A Parent's Blog About Parent Interests by our Tutoring Company

The idea of getting ahead in their classes might sound impossible to students. As much as they might realize that part of the reason they are struggling is because they are constantly reacting (rather than pro-acting), they often don’t feel like they have time to get ahead. Instead of listening to lectures with sense of familiarity and engagement, students end up frantically taking notes.

To help your kids learn how to be in a primed “ready state” in class, try this preview technique to get a jump-start on their next textbook chapter. The goal is to get the student to actively preview the material so that when they sit down for a lecture, they’ve already got an idea of the big picture of the chapter, making the lecture more valuable (and making notes they take more useful). The best part? This exercise only takes 30-60 minutes. [Read more…]

There are seemingly endless options for after-school activities that your children can get involved in, from soccer to swimming to piano lessons. But what do your children really get out of these activities? Here are some reasons why your kids should participate in extracurricular activities, beyond the standard ‘it looks good on a resume.’

Extracurricular activities can foster an open mind

Extracurriculars will give your children a chance to explore environments they may not encounter in school or at home. This may expose them to new ideas, interests, and opportunities, which is a great way to encourage their curiosity. Goodsschools.com specifically suggests volunteering and community service opportunities for students to “broaden their perspective of the world.”

The benefits of extracurricular activities include building relationships and connections for their future

After-school activities provide an opportunity for children and teens to spend time in a non-academic environment with people in their age group. This will allow them to build positive relationships in a fun and safe space with others who share a common interest. Some extracurricular activities for teens may even open the door later on to an employment opportunity, if they form positive connections and relationships with the organization.

Kids can strengthen interpersonal and work skills outside their familiar ‘zones’

Extracurricular activities for children not only allow them to experience new and fun things, they also help them build important life skills. For example, the relationships they build during these activities will teach them how to work with new people and how to work in a team. Eduflow also mentions time management, self-esteem, and organization as skills fostered in extracurricular activities that will be beneficial to kids in school and later in life in the workforce.

Outside-school activities teach kids to stay committed

Another important part of extracurricular activities for children and teens is the ability to keep a long-term commitment. If your 12-year-old is on a field hockey or rugby team, they will quickly learn that the rest of the team is depending on them to be there for practices and games throughout the season. As More 4 Kids says, “They commit themselves to that activity for a period of time. If they don’t hold up to their end of the deal, no doubt they’ll hear about it from their peers and perhaps even teachers.” An activity that requires this type of commitment will provide kids with a great learning experience to be responsible for the activities they have signed up for.

Need ideas for extracurricular activities? Here is a list to start you off!

If you need something new and exciting for your children to participate in, try looking into programs at your local recreation centre. You may be able to find an introductory program to a unique sport or activity you never would have encountered otherwise. Here are some ideas of activities to get you started:

• Rock climbing
• Rhythmic gymnastics
• Robotics club
• Irish dancing (or other cultural dancing)
• Cello lessons
• Water polo
• Volunteering at a local animal shelter

Extracurricular activities are a great way to bring balance to your child’s academic life and teach them many important skills during their formative years. Just make sure to not overdo it; one or two extracurriculars is plenty!

When you hear the word “competition,” your thoughts may run to images from your childhood, winning the first-place match in a soccer tournament. Oh the ‘high’ that gave you! Or the race for the highest GPA to become high school valedictorian. And you may also remember the embarrassment of failing at certain competitions. So, is competition at school healthy?

Today, the idea of ‘competition’ in our schools is much different (and the Internet seems to be complaining about it, correlating it with everything that’s wrong with so-called ‘millennials’). When comparing your own competition memories to your child’s current reality, you may glance over a shelf full of ‘participation’ trophies and wonder if the competitive activities from your childhood could still hold a place in your child’s life today.

Is it better to keep competition out of the way at school, so no one gets hurt? Or could competition be the key to unlocking even more of your child’s potential?

Below we’ll cover the pros and cons of encouraging competition in schools:

The Pros of Competition in Schools:

1. Motivation thrives in competitive situations

It’s probably every parent’s dream for their children to be motivated at school all the time. Competition at school can be a great way to motivate kids, by challenging them to put in their maximum effort.

2. Competition in schools leads to valuable skills

When children face competitive activities at school, they not only gain individual skills, like resilience and motivation, but they also build on important interpersonal skills. Competitive activities actually help students learn to let others have their turn, see things from others’ point of view, and build a strong character in spite of failure. These are skills that help prepare students for the workplace later in life. It also helps them succeed socially and academically in school.

3. Healthy competition boosts self-esteem and engagement

Positive, healthy competition at school will help build students up, and engage them as they discover new skills. Some signs of healthy competition include seeking opportunities to repeat the competition, developing new talents, desiring to improve, and experiencing higher self-esteem.

The Cons of Competition in Schools:

1. Stress often comes hand-in-hand with competition

Competition can easily lead to stress and anxiety, especially if it promotes academic competition between individual students. This stress can force students to push back other interests and extracurricular activities, leading to an unbalanced life.

2. Be prepared for disappointment

The emotional impact and confidence of your child can be negatively affected by a less-than-ideal outcome, which is one of the disadvantages of competition in learning process. Unless the objective is to ensure every child emerges victorious in every contest, there will inevitably be moments of disappointment when they don’t win. Undoubtedly, experiencing defeat is a challenging and difficult aspect of competition.

3. Unhealthy competition leads to lower engagement

If a competition does not provide kids with a goal that is attainable for everyone, the activity becomes unbalanced, with some jumping ahead and others ending up left in the dust. This is the kind of competition that will lead to anxiety and a diminished desire to participate in related activities. An unhealthy competition may be one that is focused on winning, says Jessica Velasco of howtolearn.com, instead of honing in on learning a new skill or working as a team. These are the competitions that you may want to think twice about before incorporating into your classroom!

