New Zealand Parenting Diary Day 3 ｜ The child is no longer timid, and I am beginning to understand the phrase "a complete person"!
When I picked up my child yesterday, I could still see his good mood, his face radiating the colors of sunshine. On the second day, he was not very timid, walking out confidently and knowing to say goodbye to the teacher, then eagerly sharing some fun stories from school with me.
For example, he said that their daily classes consist of only math and art, and the rest of the time is mostly spent on outdoor activities. He mentioned that math is extremely simple, and he basically understands it, but sometimes he struggles to recall the English words to answer.
He also mentioned that although it was quite windy and cold outside today, most of the time everyone was happily playing outdoors. There’s also a detail that has already started: the emergence of English words like "Playground" and "Outside," which may be slowly integrating into his habits and system.
So I summarized that in the six hours of school life each day, more than one-third of the time is spent outdoors. In the classroom, the focus is mainly on arts and crafts. The teaching of math is not about the problems themselves but about thinking training. It is indeed simple for Chinese children, but if you listen carefully, there is also fun in it.
I recalled a documentary I saw before, which summarized New Zealand's educational philosophy in one sentence: "Let children become complete people (holistic development)."
There are many things that can be done outdoors: exercising, learning, and even eating outside. I believe the outdoors is a reflection of New Zealand's "Play-Based Learning" philosophy. They believe that children develop social skills, problem-solving abilities, and hands-on skills through play, rather than sitting in a classroom memorizing.
I also casually browsed some school Facebook pages yesterday and found that a large part of the school's curriculum is conducted outdoors. Besides playgrounds, there are forests, oceans, and other settings. They believe that children should "grow up in nature": forests, grasslands, and beaches are all part of the classroom.
Outdoor activities are not just for relaxation; they incorporate multiple goals such as exploration, cooperation, and physical development. So I think the state of children "running outside all day" is precisely a feature that educators here take pride in.
Finally, I chatted with another mom and found that in just two days, Chinese children still tend to stick together and are not very willing to broaden their social circles.
Here, I thought carefully about it. The language barrier is a "hard threshold": children naturally feel, "What I say others can't understand, and I can't understand what others are saying." This instinct will make them more inclined to stay with Chinese-speaking friends, at least for a sense of security and ease.
Moreover, I noticed that Western children are more free in socializing, for example, directly running over to say, "Can I play with you?" In contrast, Chinese children often observe from the sidelines, hesitate, and hope to be invited. This difference in "proactivity" naturally leads to "each playing their own." This phenomenon is particularly evident among boys, while girls tend to be more attentive and like to take care of their buddies. So I see that many boys no longer have playmates, while many girls are still holding hands with their buddies, constantly guiding them. This might be a differentiation, but it's also quite interesting.
However, it's only been two days, and I think it's normal for children to prefer staying in their little circles. Not to mention children, I recall that at some WEB3 gatherings I attended, I also tended to communicate with Chinese people and was reluctant to step out of my language comfort zone, so giving it more time is probably the best approach.
Another idea I thought of was to have GPT help me organize some simple but practical English sentences to help the child "try speaking" without feeling so nervous.
Here are the sentences organized by chatGPT:
🎮 Wanting to join others' games (most important scenarios):
Can I play too?（Can I join too?）
Can I join you?（Can I join you?）
What are you playing?（What are you playing?）
How do you play this?（How do you play this?）
🧃 Small interactions during meals or breaks:
Can I sit here?（Can I sit here?）
What’s in your lunch?（What’s in your lunch?）
I like your bottle/bag/shoes!（I like your bottle/bag/shoes!）
👉 These complimenting sentences easily break the ice; children love to be praised.
🎨 Small communications during class:
Do you need help?（Do you need help?）
Can you help me?（Can you help me?）
Is this right?（Is this correct?）
🧠 If you don’t understand/need repetition:
Can you say it again?（Can you say it again?）
I don’t understand.（I don’t understand.）
What does that mean?（What does that mean?）
😊 Greetings & daily small talk:
Hi! What’s your name?（Hi! What’s your name?）
Nice to meet you!（Nice to meet you!）
How are you?（How are you?）
I’m from China.（I’m from China.）
Every day when going out, if I let him choose 2 sentences, and if he successfully says them at school, I will give him some rewards. I think this might encourage him to take that step, and this is the best effort I can make!
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
