Greetings!
The pandemic has made a lot of families in my country stay indoors whether we like it or not. Here in the city that I live and work a curfew is still in effect from 8 o'clock in the evening until 5 o'clock in the morning. I only get out of the house when I go to work and my wife will only get outside to buy our essential needs for everyday living.
As of today, my elder son is schooling online which was started last year. While I and my wife stay home we started to teach our toddler son how to read and write the English alphabet, the numbers, and figures like square, rectangle, circle, triangle. We simultaneously taught our son to read and to properly hold a ballpen into a writing position, which takes some practice until he learned it correctly.
As of the moment, he would just trace the letters and numbers that I and my wife would write on paper but he can now hold a ballpen into a perfect writing position. As parents, seeing our toddler writing and reading for the first time is one of the best things in the world. It makes us very happy as if we achieved a milestone.
Today, it has been months since we taught him how to read, write, recognize colors, and basic shapes. We also make him watch tutorials on how to write the English alphabet and how to count from one to twenty. A few weeks ago we are very delighted when he insists that he wants to study on multiple occasions. When he says he wants to study it means he wants us to write the English alphabet or numbers on a piece of paper then he will trace it using a ballpen.
On one occasion I and my wife were very surprised when he started trace-writing the English alphabet while he is watching an English alphabet video tutorial on a mobile device. He was very happy while he was following the tutorial all by himself.
Below is a photo of him trace-writing the English alphabet while he is following the instructions from the video tutorial.
Using Colorful Visuals Helps a Lot
My wife intensifies our son's home learning by buying visually appealing English alphabet char and number chart online to make his study a little more fun by adding colorful representations of letters and numbers. We waited for almost a week before the charts arrived. The charts are very colorful, eye-catching, and the letters and numbers are very clear, a perfect fit for toddlers that are starting to read the English alphabet and learning numbers.
At first, my wife affixed the charts on a wall side-by-side so that he will see them every day while doing his thing. But we started to notice that he have a knack for tearing papers apart. He would tear the papers he used in trace-writing letters and numbers. So my wife removed them from the wall, rolled them, and then unroll them whenever we used them to teach him just like what you see in the next two photos, the alphabet chart, and the number chart is laid on the floor while my wife would pinpoint every letters and number then our son would respond by speaking what was being pinpointed.
The charts help a lot in helping our son learn the alphabet and numbers faster because he clearly sees their shapes. As days are passing by after my wife bought the charts he is now able to recognize the alphabet and number presented to him in various sizes. He enjoys learning the alphabet and number he always in his smiling face while learning the alphabet and the letters.
Then the day comes when the charts that my wife bought are all torn apart by him, sigh, toddlers do love tearing papers apart. So my wife just made a makeshift alphabet chart and number chart on an old wooden cabinet's body frame. Using a pentel pen my wife wrote the letters and the numbers that he can recognize. Once in a while, we would see him reading the letters and numbers written in it. I and my wife would smile at each other while he was reading the letters and the numbers.
The Importance of Teaching a Toddler to Recognize Color
While my son can speak all the names of the letters and numbers (1 to 20) he's still a toddler that is learning the names of things that we see in our everyday life. Most of the time I cannot understand what he was saying so I will just ask him what is the color of the thing that he is referring to.
With that said I just realized that teaching a toddler to recognize colors helps a lot in successfully communicating with them just like what I experienced with my son.
Teaching a toddler is a lot of fun. Everything my son achieves while home-schooling felt like a very big achievement for me.
Nung nagsstart pa lang ang daughter ko magbasa, puno ng posters ang walls namin dahil makkatulong na madalas niya makita yung mga letters, numbers, at colors. Great job teaching your toddler. Talagang napakafulfilling kapag nakukuha nila ang mga tinuturo sa knila. Have fun! :)
Salamat, yes napaka-fulfilling at nakakatuwang makita na natututo sila. Lahat ng chart na binili ng misis ko ay gula-gulanit na, haha. Tapos puro sulat pa walls namin simula ng matuto syang humawak ng lapis at ballpen. Ang ginawa ng misis ko yung mga lumang walls ng cabinets namin doon nya sinulat ang mga alphabet at numbers.
Naku, nagsimula na rin pala ang wall art niyo. Ok lang yan, madali naman malinis yang ganyan. Paglaki nila, malinis na ang walls, at tahimik na ang bahay. Haha.
Naglagay ako ng plastic covers sa wall namin then yung dry erase na markers ang pinagamit ko para erase lang nang erase everyday. Walang tigil sa pagdrawing eh. Haha.
Hahaha! Oo nga, tama ka, paglaki lang nila matitigil ang pagsusulat nila sa walls. hehe. Ako naman pipinturahan ko na lang ulit ang walls namin or lagyan ko ulit wallpaper pag paglaki ng toddler son ko.
Salamat, yes napaka-fulfilling at nakakatuwang makita na natututo sila. Lahat ng chart na binili ng misis ko ay gula-gulanit na, haha. Tapos puro sulat pa walls namin simula ng matuto syang humawak ng lapis at ballpen. Ang ginawa ng misis ko yung mga lumang walls ng cabinets namin doon nya sinulat ang mga alphabet at numbers.
For children, the fact that parents are the first to provide support even in formal learning such as mathematics, reading and writing is very significant. There is nothing more important in a child's life than to say my dad taught me to read and write. Congratulations dads
Yes, you are right there is nothing more important in a child's life than to say that his/her dad taught him/her. Thank you.
galing. swerte ng anak nyo po
Thank you kabayan.
ur welcome po sir. cebu po sa amin
I love it when they get enthusiastic about learning! Is the Filipino alphabet much different to the English one?
The Modern Filipino alphabet is very similar to that of the English alphabet. To be honest, I actually learned just today that our alphabet has been modernized which of course now called "Modern Filipino Alphabet". Before today what I used to know is the old Filipino/Tagalog alphabet commonly called "Abakada". The first photo is the Abakada and the second photo is the Modern Filipino Alphabet. I also learned just today that the way we pronounce our modern alphabet is similar to that of the American English Alphabet.
Latin alphabet for Tagalog (ABAKADA)
The Modern Filipino Alphabet
References:
http://mommysaiddaddysaid.com/2014/04/12/history-of-tagalog-filipino-language-and-the-modern-filipino-alphabet/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_alphabet
I see. I remember one of the other Filipino homeedders was working on ABAKADA with her children. I see now why it's a lot to take on if there's a modern alphabet too!
!ENGAGE 25
Yes, you are right, it's a lot to take on bbecause of the modern alphabet.
Thank you for the engage token (^_^)
ENGAGEtokens.Thank you @misterengagement
Well done, this is definitely been hard to do especially in lockdown. Well done and I wish you the very best
Thank you very much. Yes, you are right it is hard especially in lockdown. I hope and pray that this pandemic will end sooner than later for us to be back in our normal life. Regards.