The Science of Learning

One of my favorite secret talents of Mr. Urban's is his way with languages.

Pick any word in the English language for example and he will tell you its dictionary definition as well as its spelling.

It's amazing to me, as he only picked up English in the eleventh grade (Junior year as its called in the US), as his forth or fifth language, after Farsi, Arabic, German, and before or possibly after Latin...

Nevertheless, he is a devout English speaker... having never cut any corners in acquiring it.

I asked him once how he became a walking Webster and in his always down to earth way, he casually replied "SAT Flashcards" as though it was the easiest of things.

Recently, I gave myself a gift of SAT Flashcards. I have yet to use them, but each time I look at the box my heart flutters at the thought 500 or so beautiful words sitting pretty in there.

The other day I was reading a chapter on language and communication in Mind In The Making. A great book which uses developmental research to give tips on nurturing seven essential skills of: Focus and Self Control, Perspective Taking, Communication, Making Connections, Critical Thinking, Taking on Challenges and Self-Directed Engaged Learning in your children (and hopefully, yourself). This book is a must read for parents!

A few lines about acquiring language and vocabulary for children really resonated with me: "Children's words signal their sophistication of their thinking..." A child with access to languages and a rich vocabulary can "index a more complex [and richer] array of possibilities for dealing with [and experiencing] the world"...

Some obvious tips on enhancing communication skills is "meaty" dinner time conversations which go beyond talking about the food on the plate to discussions on topics of interest to the family, family stories (where parents tell a story about an event and ask the child if they can think of a similar story to tell), asking the children (even toddlers) "what do you think" after talking about current affairs and such. Also, reading, drawing, painting, crafts, and reading and reading and reading (both with the child and the parents by themselves) really enhances your child's communications abilities.

So here I go cracking open my SAT cards and opening the possibilities to my own experiences with this world... and hopefully setting a good example along the way for the little chicken.

And by the way, research shows that teaching your kids through Flashcards or Drills or Software is not as effective as through talking, playing, games, art and reading stories, etc... "Time with a parent is the most valuable teaching tool for a child."

Comments

FORTY THREE YEARS, SEVEN MONTHS AND FORTY DAYS

My life and the life of every Iranian I know, is bookended by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. It doesn't matter that I was barely old enough to remember this historic event or that I spent the decades that followed it, far far away from Iran, the Revolution of 1979 is a heavy, tacky, cruel bookend that defines who we used to be, who we are and the recurring nightmares and dreams we’ve had for 43 years. I can pinpoint with certainty the exact month after which a general feeling of displacement settled like sticky dust all over me, my family, my classroom, my teachers, our closest friends, our home, our city… In the years and decades that followed, I never experienced another event that brought such a magnitude of change to the nucleus of life. Not in Iran, and definitely not after a whole life lived outside of Iran. Perhaps only recently, the experience of the Trump years and the Covid-19 pandemic, the significant fear, change and frustration that both events brought to our col

On Donald Trump, Crunchy Bananas and our Children... A "How To" on keeping up Spirits and Sanity

The other morning at breakfast, my four year old looked, yet again somberly, at the breakfast before her. Despite having enthusiastically selected a hodgepodge of liberally salted hard boiled egg whites on the side of toasted hamburger buns, strawberries and vanilla yogurt and a cup of milk, she still could not bring herself to enjoy her breakfast. Her face was wrinkled, as was mine with exasperation from yet another failed attempt at assembling a palatable breakfast for my picky eater. This one, she is quite the philosopher. And before I could ask her why she wasn't eating, she said: "Two Things!" Holding up two tiny fingers. "The smells of these foods I picked, don't go with each other! And I wish Donald Trump would magically become Hillary Clinton, and the word (world) would be GREAT again". Despite our best efforts to protect our children from the anxiety of these times, they are alert and picking up on the mood (and the lingo) in the wor

Safa

I have always loved words. The way some people love shiny new objects. As soon as I heard a new word, a word that captured my imagination, my energy, my hundreds of unnamed inner thoughts and feelings, I would latch on to it with fearceness, joy and curiosity. I have also always been intrigued by how regular old words can be used in an unexpected context and evoke bursts of unexpected feelings in the listener, such as laughter, anticipation or tears. I would search for those words coming out of the mouths of everyone around me, and mentally catalog them like a dutiful librarian, and await the opportunity to say the words with my own mouth out loud to an audience, or better yet use it in an essay where the teacher could grade it, get a kick out of it, or read it to the whole class. As a child I always loved the Persian word Safa . For one thing the word sounds so simple, yet sophisticated and beautiful, and for another, each of my memories of hearing this word is stored in th

An Urban Girl

Search This Blog