Healthy Competition Is the Way To Go

Regardless of where you stand in your opinion of whether competition is healthy in schools, keep in mind there are many different forms of competition that can take place. Some are definitely more positive than others! Aim for competitive activities that involve setting attainable goals and encouraging teamwork. And of course, above all, keep students engaged and having fun.

Stay tuned for more specific tips on how to implement healthy competition in the classroom!

In our last article on this topic, we outlined some pros of joining a spelling bee. We covered the outcomes of English-speaking Canadian kids joining spelling bee contests in both Canada and the U.S.A.

And, like with all subjects on giving our kids the best education possible, there are many points to debate. In this article, we’ll cover the other side of the spelling bee argument – the cons.

The cons of spelling bee competitions

Regardless of country, opposition to English-language spelling bees can be summarized as the following arguments:

They challenge kids to learn words that they will never use again, and that have no meaning or prevalence outside of the spelling bee context

As this opinion column quotes, spelling bee competitions contain “Words known only to people with two Ph.D.’s. Words used only by extremely fanchonette academics and, of course, slobberhannes newspaper columnists who drop them into their prose for a lame joke.”

Pronouncing words can be based on accents, which makes spelling bees confusing

Pronunciation can throw off a contestant. Some words are pronounced based on accents from other languages. And sometimes, one region of a country pronounces a word differently than another region.

Spelling bees can put kids on the spot, and make failure a dooming experience

It’s true, spelling bees can embarrass kids who get the answers wrong, potentially. Though, this is contested (like all points in this article), as spelling bees are competition, like any other sport. Though, since the American Scripps National Spelling Bee is televised, that can make the fall harder to recover from.

Spelling bees don’t actually teach language skills, if that is their end goal

Literacy involves more than memorizing words, and takes actually reading and using words.

When it comes to Canadian kids and spelling bee contests, the choice is theirs, we say!

While we have identified pros and cons to spelling bee contests in Canada, in the end, it is the child who gets to decide whether they want to participate. Like any other passion or extracurricular activity, the spelling bee is just one of many to pick from. Some kids will like sports, some piano or guitar, and others will be obsessed with geography or space. We say, let them take their pick. Spelling bees are a great competitive activity that can benefit some. To others, the possibility of public failure, a learning disability, or some other setback may make spelling bees a horror to think about. And that’s ok! The choice is theirs, we say!

A spelling bee contest in Canada sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? While we may have watched them in American TV shows, they do in fact happen across Canada, and Canadian kids attend these spelling competitions in the U.S. In case you didn’t know, Canada’s ‘big’ spelling bee competition is run by the 30-year-old, Toronto-based non-profit, Spelling Bee of Canada (and it has regional competitions too).

So what makes spelling bees fun in any country? Kids get to show off their ability to memorize the spelling of words, and achieve status at the end. Parents are proud, and popularity is won! Or is it that appealing? Some may argue that there are cons to spelling bee contests, just as there are pros. In this two-part article, we’ll debate the question of whether children should join a spelling bee contest.

The pros of Canadian kids joining a spelling bee competition

Of course, Canada bears two official languages: English and French (in addition to some unofficial First Nations languages, which we should also credit). We’ll be covering English spelling bees here.

They encourage vocabulary development in a language that demands memorization

English is a tough language. Vocabulary development takes practice, and memorization techniques.

See related: 4 interesting ways to encourage vocabulary development in young minds

English is not as orderly or sensical as other languages. It’s a mish-mash of words from different languages, and with different spellings that evolved over many years. That article posits the ‘illogical language’ fact as a con to learning. However, one could also argue that events like spelling bees are conducive to making word-learning a fun, challenging activity.

They open doors to better literacy skills and language enjoyment

Education.com published an article praising spelling bee contests for their ability to do more than encourage dull, meaningless remembrance of words. To quote their adequate statement from a Merriam-Webster editor and spelling bee judge:

The way the children learn the words is…through etymology and learning roots, pronunciations, and multiple definitions….Once children learn to break down words, they can decipher meanings of related words…and become better readers and writers overall…with better reading comprehension, comes greater literacy, and greater enjoyment of reading, literature and language.”

Spelling bees help some kids develop confidence and character

When the CBC reported on a 2016 spelling bee contest in B.C., the parent of the winner noted, rather wisely, the reason he got his child involved. To quote the article’s interview,

It is not just about spelling, it is about character building,” said Jas Bhatia. “How to be patient, wait for their turn and if they spell it wrong to cheer for their friends.”

Another participant’s parent said,

Competition of this nature is positive because it lets them explore more avenues of themselves and shows the result of that commitment.”

In the lead up to the 2017 national spelling bee contest in Toronto, the CBC also reported on parents and participant’s attitudes towards the benefits of spelling bees. One child was entered into the game to overcome stage fright, and to be able to learn to interact with peers. It worked! Reflecting on an 1988 competition, a winner testified that the experience helped build her confidence.

Plus, at least where U.S. spelling competitions are concerned, the prizes can be extensive for winners. This can show kids the result of dedication to perfecting a skill, and the rewards that could result.

They are helping to break down race barriers for Indians and South Asians

This point may be one that some can argue around. But it is notable, and noted by multiple journalists, that winners of spelling bees lately are dominantly from India or South Asia (or have that heritage as Canadians and Americans). The aforementioned CBC article stated that 14 of the past 18 winners in America were Indian. This author even compared the Indians’ skill in spelling to that of running talents among Ethiopians and Kenyans. So, could this be a way to let the South Asian community shine?

There is another side to spelling bee competitions!

Our Canadian kids may not all be suited for spelling bee contests, and parents and teachers may disagree with their existence altogether. Stay tuned for our next article in this series, outlining some cons of spelling bee competitions.