English SME & SSE copy 1

Key unit competence: Using the language learnt in the context of early childhood welfare

INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY

5.1. Talking about early childhood education in Rwanda

5.1.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY

Reading and text analysis

•  Text 1: Early Childhood education

Towards the end of the MDGs in 2015, it was and is still clear that the government of Rwanda had done extremely well in meeting or making significant progress on various MDG targets. Some major achievements included economic growth, expanded basic social services – particularly in health), poverty reduction and gender empowerment among others. There is a great expectation not only in the region but also globally that Rwanda will continue to be a pace setter in the implementation of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development.

As the government continues to focus on achieving Vision 2020 aspirations, due attention will need to be placed on Early Childhood Education for a better Rwanda.

Significant progress has been experienced in the education sector in Rwanda in various ways-increase in access to education- as reflected in enrolment and attendance rates and gender parity. Indeed, UNESCO ranked Rwanda among the top three performing countries in the world for its efforts to achieve universal primary educational goals.

Whereas Rwanda has made tremendous progress in increasing access to education and achieving gender parity in enrolment and attendance rates, the government will now need to focus on providing quality education that meets the needs of all children, including ensuring that the poorest children are able to overcome inherent disadvantages.

Early childhood education in Rwanda is not fee free and this poses serious challenges to children from poor families who cannot afford the costs. This inadvertently leads to exclusion of the poorest children.

Inadequate investment in Early childhood education provision is partially a reflection of an already over-stretched budget.

The expansion of pre-primary classrooms in schools across Rwanda and the existence of the Early Childhood Development Policy and the associated strategic plan that aims at ensuring access to integrated health, nutritional, early stimulation, and learning for all children in Rwanda are critical indicators that the Government of Rwanda recognizes the need for early childhood services.

Text adapted from The New Times, May 18, 2016

•  Comprehension questions

1. Rwanda has done its best to meet the MDGs’goals. What does MDGs stand for?

2. In the writer’s view, what should the Rwandan Government do to better early childhood education?

3. What tremendous progress has Rwanda made so far?

4. What elements are included in the Early Childhood policy and Strategic plan?

5. After reading this passage, are you optimistic that Early Childhood

Education will meet the needs of all Rwandan children? Explain.

• Text 2: Early learning

Read the following text thoroughly and answer the questions that follow.

Many children enter primary school with varying levels of preparedness to actually cope with the new school environment. Usually, school readiness is understood, to mean equipping children with a specific set of basic skills and abilities.

The school or places where these basic skills and abilities are got, are given different names: pre-school, kindergarten, nursery school. There are some schools or private centers which decide to provide little children with all basic needs and cares, and some parents trust them with their kids, from two years and above, although it is also possible for the under- two year babies ( Just for very busy mothers). These centers are called day care centers.

In order to act in accordance with education for all and gender balance policies, the Rwandan Government has made the early childhood education prevalent and compulsory and each public primary school should have a pre-school location and room/rooms.

Nonetheless, parenting education and support programs are prioritized on the conviction that the family is the primary institution through which quality optimal care and early stimulation can be provided to children.

The Government of Rwanda is committed to placing the family at the center of development, and as a prerequisite to achieve equitable and sustainable education.

•  Comprehension questions

a. What is school readiness going to help according to the passage?

b. What is the meaning of kindergarten?

c. How do child-day care centers function? Do you have any objection to such centers? If yes explain.

d. Why has the Rwandan Government made Early Childhood prevalent and compulsory in all primary schools?

e. In Early Childhood Education policies, parents or guardians:

f. Must be indifferent towards a child’s education and development.

g. Parents or guardians should look for someone to always cater for their children.

h. Are required to give optimal care and stimulation to children.

i. Should only resort to child-care centers.

5.1.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary, paragraph and composition writing

1. Use a dictionary or a thesaurus to find the meaning of these words and expressions:

(a) School readiness, (b) Prioritized, (c) Prerequisites,

(d) Child-care centers, (e) Optimal (f) Early childhood Education,

(g) Inherent, Inadvertently, (i) Prevalent

2. Using the above vocabulary items, write one paragraph explaining the reasons for early childhood education in Rwanda. “Necessity of Early childhood emphasis in Rwanda.”

