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Gustavo A. Bcquer 50 Av.Hospital Militar 85 08023 Barcelona Telf. 93 2138864 Fax. 93 2108682 www.redestb.es/personal/englishschool e-mail. englishschool@mx3.redestb.

es

A SUMMARY OF OUR PROGRAMME

KINDERGARTEN (K3, K4 & K5)

The following is a summary of the objectives that we consider for Kindergarten. They are not only from a psycho-pedagogic perspective, but are also in line with the contents for each subject. We will aim to outline this global standpoint for Kindergarten for your perusal. The pupil of Pre-School/Kindergarten (3 5 years) is considered to be in the phase of early childhood: From a psychological point of view, the child has an identity crisis caused by the need for autonomy. This is intensified from 3 years onwards, which is when he becomes aware of the I and then of the mine and the me. This need is satisfied with the attendance to school, where he will overcome it progressively. In this stage he will acquire the basis of thought (profoundly and intimately related to language), which will be worked from the perceptual (with direct observation and manipulation of the environment) to the abstract (with emergent literacy). From an emotional and social point of view, can we talk about personality of a child? More favourably, we can talk about the development of his emotional reactions as well as those of his innate emotions. Emotional development is the result of a complex interaction of the maturity and learning variable. The child suffers a series of crises while he is developing his emotions, and depending on the solution, will affect the development of his personality. The breast-feeding stage means the beginning of a basic emotion that the child will find difficult to cope with when he is weaned. Once he has overcome this crisis, the child disregards the primitive causes that made up this basic emotion. Between 3 5 years old, there is another crisis that will be fundamental for him: Oedipus Complex. The Oedipus Complex, which is positive for boys, is when he intensifies his love for his mother and at the same time causes a conflict against his father. For girls, it is the reverse, and is when she is positive towards her father and against her mother. Along with this, the child becomes aware of anatomical differences between him and others: boy/girl, man/woman. This can be difficult to

comprehend and for his egocentrism, as previous to this realisation, he considered that everyone was like him. So it is normal, that one of his favourite games is doctors. Normally, all of this is overcome naturally when he comes into contact with an extra-familiar environment (i.e school), which provides a positive environment for dealing with these crises. It is usual and quite frequent that the anxiety caused by these crises, result in night terrors or nightmares (usually about big animals), often provoked by inappropriate television programmes. At around 5 years old, they start to overcome some fears (for example of dogs) and the fear of dark and thunder increases. With regard to games at these ages, the play-groups that they form are usually made up of two. In the groups of three it is normal that they are in a two against one situation. They are not very chaste, they like showing their belly button and playing doctors, as said before. At 5, girls are attracted to dolls, whereas the favourite games for boys are often building blocks or wars, although they also like playing with dolls which should not be discouraged. They have passion for television, especially for children programmes. It is not good to abuse videos and television as the main form of entertainment. It is better to encourage a love of reading (stories, nursery rhymes, tales, comic strips etc), that will stimulate their imagination, instead of dwindle it.

Reading is essential for his later educational progress.


From a pedagogical and didactic point of view, we believe Kindergarten should be seen as a whole. It is however subdivided into ages as to allow for focusing more deeply into all the stages and in providing an environment appropriate to the optimal development of the child: I-

KNOWLEDGE: visual and hearing perception, memory, language and thinking, graphomotricity. II- HABITS: emotional, social and working. Personality and behaviour, coexistence, order and cleaning, teamwork and individual work. III- MOTIVATION: stimulating his interest for everything they do and for the way they do it. There is no bigger motivation, even in adults, than the satisfactions for a well done job. IV- MOTOR AREA: we work the spatial orientation, laterality, manipulation, motor skills (fine and gross), control of his own body, creativity. From the first day, they do Physical Education with a qualified teacher; handling sports materials (balls, sticks, hoops, mats etc), postural

exercises, segmental movements, march, rhythm and we always stimulate the sporting and team spirit. V- ATTITUDE, VALUES AND RULES: English School insists on this, because knowledge is as important as good manners, which is why we focus on this whilst they are at school. In fact, in Primary School, Manners is a subject.
Everything at school is so closely and intimately related and interlinked, that working together in a global way, at the same time and as one, through games, songs and active-participation, allows for spontaneity, creativity and imagination to prosper.

