Shalom Magazine - 1994, Vol. 1
LEARNING LITERACY
by Ava Carmel
Twenty-six people representing 14 countries of Africa, Asia
and Eastern Europe took part in an eight-week course on
Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Education - Developmental
and Educational Aspects, at the Golda Meir Mount Carmel
International Training Centre, January to March, 1994.
"This is the second course on this subject to be held at MCTC," explains
course director Janette Hirschmann. "In a society which values literacy,
perhaps nothing is more important to parents and teachers than having
children learn to read well.
"This attitude towards reading has brought about an infusion of 'beginning
reading' instruction into kindergartens and nursery school curriculum.
Inevitably many questions have arisen as to the appropriateness of this
development. When should reading instruction begin? Will young children be
physically and psychologically damaged if reading is introduced before
first grade?
"It is essential to recognize the fact that teaching children to read
involves more than teaching a few basic skills, such as letter recognition
or letter sound association. We used to talk about literacy as being the
ability to read and write. Today we use a much broader definition,
referring to 'emergent literacy,' a process which begins at birth and
develops in a social and cultural context. It is now known that a child's
interest in reading begins at a very early age. Research findings suggest
that preschool should systematically increase children's acquaintance not
only with oral language, but with written language as well. Beginning
reading activities should be based on familiar experiences, which make use
of the child's own language, when he or she is first introduced to the
printed word."
Dr. Dorit Ravid, of Tel Aviv University, gave a general introduction to
acquisition of language and literacy. "When you ask people what an
illiterate person is," she said, "they say it is a person who doesn't know
how to read or write. But a person may have learned how to read and write
in his or her native tongue and still be illiterate, because reading and
writing technically, making the signs and being able to decipher them, do
not make a person literate.
"A child acquires his mother tongue effortlessly and perfectly, learning
its complex system of rules with no effort as a result of exposure
to that language, "she added, defining literacy in broader terms, as "the
ability of a person to function at all levels of civilized life in his or
her society or country." She also spoke about "register," another
important aspect of literacy, which she defined as the ability to change
your style of speech according to circumstances, i.e. to speak differently
to your spouse, your children, your friends and your colleagues.
Dr. Rina Michalowitz, Head of Department of Preschool Education, Ministry
of Education, spoke about cultural literacy "knowing the way the
culture expresses itself, in the written language, music, art and other
cultural expressions. Part of cultural literacy involves the basic
academic skills of reading, writing and mathematics; but this is only part
of what is needed to function within a culture. Thus literacy also means
understanding the uses of the written language."
She explained how children between the age of three and four make the
distinction between writing and drawing. Thus she stressed the importance
of exposing them to written language in the kindergarten, while clearly
connecting it to meaning, for example in the doctor's corner having a sign
that says "Quiet" or "Don't disturb the doctor." The children will learn
to use the sign much earlier than they will learn to read or write it.
According to The Whole Language Approach, which was brought by Zehava
Deber, of the Ministry of Education, reading is based upon spoken
language. Thus a rich spoken language is a precursor to reading. In
preschool it is important to read children stories about all kinds of
things, take them on trips and have them enact real-life situations, such
as playing "shopping" and "going to the post office," so as to increase
their world knowledge and thus provide them with a stronger basis for
reading.
In many developing countries, there is a lack of awareness of the
importance of preschool education and it is not part of the educational
framework. Thus, due to inadequate funding, preschool teachers are badly
paid and there is a lack of proper training centres. Most kindergartens
are privately operated and the number of people who can afford to send
their children is severely limited.
Galia Rabinowitz, Specialist in Child Development and Gestalt Therapy, Tel
Aviv University, spoke about how each stage of a child's development
prepares him for the next one and is influenced by what happened before.
In the Gestalt-oriented, holistic approach, cognitive development is
viewed as influenced by emotional, physical and social development. She
spoke about the importance of love, especially in the first two years of a
child's life, the time when he should be able to build a sense of trust.
The way to teach basic trust is to have at least one adult, not
necessarily the biological parent, with the time, willingness and ability
to satisfy the young baby's physical and emotional needs. If there is no
basic trust and the child is not sure of himself and the world, he is not
free emotionally to direct his energies towards studying.
During a visit to a Pedagogic Centre, participants were shown how simple
materials can be used to turn a kindergarten into a stimulating
environment, without spending a lot of money. Raw materials from nature
and from industry (such as plastic containers and tin cans) can be used to
make didactic games and toys, which give the children an opportunity to be
creative. Gladys Mugo, a teacher trainer from Kenya, said that this visit
gave her a number of ideas on how to take advantage of local materials.
For example, balls can be made of banana bark covered with cloth, ropes
out of sisal and mats from banana stalks.
Benu Rana, a school principal from Nepal, was fascinated with the idea of
different "corners" in the kindergarten, devoted to different subjects.
After seeing a display for the holiday Purim, on the theme of clowns and
costumes, she realized how she could apply this idea in her native
Kathmandu. "In October we have Dashain, a Hindu Festival in honour of the
Goddess Durga, where the elders plant barley seeds in sand, then place the
seedlings on the children's heads while blessing them. We could make a
corner where we have a picture of Durga and a pot of sand where we could
plant barley."
A study visit was made to a book kindergarten which children visit once a
month with their kindergarten teachers. They may also come in the
afternoons with their parents. There the children read books, listen to
stories, activate Puppets and also watch a story acted out by staff
members. The children are always given a page with a poem or short story
to read with their parents at home.
