500 SOL Learning & Language Archives - Page 3 of 5

Can Use “Pass Skill” When I Need to Stay on Topic While Writing or Write an Equal Sign in Math!

"Students in the School of Life-Active Learning Program have different academic goals; however, as children or adolescents, they often share similar interests."

By Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Students in the School of Life-Active Learning Program have different academic goals; however, as children or adolescents, they often share similar interests. In this episode of “I Can” Series, we will share stories of two Active Learners – one high school student (Student A) and one middle school student (Student B). In order to achieve their academic goals in writing and math respectively, they incorporated an individualized psycho-educational skill under the same name, and as a result, they were able to eliminate their problematic learning behaviors prevalent in the beginning.

In the early stages of Active Learning Program, Student A often deviated from the topic or included multiple topics in one essay when writing in English as he had too many thoughts. In order to focus on one topic, he needed to find a way to be reminded of the purpose of the essay and maintain one stream of thought throughout the writing process. The clinicians developed an intuitive and easily accessible psycho-educational skill to help Student A with his writing. Using his interest in soccer in constructing individualized learning strategy, the clinicians encouraged him to think of the main subject of the writing as a soccer ball. Student A repeatedly practiced “passing the soccer ball” through beginning-middle-end, and eventually eliminated the problematic learning behaviors after a few months. In the end, he achieved a high score on TOEFL Writing.

Student B, who was also interested in soccer like Student A, often forgot to put an equal sign when solving math problems. He fell into a habit of doing complicated calculations in his head, so he often got confused because he omitted or misplaced the equal sign. Consequently, he began to stay away from math even more. The clinicians encouraged Student B to use an individualized psycho-educational strategy called “Pass Skill,” which helped the student associate the equal sign connecting the two sides of an equation with soccer players passing the ball to their teammates. As he applied the familiar soccer rules to math, Student B was able to easily use the skill, and after understanding the importance of not omitting an equal sign, he was able to recover his confidence in math gradually.

As shown, the clinicians of School of Life – Active Learning Program develop individualized psycho-educational skills and strategies that can be applied easily to help the Active Learners eliminate problematic learning behaviors and gain confidence in their studies. If you have any questions regarding the program, please contact us at 02-557-8823 or alc@treegroup.onmicrosoft.com.

2021 Summer Intensive Program

"2021 Summer Intensive Program is about to begin!"

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Introducing School of Life- Active Learning Summer Intensive Program!

Program Date: 06.15.2021 (Tues) ~ 08.14.2021 (Sat)

(9 weeks long)

*Depending on the school’s or student’s schedule, the participating dates will differ. If you have any questions regarding the duration of the program, please contact the Tree Group directly.

What is the Active Learning Summer Intensive Program about?

I. Psychological Academic Behavior Modification

Modify various learning behaviors that stymie effective acquisition of academic materials through psychological interventions

Ex) Improve basic academic habits — Improve “Accepting My Limit” behaviors;

Increase non-disruptive behaviors — Improve organizational skills;

Improve classroom behaviors — Improve attention/concentration behaviors; etc.

II. Academic Learning Strategies

Develop individual academic learning strategies to facilitate the acquisition of materials foundational to a bilingual student’s cognition and academic abilities such as vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, scientific thinking, and mathematics

Optimal Language Acquisition

Ex) Through various strategies like etymological analysis and visualization, the student understands the meaning and the nuance of the words accurately.

Reading, Make Sense!

Ex) The student learns to combine the reading and their pre-existing knowledge to perform critical reading, enhancing their confidence, motivation, and interest towards reading.

‘Cognitive’ Science and Math

Ex) The student learns to re-strategize to acquire complex cognitive skills required for math and scientific thinking in a way that fits their unique cognitive abilities.

III. True Knowledge Building

Have the student experience a true knowledge building by helping them to critically think and communicate their acquired knowledge

SOUL’ Writing

Ex) The student attains not only the techniques of writing but also enriches their thoughts and emotional sensitivity through writing.

Deep Thinkers, Humanities

Ex) The student garners skills to approach historical and cultural materials critically.

‘Loud & Clear’ Presentation

Ex) The student learns to confidently and creatively communicate their points of views during presentations and debates.

How can my child partake in the Active Learning Summer Intensive Program?

If you are interested, please fill out the registration form attached this brochure and send it back to us by email (thetreegroup@daum.net) or Microsoft Teams.

Registration deadline & Tuition deadline: 06.01.2021 (Tues)

Visit: http://www.theTreeG.com

I Can Spell without Making Mistakes

"Students who experienced academic struggles due to unclear acquisition of alphabets when first learning English as their first or second language joined the psycho-educational programs at our School of Life – Active Learning Center."

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Students who experienced academic struggles due to unclear acquisition of alphabets when first learning English as their first or second language joined the psycho-educational programs at our School of Life – Active Learning Center. Younger children especially get easily confused by certain alphabets that look similar to one another, or misspell words due to the sound vs. spelling irregularities in the English language. They lose confidence due to uncertainty in spelling and as they get older, naturally lose interest in learning altogether. However, simply having them memorize spellings will only reduce their motivation to learn, which results in ignoring psycho-educational methods suitable for each child.