The Kindergarten stage, contrary to what lots of parents think, is of vital importance for later education. What children learn (or not) and what they achieve (or not), will undoubtedly affect their later education and consequently their adult life and the person they turn out to be.

A GOOD BUILDING, WITH SUFFICIENT FOUNDATIONS.

FUTURE,

NEEDS

GOOD,

TOUGH

AND

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

During the Kindergarten stage, children will specifically work on their oral expression. They will know the vocabulary and expressions that will allow them to communicate with people around them, thanks to an active methodology, never as a translation and mainly speaking. At the end of Kindergarten, they will know at least three hundred words. When a child is born, he neither speaks, nor understands anything. He will learn his language in a natural way: listening, repeating and imitating people around him; books will come later. The learning of English at English School will follow this line of natural evolution of the child: from oral expression to writing. Throughout all of the process, we do not forget the study and comprehension of culture of English speaking countries (art, literature, geography, history, gastronomy, ways of life) At the age of 12, your child will obtain their first university certificate in English from Cambridge University. It is important to underline the importance of the early learning of other languages. The ability of reception and the easiness of learning are essential for learning a language. Subconsciously children include a new language into their mentality, as well as absorbing information in like a sponge. This also allows them to be more flexible in their future education and indeed in speaking other languages to an advanced level.

Gustavo A. Bcquer 50 Av.Hospital Militar 85 08023 Barcelona Telf. 93 2138864 Fax. 93 2108682 www.redestb.es/personal/englishschool e-mail. englishschool@mx3.redestb.es

OBJECTIVES
In Kindergarten, we want to reach a global maturity that enables children to pass unscathed through the future stages of school, meeting these objectives: Hearing perception: Train the ear Adapt the sense of rhythm Stimulate the sense of rhythm Visual perception: Stimulate visual agility Stimulate visual memory Laterality: Work on laterality: distinction and spatial development Accept their own laterality Improve the laterality problems Work on spatial orientation Develop the idea of Dimension Train the ability of assimilating ideas, concepts and orders Stimulate mental agility and memory Increase vocabulary and conversation (thought) (3 languages) Start Maths (calculation), count and subtract Improve sensitivity and manual skills (fine motor skills) Know and control their own body (gross motor skills) Education in habits, order and cleanliness Stimulate basic attitudes, values and rules Stimulate imagination/creativity Start/assume emergent literacy The pupils end Kindergarten knowing how to read and write.

AREAS OF WORKING
Hearing and rhythm, laterality, difference between right/left in himself and environment Self awareness and perception of his own body Spatial orientation Perception, memory and visual agility With all these, we want that the pupils reach a good reading level

MATERIAL
A series of materials are needed for meeting these objectives:

Audiovisuals: Video, cassettes, CDs


Didactic games Toys Bean Bags Percussion instruments: drums, tambourines... Balls Different sized, coloured and shaped objects Colouring pencils, chalk, paints, pencils, wax crayons, felt tip pens, glue, glitter etc Hole punches Scissors Plasticine, clay, Sculpey Puzzles, Memory Logical blocks Flash Cards Fairy tales and audio tapes Piano Classical music (cassette, CD) Murals and posters Adult clothing and costumes Notebooks, paper (different sizes) Books, booklets, photocopies for graphomotricity, prewriting worksheets, plastic. Blackboards Alphabet Primers and pre-reading and reading worksheets

Although writing is very related to reading, it also requires some important points Stimulation of visual agility Laterality: differentiate between right/left is essential for writing Stimulation of feeling and manual skills (use correctly the pencil) Ability of assimilating ideas and pictures Starting Maths at K5 makes essential: Laterality, differentiate between right/left Memorizing and visual discrimination Count, subtract and group (blocks and objects) Differentiate numbers at a visual and graphic way THE MOTORSKILL, PLASTIC AND DYNAMIC AREAS ARE INTERRELATED WITH ALL THE ABOVE, BECAUSE EVERY EXERCISE STARTS WITH MANIPULATION OF MATERIALS, THEN IT GOES TO THE BODY AND FINALLY TO THE PAPER

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