Posts made in January 2021

Young children can learn advanced concepts, especially with a little help. The written text together with illustration facilitates children’s understanding of complex ideas and helps in learning the election process.

The passions and mechanics of the election process can be confounding even to adults, because they are meant to be so. There are elements of “elections theater” where passion used to make persuasive political arguments. Historically, the use of animal characters in fables both adds a layer of humor and illustrates peoples motivation, selfishness and tricks that are used to achieve political aims in such a way that these become evident to both children and adults.

The Process Makes Complex Ideas Simpler

Erika Nielsen is applying this approach with books written as fables and illustrations that provide context and meaning.

Nielsen’s book, “How to Become President,” tells the tale of a lion running for president. This book is a fable, an ancient story form that teaches life lessons to young and old. Together, with the right illustrations, the story comes to life. Reading aloud to children aids this process by allowing for questions and answers.

Often, people underestimate the learning abilities of children. Still, even little ones have a great capacity to absorb and understand information, even learning the election process, especially when presented in the fable and illustration approach. Nielsen and others who partner with her in writing and illustrating books seek to complement regular classroom education with such tales.

It has long been a challenge for educators to teach children about politics. In the United States, our politics are anything but simple, given the various government levels from city to county to state and country. Then, too, the processes — such as how a bill becomes a law and our three-legged stool system with power resting in the legislature, judiciary, and presidency — are anything but elementary.

A Deeper Level of Understanding

We call our approach Holistic Language Acquisition, which we use in the books we write. To educate children on the political process, we use a modern fable about politics — “How To Become President.” The book, written by Erika Nielsen, tells the story of a lion seeking the land’s highest office.

Read aloud, the written word, accompanied by illustrations, conveys a great deal of meaning. This process allows for conversations with questions about the story, all in comments and ideas expressed in away that a child can understand. Specialized words are added specifically to expand the child’s vocabulary relevant to the election process.

Instead of memorizing terms or reciting facts, children learn the nuance of a new and complex concept through various methods centered on this modern fable about politics that results in understanding. This is a process that complements regular education and assigns meaning to new ideas.