Centro Educacional Leonardo Da Vinci

By teacher Lorena Gutierrez

Research clearly demonstrates that well-designed, age-appropriate, educational televi­sion can be beneficial to children of preschool age. With that in mind, we can also assume that other forms of media (videos, computer programs, and even games) can have a similar effect. The underlying message to parents and educators alike is to maximize the positive effects and diminish the negative impact. But how?

The first step is to think seriously on the content of what is being viewed by the child. Researchers believe that early exposure to age-appropriate programs designed around an educational curriculum is associated with cognitive and academic enhancement.

The second step is to view the programs with the child/children, thus allowing for reflection on the success of the program. Hopefully leading to future changes, subject extension, or real world application of what is learned.

Now how have I applied this to the Bilingual program? How has media enhanced the overall learning process of each child, along with meeting linguistic goals?

In the last few years, once a week I’ve made sure to create a well thought out lesson, focusing on content, and connecting videos viewed on Youtube to curriculum goals.

I also, focused specifically on linguistic connections.

To explain this idea further, a simple example; on one particular Friday I decided to play music videos connected the theme of “falling”. The videos were age appropriate, all for preschool age. The majority were musical, specifically songs. They were repetitive and so perfect for Second Language Learners. Although at the end I also played a video about Little Red Riding Hood because we were not only working with stories by the Grimm Brothers, but also at the end of the story, the wolf falls into a river due to the heavy rocks in his belly.

Here’s the list of videos played that day:

Humpty Dumpty

London Bridge is Falling Down

Ring Around a Rosy

Jack and Jill

Rock a Bye Baby

Little Red Riding Hood

We now know more about the effects of media use on young children. This helps us develop better lessons geared around electronic media. Never forgetting to draw direct connections between what is being viewed with practical –real life experiences in and out of the classroom.