HOW TO TRAIN CHILDREN TO BE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS 2

 I saw Girl A was sitting on the floor in front of the home corner. Her small frame was hunched over as she covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders were shaking with each sob that escaped her lips. I then approached her and asked what had happened. She told me that Girl B pushed her while she was trying to enter the home corner. While listening to Girl A's explanation, I saw Girl B was inside the home corner. I then called Girl B to come out of the home corner and asked her point of view about the situation. Girl B said, “I did not push her. I was playing inside the home corner “.

I instructed Girl B to ask Girl A if she was okay and to inquire about what had happened from her perspective. I then informed them that they could approach me in the kitchen if they needed my assistance. Afterward, I removed myself from the home corner area to allow them to resolve their issues independently.

A few minutes later, I inquired with both Girl B and Girl A to see if they were okay. They were playing together happily as if they had not experienced any issues before.

This is a perfect situation to teach children to solve their problems and communicate effectively and efficiently.

Steps to do:

1. Encouraged Girl B to ask Girl A 2 questions: ‘Are you okay?’ and ‘What happened?’. These neutral questions are asked in order to validate Girl A's emotions.

2. Remove yourself from the situation to enable the children to resolve their issues independently.

3. Inform the children of your location so they can approach you if they need assistance.

4. Check to see if the children are okay and have resolved their issues smoothly.

©Tina Adi 

HOW TO TRAIN CHILDREN TO BE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS 1

 A boy told me that instead of coming to the after-school care program and he wanted to go home.

I told him that he could discuss his idea of staying at home after school with his parents later. I also informed him that his parents had enrolled him to attend the after-school care program that afternoon. I encouraged him to choose any activities he liked at the after-school care. In the end, he agreed and enjoyed participating in outdoor activities.

A few days later, he attended the after-school care program again. Suddenly, he approached me and told me that a boy had hit him with an animal tail costume. I then simulated a conversation between two boys on how to communicate effectively.

Most importantly, I asked the boy who approached me first to explain what happened.

To make it easier, I used pseudonyms for their names. I called the boy who approached me first Hagen and the other boy who hit him Augustus.

This is an example of the dialogue:

I asked Hagen, “Can you please explain to us what happened?”

Hagen replied, “I walked to the sandpit and then Augustus hit me with his tail.”

I then asked Augustus, “Did you hit Hagen with an animal costume tail?”

Augustus answered, “I was playing with Hagen and didn't mean to hurt him.”

I confirmed with Augustus what he meant by saying, “You were trying to play with Hagen using the animal costume tail, weren't you? You did not mean to make him unhappy, right?”

Augustus nodded his head to show me that he agreed with what I said.

After that, I asked Hagen again, “How did you feel after hearing Augustus’s explanation?”

Hagen answered, “I didn't like being hit with a tail.”

I then encouraged Hagen to tell Augustus about his preference.

Hagen moved closer to Augustus and told him, “I didn't like being hit with a tail.”

Augustus replied to Hagen, “Okay.”

I asked Hagen, “What do you want Augustus to do?”

Hagen answered, “I want him to say sorry to me.”

Augustus chipped in and said, “Sorry.”

I asked Hagen, “Augustus said sorry just now. Is that okay?”

Hagen nodded his head and his facial expression indicated that he was pleased. He also smiled.

I told both Hagen and Augustus, “Everything is okay now. You guys can continue playing again.”

After that incident, Hagen never complained about not wanting to attend the after-school care program again. From that day forward, I frequently saw Hagen attended the after-school care program and he appeared happy.

©Tina Adi

The Benefits of Cooking Class for School Aged Children

Based on my observations during my cooking classes, I realised that school aged children can benefit from learning life skills.

I heard that some cooking classes practice their cooking skills using water for learning measuring skills and sand for learning how to flip food in the fry pan.

However, children are highly motivated when they are using real ingredients for cooking class.

The benefits for school aged children participating in cooking class using real ingredients are:

• Improve their Emotional (EQ) and Social Intelligence (SQ)

Children willingly participate enthusiastically and happily in mixing the ingredients or stirring the dough and other cooking tasks that they do during the cooking class activities. 

