Learning to write my name...

Do you remember when you were learning to write your name?

Imagine that you started with a written communication system that was beginning to make a whole lot of sense to you. You had class daily with teachers that were helping you practice and drill the strokes of each character so that it was becoming natural. You were recognizing the writing when you would see it and even at the early stages of decoding or reading.

Now let's suppose one day someone came along and moved you to a new location that had a completely different written communication system. These symbols were not at all like the others and were used with completely different rules.

If that were me, I think I would decide to give up. This gives you a glimpse of just a small part of Olivia's life. She was able to read simple written language in Chinese and now she's starting all over. But the difference between her and me is that she actually finds the challenge fun. Here is what we've been working on...

We are almost done with our first pass through the alphabet...up to R...

Now we have finished...she earns a new (to her) puzzle. She sings through the entire alphabet song until she gets to the letter she is on. She is very methodical and would never think of doing the puzzle out of order. She is using her "cheat sheet" to help her. For some reason the unfilled puzzle spot isn't enough of a clue.

She has watched me write her name in the corner of her papers a few times. Now she figures she can do it herself. Pretty good, I'd say! She amazes me!!!