What we can expect from early learning
For better outcomes, we need advanced strategies and should not focus solely on output.
Hello, Buddy! Happy Tuesday, hope you’re feeling okay !!
Let's talk about childhood learner, math and language literacy for early learning. Is learning foreign language important at early age? The struggle of early childhood teachers, math and language skills, and how should we prepare for Indonesia Emas 2045.
I hope you enjoy it!
The mothers in my hometown are obsessed with English learning for their children. Although I don’t have quantitative data about this obsession, I hear a lot about mothers' dreams for their children's education. Anyway, I'm a part-time English teacher. I'm so proud that the parents in this place are well-aware of their kids' education, moreover, about language learning. However, I doubt that they really know what to expect from language learning at an early stage. Wait, should parents know what to expect from their children's learning, or should they just work on a daily basis to earn more?
It turns out, the involvement of parents is truly important for their children's development, simply by checking their grades, asking about their homework, and engaging in other forms of social interaction. In many cases, what I see is that parents expect their children to pass expected grades and to be able to get into better schools without understanding the outcome of the learning.
The parents' goal for school is output, not outcome.
I taught the youngest students, grades 1-3, a few times ago, and they are truly cute, I would say. Their excitement and happy faces during class are a real energy boost for me to meet them again and again. Sometimes, their excitement can make class management a huge task to handle. Some I can't control because of their aggressiveness, and others because they ask repetitive questions (I enjoy it, sometimes). It was fun to see it, but sometimes, it drained my energy.
Child domains of development are divided into 4 approaches.
Kindergartens in several countries tend to focus more on socioemotional development, like in Germany and some schools in Malaysia. Deciding which one is the most important is too vague because these four developments are intertwined with each other. Some kindergartens simply decide which one to prioritize first because today's elementary curriculum or prerequisites emphasize reading. In the case of my hometown, many kindergartens and educational institutions focus on language and mathematics. Don’t worry if your kindergarten doesn't do this; the brain of a young child can grow rapidly.
Language Literacy
Kindergarten classrooms designed for peer interaction can positively impact children’s cognitive, language, literacy, and social skills. When it comes to learning a foreign language, exposure and a supportive environment are needed. But sometimes, we forget about their capability to form sentences in their first language and understand what they are saying. Children who learn a second language at a young age may have an easier time learning the second language in school, but they may also experience some interference from their first language. The kinds of interference can happen in various ways, such as having difficulty distinguishing between similar words in two different languages.
It’s true that bilingual or multilingual children face more communicative challenges but may develop better cognitive skills and inhibitory control through language suppression. Early oral language competencies are crucial for later literacy development, as children with strong oral language skills learn new language and literacy skills faster.
In order to make the maximum effort, educators, schools, and development stakeholders should work hand-in-hand to support a rich linguistic experience at early ages, which comes in the form of the school environment. A rich language environment involves daily reading opportunities, interactive discussions, and much more.
Then, what about mathematics literacy?
Surprisingly, mathematical understanding begins during infancy and develops extensively over the next 5 years of life. Early math skills, such as recognizing "more" and "less" and basic qualities, are fundamental for future mathematics learning. In the new book by Adam Grant, “Hidden Potential,” he said that mathematics skills are crucial for academic success and can even increase annual salary once they enter the workforce. There’s a relation between language literacy and mathematical reasoning. Oral language and literacy skills can predict numeracy development and showcase the relationships with mathematical learning.
Although these two skills are promised to be the key factors for academic success and future endeavors, I can’t ignore the reality in the field. Class management can be chaotic, and the focus is often on disciplining students rather than focusing on students’ learning outcomes.
In grade 4, it took nearly 15 minutes just to ensure they sat properly in their chairs. Grade 5 students interrupt me all the time with their silly activities. Grade 6, with a wider gap in understanding, is truly a challenge. Grade 3 students have loud voices and ask repetitive questions, which also happens in grade 2. There are moments when I feel the immediate need is to teach them how to regulate their emotions (referring back to Figure 1). I often contemplate the challenges that full-time kindergarten and elementary teachers face every day.
Early childhood teachers should be assisted. An early childhood teacher education journal stated that improving childhood teachers' knowledge to foster a growth mindset in children can promote positive learning outcomes.
For better outcomes, we need advanced strategies and should not focus solely on output.
Taking care of teachers, creating a better school environment, implementing a good curriculum, and giving teachers time to learn the rules and procedures are essential. Our goal is to achieve Indonesia Emas 2045, and as Pak Gita Wirjawan always says in his videos, “We need to produce a Nobel winner from Indonesia.
Latest video I watched on the complexity of education problem.
Source:
Allen, L., Kelly, B. B., & Families, B. O. C. Y. A. (2015, July 23). Child development and early learning. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310550/
Boylan, F., Barblett, L., & Knaus, M. (2023). I think I can, I think I can’t: design principles for fostering a growth mindset in the early years. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 45(1), 96–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2023.2251924
Stramel, J. (2021, April 27). The importance of early childhood mathematics. Pressbooks. https://fhsu.pressbooks.pub/ecumath/chapter/chapter-1/
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1320137.pdf
Hidden Potential by Adam Grant.
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