5.2. Describe early childhood basic needs

5.2.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY

Reading and text analysis

Read the following passage and answer questions that follow:

• Text1: Basic needs of Early childhood Education

For children, the basic needs include warm, caring and responsive adults. There should be a sense of importance and significance; a way to relate to the world around them; opportunities to move and play and people to help structure and support their learning.

In other words, Early education ensures free, integral and harmonious development of the child’s personality, according to their rhythm and needs.

The education provided has to ensure the differentiated stimulation of children, aiming at the intellectual, emotional, social and physical development of each child and targeting to achieve different results of early education.

The little children need free, integral and harmonious development of their personality supporting their autonomous and creative training. They need interaction with other children, with adults and with the environment to acquire new knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors; encouraging exploration, exercises, tests and experiments as autonomous learning experiences. By doing so, children will dare to carry out new activities and researches.

The feeding in early childhood education needs punctuality and meeting the child’s appetite expectation. General cleanliness around and surveying personal hygiene is very necessary.

Text adopted from https://www.unicef.org.education, accessed on October 19,2019

• Comprehension questions:

1. Why is it necessary to cater for the children’s needs?

2. Is it necessary to cope with the child’s personality in early childhood education? Explain.

3. How should adults deal with children’s stimulation?

4. Under what circumstances should children be allowed autonomy?

5. State at least five basic needs in early childhood education.

6. What lesson is learnt from this text?

5.2.2. Application activities: Vocabulary and debate

5.2.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary and debate

1. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to check the spelling and pronunciation of these words:

(a) Stimulation, (b) Autonomous, (c) behaviors, (d) Experiments

2. Debate challenges related to “Early childhood education is the foundation of education.”

5.3. Duties and responsibilities of parents and caregivers

5.3.1. LEARNING ACTIVITY

Reading and text analysis

•  Text: Childcare givers

Read the following text and answer the questions after it.

Child caregivers plan, supervise and implement a structured learning environment that allows young children to explore their interests. For example, they may read and play with toddlers tointroduce social skills such as manners.

They help young children learn through creative group activity. A caregiver must plan, facilitate, observe, be a good role model, supervise.

As far as the parents are concerned, the child-parent relationship has a major influence on most aspects of a child’s development. When optimal, parenting skills and behaviors have a positive impact on children’s self-esteem, school achievement, cognitive development and behavior.

Parents should accept the child’s interests with responses that are prompt and contingent to what the child signals to supports learning, in part, by facilitating the child’s development of mechanisms for coping with stress and novelty in his or her environment. With repeated positive experiences, a trust and bond develop between the child and parent that in turn allows the child to ultimately internalize this trust and then generalize their learning to new experiences.

From a socio-cultural perspective, parents should display cognitively responsive behaviors, which will later help the child to assume a more active and ultimately independent role in learning.

Parents should also help in research context because the acquisition of problem solving, language and social-emotional skills are facilitated by them. Their duty of providing meals and extra-care is inborn.

Text adopted from www.child-encyclopedia.com

•  Comprehension questions

a. Why should caregivers plan in early childhood education?

b. How should caregivers help young children?

c. Why should the parents accept the child’s interests?

d. What should parents do in the socio-cultural point of view?

e. What have you learnt from this text?

5.3.2. APPLICATION ACTIVITY

Vocabulary and discussion

1. Use a dictionary or thesaurus and find the meaning of the following words:

(a) Toddlers, (b) Self-esteem, (c) Prompt, (d) Contingent, (e) Ultimately

2. While including the new words above, debate the duties and responsibilities of parents and caregivers.

5.4.Language structure: Modal verbs and adjective’s degrees of comparison

I. Modal verbs: Should, need, dare

There are many modal verbs In English including should, need, dare etc.

• Using should, need, dare in sentences:

Examples:

a. Teachers should get acquainted with competences in early childhood education.

b. Some years back, parents daren’t take their kids to school.

c. We all need to learn about early childhood education.

Notes

A. Uses of should

i. Modal verb should, is used to express a moral obligation as seen in examples below:

a. We should love one another.

b. Children should obey their parents, teachers and neighbours.

c. You should not do such a mistake.

ii. Should is also used in criticism.