Children will learn best when they are happy. 

That is why this is the best time for educators to teach children about how to be kind to others, how to work as a team and how to be responsible. 

This intentional teaching is important to train children to be altruistic, to have empathy and compassion towards others.

Sometimes in the middle of the cooking process, there was a complaint from a child that he or she was not given an opportunity to stir the dough. 

The educator can use it as an opportunity to remind all students about working as a team.

The big advantage of a group cooking project is that the children learn to work as a part of a team. 

In today’s world, working as part of a team is highly valued.

Another example, a child might refuse to clean up after the cooking process ends. 

Educators always need to create a habit by stepping in and then inform all of the children using a friendly reminder about cleaning up after working.

The best way is from the beginning of the cooking activity, the educator explains to all children that they are expected to clean their cooking utensils after finishing their cooking project.

Why is it important to encourage children to clean their cooking utensils? It is important to teach children to be responsible and clean up after themselves.

In this cooking activity situation, everyone is responsible to clean up after they made a mess.

Some children might not know how to clean up their mess because they were not given those opportunities at home.

Why is it important to teach children about responsibility, being kind to others and working as a team? It is important because we are giving children opportunities to be able to do life skills and later on they can use those skills to contribute to their families and communities.

I think that all educators have an essential task in preparing children to be adults who are able to:

1. treat others in a humane manner
2. be independent
3. be physically and emotionally healthy
4. be able to have empathy towards others
5. create a better place to live in the world

• Improve their Logical Thinking Skills 

Cooking is definitely the best activity for you to use to improve your child’s learning experiences. This may result in better outcomes for your child in the areas of logical thinking skills as long as they love to join cooking activities. 

It is a magical experience for them to witness and to be involved in the cooking process from the beginning until the end and to see the result then taste the output from their learning experience straight away.

Cooking is an activity that requires children to contribute their efforts in order to achieve the concrete result. Let’s say, the children were given a project to produce chocolate muffins. By the end of the cooking process each child will get at least a chocolate muffin. A chocolate muffin is a concrete result for each child to touch, taste and eat. These processes are helping their brains to understand to get a certain output, they need to provide a certain number of inputs.

Those inputs involved a lot of numeracy and literacy skills to produce the chocolate muffins that they then eat. 

Numeracy and literacy skills are needed to get the recipe information regarding the quantities, types of ingredients, procedures, oven temperature and times.

The education research shows that if a child is happy while doing a task, knowledge retention levels will be higher.

Based on my observation after providing cooking activities at many schools for school aged students, they were overjoyed when they got the result, in this case was the chocolate muffin. 

They also spelled the cooking procedures to their parents when they were picked up. 

Sometimes some children did not want to go home without their chocolate muffins in their hands. I had to place the uncooked chocolate muffins in plastic containers so that they could bake the uncooked chocolate muffins at home in order to persuade them to go home. Some parents willingly waited with their children until they got the chocolate muffins in their hands.

My conclusion is educators need to provide cooking activities based on children’s favourite

• Improve their Fine Motor Skills 

Any activities that require hand and eye coordination skills, such as: mixing, stirring, cleaning, pouring, holding and kneading are improving children’s fine motor skills.

• Improve their Self Confidence

Children must be given a free hand in choosing the quantities and ingredients in the recipe during the cooking process.

They will take the ownership of their cooking process and the output anyway. When they have the output in their hands and are able to eat it, they know that they are capable of cooking something for themselves. 

Children are motivated to eat their cooking output, regardless of whether the taste is delicious or not.

If children cook it it and own the process it is like gold to them. 

This same feeling is what motivates the self actualization movement. 

You also see it when children do outdoor adventure activities when they own the process.

The key is that all educators always support each child’s choices when exploring and experimenting with the recipe during the cooking process.

• Prevent Boredom and Improve their Ability to Entertain themselves

Ideally, each child should be able to work individually on their cooking project.

Based on my cooking class experience, children were able to focus on their own ingredients and driven to do all the cooking steps religiously. 

This concentration helped them to entertain themselves during the cooking process. Even children with behaviour problems were able to concentrate on their own project during the cooking process.

