“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.” – Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Post #1 in category. We recommend you read posts in numerical order.
Good mediation is genuine, and it is sometimes inspired by improvisational theatre and playfulness within the mediated learning experience. It can be innovative and captures the child’s interest and imagination. Playfulness makes learning and communication interesting, relatable and memorable. The shared experience and lighthearted exchanges enhance the mood and engagement, strengthen communication and the interpersonal bond.
If the adult mediator is not genuinely interested in the child or the shared learning task they have designed, the child will not be interested. The Goldilocks Effect, finding just enough interest, enthusiasm, energy for this particular learning situation, for this particular child in this particular interpersonal relationship, during this activity, at this time and place is an intuitive art.
Traditional techniques to gain the child’s attention and cooperation, like repeatedly calling out the child’s name, become less effective the more it is used. In the same way, repeatedly saying “good job” soon becomes so familiar and expected it is not the least bit rewarding. Neither tactic offers feedback, information or amusement for the child.
George Lucas is a great creative storyteller. He mastered many ways of holding children’s attention. He explains why Yoda speaks strangely. “If you speak regular English, people won’t listen that much. But if he had an accent, or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they [twelve-year-olds] focus on what he’s saying.”
The strangeness, the novelty, the humor, and extra effort capture and hold the child’s attention. Dr. Seuss invents strange words “ga-fluppted, zizzer-zazzer-zuzz, gluppity-glup, and unique phrases, “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!” and “”Today you are you! That is truer than true!” I like nonsense, so do you. (my phrase?).
Nintendo’s Mario keeps the child’s interest with an unusual Italian accent and voice, which goes in and out of a falsetto register, accompanied by silly visualizations.
Effective parents, caregivers, teachers and therapists occasionally say and do things in unusual ways to capture the child’s attention, interest, curiosity, sense of wonder and sense of humor. To share the moment, to build a connection, to form a bond, and learn from the experience, they may verbalize funny words or sounds, or foreign words or accents, or say things in rhyme, exaggerating the syllable sounds. They may spontaneously sing what they want to say, or combine words, sounds, actions in a strange way.
Effective mediators occasionally accentuate the words or sounds, purposely articulating with strange words or noises, punctuating the meanings with a rhythm or a rhyme, a tickle, a gesture or body movement or posture, an unusual facial expression or even a dance or hand jive. Sometimes whispers or grunts, or song lyrics and melodies become part of the communication, the instructions or the explanation.
Sometimes, taking a long, slow breath gets the child’s attention. Or the adult mediator raising their chins and eyebrows, opening their eyes as wide as they can, or fluttering their eyelids or turning their head in an unusual way at key moments. Sometimes an unusual facial expression or posture, or slowed down or sped up movements, attracts the child’s interest to you and to the content and to the relevant stimuli, objects, activities, and people involved in the learning experience.
The child remembers the content and the process of the learning experience. The child remembers the lesson and remembers the good feelings and good times they shared with you, and wants to come back to be with you and to learn with you.
Copyright © 2025 Shlomo Chaim
All Rights Reserved
You are granted permission to use copyrighted material provided you fully cite the source according to standard academic practices, including author name, title of work, publication date and any relevant copyright information.
