Specific features of teaching the native language in Waldorf school

Abstract

It has been identified that the holistic approach is the fundamental feature of teaching the native language in Waldorf school. According to the holistic approach, person's mental structure is manifested in the unity of mental activity, emotional-sensory and volitional spheres. This involves setting both educational and developmental goals for the subject. The educational goal means to master the literary language, form grammatical, spelling and punctuation skills and abilities, learn to express the thoughts freely and convey feelings orally and in writing, get an idea about the distinctive features of the native language, development of it etc. The developmental goal means full intellectual, emotional-sensual and volitional development. Moreover, the holistic approach includes a clear correlation of the content of education with children's age characteristics, interdisciplinary integration and use of artistic and practical elements (reciting, painting, drawing forms, eurythmy, singing, playing musical instruments, participating in plays etc.) in teaching the native language.

It has been noted that the rhythmic organization of the educational process is another specific feature of teaching the native language in Waldorf school. It means the planning of the academic year, week and lessons, taking into account the natural psychophysiological human rhythms (breathing, memorization and forgetting, sleeping and activity state, alternation of a person's ability to concentrate and need for activity).

It has been found that Waldorf school brings up a person with individual understanding, independent and responsible actions, with a developed culture of cognitive activity and creative abilities. This is confirmed by the data of the international independent comparative pedagogical studies of the quality of schoolchildren's educational achievements, in particular PISA, which studied the quality of perception of information, reading, understanding of texts etc.

The expediency of introducing the Waldorf experience of teaching the native language into the activities of the New Ukrainian School has been emphasized.