I am the driver!

E was always the one who is fond of hopping into the little car and driving it around our outdoor area. He just started mastering the balance to walk but still wasn't totally confident. For him, it was a great opportunity to practise his leg muscles when he played on those transportation tools.

He slowly moved himself to the side of the car and opened the car door. He kept saying: "Car, car." His verbal language was really getting expanding these days. As long as he heard anything, he would just imitate the sound and start repeating the words. It's the best time for young children to absorb knowledge and gain skills when they are playing (Fischer & Gillespie, 2003). 

He was at the stage where he was also trying to match the words with the real object. He pushed himself in and got really cheerful once he was in the car. He kept turning the wheel round and round. I could tell that he felt really confident to function his own body parts and he gained so much fun and excitement from doing that. I recognized this teachable moments (Haugland & Wright, 1997) and started singing: "The wheels on the bus go round and round..."

Then he realized that the car door hadn't been shut properly so he was trying and trying to use up all his strength to pull it back. I demonstrated positive teaching strategy and started encouraging E : "Kia Kaha, E!" Children need to be encouraged when they are coming across difficulties (MOE, 1996). He was looking around as if he was checking whether it was safe enough for him.

There we went! Now he could fully enjoy his driving. The way he acted was totally impressed me. It seemed that he was such an experienced driver and he looked up and down to check everything was all right. He was ready to go. He was also press the horn in the middle and said: "Beep, beep!" He was so clever. So in order to extend his vocabulary, I said: "Wheel,. E, say wheel." He imitated exactly what I said before. "Where is the break?" I asked him. He repeated: "Break." But obviously he wasn't really sure what I was talking about. So I directed him to the bottom part f the car. "Here it is, E. This is called break." He kept repeating and looked at it.Teachers should be as facilitators to scaffold children's learning and view their learning as valuable while working alongside children (Porter, 2003)

Then he went very fast and all the way he was doing back and forward. "E, reverse your car."He didn't get it obviously. Then I helped him pull the call backward and tried to tell him that it was reversing. Then I pushed him forward and told him that it was driving.Teachers should facilitate children and scaffold their learning when needed (Crain, 1999). He was so satisfied with the whole process and he was getting really good at walking the car with his strong legs. They were moving super fast and were very flexible.

During this learning experience, E's language had been enhanced and his vocabulary had been expanded. He was displaying a range of positive learning dispositions, which were curiosity, playfulness, confidence as well as problem-solving. He was also observing, imitating and also linking his own experience with real daily life. He was building up a lot of confidence to walk with his legs and controlling his body parts freely (Ministry of Education, 1996). In a world, he learned and gained so much from this meaningful and valuable learning experience he initiated by himself.

References:

Crain, W. (1999 ). Theories of Development. Concepts and applications. （5th, ed）The City College of the Cith University of New York. Upper Saddle River. New Jersey.

Fischer, M. A. & Gillespie, C. S. (2003). Computers and young children's development. Young children 58 (4): 85-91.

Haugland, S. W. & Wright, J. L. (1997). Young children and technology: A world of discovery. Boston:    Allyn & Bacon.

Porter, L. (2003). Valuing children. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 28(2), 1-8.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.