Native English Lessons
At Big Ben, we have native English speaker teachers present in the preschool at all times. They deliver curriculum lessons, and craft activities, lead sports & dance classes, and perform quarterly English EYFS assessments. Additionally, each child has access to a British curriculum English activity book which ensures thorough language development.
Elocution Lessons
Elocution lessons will help in pronouncing the diphthongs and vowels correctly. At Big Ben, we offer elocution lessons to all classes including Saturday Club. After childhood, it is virtually impossible for the majority of people to develop a proper accent in the language that they are learning. We provide daily English Elocution lessons to ensure that children pronounce words correctly. This is done with a fun and nurturing methodology utilizing musical theory, play, stories, and more.
Musical Therapy
Musical therapy is a great asset in teaching a child many concepts such as rhythm, correct pronunciation, memory retention, fine motor skills, and language development. We use music not just as standalone lessons but also integrate it into our daily routine. Saying hello, and goodbye, brushing teeth, and sitting down for dinner are all accompanied by songs to establish a strong routine and in the case of language learning teach the child the proper rhythm and intonation of the language.
Weekly Speech Therapy & Child Psychologist visits
Everyone needs a little bit of extra help from time to time. Many of our students are not only bilingual but multilingual speaking up to three or four languages! It's therefore very important to ensure they have correct support from a speech therapist who appreciates their unique circumstances and will work with the student, teacher, and parents to develop the best solution for the child.
Alongside speech therapists, we also work with child psychologists to get to the bottom of any abnormal behaviour or a delay in development
Mathematics Through Robotics!
Early childhood is a wonderful time to spark kids’ interest in coding, robotics, and engineering. Young children are curious about the world around them, and today that world includes technology.
We are surrounded by technology. Smart phones, smart refrigerators, automatic doors, tablets, smartwatches. In the future our reliance upon technology will only increase. But in the early years, children learn very little about how these things work.
Integrating robotics into early childhood education helps close gender gaps in achievement in STEM fields. For children in preschool, robotics can introduce STEM concepts to them in a playful way, thereby encouraging them to be excited about further exploration in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math!
Research shows that young children can learn programming and engineering at a very early age. This is possible when children are given tools that are developmentally appropriate, that encourage open-ended play, and that allow the integration of technical skills with expressive arts, math and literacy explorations.
Young kids learn by doing. They learn best by playing with physical objects: by making things, testing things. To learn programming and engineering, they need materials designed in the spirit of traditional learning manipulatives in early childhood (physical, as opposed to on-screen). Children engage in playful learning, cultivate their curiosity for the technological world, explore problem-solving, and understand concepts such as sequencing, cause-and-effect, programming, sensors and motors.
At Big Ben we achieve this by a variety of off screen technology, tasks, toys and games executed by qualified professionals to achieve learning goals outlined in the British & Polish curriculums.
Physical Education
Not only is it critical to enrich the mind of the child but also their physical development. At Big Ben, we invite various sports instructors who instruct the kids in a friendly, fun & safe environment. Gymnastics, Judo, Tennis, and more! All lessons take place in our sports room.
Storytime
Storytime is invaluable to children. At Big Ben storytime is performed in Polish & English. Storytime connects children with their past and heritage, educates them about other cultures, widens their vocabulary pool, helps them identify and rationalize emotions such as fear, develops their mind and promotes concentration.
Theater Classes
Alongside storytime at Big Ben we also integrate drama classes into our curriculum the benefits of drama to young learners is clearly apparent.
According to a popular study at:
UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Dr. James Catterall, students who participate in the Arts don’t just do better in school, they perform in areas that drive success outside the classroom. Children active in the Arts demonstrate higher academic performance and test scores. They are more likely to participate in community service and take part in extracurricular activities And they are more inclined to participate in math and science competitions and be recognized for academic achievement.
Drama classes; raise test scores, instill life skills, nourish the imagination, creates teamwork and self-confidence
Read more
*Big Ben is not associated with 'Drama Kids' the article linked is a short explanation as to how Drama encourages the development of various skills.
* Dr James Catterall's study is unfortunately not public domain here is an introductory PDF.
* Preschool specific online journal for the benefits and application of arts can be found Here
Multi-Cultural Awareness
We live in an increasingly interconnected world the modern workforce is often made up of people from different backgrounds and ethnicities. It is therefore logical that we should prepare children for an increasingly diverse workforce. At a preschool level, it is important to be inclusive to children of different backgrounds by ensuring that appropriate representation is given during daily activities such as storytime, playtime.
'Children benefit from stories with characters who look like them. Children can feel excluded if ‘people like me’ only appear in books about ‘children from other lands’.'
Global festivals such as Chinese new year, Ramadam, Diwali gives us the perfect opportunity to educate our students on different cultures inclusively and sensitively.
Workshops
At Big Ben, we offer a multitude of workshops delivered by trained professionals.These workshops include but are not limited to: Arts & Crafts, Science, Geography, Cooking, Theater, Animal education (with live examples!) and much more!
