Colors with the Kids

Today I worked on colors with one of the little boys. He is 4 years old and his name is Mon Song. He is pre-school right now so he learning a lot of English. One thing he struggles with though is colors. He mixes up some of his colors. I made flashcards for him with the colors on them. I would show him a color and then if he didn't know it I would say it and he would repeat it. This went on for a little bit until he got bored so I started to point out objects in the room.

Mon Song did not know all of the colors but he did know a few. He knew yellow, orange, and red. I would point to the red book and he knew the color right away. However, when I pointed to his blue shirt he did not know the color at all. He would stare at his shirt and then look at me so i could tell him the color. I felt bad because he was concentrating so hard on trying to think of the color but he just could not come up with. I used the process of perception to understand what he was doing. I used selection to select the situation. I used organization and applied a schema to the fact that he wasn't understanding some of the colors. Then I used interpretation to realize that he was not only mixing up the colors but he was not understanding some of his colors. After a lot of practice he was starting to distinguish blue, green, and purple. I was really proud because he did not give up and did not throw a fit when he didn't get the color right. 

Also, I experienced a cross cultural situation today. We had been going over colors for about 20 minutes and he was starting to get a little antsy. We took a little break and he got up on the couch and stared out the window. He immediately turned to me and said come here. I have never heard him talk to me in English unless I ask him to. I went over to the couch and he pointed out to the snow and he said snow, it's white. I was so surprised and happy because we had only gone over white once. He was so excited when I said yes, it's white. He knew that he got it right and he had a big smile on his face. Also, he turned to me and said, "Isn't it cool" I almost teared up at the fact that he was seeing snow. His face lit up in excitement because it was one of his first times seeing snow. This is something that a lot of Americans dread but he did not. He was so excited to see this amazing stuff flying out of the sky. It made me appreciate how the little things like a snowfall mean so much to people. 

I keep an open mind when I am working with Mon Song. I know he is trying his best to learn his colors. I like to keep going over them because kids learn best by repetition. Constantly going over the colors will help him remember them and give him more practice.

I think the cause of his problem of mixing up colors is that he only practices when we come to volunteer and he gets distracted. At home he is always playing and does not work on his colors as much as he should be. A solution to this problem is letting his sister help him and teach him If she can work with him on his colors for a half hour each day he will learn his colors and eventually master them.