Not sure who all I have shared this with or not, so I will just go ahead and spill the beans here and now. I am thinking about changing my career plans. I have been busting my buns to become a nurse and lately, I am not sure if I want to be a nurse anymore. I know I want to do something in the medical field, but what? Several people suggested doing the massage therapy program online, except that I have giving massages so it would not be a good field for me to take part in. I tossed around the idea of becoming a teacher, but would I really want to deal with children all day long? So many ideas to toss around… and ugh, the student loan debt I will be encountering.
Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
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The Best Time for Bilingual Education- Early Childhood Learning
December 13th, 2010 
Jessica Of course, nobody knows what the future will hold – but if current trends continue, your child will grow up to enter a workforce in which the competition for decent-paying jobs will be nothing short of cut-throat. Despite the calls for greater co-operation and “interdependence,” human nature being what it is, it’s a good bet that the economy of the the future will operate according to the Law of the Jungle. It goes without saying that a good education is one of the best ways to prepare that child for survival in that economic jungle of the future.
The Bilingual Future
One of the future trends that has become certain is the existence of a diverse, global society. Nowhere is this more true than in the United States. Almost from the beginning, the U.S. has been a land of immigrants, and while the “melting pot” has been an interesting theory, it has not happened in practice. On the contrary, most major U.S. population centers have become more of an ethnic and linguistic checkerboard; Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Chinese speakers represent some of the fastest-growing segments of the immigrant U.S. population.
In addition, with the rise of China, English may very well lose its preeminence as the international language of business; at best, it will have to share that top status with Mandarin in decades to come.
Getting Ready
Traditional wisdom has been to start teaching a second language in middle school, or even high school. Yet numerous research studies clearly demonstrate that the optimal period in a child’s life for multilingual education is during the preschool years – at exactly the same time they are learning their first language. Yes, it is possible to learn a second and third language later in life, but it is more difficult, because that neurological “window of opportunity” – when the brain is most malleable – has passed.
According to Dr. Fred Genessee, Professor of Psychology at McGill University in Montreal, it’s as easy for young children to learn two or three languages as it is for them to learn one. He’s not alone; educators throughout the world (in countries that often have two or even three official languages) have understood this for decades.
The way a child learns a second language is by actually speaking it in a total immersion environment. You may recall an episode of the animated series The Simpsons in which young Bart gets trapped on a farm in France – and by the end of the episode, finds he’s actually speaking the language. While this was a fictional scenario, the phenomenon is real; anyone who has taken young children abroad to stay with relatives in a foreign country for any length of time has observed this happening.
Enrollment in a preschool program that offers immersion in other languages is the best way to get your child started. This investment will make him/her much more competitive in the job market later on.
Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas
Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Austin day care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of day care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.
Preschool Learning Games Make Learning Fun
December 8th, 2010 Jessica If a child was given the choice to learn a lesson or play a game, most children would opt for having fun. This likely doesn’t come as a surprise but things can’t be all fun and games for kids because there comes a time for learning, right? Actually, that’s not entirely true. Did you know that many researchers have found that when playing is combined with learning, kids actually learn at their best? This is why there are many preschool learning games that have been designed to keep preschoolers entertained while they develop important skills.
The right games can be very educational for kids as this type of entertainment can be engaging, informative and persuasive – in short, it can maintain their interest. In order to be able to grasp what is being taught, a child needs to be focused and their attention captured. Preschool learning games that are interactive assist in achieving this goal.
What is an interactive game? It’s a form of amusement where the results that are achieved at various points of the game are determined based on the response to decisions and inputs made by the player who is directly involved in the action. Thus, in terms of preschool learning games, an example of an interactive activity is a computer game that requires a child to move the mouse and click on different parts of the screen to complete the task.
In addition, another great aspect about using games as a teaching tool is they build a child’s confidence, keep them motivated and give them a sense of accomplishment. The more positive and fun a learning experienced can be, the more a kid will take from it.
Absolutely not!
August 30th, 2010 Jessica Friday afternoon, on the way to my parents house, which is approximately ten miles from mine, Ethan declared his undying love for school. He could not wait to go to school and learn, but he did not want to actually “hang out” in the building itself. I have tried to explain to him how important school is and how much he’s going to love being inside of the school building. I have explained to him that his two closest friends will be going to that very school and staying home would be boring, unless you know, he decides his sister is actually pretty fun to hang out with. After all of this talk, we arrive at my parents house for Ethan to shout “I am only going if I get my Batman lunch box!” Really kid? Your whole hang up is over a lunch box? If that is all it’s going to take to get you to go to school, I’ll gladly purchase you a lunch box and custom water bottles that match your lunch box.
