As December arrives, winter break is just around the corner.Before every winter break, many parents ask: How should children be managed at home during the holiday? How can we cultivate good habits and foster a love for learning, ensuring this winter break isn't wasted? To address this, our reporter interviewed Zheng Yinghui and Lü Yang, regional supervisors of the Youth Department at Zhengzhou New Oriental, to discuss how to nurture positive habits in children during winter break.
Ms. Zheng Yinghui noted that Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, former Google Vice President and President of Google China, has always emphasized that applying knowledge enhances children's interest in learning and deepens their understanding. Through extensive practice, Zhengzhou New Oriental Bubble Children's Education Center has proven: children learn best when they can apply what they learn!Therefore, parents should actively create real-life scenarios in daily life to provide children with opportunities to apply their knowledge and showcase their abilities.
Creating Scenarios to Guide Practical Application
Throughout a child's development, creating contextual situations effectively guides them in applying what they learn.
New Oriental's English classrooms consistently employ the story-based teaching method based on this principle, which can also be applied to other subjects in real life.Take literacy learning: When Xiao Xin was learning numbers one through ten, to prevent boredom, the teacher used pinyin-to-character exercises like "三心二意 (distracted), 十全十美 (perfect in every way), 九牛一毛 (a drop in the bucket), 七上八下 (nervous and anxious)." These numbers helped her grasp their wonder and fun, while connecting "七上八下" to her daily life to understand its meaning.For instance, when prompted to recall how she felt after making a mistake, Xiao Xin hesitated. The teacher then suggested her emotions resembled "fifteen buckets drawing water"—prompting Xiao Xin to immediately respond with "seven up, eight down." This not only helped her grasp the idiom's meaning and apply it contextually but also reinforced her understanding of the proverb, enriching her linguistic repertoire.
Guiding children to apply knowledge through reading
Zhengzhou New Oriental Bubble Children's Education Center advocates that English learning should be achieved through extensive reading. Reading tests grammar comprehension, deepens vocabulary retention, broadens life experiences, accumulates useful phrases, and solidifies foundational English skills—a method equally applicable to other subjects.
Putting knowledge into practice is a fundamental principle of learning.
Applying learning fosters strong interest in children. To this end, Kai-Fu Lee believes parents should cultivate good study habits in their children, as both good habits and practical application promote learning.
First, establish the habit of completing homework immediately upon returning home from school. Parents should not hover over homework sessions. However, during this time, parents should avoid watching TV or speaking loudly, providing a quiet study environment—this is how leading by example manifests.
Second, cultivate the habit of self-checking homework after completion. Parents may review the work afterward, guiding the child to correct any errors found.Each morning while parents prepare breakfast, have children read for 15–30 minutes or listen to English audio materials for the same duration. If mornings are too rushed, reading after finishing homework in the afternoon or listening before bedtime are equally effective habits. Encourage children to read extracurricular books (both Chinese and English stories are suitable) to broaden their knowledge base and enhance cognitive abilities. Newly acquired knowledge must be applied to ensure lasting retention.
Specific Approaches:
1. Focus on Homework
Parents can establish three ground rules with their child: After school, complete homework before going out to play; After finishing homework, review it for errors; Carefully correct any mistakes, misspellings, or errors in sentences marked by the teacher.
2. Cultivate a Learning Attitude
Specific requirements include: reading attentively, completing assignments on time without carelessness; pursuing topics of interest while tackling challenging material; maintaining neat and accurate handwriting.and mastering crafts and drawing.
4. Focus on skill development
Such as reviewing, previewing, reading aloud, and mental arithmetic; methods for observation, memorization, and critical thinking.
Cultivate practical application habits from an early age
Before formal schooling, parents often teach children basic characters. During this process, integrate the principle of applying knowledge to real-world use.
The ultimate purpose of learning characters is for application and reading. To help children gain a sense of accomplishment and boost their confidence through application, design games tailored to their current vocabulary level and interests. These activities reinforce character recognition and provide an initial understanding of meanings (applicable to any language learning; Bubble Children's English Education has consistently researched and applied such methods).
Specific Approaches:
1. Creating Nursery Rhymes
Design fun games involving rhymes with sentences (covering core vocabulary for the stage). This not only reinforces new words but also helps children grasp the function and meaning of characters through playful interaction with sentences and rhymes.
2. Curated Reading
Create a supportive reading environment to foster children's reading development. Carefully select representative works from children's literature, classical texts, science popularization, and historical knowledge.
3. Contextual Character Recognition Games
Once children grasp abstract Chinese character imagery, design engaging scenario-based games where they apply learned characters in simulated contexts.
As winter break approaches, all teachers at Zhengzhou New Oriental Youth Department sincerely hope parents will collaborate with educators to cultivate positive learning habits, enabling children to grow through joyful learning experiences.