Dr. Shinichi Suzuki
Suzuki Early Childhood Education is the realization of potential through active and reactive participation in the environment. The environment is defined as all that surrounds a child, both before and after birth.
http://www.suzukiece.com/During the early childhood years, birth through age 5, every moment is an opportunity for children to learn more about the world around them, to practise social skills, and to gain critical thinking skills and knowledge. Early childhood experiences lay the foundation for all later learning and determine whether or not children succeed in school and later life.
If we care about our children, then we must ensure that all young children enjoy an early childhood that prepares them to take full advantage of their educational opportunities and to become effective citizens, capable workers, and loving parents of the next generation.
In the Suzuki Method, children thrive in an environment of total support. Suzuki students develop confidence and self-esteem, determination to try difficult things, self-discipline, and concentration. As well, they acquire a lasting enjoyment of music, and the sensitivity and skills necessary for making music.
EVERY CHILD CAN LEARN
Suzuki educators, know that ability is firmly and gradually developed at one level before introducing the next level. An important facet of Suzuki teaching is the “education of Momma”. This does not refer to the "Mother Tongue Approach" but was used by Suzuki to point out the importance of the parents in the process. The thorough mastery of one skill will ensure success as the next skill is introduced. Parents must not hurry the child but allow for confidence before proceeding. Parents and teachers must not "give up". Just as every parent knows that their child will learn and speak their native language fluently, other abilities can be developed.
ABILITY DEVELOPS EARLY
Success in one task will lead to more success. The earlier a child learns the satisfaction that comes with success, the earlier that child can move on to new skill development in any of the domains. (cognitive, affective kinesthetic)
ENVIRONMENT NURTURES GROWTH
When parents, teachers and adults around the child are supportive and helpful, when they reward the child with positive feedback for efforts they make and when they show acceptance of the small successes that children have, the environment is nurturing and helpful for growth
CHILDREN LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER
Children who play with other children learn from them. All children use their senses for learning and their senses will motivate them to imitate their peers(especially if it looks like fun). They identify readily with children who are a little older and represent a "working" model. They often look to children just a little younger to practise the social skills that they have learned from older children.
SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS
Success in any task has some implicit rewards but when the environment provides some social or physical rewards like approval or a hug, the child quickly learns to repeat the effort.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IS CRITICAL
When parents are supportive and actively help children, their accurate feedback helps the process of learning to focus and learning becomes thoroughly mastered. Although a child learns by experience to avoid a hot stove after touching it, the feedback for much learning is more often muted and needs to be supported by an adult.
ENCOURAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL
The social reward of a supportive parent or adult (or other child) will speed the learning and remove doubt about what constitutes success in a child's learning experience. No encouragement negates the fundamental reward of success in any learning experience. It is possible for the physical environment to provide the reward necessary but if there is no encouragement from any aspect, the learning is not complete.
It is important that your baby hear you singing the songs and saying the rhymes many times. They will eventually repeat them too. This experience will help to lay the foundation for speaking and reading. Repetition of the familiar is very important for the young child’s emotional and cognitive development. The repetition on the recording is intended to provide more opportunity for this development.
The importance of listening cannot be overstated. The first task of an infant who hears many sounds in the environment is to separate those that are meaningful and those that can be "overlooked". Repetition and consistent outcomes/rewards associated with each sound are vital to the early establishment of careful listening. The child who is born"knowing the parents' voices" has a head start.
Following birth, however, the early development of this skill is dependent on the parents' ability to observe and react to various sounds. Consider the parental response to the baby's first utterance of "mama" or "dada". The reward or outcome is often great emotional delight expressed by both parents. Sadly, this is often the first really solid evidence that a infant receives confirming that vocal efforts are "on the right track".
If the parent aids in this listening process early, by rewarding efforts observed, consider the benefit to the child who can at a very early age count on a parent to "approve" or confirm all efforts. They very soon regard the parent as the most important teacher they have [which of course is true].
One of the earliest responses of an infant is the "pop" of Pop Goes the Weasel. It is anticipated by infants at a very early age. The repetition of these simple songs with the actions can encourage the child and assist in confidence building in social situations. When the parent observes the anticipation in the child, there is strong communication reinforced by the repetition of the song and activity.
MOTHER TONGUE APPROACH
While studying violin in Germany, Shinichi Suzuki was struck by the fact that German children learned to speak German fluently at their mother's knee. Just as Japanese children absorbed the dialect of the parents, all children in the world learned their native language effortlessly by listening to the adults and children in their environment. This realization led Suzuki to analyze mother tongue learning and apply the same characteristics to the study of music and later all subjects. It includes much listening, repetition, praise and performance. No word is discarded and learning accelerates with practice. Adults must wait for readiness.
NON-STRESSFUL APPROACH TO LEARNING
“It is never too early to start reading aloud. Your infant or toddler will respond eagerly to the comfort of a familiar lap, and the words and pictures of first books.
…….. If baby is grabbing at books, give him/her a rattle or soft toy to hold while listening. Keep the reading time short at first.”
.....Dorothy Jones from Lullabies Action songs and Rhymes.
CHILD CENTERED LEARNING
“Play the recording at home at different times of the day. Dance with your child and let him/her feel body movement to the beat. If you always dance to the same song, your child will ask you to dance every time he/she hears it. Small children love to be bounced, walked and wheeled around the room to music"
.....Dorothy Jones from Lullabies Action songs and Rhymes.
PRENATAL AND BABY YEARS
Babies and toddlers develop the skills listed below through the use of a recording and parent booklet titled Lullabies Action Songs and Rhymes. The songs and rhymes are repeated at home and children begin to imitate the parent's voice, actions and words.
Parents become expert observers of their own children. Children watch the actions of the parent and gradually begin to imitate them. This process is one to be enjoyed and celebrated as each new development is observed --[just as you do when your baby utters those first few words].
The outcomes of these activities include increased vocabulary, socially acceptable behavior and sensitive group participation at an early age. The most important skill for children at an early age is the ability to listen.
PRENATAL LISTENING
Listening was long thought to be of no benefit for infants in the womb. Studies today abound - extolling the benefits of such listening for both the parent and the child. Suzuki recognized the importance of prenatal listening and advocated playing classical music for the unborn fetus. He had observed that children who listen daily to one piece of music before birth, recognized it as their own music after birth.
Scientists today have shown that babies are born with a predilection for their parents' voice over others in a room. They recognize the sound and turn toward their own parent's voices a few hours after birth.
THE PRESCHOOL YEARS
The years between approximately 2.5 and 5 are a critical time for establishing a framework for later learning.
The Weekly preschool class can be an extension of the baby classes or can be the starting point for children and parents on the journey to life-long learning.
Beginning with music and the ear, toddlers establish confidence and approaches to learning that will last a lifetime. A strong bond between parent and child is the center of the approach and provides the platform on which widening skills can be practised. Increased concentration time rewards both the child with new learning and the parent with cooperative behaviour.
Using stories, science, nature, and music, children learn about their world in an integrated way at their own pace. They have it reinforced by activities at home with parents. Socialization is a natural outcome of mixed age classes that focus on the learning needs of the individual child.
The Daily preschool class can help parents establish the skills and socialization necessary for success in all later learning.
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