WhizKidz Philosophy

Our method, which is supported by over 30 years of study, data and successfully implemented curricula in Japan is called language acquisition. Language acquisition is achieved when a child sees something and learns what it is called. The “right-brain” and “new-brain” components of learning are used to teach language. Everyone has been exposed to it in their childhood years. Parents teach their children this way without knowing its name. When your mother taught you what a train was, she told you the word and you remembered it forever. You have been using the word ever since. Your word retention for train was enforced daily when you saw the train. She never taught you how to spell or write train before you used it in life. You say and use the word train in its native form with no difficulty in accent or pronunciation. The writing was eventually taught to you in school. This is our philosophy. Why Children Hate English Let’s start with the basic question everyone should be asking. If you decided to start skating, piano or cooking lessons, would your teacher start teaching you aerial jumps, Chopin or how to make a souffle? 95% of the software and 30% of the English textbooks in Japan do this by introducing English words in typed form. The other 70% of the English learning textbooks translate Japanese into English as well as introduce English words, a doubly ineffective way to teach. Our philosophy purports that translating is a detrimental way to learn a language. How can we expect children to be encouraged yet alone master what it took us years to learn in the West right from the start? Students cannot learn to speak quickly nor can they enjoy English if they are inundated with words and learning correct spelling and grammar. Their interest in English should be encouraged and not stymied. That is what we do with our software. Step-by-Step Methodology Students need to be taught the basic building blocks from the start before moving on to constructing sentences. They also should be taught in an engaging and “learn-by-doing” way. In your life, vocabulary is taught first. Without vocabulary, sentences cannot be constructed. After mastering vocabulary we have built a strong foundation for the student, allowing us to start introducing more complicated tasks such as making sentences. At this point, we are still using pictures and not words to teach the student. We link pictures together and the student makes sentences at will using native English pronunciation. Once the student masters making sentences they are speaking. After they are making sentences, phase 3 of our series will contain the written word at the bottom of more advanced sentences to allow them to “see” how it should be written. By this time they are using English better and more natively than other students their age in Japan. Now they can transition into the Japanese schooling system where grammar and writing is taught. Flash Cards Using the flash cards, we form a new habit of associating each English word with an image or mental picture, not its Japanese equivalent to it’s image, which is a two step process taking 3 times as long. Instead of understanding the English word “ book “ by translating it into Japanese (“ ho-n”), they immediately form a mental picture of “book“ with the associated image. By doing so, the student begins to eliminate their old habit of translating by forming a visualization. If it’s a new word they immediately form a visualization. A mental picture for each English word we teach is made. In school, we are expected to learn English from words appearing in our textbooks. By learning only from textbooks, vocabulary building is often detached from daily life. That means vocabulary building is not similar to that of an American child. As a result, the student knows many big words, but does not know simple words which are often used in daily life. Example; My sister drinks milk at 4 o’clock every weekday. When you see or hear the word “My sister” you first visualize your sister. Then you form a mental picture of your sister drinking milk. Next, you visualize a clock with its hands showing 4 o’clock positions and a calendar which indicates Monday to Friday. Finally, you put all these mental pictures together to form one picture. This is how you understand the sentence. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Japanese, American, or any other nationality. When studying English as a second language, the same basic process where any child learns their mother tongue the first time should be used. Our system fosters the formation of this habit simply by use alone. Instead of translating each English sentence word by word, we help the student visualize each English word or expression in the sentences and consolidate these visualized images into one whole picture which show the meaning of the sentences. The Teaching Module Purpose The teaching module was designed to minimize school cost, foster an engaging, exciting, material focused, hands-on, learn-by-doing, interactive, teacher and student involved class which can be taught by any Japanese English or Native English teacher without experience. System Design Our teaching system was designed to both, be used alone or augment, supplement or go on top of existing teaching methods and curricula currently being used. The PLS system, right-brain and TPR methods used in some English schools compliment our system well and integrate easily as a supplement. Schools teaching everyday sentences will also be able to easily integrate our system as is and unchanged into their curriculum because our system only teaches vocabulary in its beginning phase (phase 1) of 3 CDs. For newer innovative schools, the TPR method can be used as a direct result of this system’s design. (ref: TPR Curriculum: Animals) As a starter course for ANY English school our system is the PERFECT way to introduce native pronunciation and a wide vocabulary without confusing children or turning them off, which so many other teaching methods do, in an engaging and exciting way. Children learn by touching, acting and doing. Our system is the ONLY system that allows that interaction. Clear Advantages There are 4 distinct advantages of the teaching software. 