Please note that every child is given their own ingredients to complete their own project during the cooking process.

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea, about Indonesia: Prebiotic Stuffed Tofu

Prebiotic Stuffed Tofu

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves: 20

Note: you can add or change the vegetables based on your preference

Ingredients:

20 tofu (recommended to use the square shaped tofu)

• 1 cup of bean sprouts

• ½ cup of shredded carrot

• ½ cup of shredded cabbage

• 5 cloves of garlic (blend them finely)

• a tea spoon of salt

• a pinch of ground coriander

• a pinch of ground pepper

• 2 dessert spoons of rice flour

• 4 dessert spoons of tapioca flour

• 200 ml of water

• 2 tea spoons of chicken powder (optional)

• Extra virgin olive oil/ vegetable oil/ canola oil for frying the tofu

Filling:

• Combine the carrot, bean sprouts, cabbage, ¼ tea spoon of salt and a tea spoon of blended garlic. 

• Squeeze them to shrivel.

Batter:

• Mix the blended garlic, water, chicken powder, coriander, pepper, rice flour and tapioca flour

Note: add ¼ tea spoon of salt if you do not use the chicken powder.

Cooking method:

• Cut 3 sides of the tofu (square shaped tofu) and leave 1 side uncut.

• Stuff each tofu with the filing approximately 1 dessert spoon or less ( based on your preference)

• Dip each stuffed tofu into the batter.

• Fry the battered tofu using medium heat until golden brown.

• Serve the fried stuffed tofu with green/ red birds eye chillis.

Instagram url:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/COmXhohny_8/?igshid=1s6ixsexdxyqy

©Tina Adi

A Simple Ice Cream Making Activity Idea

 

Prebiotic Chocolate Ice Cream Making

Ingredients:

• 360 gr of Toblerone chocolate

• 200 ml of water

• a pinch of salt

• 1 dessert spoon of tapioca flour

Note: tapioca flour can be added based on your taste

Cooking time: 20 minutes

How to make:

• Boil the chocolate and then add the salt.

• Add the tapioca flour with a little bit of water (use room temperature water)

• Pour the tapioca liquid into the boiling chocolate.

• Stirr it evenly until the consistency of the chocolate liquid is thicker.

• Let it cool down.

• Put it in a container to freeze.

• Ready to be served.

Instagram url:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/COmE-K0nZFX/?igshid=1klovpbrsyp4s

©Tina Adi

How to Train Your Student to Boost Their Self Esteem

Look at this story.

 

Georgia was crying with tears coming down her cheeks.

I approached her and asked her what happened.

She told me that Amelia wanted her to apologise to Amelia three times.

Georgia apologised three times but Amelia rejected all her apologies.

 

I then told Georgia that she is a kind person because she apologised three times to Amelia. If Amelia rejected her apologies, the problem is not in her but in Amelia.

I also asked Georgia whether she agreed with my statement that she is a kind person.  

Georgia nodded her head and said yes in between of her sobbing.

 

I explained to Georgia that Amelia was rude to her by rejecting her apologies based on Amelia’s requests.

I said to Georgia, ”You do not deserve to be treated rudely by Amelia.”

 

I tapped my left shoulder using my right hand and then said, ”Georgia, you are a kind person.” After that I told Georgia to tap her shoulder and say to herself, ”Georgia, you are a kind person.”

Georgia tapped her shoulder and said, ”Georgia, you are a kind person.”

I also told Georgia to tap her shoulder and say to herself, ”Georgia, you do not deserve to be treated rudely by Amelia.”

Georgia did what I advised her to do.

I then asked Georgia, ”Do you feel better now?”

Georgia nodded her head and I saw that her sob went down a lot.

 

I then encouraged Georgia to pick a fun activity to do.

Georgia then told me that she wanted to build walls using plastic building toys.

Georgia’s facial expressions showed me that she completely forgot about her problem.

She played enthusiastically and smiling when I was building the walls together with her.

©Tina Adi

Teamwork

Today's thought is about 'Teamwork'.

