EMPRENDIMIENTO Y EMPRESAS DE BASE TECNOLÓGICA

There are certain skills a parent/caregiver needs to make sure the child can do before they can start to teach baby and young child literacy (reading and writing) skills. These are:

Check the eyesight of young children

Children with healthy eyesight learn faster than those who might have problems. If the parent/caregiver thinks the child has eyesight problems, take her to the nearest clinic.

Help the child to see small differences

Children need to be able to distinguish between the different letters of the alphabet in order to read well. Think about the small difference between ‘b’ and ‘d’ for instance. If the young child cannot distinguish between the two, then they will have difficulty recognising particular words. Consider the simple word ‘dog’; the child will read ‘bog’ instead of ‘dog’ if she cannot tell the difference between ‘b’ and ‘d’. There are ways of helping babies and young children recognise differences for example, by looking at pictures together. In one picture, there could be two dolls both wearing green dresses and in another picture, two dolls wearing yellow dresses. Or the differences could be in the number of objects in a picture, for example, two people could appear in one picture, and in another picture there could be a crowd.

Maybe the young child will not recognise the differences in the beginning, but the more you point these out, the better they will be able to see the differences for themselves. The parent/caregiver can also use objects such as stones or bowls to show the difference between big and small.

Help the child recognise different shapes

The parent/caregiver must make babies and young children aware of the different shapes of things around them. For example, show them differently shaped tables; one table can be rectangular and the other one square. The house they live in can be round but their neighbour’s

Help the child to read pictures

Parents/caregivers can help children read pictures in magazines and also in their surroundings. There are guessing games a parent/ caregiver can play such as asking the child to identify a specific flower in their immediate environment.

Use pictures of a garden from a magazine to ask a child to identify an apple or a particular vegetable or fruit. Use pictures in books or magazines to tell a story and then ask the young child questions about the picture or story.

Nature and pictures in the home and in books and magazines can also be used to help teach the child to identify colours and shapes. Help the child to listen

Now it is important to help babies and young children use their ears. Words often sound similar, e.g. ‘hat’, ‘had’, ‘sat’ and ‘sad’. Say each word to them, ask them repeat the words, and then highlight the differences between each word.

Children also learn to listen when parents/caregivers sing or say rhymes to them. They will try to sing or recite along with their parents/ caregivers, and so they will learn new words and sounds. When it is appropriate, parents/caregivers can also clap their hands and stamp their feet while they sing a song, and the child will copy them. Listen to the radio with your child and talk to them about what you hear. Tell your child a story and ask her to repeat the story or parts of it to see how well she has listened. Remember, learning must be fun at all times.

Help the child to use her hands and eyes

Babies and young children use their eyes, ears and hands when they learn. It is important for their hands and eyes to work in coordination. Parents/caregivers can teach them this from an early age by

encouraging them to draw on a piece of paper or colour in a picture that the parent or somebody else has drawn.

Other ways to teach children good eye-hand coordination is by letting them make different shapes with clay. Even sweeping teaches young children good eye-hand coordination. Children can also use sticks to draw in the sand, or their fingers to point to birds flying in the air, and they should also play with toys such as balls.

Remember, learning must be fun at all times.

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SES S ION 6 : IN T E L L E C T U A L AND L A NGU A GE ST IMUL

Help the child to guess

Playing guessing games with a young child helps them make the connection between an object and its label. Start the game by asking the child to guess what you are thinking about. If it is a ball, do not tell the child but give her clues such as: it is made of rubber and it is round and maybe it’s lying in the corner of the bedroom!

Do not make it too difficult; if the child is unable to guess the object, give them the answer and another chance to guess at a new object. The guessing game can be played everywhere and it is a wonderful way of making time pass while having fun with your child.

Help the child to remember things

Babies and young children need to be taught to remember things. Remembering is a basic aspect of the learning process and

developing intellectually. Do this by playing the same games over and over with babies and young children. Ask younger children what they remember about games they have played. Ask them to recall what they ate for dinner or lunch or what clothes they wore yesterday. Talking to babies or young children, asking them questions, listening to them and making sure they are listening when you talk to them are among the most important things parents/caregivers can do to develop and stimulate intellectual and language development.

6. THE IMPORTANCE OF STORIES, RHYMES AND