Reggio Emilia Approach

The Reggio Emilia Approach®️ – an inquiry-based learning approach – values the belief that children are strong, competent and capable citizens who are full of wonder and curiosity to learn. It believes that children have a natural drive that makes them want to understand and know about the world around them and how this world relates to them. Every child brings with them deep curiosity and potential and this innate curiosity drives their interest to understand their world and their place within it. Children are believed to be capable of constructing their own methods of researching and learning using everything from play to a variety of other hands-on-learning experiences.
To understand the Reggio Emilia Approach®️, let’s visit the fundamental principles of this approach:

1. ALL CHILDREN ARE COMPETENT, CURIOUS AND CREATIVE

At the very core of the Reggio Emilia Approach®️ is the concept of wonder. Wonder as an act that begins the process of learning and wonder as an integral quality within all children. Reggio educators view children as natural scientists; driven by curiosity, with tremendous observational skills and an ability to form strong theories about the world around them. They consider a child’s creative expression (especially in preliterate stages), as their way of communicating what they understand about the world around them.

2. ESSENTIAL LEARNING TAKES PLACE WITHIN A SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIPS

Reggio teachers believe that when children share their wonder with other children, their parents or teachers, they engage in a richer and deeper learning process. Collaboration increases the children’s commitment to the topic and multiplies the learning opportunities by encompassing many points of view. In school, when this type of ‘group wonder’ is guided by teachers who use provocations and questioning rather than demonstrations or explaining, children will almost always be able to connect to the topic.

We will focus on creating a collaborative community and a learning environment, where children are the centre of the classroom and teachers are seen as co-constructors, researchers, documenters, and advocates for the children.

3. CHILDREN’S QUESTIONS AND INTERESTS ARE A FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Collaborative wonder and the sharing of ideas plants the seeds for the emergent curriculum. For example, during a first full-group discussion of the sky, a classmate might share her knowledge of planets or the moon (leading to a study of planets and stars), whilst another child might want to work on making a picture book about cloud animals (an opportunity for art and literacy development). It’s important to note, at no time would a teacher intervene in a discussion with children to ‘weed out the truth from fiction’, or give answers. Instead, the teacher would extend and compile the ideas to be presented back to the group for theory development. In this way, teachers act as guides supporting children as they build their own knowledge, their own ‘image’.

4. CHILDREN EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH THE “HUNDRED LANGUAGES”

In traditional schools, children are often judged by their success using verbal and written forms of expression above all others, in part because test taking depends on these skills. At Little Em’s, all forms of expression are valued equally and are fundamental in developing the children holistically.

5. DOCUMENTATION ALLOWS CHILDREN AND ADULTS TO REMEMBER AND REFLECT ON LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Throughout the learning process, teachers document the children’s experience through photographs, note-taking, video, and through varying forms of art. It is compiled and shared with the focus on process, rather than product.

In using this approach to education, time is given to the children so they may be allowed to learn, explore, or go back and revisit an investigation or a focus of interest as needed. It is an approach based on listening rather than talking; where doubt and amazement are welcome factors along with the scientific inquiry and the deductive methods used by a detective.

We keep in mind all children are equal learners, we let the children learn through their mistakes rather than by correction. Unlike others program, where teachers are required to take note on students’ development through ‘Assessment Reports’, evidence of learning is documented using written, photographic and video records throughout the year. This allows children, parents and teachers to realise growth, facilitate conversations and plan for future learning.

Although the Reggio Emilia Approach®️ is applied to preschools and early childhood settings, as parents grow in their understanding of the general principles, this inspiring child-led approach can be adapted to the home as well. Therefore, pursuing this approach at early years’ also help parents to be more involved in their children’s education and childhood.

CURRICULUM
To understand the Reggio Emilia Approach®️, let’s visit the fundamental principles of this approach:

1. ALL CHILDREN ARE COMPETENT, CURIOUS AND CREATIVE

2. ESSENTIAL LEARNING TAKES PLACE WITHIN A SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIPS

3. CHILDREN’S QUESTIONS AND INTERESTS ARE A FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING EXPERIENCES

4. CHILDREN EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH THE “HUNDRED LANGUAGES”

5. DOCUMENTATION ALLOWS CHILDREN AND ADULTS TO REMEMBER AND REFLECT ON LEARNING EXPERIENCES

UNIQUENESS OF THE LITTLE EM’S CURRICULUM
As a Vietnamese school, we teach our children our historical and cultural roots so that they can understand who they are, and where they’ve come from.
We are a bilingual school, where language-immersion is our technique of teaching our children their mother tongue, but also English, the language of the world.
Our educational program is multi-disciplinary and project based, partly operated through exciting STEAM projects, growing in children the passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. In these holistic projects, teachers play the role of a planner, facilitator, collaborator, observer, surprise maker, and documentation taker to engage children, who are in the center of the process, in the observation, inquiry, problem solving, amazement, and creation. The nature of projects can be very diverse, from scientific to artistic, i.e. from building a city of pebbles to studying the features of light, from creating a musical instrument of stones and clay to performing a shadow puppet show. These projects help children develop both hemispheres of their brain and all their ‘100 languages’.
Projects are designed for children from all walks of life, including children of special rights, who are integrated into our program and are respected, where their differences are celebrated.
Children are the center of all activities. Teachers inspire curiosity of the children, motivate the children from the ‘inside’, thereby helping them to acquire and shape their understanding about the world around them.
During the learning process, teachers will record children’s experiences with photos, notes, videos and other different art forms. This data will be aggregated, shared with the children and their parents to review the experience process, identify the child’s development, thereby facilitating communication and planning for the children’s learning in the future.