Clarín, February 25, 2007, Education section
paper version: here.
The interview with Francesco Tonucci was Pizzurno Palace, after some action on your project City children. Tonucci a nice guy and a tremendous connection with your child part, talked and talked and talked ... And talked. I recorded about 2 hours of talk and, despite Clarin published a few notes with that material, did not exhaust all the ideas that fire inside of this head teacher. I say, and I want to get well at 65.
has been some time since February 2007, however, I still resonates a sense of the encounter: if children occupy the heart of society, be happier and the world would be, as the tango, crap. Learning to listen to the kids is one of the unfinished business of this company, who lives under the dictatorship of adult fancy.
INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCO ITALIANO PEDAGOGUE Tonucci
"Reading to kids 15 minutes a day is to bring the miracle of reading"
In a return visit to Argentina, the Italian teacher stressed the responsibility of the school in promoting reading. Speaking to Clarín quipped: "Teachers tell me that this is too easy."
Rubén A. Arribas
"Most schools in developed countries are illegal." That holds the renowned Italian teacher Francesco Tonucci, referring to that most violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN in 1989. According to the promoter of the project The City of Children, the global rules of domestic law is among those who signed it, including Argentina, however, schools often forget Article 12, which defines that children are entitled to express your opinion as this is taken into account. Ie adults should consult with the boys of decisions which affect them, and not arbitrarily impose their views. The law says: dialogue.
Sure, they learn to talk with the children is a subject aware of any adult. So is the educational world. For example, the teacher usually require students to buy all reading the same book. What? The likes it, of course. Tonucci, renowned cartoonist ironic about the school, illustrates the situation with words: "Imagine a room waiting for a train station, we arrived and we see 20 people who read, a rarity in itself. Imagine reading, not a magazine or newspaper, but a book! Now we approach and found that all read the same book. We worry, right? And now we come a little more and we realize that all these people are on the same page .... It seems work of a demon, right? Well, that's what happens at school every day. "
And is that children today are still not the heart of the school. Education systems are not friendly to them, are incapable of caring for the child diversity. In fact, the view that overstate Tonucci reading, writing and arithmetic, to almost consider the unique skills, an approach that excludes many children. "For our educational systems, a child does not have manual skills. I know very well, was an artist and knew how to build my old toys, even me as I continue building ", but it never helped me in school. "
However, the cruelty of the situation does not stop there. "Since the school is democratic, that is, open to all, most guys do not have access to her experience of reading in your family: they have books at home and have never seen their parents read a book. How can they understand then that writing or reading is so important? "He argues. In other words: no adults engaged in reading for pleasure is impossible to transmit that reading does more than highlight the substantive text or know what to ask on an exam. A pleasure is contagious, not imposed.
"So the school has to fill that gap," he explains. "From birth, children need adults who read aloud to share with them the experience of reading, that educated in the excitement of listening." And he proposes to start something right now: "read 15 minutes a day, that's the only way to put them in the miracle of reading, that is, living through the images these words evoke." What about you read? "Novels, to learn to wait and read a book takes time." He adds, laughing: "Teachers tell me that this is too easy."
Easy but unusual. And yet, this is a more democratic base to force the boys to read and more fun than letting them all the weight of learning. But, of course, adults have no time to be democratic or amusing, much less in school. Tonucci would say, the worrying part is that it appears that those adults would never have been children.
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City children
"The child is the epitome of the 'other': it fit all differences, all the differences. So if the mayor is capable of interacting with the children, then it is able to do with any other person, regardless of age, culture, gender, ability ...". According to Francesco Tonucci, that is the philosophical foundation of The City of Children, an initiative that since 1991 the society aware that children are also citizens. Ie adults should consult when building and reorganize public spaces, which are of all: the kids and grand. The project began in frat-his hometown-and has spread to more than 80 Italian cities, English and Argentine. Between 7 here, Rosario is the dean and this year celebrates 10 years of joining the project.
More information: www.lacittadeibambini.org
