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    Teaching The Whole Child: Nina Lauder - March 2010

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    Teaching The Whole Child: Nina Lauder - March 2010

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    Teaching The Whole Child: Nina Lauder - March 2010

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    Teaching the Whole Child

    Nina Lauder – March 2010

    “The highest function of education is to bring about an integrated


    individual who is capable of dealing with life as a whole.”
    J. Krishnamurti

    Being a teacher, as we all know, involves a lot more children take an active, inventive role and
    than simply delivering grammar and vocabulary reconstruct tasks through their own understanding.”
    explanations to a group of children. As teachers, (Smith and Taylor, 2000)
    especially when working with children, we need to
    not only be aware of the academic needs of our When taking a whole child approach, teachers
    learners, but also to pay attention to their social and need to focus on the “big picture” and on the
    emotional needs. Hence, when we talk about the child’s whole life and circumstances while, at the
    concept of whole learning, it often refers to the idea same time, viewing children as having valuable
    of developing social skills and life skills alongside knowledge which they can contribute to the class.
    teaching key concepts from the curriculum. In this
    article we will take a closer look at what whole How can we shift towards a whole
    learning is and investigate ways to meet the learning approach?
    multiple needs of the learners in our classroom.
    There are a number of ways in which we can
    What is the whole child approach? make slight changes in our teaching styles and in
    the classroom material we use to move towards
    The whole child approach refers to developing developing whole learners.
    programmes which ensure that the needs, rights
    and interests of children are taken into account in One thing we can do in our lessons is to work on
    the classroom. In order to achieve this, our learning social skills and values. Working on these areas
    objectives need to go above and beyond a mere can be done through age-appropriate and topic
    list of academic goals. We should also provide appropriate songs, stories, projects and role plays,
    opportunities to develop the general well-being for example:
    of our learners.

    Addressing these issues requires moving away from


    traditional, mainstream teaching where children
    are often viewed as vulnerable creatures unable
    to fend for themselves in the real world. A whole
    child approach recognizes that, although children
    do need help, support, and guidance as they grow
    and learn, they also need to be prepared to look
    after themselves, to interact with others on their
    own terms, and to make decisions or solve problems
    on their own.

    As Smith and Taylor point out, “Children are not


    the passive recipients of an adult’s teaching. Skills
    and information from outside the child are not
    simply transferred to inside the child, because
    Family and Friends Class Book Level 1, OUP 2009

    For more articles and activities from our expert team of


    teacher trainers visit www.oup.com/elt/familyandfriends
    © Oxford University Press
    No unauthorised photocopying. All rights reserved
    Teaching the Whole Child
    Nina Lauder – March 2010

    In this example, the children are looking at the In summary, the purpose of taking on the whole
    importance of being a good friend and sharing with learning approach is to prepare children to meet
    others. With young learners, there are a number of the challenges of daily living while, at the same
    values and social skills we can work on in class. time, preparing them academically. This approach
    encourages students to learn about themselves,
    Some of these include: to learn about developing healthy relationships
    with others, about how to be resilient, and about
    3 personal hygiene becoming active members of society as well as
    proficient users of English.
    3 road safety
    3 helping others
    3 sharing
    3 being a good friend
    3 feelings
    3 keeping our things tidy
    3 environmental awareness
    3 being kind to animals

    Another interesting way to work on whole learning


    in class is through the introduction of real world
    content to our lessons. By introducing the real
    world into our classrooms, we help to prepare our
    pupils for lifelong learning while, at the same time,
    helping them to understand the global context of
    their locals lives. Bringing the real world into the
    classroom also helps children to develop respect
    and tolerance and to value diversity. All of these
    skills are important life skills which help children
    both in and out of school.

    Smith A B and Taylor N J, The sociocultural context of childhood:


    balancing dependency and agency in Smith A B, Taylor N J and M Gollop
    (eds) Children’s Voices – Research, Policy and Practice, Pearson Education,
    Auckland , 2000.

    For more articles and activities from our expert team of


    teacher trainers visit www.oup.com/elt/familyandfriends
    © Oxford University Press
    No unauthorised photocopying. All rights reserved

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