slow learning?

a friend shared with me about her kindergarten daughter, who's an adorable child in many's eyes.

one day, her class teacher told my friend,"ur kid is slow in grasping math concepts."

well, how should the mother react? paying so much for a branded kindergarten and only to be told straight onto the face how her child's weakness in grasping math concepts!

she politely told the teacher,"just tell me which are the areas that she's weak in and i will revise with her at home!"

well, when she shared this with me, my first reaction was whether the teacher had used the proper teaching method to prepare the class for p1 next yr.

i'm one who believes that 'no one method fits all'!

she went on to tell me that her child came back home and really impressed her of how the gravitational force, the solar system and the ability for spacemen to float in air, all explained in pictorial form.

well, that hit the nail on the head.

i told her,"ur child works in pictorial form. she's visual and kinesthetic, not one who listens to method of what's 3 plus 9.'

she decided to check it out with the daughter's private math tutor about the child's learning ability in math.

true enough, that teacher commented,"no, i never find her slow. she's a visual learner, so we teach her by ...." it was such a relief for my friend to hear that from the pte tutor.

i highlighted to her that while method of teaching matters, it's also impt for parents to recognise that different kids have different aptitudes..some kids just grasp concepts faster than the other. while others need more practice and are not very alert when question changes its form.

claire is one good example of one who grasps concepts well. i like to discuss creative questions with her, not joy though, haha. for instance, at p5, % is a topic that many kids fail to have full comprehension. but claire apparently has no problem with dealing with this topic and i seriously think she's got a good mind for it. i always compliment her for that and even address her as 'math professor' and she will in turn ask me,"does a professor earn a lot of money?"

in fact, i was teaching the p6 stdts last week and one exclaimed,"hmm..this question looks familiar. i think my sch has given it to us before, but the teacher explained it in very complicated way!" tada, when i told him just to pay attention to how linking the 3 figures to proportion concept will ease all the working, he thot it was one of the coolest way of solution! me too!

ultimately, my friend and i believe that giving kids the necessary exposure to life and outside world does help them to piece up things well.....so, parents should never be over-protective over the kids as it clearly robs the kids of the learning experience!