We have to remember that we live on this earth together. It means that we are sharing this earth with others.

The word teamwork by itself contains two words which is team and work.

We need to question ourselves whether we are contributing our work to the team efforts or not.

As a leader, we need to be more careful to lead and direct our team. 

It is important that everyone in the team have a healthy body and mind.

Example:

Some people trip others up to get what they want.

Explanation:

That example shows that there is no teamwork.

Another example:

A leader deceives one or more people in the team to get a certain result.

Explanation:

A leader is the head of the team.

If the leader deceives the team, the leader is destroying the team spirit.

Self-reflection: 

What will we do as a team member or as the leader of a team to maintain the team spirit?

©Tina Adi

THINGS THAT EDUCATORS DON'T DO

Being an educator means he or she is always aware to be a role model for children. 

While in front of children, Educators are not supposed to do the things that are listed below :

• sit down on a table. 

• eat any food that fell down on a table even though it landed on the table less than a minute (or ten seconds!).
• wipe their wet hands on their clothes after washing their hands.

• call a child's name using the name of the country of their ancestry.

©Tina Adi

HOW TO STOP COMPLAINTS QUICKLY

Back then I was a Head of Department of Early Childhood, an Acting Early Childhood and Primary School Principal and a Primary School Principal in international and national schools in Indonesia, I used to handle complaints from parents. 

I succeeded in softening the complaints by listening their complaints attentively and then waiting until they (parents) finished talking.  After that I would say, "I am sorry about that". Then I promised them to find out what caused it to happen and then to get back to them as soon as possible to sort out all the problems. I also encouraged them to complaint to me if they were not happy with the results or conditions that occurred during that time.

To cut a long story short, I could reduce complaints that occured or might occur by delivering what I promised to them (parents),  making myself available to listen to their complaints respectfully and solving the problems that occurred as soon as possible.

©Tina Adi

BE AWARE OF SOME TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES

When we are a newcomer in an organisation or company, we have no idea why our colleagues are doing this and that. Most of the time people are responding to the leadership style in the workplace.

Here are some tips to understand the workplace environment:

• Humiliate and crush leadership style

This style is absolutely against the psychological, professional, development and  wellbeing their subordinates.

• Lip service leadership style

It feels nice in the beginning, but it will be destructive at a  certain point.

• No communication leadership style

This leadership style will cause frustration to their subordinates because communication is important.

• Handball the problem leadership style

This leader has a tendency to handball the problem to their subordinates inappropriately. This leadership style is enjoying their position, reward (salary) and facilities, but not the responsibility as a leader.

©Tina Adi

BOREDOM CAN CAUSE ANXIETY, UNCONTROLLABLE BEHAVIOURS AND INJURIES

Based on my observation as an Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Educator at a variety of services, I witnessed bored children were anxious and they did not know what to do. They came to me every 10 minutes and asked me about the time until they were picked up by their parents.

Sometimes some of them endangered themselves by going to the places that were not safe for them and out of bounds.
Most children could not do some risk assessments before playing.

Boredom can cause children to do unsafe activities. This might cause injuries to themselves. Example: children went to the bushes area that is out of bounds without asking permission from their educators. They (children) might forget that snakes can be in the bushes area and there are deadly snakes in Queensland, especially during mating season. There maybe other types of reptiles there, as well.

How to help children to overcome their boredom?
The best way is to redirect them (children) to do some fun and safe activities before their boredom escalated.
It is important for educators to know what caused the boredom. For example, if a child's best friend does not attend the service, often the child will be bored. Understanding this, the educator will provide those children who are missing their friends with activities to redirect them to focus on positive and safe activities.

I could see that most of the children who are attending the OSHC program need guidance and direction on how to enjoy their play in a safe environment.

It will be better if the service also provides a variety of decent toys and tools for children to play with.

Sometimes bored children might yank their peers or educators' chain to get rid of their boredom. Educators need to be aware of this. Educators need to be careful so that their emotions will not kick in as a result of a child's negative behaviours.

Educators need to guide the victims of the harassment to be calm, So that they can think clearly in order to act appropriately.

