揠苗助长的新式幼儿园

2016-05-14ByEdmondeHaro

英语学习 2016年4期

By Edmon de Haro

The New Preschool Is Crushing Kids1

如今，“让孩子们赢在起跑线上”这句话越来越为人所诟病，看看现在幼儿园和学前班里的孩子们，小小年纪就背负沉重的学业负担，恨不得十八般武艺样样精通。在父母、老师拉着孩子们往前跑时，他们也许都忽略了——人的一生是长跑，计较了起跑线上的分秒，殊不知“欲速则不达”，跑得快，不等于跑得赢。

Step into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to be bombarded with what we educators call a print-rich environment， every surface festooned with alphabet charts， bar graphs， word walls， instructional posters， classroom rules， calendars， schedules， and motivational platitudes—few of which a 4-year-old can “decode，” the contemporary word for what used to be known as reading.2

Because so few adults can remember the pertinent details of their own preschool or kindergarten years， it can be hard to appreciate just how much the early-education landscape has been transformed over the past two decades.3 The changes are not restricted to the confusing pastiche4 on classroom walls. Pedagogy and curricula have changed too， most recently in response to the Common Core State Standards Initiatives kindergarten guidelines.5 Much greater portions of the day are now spent on whats called “seatwork” and a form of tightly scripted teaching known as direct instruction， formerly used mainly in the older grades， in which a teacher carefully controls the content and pacing of what a child is supposed to learn.6

One study， titled “Is Kindergarten the New First Grade？”， compared kindergarten teachers attitudes nationwide in 1998 and 2010 and found that the percentage of teachers expecting children to know how to read by the end of the year had risen from 30 to 80 percent.7 The researchers also reported more time spent with workbooks and worksheets， and less time devoted to music and art.8 Kindergarten is indeed the new first grade， the authors concluded glumly9. In turn， children who would once have used the kindergarten year as a gentle transition into school are in some cases being held back before theyve had a chance to start.10

Until recently， school-readiness skills werent high on anyones agenda， nor was the idea that the youngest learners might be disqualified from moving on to a subsequent stage.11 But now that kindergarten serves as a gatekeeper， not a welcome mat， to elementary school， concerns about school preparedness kick in earlier and earlier.12 A child whos supposed to read by the end of kindergarten had better be getting ready in preschool. As a result， expectations that may arguably have been reasonable for 5- and 6-year-olds， such as being able to sit at a desk and complete a task using pencil and paper， are now directed at even younger children， who lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful.13

Preschool classrooms have become increasingly fraught spaces， with teachers cajoling their charges to finish their “work” before they can go play.14 And yet， even as preschoolers are learning more pre-academic skills at earlier ages， Ive heard many teachers say that they seem somehow less inquisitive and less engaged than the kids of earlier generations.15 More children today seem to lack the language skills needed to retell a simple story or to use basic connecting words and prepositions16. They cant make a conceptual analogy between， say， the veins on a leaf and the veins in their own hands.17

New research found that although children who had attended preschool initially exhibited more “school readiness” skills when they entered kindergarten than did their non-preschool-attending peers， by the time they were in first grade their attitudes toward school were deteriorating.18

Media attention to the cognitive potential of early childhood has a way of exacerbating such a trend， but the actual academic consensus on the components of high-quality early education tells another story.19 According to experts， the best preschool programs share several features： They provide ample opportunities for young children to use and hear complex， interactive language； their curriculum supports a wide range of school-readiness goals that include social and emotional skills and active learning； they encourage meaningful family involvement； and they have knowledgeable and well-qualified teachers.20

In a high-quality program， adults are building relationships with the children and paying close attention to their thought processes and， by extension21， their communication. Theyre finding ways to make the children think out loud22.

The real focus in the preschool years should be not just on vocabulary and reading， but on talking and listening. We forget how vital spontaneous， unstructured conversation is to young childrens understanding.23 By talking with adults， and one another， they pick up information. They learn how things work. They solve puzzles that trouble them. Sometimes， to be fair， what children take away from a conversation is wrong. They might conclude24 that pigs produce ham， just as chickens produce eggs and cows produce milk. But these understandings are worked over， refined， and adapted—as when a brutal older sibling explains a ham sandwichs grisly origins.25

Unfortunately， much of the conversation in todays preschool classrooms is one-directional and simplistic， as teachers steer students through a highly structured schedule， herding them from one activity to another and signaling approval with a quick “good job！”26

Consider the difference between a teachers use of a closed statement versus an open-ended question.27 Imagine that a teacher approaches a child drawing a picture and exclaims28， “Oh， what a pretty house！” If the child is not actually drawing a house， she might feel exposed， and even if she is drawing a house， the teachers remark shuts down further discussion：29 She has labeled the thing and said she likes it. What more is there to add？ A much more helpful approach would be to say， “Tell me about your drawing，” inviting the child to be reflective30. Its never possible to anticipate everything a small person needs to learn， so open-ended inquiry can reveal what is known and unknown.31 Such a small pedagogic difference can be an important catalyst for a basic， but unbounded，32 cognitive habit—the act of thinking out loud.

