I started this learning activity with Darius the moment he turned 6 months old. We had earlier blogged about showing chinese flashcards to him. It was actually a supplement to this activity which I hadn’t write about because I wasn’t sure of its effects yet.

Darius has always been an attentive baby, interested and curious in learning things around him and watching us. Maybe it had something to do with the prenatal education we gave him. He isn’t that much interested in playing with toys, but he gets interested in songs, us talking to him and any graphical/textual stuff.

I was surfing the IDOBaby Forum 3 plus months ago when I got to know of this set of Flashcard DVDs, ‘Wink To Learn‘ with a promotion code to get something free (turned out to be an activity book for older kids). When I surf to the website, learn the philosophy & watched the testimonials, it really got me interested. Mainly also because this was the first Chinese Words DVD I had ever seen. We were starting Chinese Education for him and it was difficult to get materials that weren’t in English.

So with the package promotion it was having, I quickly grabbed a package for all three DVDs, Wink to Learn in Chinese, In English and a Sing to Learn Chinese (karaoke music cd).

“Just by watching 1 to 2 lessons a day over a period of 6 months, your child is able to recognize more than 500 words and hence moves on to storybooks and more!”

A lot of people may think we are stressing our children by showing them flashcards and teaching them words at such a young age. In fact, children actually loves to learn! They are constantly learning about our environment through playing, touching and watching. If you give them toys, they learn how to operate it. If you read/talk to them, they learn languages. So if you can teach them and let them understand what each item is called so they can be more aware of their surroundings, why not?

People who are aware of the Glenn Doman’s philosophy know that a child’s brain is constantly absorbing information and growing cells & connectivity tissues from age 0 to 6 years of age. After 6 years, the brain tissues get pruned, unused information are thrown away and they are left with lesser brain cells. With the idea that ‘The Brain Grows With Use’, the constant exposure to learning will help their brains cells to stay active and remain connected in large amounts. It happens for adults too just that it’s at a slower rate.

So how has Darius been taking to this?

He loves it! When I switched on the Chinese Wink To Learn DVD, his eyes stay transfixed on the screen. Sometimes, he will glance away in between pictures but he will immediately turn back to stare again when the voice comes on.

So deep in concentration that he didn't look at me taking his pic

The pictures are all of high quality and the music slideshow of nature and places all over the world after every lesson complements the learning and relaxes the mind for a while.

There are six levels. Each level will be shown for 2 months with revision of the previous levels in between.  The first level is really simple words like head, nose, mouth, legs, actions like eat, drink, sit. Each level consists of six categories (Animals, Body Parts, Fruits, Actions, Numbers, Nature for level 1) and differentiates as it gets higher.

Darius is at level 3 now (Animals, Stationery & Shapes, Fruits, Odd Numbers, Opposites and Personal Belongings) and it will be shown for two months til just before his 11th month birthday.

Level 5 & 6 is totally into sentences, using the vocab he had learnt in lower levels. By that time, he would be over 1 year old and suitable to learn to speak in sentences.

When I first start a level with him, I’ll sit with him to watch it together. We’ll only do one or two lessons each day, twice a day. After he has gone through the six lessons individually, I start him on watching the revision part (six lessons) for a whole month. He can watched it himself while I go tidy up. Each lesson is 5 mins only so total of 30 mins because when you show Flashcards to a baby, you have to do it fast. That’s why it’s called ‘Wink to Learn’.

They even have a Right brain high speed version which I try to show him twice a week. It’s the same thing but with each picture being shown only a second before moving on. When I watched it, it makes me dizzy but a baby can watch it with ease because they see things faster than us.

A few days ago, he started babbling/smiling at the Wink to Learn Smiley Logo. Maybe he recognised that as a smile. ^_^ When it was time for showing him ( I always show at the same timing, after breakfast, before afternoon nap), he kept turning towards the blank TV to see if it will come on. Ha.

Do all these really work? I believe that Flashcards help him to be aware of stuff which he is storing in the brain to be used later when he can express himself. Nevermind that he might not read because my purpose is not to make him read words at such a young age but to let him associate the pictures with what they are called. If he can read, even better!

I wonder if he’s being trained to fully concentrate on learning through this because during the recent trip to the Baby Jumper Gym, he was totally concentrating on the person who was showing him flash cards at a very high speed. He never moved from his position or turned away distracted unlike other babies. He loves looking at the pictures and texts so much. He even turned to watch the person doing it with another baby even though he has seen it already. So we can be sure it will not be wasted if he goes for this kind of classes…^_^ Though he might not need this type of class anymore since he can do this at home.

Let’s see whether this is useful when he learns how to speak later on.

♥ More on Learning Activities (Part III)

No related posts.