The key to create a boredom free and safe environment for children is educators supervise properly, observe actively, stay focus on the task and step in at the right time to minimise any children's behaviours that may trigger unwanted conflicts.

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea, About Japan

Sushi Making

Ingredients:
Sushi rice:
• ½ kg of sushi rice
• 2 dessert spoons of raw sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 5 dessert spoons of sushi seasoning

Filling:
• 5 sausages

Note: filling can be changed according to your taste.
You can use a can of tuna or cucumbers or carrots or fried finger chicken nuggets or beef floss, etc.

Sushi wrappers:
5 sheets of seaweed for sushi (nori)

For serving:
• soy sauce for sushi
• Japanese mayonnaise

How to make sushi:

• Put a piece of seaweed (the shiny side down) on a chopping board or a flat plate.

• Cover it with an even layer of seasoned sushi rice. 

• Put the filing on top of the rice closest to you according to your taste. 

• Hold the seaweed, rice and filling and then roll it away from you. 

• Squeeze the sushi roll tight so that the filing and the rice will stick together. 

• Cut the sushi roll according to your taste.

• Ready to be served


Sushi rice can be changed with mashed potatoes if you cannot eat rice

How to make mashed potatoes:
• Slice the 5 potatoes into 4 to 6 pieces each making them easy to steam and mash.
• Steam the cut potatoes until they are soft (about 10 minutes).
• Mashed them down.
• Let them cool down. 

• Ready to be used

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea: Xiao Mai Making

Ingredients:

500 gr of minced chicken

4 cloves of garlic

2 chicken eggs 

15 gr of shiitake mushrooms 

2 medium sized carrots

½ of a teaspoon of sesame oil

¼ of a teaspoon of ground white pepper

¼ of a teaspoon of salt

150 gr of tapioca flour 

5 leaves of spring onions

2 dessert spoons of chicken powder (brand: knorr)

Dumpling skin wrappers:

100 dumpling skins (the round ones)

How to cook:

• Cut the mushrooms and carrots into small pieces.

• Combine all the ingredients and stir it evenly. 

• Place a desert spoon of the stirred ingredients on each dumpling skin wrapper. 

• Pinched together all side of the wrapper to form a flower like shape at the top, sealing in the minced chicken ingredients at the top. 

• Put each xiao mai in the steamer using a high heat setting.

• Steam them for 20 minutes.

• Ready to be served.

©Tina Adi

EMPLOYEES ARE COMPANY ASSETS

We need to remember that every company needs to work hand in hand with their employees to be able to operate their daily activities properly in order to achieve their philosophy, goals, visions, missions accurately. 

Every company needs to have a stable happy employees, so that the employees will not resign and force  the company to hire new employees. 

Instead of using the organisation's cash flow and  assets to hire and train new employees due to staff churn. 

There are things to do to create a positive and happy working atmosphere:

• treat the employees with respect 

• treat the employees with empathy 

• treat the employees with fairness

• create an environment where there is reciprocal respect between all organisational members (this will help with staff retention)

• hire the right person in the right position, at the right time, with the right attitude

• continually train their employees with professional development programs to improve their ability to achieve and to fulfill the organisational philosophy, visions, missions and goals. 

©Tina Adi

It is Important to Create a Respectful Atmosphere with Young Children

Young children, who cannot even speak yet, he or she understands our conversations. 

For example: I was about to wipe off the food from a child's face, hands and feet after eating. 

I asked him,"Can I wipe off the food from your face?". 

Surprisingly, the child moved his face into a position, where I could wipe it. 

I then asked him again,"Can I wipe your hands? Which hand do you want me to wipe first?". After that the child lifted up his left hand towards me.

I believe that the child trusted me to wipe his face, hands and feet even though it was the first time for him meeting me. He was calm and relaxed during the cleaning process. 

I think that the child understood that I have respected him by asking his permission to wipe his face, hands and feet. The child then responded positively and gave me permission to wipe his face or hands or feet by moving his face, hands and feet into a certain position, so that I could wipe his face or hands or feet easily. 