Example: You shouldn’t eat too much.

N.B: In past context, we use should+ have+ past participle to mean that something was necessary but was not done.

Examples:

a. Elijah should have brought the child to school last week. (he didn’t bring the child)

b. Margaret should have learnt how to teach young children. (she didn’t learn it)

c. You shouldn’t have eaten too much.(you ate too much: criticism)

B. Uses of need

i. Need is used to express necessity.

Examples:

a. They needn’t come today. There aren’t many things to do.

b. This kid needs to sleep.

Notes:

In past context, we use need+ have+ past participle to mean that something

was not necessary but it was done.

Examples:

Why did you go to Kigali? You needn’t have gone there because you had his phone number.

Tom wasted his money. He needn’t have bought another pair of shoes. The child has many pairs.

ii. Need can also behave like a normal verb and take an auxiliary.

Examples:

a. Do children need care in early childhood education?

b. Brian doesn’t need a toy. He has many.

C. Use of ‘dare’

Dare is used when the action is taken bravely or in abnormal situations.

Examples:

a. How dare you treat the kids like this?

b. I Dare say that you are our hero!

N.B: Dare can be used as other normal verbs and take an auxiliary.

Example: She didn’t dare talk to them.

D. Application activities on the uses of should, needn’t and dare

1. Complete the sentences with should, needn’t, dare

a. Why ……rich people help the poor?

b. How …. you insult others?

c. She ……. have come here. It was not necessary.

d. You ………… ask the teacher to help you if you do not understand the questions.

e. We have enough material for the daycare section. You.……. buy more.

f. How…………. you suggest she was weak!

2. Using need, should and dare, write one paragraph about teaching in Early childhood education

II. Adjective degrees of comparison

Example:

a. Adult people are interested in games.

b. Adolescents are more interested in games than adults.

c. Young children are the most interested in games of all.

In sentence one, the adjective “interested” is used with adult people only. It is a positive degree.

In sentence two, adolescents are compared with adults. More interested… than...is comparative degree.

In sentence three, young children are compared with adolescents and adults, 

(the most interested ..of..). it is superlative degree.

Notes:

In English language, there are three degrees of comparison:

1. Positive degree: e.g. Jack is tall.

2. Comparative degree

In comparative degree, there are three levels of comparison:

•  Equality: as + adj. + as

a. Jack is as tall as Mary or Jack is tall, so is Mary.

b. A girl child is as important as a boy child or

c. A girl child is important and so is a boy child.

•  Inferiority:

Not as +adj.+ as; less+ adjective + than; adjective of minor value+ than or not so

+adjective +as

Examples:

a. Adults are not as interested in games as kids.

b. Bruce is not so tall as Jack.

c. Charles is less intelligent than Assia.

d. Thierry is shorter than his sister.

•  Superiority

Adjective (of major value) + er+ than, more+ polysyllabic or verbal adjective. + than

a. Fabiola was quicker than Alpha

b. This machine is more expensive than that one.

c. Enock is more tired than Teddy.

III. Superlative degree

The+ adjective +est + of/in or the + most + polysyllabic or verbal adjective+ of/ in

a. Who is the quickest learner of your class?

b. The most difficult thing in life is to manage oneself.

c. Constance was the most excited of all.

Notes:

Irregular comparison

Exercise:

1. complete the sentences with the correct comparison form

a. Both Kelly and Kenia are intelligent, but Kenia is the………. of the two. (intelligent)

b. My results in exams are………than I expected.(good)

c. Who is the……man in the world? (rich)

d. Innocent is my …. brother. Of course, he is ……than I.(old)

2. Discuss the duties and responsibilities of educational stakeholders using

modal verbs and adjective degrees of comparison.\

5.5. Word pronunciation

Add five more words to the following containing the sounds[ϱ∂]or [ɛ∂] verse

5.6. END UNIT ASSESSMENT

1. What are the main roles of parents and caregivers in early childhood education?

2. Why is it important to study early childhood education?

3. What are young children’s five basic needs?

4. Explain the following words and expressions

a. Early Childhood Education

b. Inadvertently

c. Day care centers

d. Stimulation