IS IT too early to have toddler kids join other kids in a learning and fun environment?
According to Unesco, providing access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education helps prepare children for primary education.
Early childhood care and education is the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and well-being, Unesco added.
May Tan-Go, managing director of iBrain Learning Center, cites the importance of having children attend pre-school classes. Aside from the academic curriculum to prepare the children for Kindergarten, the school also focuses on their emotional and social development. “Early on, they learn basic life skills necessary in the real world like sharing, waiting for their turn, showing respect and following instructions,” she added.
“I believe that parents know the importance of social development and interaction of their children. It really is worth investing in the future of the child,” Go explained the rationale of having children attend pre-school.
The iBrain Learning Center makes learning fun for kids from age two up to age five because it uses a multimedia approach in teaching lessons through interactive songs, stories, games and experiments while incorporating interactive and experiential activities.
“At iBrain, we nurture the children to be as smart as they can be as we focus on discovering their multiple intelligences,” she added. “In reality, it’s like enhancing one’s different skills and talents that form a well-rounded individual.”
Howard Gardner of Harvard University claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. These multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened or sadly, ignored and weakened if not given proper attention.
At the onset of the pandemic, iBrain teachers underwent a virtual workshop with a child developmental expert. They were trained to use special techniques and strategies to make the online transition easier for the students and to make classes more effective.
“We have always been very interactive and experiential in our approach, That is why despite the pandemic, we continued with our special events. Our online celebrations of ‘Linggo ng Wika,’ Career and United Nation Days, to name a few, allowed our students to dress up creatively and engage in show-and-tell while learning about the essence of each event,” Go explained. “We are happy to say that we have managed to let our young students do actual physical exercises during online P.E. classes. We do our best to provide them with a glimpse of actual activities done during face-to-face classes.”
Go also credited the parents and guardians for their support for the children during the classes. Before the start of online classes, iBrain conducted a training for parents and guardians especially on the use of technology for the online class.
“The past school year has been very challenging yet fulfilling. I noticed a lot of children have really matured and become independent. We also saw how online classes became a good family bonding experience as parents became more actively involved in their child’s education and acquired effective parenting/teaching skills while watching our teachers conduct online classes,” iBrain school administrator Hazel Tan pointed out.
iBrain is now accepting enrollment for the next school year, which will start on Aug. 9, 2021. Reading and academic tutorial classes are also being offered during summer break.
To ensure quality learning, iBrain maintains small class sizes, thus, slots are limited. With this, parents are encouraged to enroll their kids as early as possible. SPONSORED CONTENT