Clinicians and Active Learning Specialists at the Tree Group developed various strategies that are individualized for each student’s needs and strengths, such as visualization and storytelling. Consequently, they were able to retain the spellings more effectively even after some time has passed. For instance, there was one student who misspelled every word that contained ‘b’ and ‘d’ because he was confused whether the curve goes left or right. However, after acquiring the “bed strategy (visualizing the letters into a bed shape to show that ‘b’ comes before ‘d’),” he began to spell words with ‘b’ and ‘d’ correctly.

Additionally, a trilingual student (including English) got into a habit of connecting spellings of other languages with the irregularities in English, and eventually came to a point where he was unable to write even simple sentences in English without a teacher’s help. In this case, the clinicians first encouraged the student to clearly distinct consonants from vowels, and then turned the spellings into images to help him easily memorize spellings to maximize his relative strength in visuo-conceptual ability. For example, every time the student misspelled “rain” as “raen,” the clinicians connected the alphabet “i” with the image of rain falling on the ground and helped him acquire the image itself. As a result, he not only began to spell “rain” correctly, but also acquired words with “-ai-” a lot easier from then on.

As previously demonstrated, students were able to gain confidence in the English language much better when they acquired them using individualized strategies through psycho-educational assessment, rather than having them simply memorize the spellings.

“I Can write well without making spelling mistakes!”

Can Pick Out Chicken Breast from a Chicken Salad

"A student who easily gave up reading if a passage seemed any bit long or difficult to read due to delayed language development came to join the School of Life-Active Learning Center’s psycho-educational program."

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

A student who easily gave up reading if a passage seemed any bit long or difficult to read due to delayed language development came to join the School of Life-Active Learning Center’s psycho-educational program. He found it extremely challenging to find what the main idea or important information is in a reading passage and consequently, acquire grade-equivalent knowledge.

We first introduced a psycho-educational strategy which helps bring the student’s interest-“chicken salad”-into the learning situation so he could spot the main idea in a reading passage with ease. Along with training to improve his vocabulary acquisition skills, we helped him practice picking out only the “chicken breast” (the main idea) from a “chicken salad” (the entire reading passage) for months.

At first, the student often chose the first or last word out of the most noticeable sentence as “chicken breast” without deeply thinking or easily gave up practicing the strategy by saying “I don’t know” even when the given passage became longer by one or two lines.

But as the student’s vocabulary gradually improved, he began to really understand sentences, and after he understood the concept of a main idea, his avoiding behavior began to noticeably decline. Now he has gained more confidence in not only finding the main idea or concept in sentences or paragraphs, but also in reading longer texts without giving up.

Introduction to “I can!” Series

"Every child at the School of Life-Active Learning Center applies their own unique interests, special abilities, and individualized learning strategies to their learning environments as needed."

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Every child at the School of Life-Active Learning Center applies their own unique interests, special abilities, and individualized learning strategies to their learning environments as needed. A uniform learning strategy may act as hindrance to a child’s learning because any strategy that works for one child can be a strategy that never works for another child. In this “I can” series, we are going to introduce you to how individualized learning strategies built on the psycho-educational philosophy of the Tree Group have helped children overcome their challenges in learning situations and fostered academic progress.

The first in the series is the story of a child who easily gave up on reading because of the delay in language learning development. This story will give a good example of how utilizing an object which a child personally feels familiar with or likes as a learning strategy can lead to improving his or her academic progress. Please look forward to the post that follows!

2021 The Spring Term Begins: the Season of Green Awakening

"Over the next three months, the children will achieve their individual psycho-educational goals and have lively and enjoyable learning experience-like the season of spring."

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

The Spring Term at the School of Life – Active Learning Program will begin as of March 16th. Over the next three months, the children will achieve their individual psycho-educational goals and have lively and enjoyable learning experience-like the season of spring.

As international schools in Korea and abroad have started their spring semester about two months ago, school professionals and parents are asking us when would be a good time to join the Active Learning Program. Please note that a child must take a bilingual Comprehensive Psycho-educational Assessment prior to participating in the program. For more information about when to start the program and the bilingual Comprehensive Psycho-educational Assessment, please refer to the links down below. For any inquiries, please contact us at info@treegroup.onmicrosoft.com or 02-557-8823.

Distraction & Mindfulness 1

When we close our eyes for a moment, images and thoughts pass through our minds like scenes from a movie, filling our minds with numerous thoughts, emotions, and images.

조용범ㅣYong Cho, Ph.D.

When we close our eyes for a moment, images and thoughts pass through our minds like scenes from a movie, filling our minds with numerous thoughts, emotions, and images.

Attention deficit is a representative symptom of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In many Korean households of previous generations, highly energetic and active children were not a major concern; instead, they were often regarded as lively and full of vitality. It was commonly believed that their hyperactive behavior would improve as they grew older, and adults would often reassure by saying that all children were like that when they were young.

