《声音》 VOICES Ivy's VOICES Fall/Winter Edition 2018 | Page 23

IVY BILINGUAL SCHOOL I f you had asked me four years ago whether or not I thought a 4-year-old child is able to understand the profound impact that our choices and actions have on the environment, I would have shook my head with sincere doubt. I thought that young children, especially under the age of 5, only knew how to play, and had only limited skills. I had not yet spent enough time with children to understand that they are undeniably gifted, talented, curious, and eager to learn about, figure out, and comprehend everything that occurs, is spoken, and even exists around them. I am now a teacher of preschoolers and can confidently say that I had completely underestimated their ability to both absorb and produce. Young children are capable of sharing their thoughts and ideas, and furthermore they are able to build upon foundations that we as adults set before them. If given the space and materials, guidance and support, and the time and freedom, children are not bound by foundations or expectations. Rather, they are naturally equipped to expand on what has already been planned, constructed, and shared with them by those who they look up to and lean on. They indisputably need to be presented with opportunities to grow in their discovered interests and to develop their innate strengths. Young children need to be given unfettered access to and entrusted with their ideas. Children tend to think creatively, but they are not limited to their imaginations; children are able to take actions. 21