Its become almost a cliché to look to Finlands educational system for inspiration.33 As has been widely reported， the country began to radically professionalize its workforce in the 1970s and abandoned most of the performance standards endemic to American schooling.34 Today， Finlands schools are consistently ranked among the worlds very best. This “Finnish miracle” sounds almost too good to be true. Surely the country must have a few dud teachers and slacker kids！35

And yet， when Ive visited Finland， Ive found it impossible to remain unmoved by the example of preschools where the learning environment is assessed，36 rather than the children in it. Having rejected many of the pseudo-academic benchmarks that can， and do， fit on a scorecard，37 preschool teachers in Finland are free to focus on whats really essential： their relationship with the growing child.

Heres what the Finns， who dont begin formal reading instruction until around age seven， have to say about preparing preschoolers to read： “The basis for the beginnings of literacy38 is that children have heard and listened… They have spoken and been spoken to， people have discussed （things） with them… They have asked questions and received answers.”

For our littlest learners， what could be more important than that？

1. preschool：在美国，preschool是3至5岁儿童上的，相当于中国的幼儿园，而kindergarten是小学的一部分，相当于国内的学前班，故本文将preschool译作幼儿园，kindergarten译作学前班，以示区别；crush：压伤，压坏。

2. 如今，走进一间美国幼儿园的教室，你很有可能会遭到印刷品的狂轰滥炸，我们教育者称这种环境为印刷品密集环境，即每个墙面都饰以字母表、条形统计图、单词墙、教学海报、教室规章、日历、日程表，还有激励话语——四岁大的孩子很少能“解读”这些。这是如今的说法，过去我们则称之为“阅读”。bombard with：用……轰炸；festoon with：饰以……；instructional：教学的；motivational：激发性的，励志的；platitude：陈词滥调；decode：解码，这里指解读；contemporary：当代的。

3. pertinent：相关的；appreciate：理解； landscape：形势，情形。

4. pastiche：混杂品，东拼西凑的东西。

5. pedagogy：教学法，下文中pedagogic意为“教学的”；curricula： curriculum的复数，课程体系；in response to：响应；the Common Core State Standards Initiative：公共核心课程国家标准倡议；guideline：指导方针。

6. 如今一天中大部分时间都花在被称为“课堂作业”和严格按照讲义的“直接教学法”上面，这在之前主要用于高年级教学上。通过这种教学方法，老师可以小心控制孩子应该学习的内容和节奏。portion：部分；scripted：照本宣科的；pacing：节奏。

7. 有项题为《学前班成了新的一年级？》的研究，对比了1998年和2010年学前班老师的态度，发现老师对孩子们在学年结束时学会阅读的期待值从30%上升到了80%。

8. workbook：练习簿；worksheet：（学生的）作业单，活页练习题；devote to：用于。

9. glumly：忧郁地，闷闷不乐地。

10. in turn：反过来；gentle transition：平缓过渡；hold back：阻碍，阻止。

11. high on sb.s agenda：是……的重点； disqualify from：使不合格；subsequent：随后的。

12. gatekeeper：看门人；welcome mat：（通常摆在门口的）擦鞋垫，这里比喻为欢迎；elementary school：小学；kick in：开始生效。

13. 结果，原本可能是对五六岁大的孩子们的合理期望，比如能端坐在桌子前、用铅笔和纸完成作业等，现在则转移到了更小的孩子身上，但这些孩子缺少行动技能和持久的注意力来完成这些任务。arguably：大概；motor skill：动作技能；attention span：注意力的持续时间。

14. fraught：令人忧虑的，不好对付的；cajole：以甜言蜜语哄骗；charge：被托管的人，这里指幼儿园小孩。

15. pre-academic：早期认知的；inquisitive：好学的，好奇的；engaged：积极参与的，感兴趣的。

16. preposition：介词。

17. conceptual：概念性的；analogy：类比；vein：前一指“叶脉”，后一指“血管”。

18. 新研究发现，比起那些没有上过幼儿园的小伙伴们，上过幼儿园的孩子虽然在刚进学前班时显示出了更多“入学准备”技能，但到了一年级时，他们对学校的态度就开始恶化。initially：开头，最初；peer：同伴，同辈；deteriorate：退化，恶化。

19. cognitive：认知的；exacerbate：使恶化，使加剧；consensus：共识；component：成分，要素。

20. 据专家称，最好的幼儿园教育都有以下几个特点：为小孩子提供充足的机会去使用和聆听复杂、互动的语言；课程设置支持多种入学准备目标，包括社交技能、情绪技能和主动学习；鼓励有意义的家庭参与；拥有知识渊博、资质合格的老师等等。ample：丰富的，充足的； well-qualified：合格的，有资格的。

21. by extension：引申开来。

22. think out loud：把想的说出来。

23. vital：至关重要的；spontaneous：自发的；unstructured：非结构化的。

24. conclude：推断。

25. work over：彻底改变；refine：提炼，使（语言文字等）更准确；adapt：使……适应；brutal：不讲情面的，不顾他人感情的；sibling：兄弟姐妹；grisly：可怕的。

26. one-directional：单方向的；simplistic：过分简单化的；steer sb. through：指导某人通过；herd：把……集中在一起；signal：表示。

27. closed statement：封闭式陈述；versus：与……相对；open-ended question：开放式问题。

28. exclaim：惊叹，大声喊出。

29. exposed：暴露的，无保护的；remark：言辞，评论；shut down：（使）停止。

30. reflective：反思的。

31. anticipate：预期，期望；inquiry：询问； reveal：透露，揭露。

32. catalyst：催化剂；unbounded：无限的。