Of course, in the West, not all children with severe attention deficits were pathologized. Energetic and lively children were often distinguished from rebellious troublemakers referred to as “brats.” However, during the 20th century, there was a shift in perceiving such behavior problems, observed both at school and at home, of children who did not follow adults’ instructions and could not control their actions, as indicative of a bad personality or a naughty child, leading to the consideration of it as a disorder. Various fields of mental health and education began to observe and study such behaviors, and in the 1960s, symptoms like ADHD began to be included in diagnostic systems.

Since various forms of attention deficit behaviors, also known as externalization symptoms, are sometimes exhibited by all humans, not all cases of attention deficit are necessarily severe problems. When we close our eyes for a moment, images and thoughts pass through our minds like scenes from a movie, filling our minds with numerous thoughts, emotions, and images.

Throughout history, humans have employed religious activities such as prayer or meditation to tame this restlessness of the mind. These religious activities have been somewhat scientifically formalized and are now utilized in everyday life under the name of mindfulness. Through mindfulness, the effectiveness of emotional and behavioral stability has been demonstrated in various studies.

(To be continued in the next article)

2021 Winter Term and Seasonal Program

"Happy New Year! We sincerely wish you a year fully loaded with happiness and good health."

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Happy New Year! We sincerely wish you a year fully loaded with happiness and good health.

Starting this year, the Tree Group’s School of Life – Active Learning Program is implementing the Term System instead of the Semester System in order to pursue a more thorough psycho-educational and clinical program. One year is divided into 4 terms – Winter Term (December – March), Spring Term (March – June), Summer Term (June – September), and Fall Term (September – December).

At the end of each term, a feedback session will be held in which the clinicians will share the children’s clinical and psycho-educational progress with their parents and establish future treatment plan to ensure a more systematic and scientific treatment.

Each term is designated with a seasonal theme. Held in conjunction with our branch, Retreat Soom in Aya, specific theme and color are selected for each season, and we plan to host activities and programs that help our clients understand its meaning mindfully.

– December – February: Season of White Serenity

– March – May: Season of Green Awakening

– June – August: Season of Violet Exuberance

– September – November: Season of Calm Colors

– December: Season of Being Together

We will keep you posted on various seasonal events held at the Tree Group, so please look out for our future updates 🙂

2020 Winter Intensive Program

"What is the Active Learning Intensive Winter Camp about?"

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Introducing School of Life- Active Learning Winter Intensive Program!

Program Date: 12.15.2020 (Tues) ~ 01.09.2021 (Sat)

(4 weeks long)

*Depending on the school’s or student’s schedule, the participating dates will differ. If you have any questions regarding the duration of the program, please contact the Tree Group directly.

What is the Active Learning Intensive Winter Camp about?

I. Psychological Academic Behavior Modification

Modify various learning behaviors that stymie effective acquisition of
academic materials through psychological interventions

Ex) Improve basic academic habits — Improve “Accepting My Limit” behaviors;
Increase non-disruptive behaviors — Improve organizational skills;
Improve classroom behaviors — Improve attention/concentration behaviors; etc.

II. Academic Learning Strategies

– Optimal Language Acquisition

Ex) Through various strategies like etymological analysis and visualization, the student understands the meaning and the nuance of the words accurately.

– Reading, Make Sense!

Ex) The student learns to combine the reading and their pre-existing knowledge to perform critical reading, enhancing their confidence, motivation, and interest towards reading.

– ‘Cognitive’ Science and Math

Ex) The student learns to re-strategize to acquire complex cognitive skills required for math and scientific thinking in a way that fits their unique cognitive abilities.

III. True Knowledge Building

Have the student experience a true knowledge building by helping them to
critically think and communicate their acquired knowledge

– SOUL’ Writing

Ex) The student attains not only the techniques of writing but also enriches their thoughts and emotional sensitivity through writing.

– Deep Thinkers, Humanities
Ex) The student garners skills to approach historical and cultural materials critically.

– ‘Loud & Clear’ Presentation
Ex) The student learns to confidently and creatively communicate their points of views during presentations and debates.

How can my child partake in the Active Learning Intensive Winter Camp?

If you are interested, please fill out the registration form attached this brochure and send it back to us by email (thetreegroup@daum.net), Microsoft Teams, or Skype.

Registration deadline & Tuition deadline: 12.08.2020 (Tues)

Visit: http://www.theTreeG.com

Acquiring a Language through Body Movements and Story-telling

"If identical twins are found to be sufficiently more concordant than fraternal twins,
then there is a significant contribution of genetic factors."

By 전승혜 Seonghae Jeon, M.P.A.

Acquiring a language involves the entire process of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and its purpose is to communicate with the other person in a seamless manner. In this process, children can be very active participants, and the Active Learners at Active Learning Center learn and acquire languages expressed in letters that seem challenging, sometimes through the body movement strategy, and sometimes through the story-telling strategy.

Children’s native tongues vary from Korean, English, to other languages. However, the language acquisition strategy learned by body movements or story-telling is one of the main learning strategies at our Active Learning Program developed based on psycho-educational clinical research for children who have difficulty in language development, and is proven to be very effective in acquiring their mother tongue or second language.