Preschoolers in the Mysterious Forest of Holistic Education

Without false modesty, I must admit I’m a pretty creative person. For example, I’ve been writing this blog for years and I still have topics to write about! For some years now, I’ve been training teachers how to maintain their own creativity, how to use it in the classroom, and how to be satisfied with the outcome.

Being a director of studies requires that I come up not only with admin work and workshops, but also with lesson scenarios. The scenarios I’ve created are usually adjusted to the schools’ needs, some of them are created for summer classes, other for kids-and-parents types of lessons. And, since I’m fond of writing and I can write quite well (that’s why you’re reading my blog, right?) I guilty of rather liking this part of my job.

Just when I thought that writing materials for English classes would be a great idea for my future career, my language school, ProfiLingua, decided to sail into the open sea of holistic education. That’s when I was given the opportunity to write my very own course for preschoolers. There was a catch. It was supposed to be focused on the development of future skills, not on EFL! How could I possibly say no? Supported by the experts from Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, I boldly went where no man had gone before, and the result is a brand new course for preschoolers that you can actually enjoy, provided you’re 4-6 years old.

And because I’m a proud mama 😉 I’m going to tell you something about the course called simply Przedszkolaki Bystrzaki (Smart Preschoolers)

Storytelling

I love stories, so it’s understandable that the whole course is based on a story. It all begins when the kids are invited to meet Mr. Savvy, a friendly guy who loves riddles, jokes and fun. The thing is, when they arrive to the meting he’s nowhere to be found! After solving some riddles, they find a secret message that reveals that Mr. Savvy somehow wandered into the Mysterious Forest and he can’t find his way out – what’s more, he doesn’t even want to leave, as it looks like a really awesome place, so he invites the kids to join him!

And so their adventure begins – just like in a video game, kids will travel through various locations, meet various characters like fairies, robots, fairy tale characters etc. Most of the characters they encounter will require some kind of assistance, and kids will be able to help using their key abilities developed throughout the course. Once the problem is solved, children will be offered a clue that will guide them to the next part of the story – which is basically the next lesson.

While the whole journey is already written, there is some space for the participants to add some important details, decide on the way the problem is solved – that’s how each journey is different, and each Mysterious Forest looks just like the little travellers want it to be.

Key abilities

Apart from frolicking around and meeting various creatures, children do some serious science, even though it may look like fun. But, to be honest, science is fun and as soon as kids accept this approach, it will be way easier for them to deal with, well, regular school. So what do they do during their course?

• Maths: researchers show that kids generally like Maths right up to the point when they go to school, are seated at the desks and made to do drills. In the Mysterious Forest they use Maths to help others and that’s how they learn that Maths can be really useful!
• Science: who doesn’t love experiments and research? The Mysterious Forest is an imaginary place, but the things kids learn about the natural world are pretty much real!
• Mindfulness: it’s never too early to take care of one’s mental health and some simple mindfulness techniques will help kids understand and manage their emotions. They will learn how to calm down, how to analyze the difficult emotions and how to focus on a given task
• Arts: children love using their creativity to design and construct things, and in the Mysterious Forest they will be able to work on unusual projects that may be not only interesting, but also useful.
• Magic tricks: those are brilliant when it comes to fine motor skills! Children usually practice by tracing letters and cutting out shapes, but a good magic trick designed to deceive the eye of the public requires the swiftness of the magician’s hand!

Future skills 2030-2050

Some time ago Pearson teamed up with researchers from Nesta and the Oxford Martin School, and presented a detailed analysis of the future skills, i.e. abilities that will be in demand in 2030. They presented the trends that will influence the future of employment and skills in 2030 (e.g. urbanization, sustainability, political uncertainty etc.) along with a set of skills that will be very much in need. I strongly recommend trying to check the future of your profession!

However, based on the predictions that have been shared with us for a while know, we have to realise that the future brings some changes. In the report by World Economic Forum it is said that 65% of children will work in jobs that don’t exist yet – and the report dates back to 2016! It is obvious then, that the skills needed in the future will also be different to those required now. And yet the educational system doesn’t really follow the change – hence the idea of the course that will help the kids observe and develop the abilities in themselves.

If you want to read more about the future skills, visit Nextskills and/or read the full survey here.

As you can see, there’s more to the course than meets the eye – and I believe that’s what education should look like: there should be space for fun, logical and critical thinking, teamwork, communication and finding common goals. There should be space for Maths and Science, but also for the fairy tales and designing new projects.

And always – there should be space for storytelling.

If you want to listen to me sharing more info about the course, watch the webinar I recorded for ProfiLingua: