Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Baxian Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Ankang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Child development involves the stages of learning and growing that every human goes through. This includes the physical, emotional, intellectual and social changes which set the foundation for a healthy or problematic childhood. For this reason, the early stages of a child's maturation are crucial as it is in this period that a child's experiences can have a significant impact on their future selves, including their ability to learn and function properly in society. The different skills that a child learns are often referred to as 'development milestones' . Each milestone builds on the last one learned as a child needs to learn one thing before they can progress and move on to the next. For example, learning to crawl before moving on to walking. The 5 main areas of development are social/emotional, cognitive, speech/language, and fine/gross motor skills, which continue to develop up until the child is a young adult. There are also many different factors which influence the way a child develops these skills, with the most important being 'nature' and 'nurture', as they are commonly known. 'Nature' refers to the child's genes, meaning what they inherit from their parents. This can be certain personality traits they're born with or certain genetic material that make them more prone to disorders and other conditions. However, 'nurture' refers to external factors which influence the child's development, for example, the environment and the experiences a child has with regards to the people surrounding them. Environmental factors such as nutrition can have a great impact on a developing child as it can affect their IQ. For instance, a child in poverty without access to proper nutrition may suffer from physical conditions which can impact their brain function. In regards to teaching, especially young learners, it's important to be familiar with the different stages and to know where the child is at. This helps you to adapt your lessons and activities accordingly, ensuring the child is able to learn and develop to the best of their ability. In addition to this, it's important to remember that each child grows and learns at different rates, meaning you have to treat them as individuals and tailor your teaching to their unique needs. For instance, when teaching a new language to children between 5 and 9 years old, its important to focus on verbal repetition and activities with lots of physical movement. This helps to keep them stimulated and engaged within the lesson as their attention spans are shorter. For this reason, keeping lessons fun and dynamic is a must. On the other hand, teaching older children between the ages of 9 and 13, we can see that their concentration is higher and they're ready to move on to more difficult tasks such as using their memory and studying abstract concepts. Children this age will be less active and will be able to endure longer lessons, however, it's still important to keep lessons interesting. In conclusion, knowing the basics of child development, such as the different areas of development and factors that influence this growing, ultimately helps us to understand and work with our children better. As a result, we can be better teachers and ensure the learning experience for both teacher and student is a positive and successful one.