©Tina Adi

An Idea of Teaching Japanese and Indonesian Languages Through Cooking Activities

Exposing children to other languages other than English is a positive way to teach children about accepting and understanding that there are people who have Japanese and Indonesian cultures around them. 

This experience can be taught through cooking activities. 

Japanese rice bowl - 'karaage (karaage means fried chicken)' and learning simple Japanese words:

'こんにちは (Kon'nichiwa) = hello'

'はい (Hai) = yes'

'いいえ (Īe) = no'

'ありがとうございました (Arigatōgozaimashita) = thank you'

Source: Google translation  

Ingredients:

2 kg medium rice

2 kg chicken breast

200 ml of vegetable oil 

6 dessert spoons of mince garlic

3 dessert spoons of mince ginger

6 dessert spoons of kikoman soy sauce 

4 dessert spoons of cooking sake

1 dessert spoon of sesame oil 

1 cup of raw sugar 

2 tea spoons of salt

A pinch of pepper powder

2 cups of corn flour

1 dessert spoon of garlic powder 

2 – 4 dessert spoons of vinegar

1 big red chili

How to cook the karaage and the rice:

• Chop all the chicken breasts into small pieces 

• Marinate the chopped chicken with 3 desert spoons of mince garlic, all mince ginger, a pinch of salt, 1 dessert spoon of raw sugar, all soy sauce, all sake, all sesame oil for about 30 minutes.

• Wash the rice with water 3 times and then add water around 2 cm above the rice. After that cook it using a rice cooker.

• Pour 1 cup of corn flour into a plate and then add the garlic powder, a pinch salt and pepper powder. After that dip the chicken breasts into corn flour and then shake it.

• Heat the oil in a frying pan. Use a wooden spatula to check

whether the oil is ready for frying by dipping it. If the oil is bubbling, it means that the chicken breasts can be put into the frying pan. Fry the chicken until the colour is golden brown.

How to cook the sauce:

• Blend 3 desert spoons of mince garlic, red chili and ¼ cup of water according to the taste. 

• Pour the blended garlic into a sauce pan and then add the vinegar, the rest of the sugar, chopped red chili and ½ cup of water to boil. 

• Dilute 1 dessert spoon of corn flour with 2 dessert spoons of water. Then mix it while you pour it little by little into the sauce until it boils. 

How to serve:

• Put the cooked rice into a serving bowl and then put the karaage on top of the rice. After that pour the sauce on top of the karaage.

Bubur Sumsum - Indonesian rice pudding and learning simple Indonesian words:

Halo = hello

Ya = yes

Tidak = no

Terima kasih = thank you

Ingredients:

500 gr rice flour 

1 litre of coconut milk 

1 tea spoon of salt

4 sheets of pandan leaves

½ cup of coconut sugar

How to cook the pudding:

• Pour the coconut milk into a big pot and then add the rice flour. 

• Stir the coconut milk and the rice flour until it is smooth. Then tied 2 sheets of pandan leaves into a knot and put it into the pot.

• Stir the coconut milk and the rice flour while cooking it using medium heat. 

• Add a pinch of salt and keep stirring it until it forms thick porridge. 

How to cook the sauce:

• Pour a cup of water into a sauce pan and then add the coconut sugar, a pinch of salt and a knot of 2 sheets of pandan leaves.

• Stir the sauce until it boils. 

How to serve:

• Put the pudding into a small cup and then pour the sauce on top of it

Note: 
It is very important to do risk assessment first, such as: food allergy, cross-contamination during cooking activity, hot stove, cooking area, etc.

©Tina Adi

How to Create a Welcoming Atmosphere

As a Teacher, it is very important to create a welcoming situation to all of your students, colleagues, other professionals and parents at all times.

