Learning the Child’s Language

Last week I wrote about "memory and confidence" and how they are interrelated. This made me ponder the different learning styles of people, and of course, of children. We often are able to identify those students who easily learn to play by ear or who are naturally drawn to reading music notation. This reflects the different chemistry of our DNA and soon becomes an influence on each of our learning styles.

Suzuki teachers are required to take a course called "Every Child Can!" This course is also available to parents who might want to understand the principles of the Suzuki approach to learning. In this course we talk about how children learn and how learning styles may affect their ease of learning. In a book entitled, Life Lens by Suzuki guitar teacher Michele Horner, she explains with great humor different natures of people and how they learn. We do not have just oral or visual learners, but also verbal learners who must speak out loud to absorb the information, and variants of even these. There are kinesthetic learners who need to "do the motions" in order for them to stick. No matter how much verbal instruction we give, "move your thumb," "lift your elbow," "curve your pinky," etc.--the student cannot do it until they are physically enabled to do the motion (kinesthetic learning) and then repeat it so that their body remembers. By understanding our own learning style and that of the student in front of us, we can establish a successful relationship between teacher and student, parent and student, and also teacher and parent.

This awareness is critical since the learner uses more mental energy when being asked to learn something by an adult who is communicating using a different learning style than the child's. When the adult prompts with verbal instruction, but the child is a kinesthetic learner, practice sessions can be slow and even frustrating. I like to encourage the parents of my students to learn to play at least the first half of book 1 in order to provide support in multiple ways: visually demonstrating, physically helping and also giving verbal cues. Imagine you travel to a foreign country and then you take violin lessons in that foreigh language. A lot of mental energy goes towards just trying to understand what the teacher is saying, so that less focus can be on learning the instrument itself. This is the situation confronted by the child when faced with a learning style that is not his own. Although not the most comfortable for the adult, learning to speak the native language of the child, enables the child to focus on learning to play. Thus, adults can be more successful in teaching if they understand both their own learning style and also that of the student they are trying to help.

In Michele Horner's book, she describes seven types of learning styles using the seven colors of the rainbow. My learning style is blue. I am a visual learner, linear thinker, and I don't like games as a way to learn things. I have high personal standards and I like routine. I like lists and a medium fast paced atmosphere. I don't like time pressure, so I tend to finish my work ahead of a deadline. What color are you? What color is your child?

As adult learners, we must know the "language" that works for us. Simultaneously, we must learn to speak the language of our children, so that they may focus on the actual learning.