Little Lorikeets went out

Little Lorikeets went out on a small field trip today with the whole school to the local zoo

Usually we only go out with years 5,4,and 3 and year 1 and 2 take the day off.

BUT near the end of the school year they are starting to have understanding, and have the stamina (though there was a bit of crying and complaints on the way back).

Getting out of the school and seeing different things and animals is important for language development especially their English development.

A development that I say to the parents until I'm blue in the face is important but they are still content to attend regular Kindergarten after using us for one or two years as a preschool before normal kindergarten.

They leave just when the language is just starting to take root, and as we all know plants with shallow roots plants wither and die. And that is what use to happen, we would have speaking 2-3 year olds leave, and in the next April attend our afterschool and what they use to be able to do in kinder (output) quickly disappeared.

Which is why 2 years ago we decided to only accept graduates In our afternoon program.

It is financially costly but if I keep chasing quantity instead of quality the students levels will never increase to the levels I expect.

Something I knew instinctively but was too scared to change and so every year I still let some join the afternoon classes.

BUT after studying at Globis university about strategic thinking and sticking with it if it's sound really helped.

It was persevere or pivot time and we decided to pivot.

What disappoints me the most is the parents thinking that, oh they can speak and understand enough and that's enough.

In these times of VUCA and how the economy is changing into the GIG economy, having value, such as speaking English fluently, under your belt at a young age when children have the time for it is so important.

And so I'm glad that so far we have had 3 lots of graduate's, and though the numbers have been small (because of the reasons I forementioned) the quality of English, the comprehension is unbelievable now.

It seems that if they have the language scaffolding set by 6 years old, when they go to primary/elementary school they can retain new language so fast. And because they attended 4-5 years of international kindergarten they have output too. (Again relating to leaving too early. For an immersive English environment. output disappears very quickly after leaving)

This is a brief post on my opinions and I'll follow up with the observations that I have found over the years.

From the start I have been collecting as data the amount of time spent in my schools immersive environment and I have started to notice trends.

Thanks GLOBIS University - Graduate School of Management for starting me on the path to a more conscious way of  strategic thinking.

 

Globis

https://www.globis.ac.jp/

 

Personal LinkedIn account

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-hill-/

 

www.littlelorikeets.com

 

#internationaleducation

#school #university #development #data #language #content #environment #management

#littlelorikeets #globis

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