  They get a huge smile on their face and they are glad they tried.  Other children see this and try their best as well.

Letters - most of them are not ready.  I don't care what anyone says.

One last thing - a lot of this will have to do with appearance.  Even if you do no English and have the kids color some animal pictures that say "bird" or "cat" at the bottom, the parents will be all giddy that their child is bringing something home with English on it.  At least that's how it is in Taiwan.  They don't care how much they know.  They care about how much paperwork they did - even if there was no learning involved.  Sucks, but true.

Good luck!

Matt

Answer 2

play the word game, give them pictures to colour, sing along with them, make them have fun for 80% of the day and 20% to study alphabet, numbers, colors, etc.