GetAhead Educational Software

Learners are required to do ‘orals’ (mini-speeches) on a fairly regular basis at school, particularly from Grade 4 onwards. We assess their presentation in terms of audibility, eye contact, confidence, interest level and content. My little Grade 2’s did their first oral the other day. The great assignment required them to relate 5 facts about a place in South Africa that they had been to visit. Overall they did very well and I could tell that moms and dads had helped them to prepare and rehearse.

There are two schools of thought about how early a child should begin learning the alphabet and other subjects that he or she will learn in school. One theory goes that the child will be bored if he learns too much, too soon, so you should let him “be a child” during his preschool years. After all, if he is too far ahead of his class, it may be stigmatizing for him to be singled out if he can already read while the rest of the class is still learning the ABCs.

Babies are wonderful. They can teach us a great deal about the world and ourselves even as they are learning. Take a moment of time to put yourself in their place. Consider the world as a brand new place with no reference system that you can recognize. They have strange sights for their eyes, strange sensations upon their skin, and strange sounds assaulting their ears.