There are ways to create a welcoming atmosphere:
• Take deep breaths and release them 3 times or more, so that you can feel calmness inside of you.
• Smile with your eyes and lips.
• Greet others: Good morning!, Hi!, Good day!
• Listen attentively during the conversations.
• Respond positively while listening: ...yes, ahh.., ok, I see
• Be friendly
• Be positive

©Tina Adi

How to Communicate Effectively to Children with Asperger's Symptoms

Based on my reading, Asperger's symptoms is connected to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Asperger's symptoms is also connected to:
A. the ability to receive information.
The best way to communicate effectively to children with Asperger's is by giving specific information. Make sure, that the way we are communicating is showing the fact, that is understandably, clear and without involving any feelings.
Example:
There is a boy with Asperger's climbing a 3 metres high tree.
How to communicate effectively:
• The fact:
》Remind the boy to check first before climbing the tree, whether:
1. there are any mats under the tree to protect him from any injuries, in case he falls.
2. there are ropes to be attached to his body to prevent him from falling.
3. there is a helmet to wear to protect his head from hitting his head accidentally.
4. there is a certified supervisor for the climbing activity.
5. there is a nurse on the premises, that can handle medical emergency.
6. there are First Aid and medical supplies to treat any injuries.

》Ask questions:
1. What will happen to him, if he climbs without checking the information above?
2. What will happen, if he falls?
3. What will happen, if his hands are injured?
4. Will he need help to eat or to wear the clothes/ shoes/ pants, in case he injures his hands?

》Encourage the child to decide the right and safe decision for him/her self:
The educator can give five minutes to think to the child about his/her decision.

B. the ability to control their emotion.
The educator can give the child support by giving the child a space to express their anger without injuring him/her self and others.
It will be good, if the premises provides a room with a Whac-A-Mole equipment. This equipment can help the child to express his/ her anger effectively.

C. the ability to do activities, that need hand-eye-coordination (throwing and catching a ball or snap card games).
The educator can train the child before starting the activity and then pair the child with Asperger's with another child, that has the same level of the ability, so they will not become frustrated. Make sure, that the educator pays more attention to child with Asperger's during the activity to minimise any aggressive behavior, that might happen.

©Tina Adi

Happiness is the Main Component of the Learning Process

Have you ever heard a saying 'Happiness is Contagious'?

For all teachers wherever you are, it is very important to be happy, while you are starting your day.

Why is it important for all teachers and students to be happy before, during and after the learning process? Because happiness can create reciprocal relationships. So I can say, that 'Happiness is Really Contagious'.

Happiness is the main component of the learning process. It means, the learning process will happen, if both the teachers and the students are happy during the learning process.

We are natural learners, when happiness is involved. Happiness is the best indicator to measure, whether respectful relationships among teachers and students are tied.

There are ways to create fun, respectful and reciprocal environments to nurture the learning process.
Those ways are:

• Happiness. The teacher must be in a happy state of mind before starting their teaching.

• All teachers are encouraged to update their pedagogical knowledge all the time. This is the only way to help them to understand every child's ability,  style of learning, interests and how to respond or act positively and wisely.

• Provide more than one activity during the learning process. For example: teaching about the concept of the number 5. The teacher can provide

 》 activity 1:
This activity is created to encourage children, who are visual learners.
A big clean white board with 5 or 6 colorful board markers and 2 or 3 board erasers.

 》 activity 2:
This activity is created to encourage children, who are kinesthetic and tactile learners.
5 small colorful doughnuts from plastic, 5 small colorful pizza from plastic, 5 small colorful candies from plastic and so on.

》 activity 3:
This activity is created to encourage children, who are auditory learners.
The teacher can gather 5 or 6 children and then ask them to show 5 fingers or collect and hold 5 objects in 60 seconds (1 minute). After that, the teacher will check on them. The teacher can pick a student to do the teacher's role and encourage them to take turns doing the teacher's role.

》 activity 4:
This activity is created to encourage children, who are visual mixed with auditory and kinesthetic learners.
The teacher will form the children into pairs. Groups of three or more are not effective. The teacher will give them a task to explore 5 free objects according to the students ' choices. Each group must find and draw the 5 objects, then write number 5 in words, after that present their exploration to the teacher and or other students after they completed the task.

Each child is free to pick the activity. The teacher must encourage all children do more than one activity, especially the activity 4.

• Remember to inform the teacher's expectation before starting the activity. For example, the teacher must inform:      ○ the children about all activities for the day, so that the children will not be nervous
    ○ how to respect others
    ○ how to respond in a courteous manner (saying please)
    ○ how to respond in a friendly tone to others during their conversation.
    ○ how to negotiate and communicate effectively and positively.

