Hundreds of thousands of Quebec children have been deprived of school for more than ten days due to the prolonged teachers’ strike. Parents are worried about the idea of their young person losing their motivation or their academic achievements during this forced leave. Here’s advice from education experts interviewed by The duty.
Maintain a routine
Routine is “super important” for children, but also for teenagers, according to the president of the Order of Psychoeducators and Psychoeducators of Quebec, Félix-David L. Soucis. “This will help maintain a feeling of security,” he said.
The routine should be “predictable and flexible”. He suggests making a schedule using pictograms for the youngest and a table for the older. ” We can say [aux ados] : “In the morning, I expect you to have done this, this, this. You will do it in the order you want, but you have your structure and that is what I expect of you.” » Screen time must be included in the “contract” between parent and child. “What will be important is that it is demarcated and planned as much as possible,” he said. For example, 20 minutes in the morning, you choose where you put it. »
Émilie Tremblay-Wragg, professor in the Department of Didactics at UQAM, also recommends that parents prepare an activity schedule for the week with their child, in order to limit screen time. “We can give certain constraints: I want there to be reading time, time with friends, the outdoors,” she cites as an example. Often, [les jeunes] don’t plan and, on the day, they say “I didn’t have any friends available”. »
Review the material learned
Even if it can be “tempting,” parents should definitely not introduce new subject matter, according to Line Laplante, professor in the Department of Language Teaching at UQAM. “We must instead do revision to consolidate the learning that the children have done since the start of the school year,” she indicates.
At primary level, she advises targeting a few “essential” areas to review: reading and writing in French, mathematics and English, if the parent masters the language. In spelling, the child can be asked to write dictation words provided by the teacher in the last weeks. “But we really need to narrow down the list to study,” she specifies. Initially, five words may be enough. Others are added over time. “If you know that your child already knows words, why not add a few to help them experience success? » she adds.
Games like “Who am I?” » can be useful for revision. The child correctly spells the answer to the riddle. The roles can be reversed. The child formulates “Who am I?” » and the parent responds. “The parent can deliberately make a little mistake and the young person will say “no, no, no!” » says Line Laplante.
Continue reading
Reading time must be included in the daily schedule, according to the experts consulted. “For little ones, it’s super important! says Isabelle Plante, full professor in the Department of Didactics at UQAM. For older children, it’s not that it’s not important, but they are not likely to forget how to read. We want reading to become part of their routine. »
Line Laplante offers parents the opportunity to share reading moments with their young ones. In the first cycle (in 1D and 2e year), they can read a story to their child and the latter follows the words read with a finger. “It can also be the young person who directs the parent with the finger. » In the second and third cycles (from the 3e at 6e year), parents and children can read a specific number of pages of the same novel — not the entire book, she specifies — and then discuss it.
Lessons in the morning, but not too long
What’s better than a “little jog” of lessons in the morning? This is the time when young people are most willing to do intellectual work, according to Isabelle Plante. In the first cycle, a period of 10 or 15 minutes is suitable, according to her. “It can go up to 60 minutes for the 3e cycle, but the important thing is to do it regularly rather than for a long time. It is much better to do 15 minutes a day than to try to do 1 hour a week. » She specifies that lessons can be interspersed with breaks, if necessary. “If the child resists, we can divide the work into small increments of 5-10 minutes. » Above all, it must not become a chore.
Do stimulating activities
Rather than “imposing school on yourself,” Émilie Tremblay-Wragg recommends that parents do “informal activities” such as reading, skating, going to a museum and doing projects that can be done at home. For example, children can go grocery shopping and prepare dinner, or shoot video clips simulating a press conference or the performance of a song. “Using parents’ strengths to do projects that will develop other skills in the child, I think that’s the key right now since we know that it’s a limited time. »
Do not panic
Yes, the situation is not ideal. But this forced leave can be seen as “a moment of pause”, according to Émilie Tremblay-Wragg. She recalls that several private schools have a break week in November. “You don’t have to stress yourself out too much,” she says.
If the strike ends soon, the loss of academic skills will be “relatively limited”, estimates Isabelle Plante, full professor in the Department of Didactics at UQAM. However, children will suffer more from this school stoppage. “The big issue with strikes and other school disruptions is that people who have fewer resources will have less support,” she says. It increases social inequalities. »