August 10th 2010: — It’s that time of the year again: time to sharpen those pencils, pack those notebooks and head back to a new year at school. Undoubtedly it’s also the time of the year that children dread most. After a long summer of fun in the sun, kids often find it difficult to adjust back to a long day of classes and homework. Perhaps parents find the situation tricky as well. How do I help my child make a smooth transition back to everyday-school life? Not to fear; Disney English has a few well-tested methods for banishing back-to-school blues.

Disney English advisory board member and Professor of English at Suzhou University Chinese Public School EFL Standards and Teacher Training Expert, Dr. Peiya Gu, says the key is in parent-child communication and avoiding influencing their child with their own anxieties and spending more time listening and understanding will help children transition more smoothly back into school life.

Slow and steady always wins.

The transition period is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be faced with dread. As much as you and your child would like to make the transition smooth and banish those “back-to-school blues” – the process can’t be rushed.

“Parents firstly need to change their mindset trying not to over address on this issue. Instead of being nervous themselves and transferring the negative mood to their kids, parents should make the transitions natural and step by step,” says Dr. Gu. “For example, the learning time can be prolonged from 10-15 minutes to 20 minutes and then 30 minutes a day generally. Parents can also generally enrich or upgrade the learning contents and materials, from singing a single song to singing songs in a playful contest for instance.”

As we learned from the tortoise, slow and steady always wins. Allow your child more breaks between homework assignments. You can even consider extending playtime as a reward for fast completion.

Find new ways to learn; through interactive activities, learning can be less of a chore.

Since children are naturally curious, inquisitive learners – it is best to let children learn through exploration. “Playing is a natural instinct and activity for children” says Dr. Gu. “Parents should try to make the learning process naturally and creatively.” Simply reciting and cramming new information will lead children to lose this positive drive to learn. Incorporating a child’s favorite activities works great as well. Turning your child’s favorite video game or TV show into an English practice session will allow them to associate positive, rewarding feelings with learning a new language. This is the perfect compromise between the “playful mindset” of summer and the more structured environment of school. In addition, using English during play will help incorporate English into children’s daily lives; ensuring long-term memorization and regular practice of the second language.

“One tip is that parents should always let their children “feel successful”, let them see the learning results,” says Dr. Gu. “While kids learn the word ‘bread’, parents could extend to ‘bun’ or ‘dumpling’ which are common and close to Chinese kids’ daily life. Parents’ guidance and encouragement will let kids feel proud and thus be more interested in learning.”

Be a “learning partner”. Communicate, Listen, Have fun. But above all communication is key.

Parental involvement has always been a key value at Disney English – and not without good reason. Continued encouragement of children will help them fight through their back-to-school blues and remain confident and motivated in their learning. Listening is always key, because it can help you to structure a learning plan catered to your child’s strengths and interests. If they respond well to music and sing-along-songs, then perhaps you can turn the latest vocabulary words or reading from class into a song to sing with your child. These tiny adjustments can go a long way; keeping learning a refreshing process. At Disney English, music and song form a large part of the curriculum, with over 250 original songs specially designed for the programme, learning is both fun and exciting.

“One of the best ways to be a learning partner is let your child be your teacher. Let kids teach you new words, new songs, new stories and new games.” said Dr. Gu. “Learning through teaching is the most effective way. According to research results, kids can grasp 90 percent of the related knowledge through teaching themselves, compared to 10 percent for classroom teaching.”

Expecting children to confront back-to-school blues on their own may be a heavy burden; children are naturally active and find it difficult to channel their attention especially after a long vacation. Sometimes this transition period may lead frustration thrown upon themselves and if left to fester, may result in low confidence. In communicating with your children, you can understand how to help placate these feelings and set small goals for both you and your child to work together towards successfully adapting back to school life.

Do’s and Don’ts
Do understand your child’s “back-to-school” blues
Do communicate with your kid on their concerns
Do allow more adjustment time for your kids
Do consider ways of making learning more interesting to your kids
Do practice interactive learning, applying tools including cards, storybooks, CDs, DVDs, etc.
Do share your experience of fighting against similar concerns

Don’t be nervous yourself or let your kids know your nervousness
Don’t expect your child will smoothly fit into school lives themselves
Don’t blame or laugh at your child’s concern or dread
Don’t make the transition too fast
Don’t set very high standard or agenda in the first month of school
Don’t ignore or lose patience to your child’s blues

Dr. Gu shares tips on how to fight “back-to-school” blues	Interactive activities can make transition period easier for kids

Parents should listen and encourage kids to smoothly fit into school lives

Disney English runs holiday camps throughout the summer and winter school holidays. Disney English now taking enrolments. For more information please visit www.disneyenglish.com or call 400 820 8066.