There are always people around who are struggling, at what age should the baby start to read? Many parenting experts are firmly opposed to children's literacy before the age of 6, they always say that children's premature literacy will obliterate creativity, is this really the case? After reading Japanese early childhood education, you may have a different conclusion.
Japan is an amazing country. They obviously have their own language, but it is strange that many Japanese children are asked to know Kanji from kindergarten!
Japanese kindergartens are really keen on teaching Chinese
The reason why Japanese people are so keen on learning Chinese is because as early as May 1982, in the magazine Nature, the Japanese published that "the reason why Japanese children have a high IQ is that they learn Chinese characters."
It should be known that Nature is one of the most prestigious and authoritative comprehensive natural science journals in the world. The latest scientific information it publishes, which is often widely reprinted by the news media around the world as the most reliable source, is enough to see how much the Japanese attach to children's "knowledge of Chinese characters from an early age".
Japanese doctor of education Ishii Hoon, together with a number of kindergartens in Tokyo, the introduction of "Ishii-style Chinese education", they found through 7 years of follow-up research: children from the age of 5 years old to learn Chinese characters IQ of 110, 4 years old began to learn IQ can reach 120, 3 years old began to learn IQ up to 125-130, and those who do not learn Chinese characters after hours IQ is only 100, that is to say, the earlier children learn Chinese characters, the higher the IQ! This moment suddenly made me feel extremely proud that my child was a Chinese.
In the documentary "Li Miao's Observation of Japan", there is a scene in a Japanese kindergarten teaching children to learn Chinese characters. Li Miao, a reporter based in Japan, came to Japan's Second Light Kindergarten, where children around 3 years old stood in a row early in the morning, brushed together and followed the teacher to read "Do not do to others what you do not want."
The walls of the classroom are plastered with the Analects written in Chinese, which are required readings for children every day.
Not only that, after school, the teacher will also assign homework, the teacher requires a sentence of "Analects" to be read 100 times, and the children who complete the task can get the teacher's stamp and reward the next day.
If the children have memorized the designated Chinese books during the kindergarten period, they will receive a special award from the head of the kindergarten when they graduate.
Some people may suspect that Japanese kindergarten learning Chinese may have followed the trend in recent years. In fact, the Chinese character education of the Second Light Kindergarten has a history of 60 years, and other kindergartens in Tokyo also have 60-70 years of Experience in Teaching Chinese.
Matsumoto Wangkan, director of a Japanese kindergarten, said that Kanji is more likely for children to remember shapes and meanings than Japanese hiragana and katakana. And she advocates that children should be exposed to Chinese characters when they are 8 months old.
The environment is right, and it will be much easier for children to read
Since learning Chinese can improve IQ, it is reasonable to say that our Chinese children should generally have higher IQs, but this is not the case, why?
Because many parents around us are convinced of the experts' remarks, they are deeply afraid that their children's premature exposure to Chinese characters will destroy their children's enthusiasm for learning. But the truth is that when we are still struggling with whether to read to children, Japanese kindergarten children have begun to recite and memorize the Analects. And our children miss out on the best "golden period of literacy.".
Sun Ruixue mentioned in the book "Catching Children's Sensitive Period" that about 5 years old is a sensitive period for the rapid development of "text symbols", and Montessori said that this sensitive period is "possible during the 3-6 years old period".
Many parents around them do not dare to let their children read prematurely, for fear that their children will have a rebellious psychology. But in fact, children in the 3-6 years of age this "golden period of literacy", will have a special interest and attention to "literacy", this spontaneous interest will make children literacy particularly fast.
Just like Yumi is almost 4 years old now, every day she reads picture books and she will be asked: "Mom, what is this word?" What does this word read? After a while, with the Magic Literacy Book I bought for her, now the simple picture book Yumi can read by herself.
Children learn Chinese characters, and it is really not too late.
Scientific research shows that before the age of 5 is a critical period of intellectual development, 2-3 years old is a critical period of oral language development, and 0-4 years old is a critical period of children's visual development. The best age for children to master words and words is 3-5.5 years old.
Before the age of 2, we can first communicate with the child verbally, after the age of 3, we can use pictures and games to deepen the impression of the child, and around the age of 5, we should seize the opportunity to increase the amount of words and words of the child. Don't think that children who are a few years old are too young to learn. It is precisely because of the young age and strong plasticity of the brain that it is easier to learn things.
The team of "Jennifer Zosh," a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, spent 5 years demonstrating that 3-6 years old is the golden age for children to recognize words. He once said that "I'm more interested in what kind of environment children learn new vocabulary"
His experiments have also proved that the right guidance can make children literacy have the miracle effect of "doing more with less"!
Conforming to the child's thinking can be more suitable for the child
If you do the math, if Japanese children start learning Kanji from kindergarten, they will have a conservative estimate of 1,000 words of vocabulary by graduation. Because it is impossible to advance education, this vocabulary is difficult for children in our country to achieve.
But some mothers have counted the vocabulary that needs to be mastered in the first grade: literacy is about 6-20 words per lesson, children need to learn 300 words in the first semester of the first grade, and 400 words in the second semester. To be honest, the amount of 700 words a year is much more than we think, and if you go to elementary school without being literate, the pressure will indeed be great.
Tong Tong's mother in the community once sent me such a conversation in a serious voice:
Therefore, whether it is to improve IQ, or just do not want the child's self-confidence in the first grade to be hit hard, I will suggest that Bao Dad and Bao Mom let their children touch Chinese characters in the kindergarten stage. As long as you use the right material, your child's ability to learn will surprise you.
Like the magic literacy book I gave Yumi, Yumi has been particularly fond of lately. This set of books is different from the modeling of other literacy books on the market, it uses children's thinking, uses children's funny language and colorful pictures that children like to teach children to read and understand pinyin.
Put the new characters in a unique language environment, so that children can perceive Chinese characters at the same time, increase children's sense of language. Through "a word, a group of words, a poem, a paragraph", you can fully understand the meaning of words and grasp the essence of poetry.
If parents are busy, don't worry, this set of books also comes with "audio stories to read". I turn on this function when I cook, and Yumi can read a book while listening to a story, which is really an artifact with a baby's free hands.
In addition to the literacy features, I especially recommend the "Magic Pinyin" module that comes with this set of books. Pinyin alphabet incarnates into a letter baby, each letter baby has its own temper, children through simple and interesting stories, you can master the pronunciation and characteristics of each pinyin.
In addition, this set of books also uses thick coated paper to make it more comfortable for children to turn the pages. Some of Yumi's books are thinner, and the skin on children's hands is relatively tender and sometimes scratched, but the coated paper process of this set of books has no such concerns.
Today to recommend this set of books to families with 0-6-year-old children, the "golden period of literacy" is really short, these years happen to be the fastest years of children's brain development, I sincerely hope that every parent can seize this key and lay a good foundation for their children to enter primary school in advance.
Parents who are worried about their children's literacy and pinyin, hurry up and get started