This visit was of particular interest to Zita Badurikova, a teacher in
Courenius University, Bratislava. "In Slovakia the population is
decreasing," she said. "It's a pity to close kindergartens and use the
buildings for other purposes. We could use them for specialized
kindergartens like the book kindergarten."
"Storytelling is important for the child because it provides him with
personal contact, and teaches him that a story has structure a
beginning, a middle and an end," says Janette Hirschmann. "Story reading
is also important, so the children can learn book language. This enriches
their speech and when they meet with the written language in their own
reading at a later date, it will already be familiar to them.
"The child should be involved in the story, with the reader stopping to
ask the child what he thinks will happen, or how a problem or situation in
the story should be solved. Books also provide numerous opportunities for
world knowledge and for working through emotions."
In a workshop by Evelyne Shatil, Director of the Shatil Learning
Disabilities Centre, the subject of writing texts for children's stories
was introduced, because there are not enough books in many developing
countries. Participants were asked to recall a significant, emotional
childhood event and this was used as the basis of a written text. The
"Henny Penny" format was used, i.e. a story with many repetitions, but
each time with a different character.
In a lecture called Literacy Development and Bilingual Education, Dr.
Hanna Ezer, of Beit Berl Teacher Training College, stressed that primary
language is acquired in the home. At pre-school, the child is exposed to
another form of language. Children whose home language is similar to the
secondary (school) language, i.e., those who come from more educated homes
where social conventions are practiced, where they have books and know the
meaning of written words, tend to adjust more easily to the preschool
situation. Children from disadvantaged homes, where the parents don't read
to them or stimulate them, have more difficulty adjusting to kindergarten.
Bilingualism is a burning issue in developing countries where, frequently,
children communicate in a dialect at home, they are taught to read and
write in a formal method, in the national language and/or in English.
Dr. Hanna Ezer discussed some of the problems immigrant children
encounter, when in addition to a new language, they have to cope with
varying social norms. "In Russia," she said, "classroom behaviour is very
formal: When a student approaches a teacher, he calls him Sir. This is the
child's background or cultural knowledge. Then he comes to live in
Israel,where children call the teacher by his first name and the
atmosphere is very informal, this breaks the child; he thinks school is
anarchy."
Dr. Eleanor Avinor used the metaphor of a flower in order to discuss a
problem of bilingualism prevalent in new immigrants in Israel. A
well-developed mother tongue is like a flower with strong roots. But if
the child moves to a place where a different language is used, and his
first language is not maintained and developed, it becomes detached from
its roots. In the meantime a second language is being acquired, but it has
no roots, nothing solid on which to build on. The ideal situation in
bilingualism is a well-developed mother tongue from which a second
language develops as an offshoot, so that both languages share the same
strong root system.
The problem of diglossia, which is defined as "the presence of a high and
low style or standard in a language, one for formal use in writing and
some speech situations and one for colloquial use," was considered, based
on the research of Jihad Iraki, National Supervisor for Kindergartens in
the Arab Sector, Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture. Arabic is a
prime example of diglossia, since the difference between literary Arabic
(Foos'ha) and colloquial dialects (Amiya) is particularly pronounced in
school, Arabic-speaking children are taught to read Foos'ha, in spite of
the fact that all speech directed to them prior to school entry is in
Amiya. Since Foos'ha differs from Amiya in vocabulary, phonology, syntax
and grammar, this means that children are expected to read a language they
do not know. Parents and teachers tend to attribute the high rate of
reading difficulties in Arab schools to this situation.
A lecture was given on the Grandparent-Kindergarten (Sav-Gan) Project by
Eliahu Givon, the initiator of the program, who is himself a retired
educator. In this project retired men and women work in kindergartens,
where they are trained to do maintenance, gardening, play with children
and read stories to them. This is a very important community project,
which is beneficial not only for the grandparents, who find new meaning in
life, but also for the children, who learn to show respect, love and
tolerance to the elderly. An observation visit was made to a number of
kindergartens in Nazareth where grandparents work.
"We don't have many story books in Ethiopia," said Dr. Habtamu Wondimu, an
Associate Professor of Psychology in the Addis Ababa University's Faculty
of Education. "Our society is a traditional one, and stories, rhymes and
songs pass through our oral tradition. We could have a project like
Sav-Gan, where older people come to kindergartens, tell stories and these
stories could be recorded and pictures drawn to illustrate them. Thus the
stories could be passed down to the next generation."
The subject of parental involvement was also explored. in many developing
countries, parents relinquish their responsibility in the educational
process, putting all responsibility on the teachers. There is no real
cooperation between the two, with teachers only contacting parents when
there is trouble with the child.
Kedir Ali, a Coordinator of Kindergarten, Primary and Special Education in
Ormiyo Region, summed up the problem in Ethiopia as being one of
methodology. The traditional education is drill education, where children
have to learn everything by rote and copying.
Habtamu Wondimu was impressed by the child-centred approach to education
in Israel. "Instead of the teacher being all-knowing and putting all the
children in a row and teaching language or arithmetic all day, there are
activity centres, where the child is the focus of the curriculum."
The participants were very enthusiastic and wanted to introduce back home
much of what they had seen in Israel. Some of the topic chosen for the
final projects were setting up pedagogic centres, using didactic games as
a teaching tool, creating a literacy environment in the kindergarten and
parent involvement in early childhood education.
"The lecturers were also enthusiastic," summed up Janette Hirschmann.
"They were very eager to share their knowledge and their excitement about
their work. They asked participants to keep in touch and tell them about
the work they are doing."
Shalom Magazine, for the Alumni of Israel Training Courses, is published
twice a year in English, Spanish and French. The magazine deals with
development issues and is published by:
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