ToastMasters Speech 2: Teach - The Lego Blocks Way !!!

13*1 = 13

13*2 = 26

13*3 = 39

13*4….. 13*4…..13*4 ……

Teacher: You din’t learn your tables again. You can’t even memorize one table…..Why do you come to school?

Memorizing, without knowing why, when and what… does not help.

Good Evening friends, fellow toastmasters and esteemed guests.

The topic I have chosen for my second speech “Teach – The Lego Blocks Way”  is about teaching children below the age of 8 years. Why specifically kids below 8 years? It is because after this age we only synthesize information based on these basics. From a very long time and even till date, in India we are most concerned about the marks our children score; than to see that they understand what they learn. This pressure makes child memorize the subject that needs to be learnt. We are happy just looking at the marks and do not bother much about enabling them to understand.

Have we seen kids play with Lego Blocks? What does a child do? We do not teach much, right. We simply give the kit for the child to play. The child unwraps it and starts playing with it. Slowly and steadily the child sees the book, with the helicopter, a house etc made out of the building blocks. The child tries to make one of them. How does the child follow? Have you ever wondered? The child follows it with the color and the size of the lego. What happens here is the fascination of colors and sizes of the lego blocks. This leads to a  very simple and profound learning process. A Lego block way is Science in the simplest form.

The word Science reminds me of Laws and Equations. Newton’s Laws, First, Second and third; we even thought why dint a jackfruit fall on Newton, instead of an Apple. This was my state, still I met my Principal a few minutes before my exams.

 I should say I was fortunate to learn from him. I remember my Principal asking me to state Newton’s First Law. I had memorized and forgot. Imagine, Principal asking a child of fifth standard, just a few minutes before the exam. He taught me in those few minutes and I learnt and would not forget the law till date. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. He taught these in simple words. He simply told – a stone is placed here, if I do not push it and nothing happens. This stone will remain here forever. Why does a car stop or this stone fall, when thrown. There is friction acting on the car, in case of a Car. For Instance of a stone, the force of gravity pulls it down. It is simple law and taught in a even simpler way. He broke down the two parts of the Law of Inertia and explained in day to day terms. What my principal did there was to teach me the building blocks of the law.

 Let me come back to my tables story and why I never learnt tables beyond 12 tables, all life.

Thanks to my cousin. As I was sitting and memorizing one day, he simply told multiply and write. It was not the right way. It probably ruined my speed in some of those mathematics exams. But, he made me realize that it is multiplication. Can any of us tell our children 2*2 is nothing but 2 added 2 times. We have to make it simple. Bring it down to the basics. It is the toughest part right. But, that is the right way to teach. Keep it simple. This is also building ahead with the building blocks of tables from 1-9.

As simple as how water finds its way, learning should also find one. To summarize – teach kids the words and sentences right. They will get their answers right. Teach them to read and understand, they will analyze it right. Teach children to get basic mathematics right, they can solve bigger problems in future.

“The object of teaching a child is to enable the child to get along without a teacher.” – Elbert Hubbard.

So, let us teach children to learn. It is not enough to just read, memorize and submit for marks. Learning is more than just marks and college seats. 

The speech that got my first "Best Speaker" badge.... :)