1. It fosters a highly engaging class where students are never bored. 2. The teaching system was designed so that, any average teacher could teach it. 3. The teacher does not have to be a native English speaker because it consists entirely of native English pronunciation. 4. Unlike other software, one computer per student is NOT needed. Only ONE computer is required. Why We Don’t Use Textbooks Our teaching philosophy, as you have read, (ref: Our Philosophy) is one that does not require typed or written words. All “textbooks” use written words and are detrimental to our method. Publishing a picture book is costly for both the parent and our company and unhealthy for the environment, but more importantly, textbooks do not follow our teaching and learning philosophy. Students cannot be interactively engaged with books in learning as they can with interactive software. We have replaced the textbook by producing “interactive” software for take home and review. We call it the interactive “textbook”. Studies have shown that students learn better when they are interested in the material. How the Teaching Module Works in Class Using the following Items:    * One computer    * Touch Screen    * WhizKidz Curriculum    * Flashcards    * Teacher    * Students Group Class The teacher teaches a curriculum (WhizKidz or their own or both) to the students who are sitting together in a group at the front of the class. The touch panel activated computer with the teaching software is on, beside the teacher. The teacher goes through the WhizKidz flashcards choosing from unlimited methods. The teacher then confirms what the students have learned by asking them to get up and touch the correct vocabulary picture via the touch screen. If the student choice is correct, then they are praised. If incorrect then another student is asked to come up and try. The advantage of this system is when the student gets the wrong answer, they still get to hear the incorrect word for review along with the rest of the class and they have also had the chance to interact with the “fun” computer regardless of right or wrong answer. The system’s unique design also allows the teacher to play the standard flashcard games with just the flashcards or both the flashcards and the system such as the “speed game”, “karuta” and also allows the teacher to be creative and invent games as they like. i.e. “blindfold touch game” The system as a whole brings a whole new level of word retention, interactive and rapid learning for all students involved. Improvements in the Nishinomiya Marty’s Club Studio were over 300% vs. using traditional methods. One-on-One The instructor or parent teaches a curriculum (WhizKidz, their own or both) to the student or child. The optional touch panel activated computer with the teaching software is on in front of the student and teacher. If the touch panel is not used the method is still as effective with use of a mouse. The teacher goes through the WhizKidz flashcards as they like (half or all). The teacher or parent confirms what the student has learned by asking them to touch the correct vocabulary picture. If student choice is correct, then they are praised. If incorrect then they are asked to try again. The above Group Class information all applies to the One-on-One lesson Summary of Points to Consider * Our method employs a 30+ year tried and tested curricula successfully implemented in Japan. It incorporates language acquisition, right-brain learning and TPR activities. (ref: philosophy page 1) * The interactive “textbook” replaces the standard textbook with the following benefits: * It's interactive so it gives feedback to the student * It's interesting so kids will always be interested in it * It's reusable * It's environmentally friendly * Students can hear and therefore acquire language * It reinforces native pronunciation at the student’s own pace * Kids can jump right into phase 2 without doing phase 1 if they don't need to refresh their vocabulary. * There are no teaching systems or schools using this technology together with this method. * The teaching module was specially designed for use in class to help ANY teacher make a better class. * Student reaction is such that the teacher does not need to prompt the student to use it. * There is no need for lengthy instructions from the teacher to the student in order to use the in-class teaching module. It is self-explanatory. * The interactive take home “textbook” was designed with characters that speak in Japanese when giving instructions so that students could be left alone when using it. * Teachers can easily check to see if students have done their homework by using the in-class teaching module. * Students don't experience the sense of failure normally felt when getting an incorrect answer. Instead, they feel happy that they had the opportunity to come up and use the touch screen and watch the result of their action. * Only one computer is needed in class unlike other software. We designed it to encourage group interaction reducing school costs but an unexpected benefit of better teacher guidance resulted because teachers can see all the students for one computer without having to walk from computer to computer allowing more quality teacher interaction with students