The second part of the poem talks about how adults and the school system restrict their ways of learning by ‘separating the head from the body’, ‘think without hands’, ‘to do without head, ‘to listen and not to speak’, ‘to understand without joy’ and to ‘love and to marvel only at Easter and at Christmas’. My understanding of this part of the poem is that children are being treated as passive learners, where they learn through structured ways of teaching, where everyone learns the same thing the same way and are then expected to demonstrate their understanding through the same methods. For instance, after teaches a certain concept (e.g. numeracy), children will have to demonstrate their understanding by answering questions on a worksheet correctly. Children are not given the chance to express themselves the way they want to and only learn what the teacher wants them to learn. By doing this, teachers and/or adults are taking away their chances of learning to interpret their own experiences and do not give them the opportunity to explore and manipulate the environment in order for them to learn through their own experiences. Furthermore, from the poem, it seems to stress on the huge role that the environment plays in helping the child to learn in a way that would build their confidence and to sustain their interest in learning and constructing their own knowledge.

 

The hundred languages can be demonstrated differently in classrooms through our objectives for the children through various means. Personally, I feel that children need to be given a more active role in their learning as well as to be given greater opportunities for them to be able to express themselves freely. One such way is to observe the children closely in order to understand and capture their areas of interest and to plan lessons based on these interests. For instance, if children in the class show an interest in baking and in cooking, teachers can incorporate opportunities to teach skills such as numeracy, counting, sight word reading and sequencing while conducting a cookery activity. An example of such a cookery activity is for children to make a fruit salad. Children will be able to identify various fruits, read the ingredient list, practice their counting skills when they count the number of fruits to be placed into the mixing bowl, and recall the sequence in order for the to create the fruit salad. By taking into account their areas of interest, children would be more engaged in the activities conducted and would enjoy the process of learning. 

 

Another way the hundred languages could be demonstrated is for activities to be child directed instead of teacher directed. What this means is that children would be able to take the lead in the activities rather than teachers instructing them on what to do. For instance, during an outdoor walk, the children encounter a ladybug and are intrigued by it. The teacher could use this as a learning opportunity to have a discussion about it. The teacher could ask children to describe the appearance of the ladybug and ask questions such as what it eats, where it lives. Consequently, during an art and craft session, the teacher could provide materials for children to create their own ladybug. Children will have the freedom to mould their own ladybug out of clay and paint them in whatever colours they wish.  Through this activity, children will be given the freedom to be creative in creating and completing their own project. 

 

Other ways could be setting up areas or corners where they could freely express themselves. For instance, a creative corner where the children are provided with various materials for them to be creative and work on their own ideas through painting, playing with Lego blocks and playdoh to create what they want to. Teachers would play a more passive role and would assist them in helping to make their ideas come to life, rather than to instruct them on what to do and how to do it. On top of all of the above, involving caregivers in their learning may be also be a good initiative. Caregivers know their child best and as such, by getting parents involved in their learning in the classroom, teachers could also learn a thing or two from their caregivers. For instance, getting to know their areas of interests or getting to know the children in the class better in order to better plan for future lessons. Collaborating with parents may also provide children with exposure to things such as musical instruments, learning more about a job or even skills such as baking and cooking.