Dr. NozKidZ dr. nozkidz | 31 Oct 2008
English, English Everywhere
Children love games and they love challenges, too. If you want to interest your children in English, show them how English is everywhere in their lives.
It’s surprising how many places have English words, names, phrases, etc., from the obvious MacDonald’s sign to the famous “Trust me! You can make it!” TV advertisement.
But there are even more. When you have time, or you go on a car journey, get the kids to watch out for English signs, words and phrases on the street signs, etc. Talk about the words, and what they might mean. Give prizes or praise for each one they spot or guess correctly!
Soon your children will open their eyes to all the English around them. Then they will feel English is something to understand, enjoy, and to take part in. Best of all, they might learn something at the same time.
(first published in Koala Newsletter, March 1998.)
Cindy in the City Cindy | 18 Jun 2007
#3 - Be a Role-Model for Your Kids!
身教真的真的重於言教!
有些人會隨手把東西收好;有些人隨身攜帶一本書;有些人則是在公共場合大聲喧嘩…大家仔細想一想,這些習慣及做事方法,其實是”看”著其他人做學起來的。所以,小時候看著爸媽闖紅燈的小孩,也很習慣地擅自穿越馬路,把紅綠燈當參考;而那些有禮的人,他們的下一代也會懂得尊重他人。
我記得很多年以前,我教的一個男生–Daniel, 他上課時永遠都很興奮,說話聲音的分貝老是高的嚇人,我常常必須提醒他,”Daniel, don’t shout.” 久而久之,每當我要請他降低音量,才剛喊出Daneil,全班就很有默契地接”Don’t shout.” 連語調都一模一樣呢! 說實在的,第一次聽到時還真嚇了一跳,想說我沒有教你們這句啊??? 從那次之後,我才深深體會到,其實在我說話或跟他們相處的同時,我已經不知不覺教他們很多東西了。
講到這裡,有沒有恍然大悟,為什麼我的孩子永遠黏在電視機前面,或是我的孩子老是靜不下來專心做一件事,講了800次都不聽?請記得,當你希望孩子有怎麼樣的行為,做給他們看比說給他們聽有用太多囉!
Cindy in the City Cindy | 18 Jun 2007
#3 - Be a role model! (English Version)
Have you ever wondered why your kids are always glued to the TV or the latest online games? Why can’t my kids sit down and do some good 30-minute reading? Well, you might want to ask yourself: do I ever do exactly the same thing that I want my children to do? In other words, do I ever set an example?
When I was young (not that I’m old now!), my family hardly ever watched any TV shows other than the news. We usually spent our nights reading or playing chess. While we were reading books, my parents always kept us company by reading their own books or the newspaper. My parents still love to read and there are tons of books in the house. We have bookshelves in every room except the kitchen and the bathroom.
I remembered one boy I taught a few years ago, Daniel, who used to speak rather loudly. So I had to remind him, “Daniel, don’t shout!” After a couple of lessons, just when I asked him to lower his voice,”Daniel…”, “Don’t shout!” the rest of the class would finish the sentence for me. I was fairly surprised that they just picked up the language without being “officially” taught. I’m sure you all have experiences like this. Kids imitate your behavior, language, even your tone.
That’s actually my point here: Kids learn from us all the time, even when we are not aware of it. My suggestions? Doing yourself whatever you want your children to do is far more effective than saying it again and again!
(ed. English version is not a word-for-word translation of the Chinese).
Cindy in the City Cindy | 22 Feb 2007
#2 “Reading does matter!”
閱讀，對人的影響真的很大!
對一般人而言，閱讀或許只是學習知識的一種方法而已，但對於語言的學習，它可以發揮的作用可多著呢！單純地就語言來說，閱讀增進了詞彙運用的質-字句的通順，與量-字彙的多寡。但教書這麼多年下來，我發現有閱讀習慣的孩子，理解及表達的能力高於其他的孩子，邏輯思考及組織能力也較好，為了連貫上下文並了解所讀的東西，孩子的專注力也相對的提高；換句話說，因為有足夠的原料輸入(閱讀)，經過加工處理(理解與吸收)，才能有成品輸出(表達)。
從去年5月開始，我試著讓我的國中學生讀原文書，我們每星期利用30-60分鐘讀書，討論書中的內容及角色，而不是把時間花在查單字或講解文法句型。十個月下來，學生的理解能力有明顯的進步，從剛開始陪著他們讀，到現在他們可以自己看懂七成的內容；寫出來的文章不但通順許多，也言之有物。所以每當心急的家長問我：「David的文章老是寫得零零落落，是不是文法不好？」我總是先問：「David是不是沒有看書的習慣？」
看到這裡，與其緊張地買一堆英文書，不如先陪著孩子培養看書的習慣，即使是中文書都好，等習慣養成，這些改變也就慢慢出現了。不過，要提醒大家的是-要有耐心，這些改變是急不來的。希望大家也跟我們一樣享受閱讀，樂在其中！