• Ask children's opinions/ ideas/ interests daily or weekly, so that the teacher can provide fun activities and based on the current children's interests. Then the teacher can work together with  all children and other teachers in order to pick and provide 4 or 5 different activities at the same time on the daily basis. This opportunity will create daily routine activities based on the children's interests. Besides that, children are free to move and choose any activities based on their interests. All children are encouraged to lead all chosen daily/ weekly activities. So that, they can be prepared for the daily activities.
This activity will definitely support every child to participate actively, independently and collaboratively, because the idea of all activities were coming from them, given to them and managed by them. The teachers' tasks are only as facilitators.

• Gather a lot of feedback from parents/ other teachers/ other resources regarding fun activities for children.

• Ask all parents about their family's background and culture, their expectations towards their children, their children's strengths and weaknesses, their children's interests and their children's developmental stages.

• Create a simple open curriculum based on the children's interests/ suggestions/ ideas/ opinions. If possible, all children are encouraged to write on their interests/ ideas/ suggestions/ opinions on the curriculum as the evidence that all children are involved as curriculum makers and decision makers.

• Provide the tools and equipment according to the number of children adequately.

Tips:
☆ The teacher can provide questions for problem solving activity by asking the children to form pairs for certain questions. Then each pair can present their ideas or suggestions or opinions in front of their peers.

☆ The teacher can provide " a Wisdom  Area" everyday (the wisdom area is a location, where children can learn how to work together with others effectively in order to solve any problems that occur among them).
A teacher can train 2 - 4 different children everyday how to ask the effective and positive questions in order to solve any problems that might occur on that day. The teacher must watch, observe, accompany and step in if needed during the problem solving process. This area will definitely train and empower children to analyse, evaluate, gather all information, communicate effectively by asking the right questions and then to solve the problems effectively. Besides that, the curriculum draft can be put in this area. All children are allowed to write down or share verbally their ideas/ interests/ suggestions on the curriculum draft as well.

©Tina Adi

How to help new students and parents to acclimate them to a new school or childcare centre environment smoothly

Transitioning from home to a school or a childcare centre is similar to moving from one climate to another climatic zone.

For some families, it is like going from cold Iceland to the hot Sahara desert. For other families, there is little change at all.

This situation will not only effect the children, but their parents as well.

The best way to help and support the children and their parents to acclimate both of them smoothly is doing some steps and procedures:

• the child and their parents are welcomed and allowed to start the transition, by coming to their new school or the childcare centre only for 30 minutes on the first day. The time can be added, if the child and their parents want to stay longer. It is a positive sign, if the child and their parents want to stay longer. 

• They are still allowed to come to the school or the childcare centre together for 1 hour. The time can be added, if the child and their parents want to stay longer.

• The third day, the time is increased to be 2 hours for both child and their parents. The time can be added, if the child and their parents want to stay longer.

• The fourth day, the time is increased to be 3 hours for both child and their parents. 

The teacher can ask the parents, whether they want to stay at school or the childcare centre until the end of the school time or at certain time, when the teacher can see, that the child enjoys the activities and mingles with his/ her peers happily and willingly.

The teacher should ask the child, whether he/ she agrees to continue his/ her activities at the school or the childcare centre, until finished, without being accompanied by  his/ her parents. 

If the child agrees to stay at school or the childcare centre without his/ her parents, the parents are free to leave the school or the childcare centre and then come back to pick their child as well. 

• The fifth day, the teacher should ask the child and their parents, whether they want to stay at school or the childcare centre together for 3 hours or the child can start the activities without being accompanied by his/ her parents. 

If the child agrees to stay at school or the childcare centre without being accompanied by his/ her parents straight away, but the parents are not ready to leave the school or the childcare centre, the teacher can allow the parents to stay at the school's waiting room or ask the school's or the childcare centre's counselor to talk to the parents and encourage them to support their children's decision. 

These steps and procedures can be added or reduced according to the children and their parents' needs. 

©Tina Adi