Teaching has been a difficult task and it is especially tougher to teach and make small children understand. Children are restless and do not have maturity to understand the importance of studies. Therefore, children should be approached and taught in a planned manner to make teaching more effective.
Some of the ways that parents and teachers should take care while teaching children are as follows:
Be Patient
Even we grownups get bored sometimes when teachers teach us and children are no exception. Children divert their attention very quickly from one thing to another. For example, one should not be surprised if a child learning letters suddenly asks about moon or gets lost in his fantasy world. Children should not be scolded or punished for this kind of behavior as it is in their nature and such actions only scares and demotivates them. Instead, teacher should try to be as tolerant as possible.
Make Learning Fun
Teachers and parents should make sure that children enjoy their teaching. Teaching should be done in an interesting manner through various types of games, group work and guesses. Two way communications is a must while teaching. For example, while teaching addition, instead of directly telling students how to add we can ask them their ways of adding numbers. It not only makes children interested and understand the lesson better but also makes them active and develops their speaking skills. Moreover, children do not feel monotonous and bored.
Audio Visual method
Children learn faster from what they see and hear. Therefore, apart from classroom activities they should also be taught through the means of videos, documentaries and movies. Nowadays, in many school e-class is the additional subject however, we should not limit audio visual method to one particular subject. For example many children do not like mathematics but love cartoons so, if we teach them mathematics through the means of cartoon it might turn out really effective.
Correct children gently
No one is perfect and learning is a lifelong process. Surely, children make mistakes but they should not be proved wrong in an offending manner. They should be given chances to save their face without feeling ashamed. If their mistakes are corrected harshly, they can end up being passive. For example, if phrases like, “You are wrong” or “No, that’s not the correct answer” are used frequently children will surely lose their confidence and build up low opinion about them. Therefore, parents and teachers should understand sentiments of children and correct them gently in an encouraging manner.
Reward them for their performance
Nobody likes doing work without outcome. Likewise, to motivate children and bring out better results, teachers and parents should reward them. Rewards can be in any form either appreciation or small tit bits. For example, if a child is given pencil box for doing his homework neatly, he will surely try harder next time with the expectation of reward. These types of rewards make children feel happy and satisfied and encourage them further to do better.