By Basanti CS, Senior Faculty at Asian International College India

When I first started using Mediated Learning Experience (MLE ) with a few of my students, what intrigued me was the possibility of the impact that it could have on the kids in all the classrooms in all the schools across the globe. One of the benefits of MLE is that it enable kids to think and become more observant.

MLE  is the process where a parent or a teacher mediates to achieve a certain learning outcome by structuring, restructuring  or modifying the environment.

Once, I was interacting with a parent who was concerned about the learning levels of his child. The child had developmental delays. After interacting for a while I asked, ‘ How do you spend time with him?’ The parent said, ‘We go to a mall on the weekends or to relatives’ place’. I asked again, ‘How do you spend time with him during the week?’ He said, “Sometimes I take him on a bike for grocery shopping. Usually, when I come back from the office he is watching TV and I either do my work or watch movies on my laptop!”

Further probing revealed that the kid doesn’t play with anyone as the mother avoids taking him out for play because she feels humiliated that her  child doesn’t speak properly. The mother also doesn’t have much time to spend with the kid as she is always trying to catch up with household work.

I asked the parent what would be the first thing they would want their child to learn and they said language. They agreed to work with the child, and a few interventions were suggested based on MLE:

The key in this entire process is interaction, instructions and how you plan these activities that will make the child think and observe. For example, I asked the child’s mother to involve him in small tasks like helping:

• In sorting vegetables (when you buy vegetables mix them in the bag so that you can do this activity). You could ask the child, “Let us keep all tomatoes in this bag, and brinjals in this one”.
• Bringing vegetables or fruits from the fridge. You could say “Can you get me two tomatoes from the fridge?” (Be ready for the mess. You might have to repeat the instruction and get this done under supervision the first time).
• Helping in folding clothes. You can demonstrate by folding a hand towel or a handkerchief. Give one to the child at the time when you are demonstrating. (He might not be able to fold anything in the beginning , which is fine!). Do not give up 🙂
• Keeping books and toys back in the cupboard, shelf or just stacking up to begin with. It is fine if the child is not able to do the full task, begin with you doing 80% of the task. Remember, it is not going to be easy because the tendency would be to finish household tasks in time. But, as a parent, we have to prioritise child’s learning over work!
• Acknowledge the child for the good job he does.

I asked the father to do the following things:

• When you go for grocery shopping ask, “Where are we going Aryan?’ What are we going to buy?”
• How are we going? Taking a bike or are we walking?

There will be more opportunities at the grocery store to ask such questions. The  idea is how do we generate meaningful conversation and involve the child in it. It will sound a bit funny in the beginning if you are not a teacher but, gradually, you will see the impact of it. Asking questions is a very important and effective tool in the learning process.

Needless to say, you need to be patient and it requires a little practice.

Remember, the objective is to make child think, make choices and articulate responses. Sometimes, we tend to give answers when we see them struggling with certain things. For example, if the child is trying to stack up books and keeps a big book over a small one, let the child finish stacking up all the books. The chances are that books will fall or it will be an unsteady structure. Let the child experience this fall. You could tell the child if he wants to try again observe what he does. Generally, we keep teaching them how to stack in the right way, which is not wrong, however, some kids need to experience the unsteady structure first.

All the interventions mentioned require thinking, planning, efforts and practice in the beginning. But, doing it few times and experiencing the impact you would want to use it more and hence it will become effortless in no time!