Zaitsev's cubes: teaching methods, reviews from parents. Nikolai Zaitsev's methodology: learning and playing Zaitsev's ABC book

- the manual is quite popular, even those who have nothing to do with teaching children to read have heard about it. But why cubes have earned their popularity and how they differ from other methods of teaching reading often remains a mystery to many. Is this expensive manual really so “miraculous” that your child will learn to read in just a few lessons? And how do Zaitsev’s cubes differ from ordinary cubes with letters?

In fact, some questions remain with parents even after purchasing the benefit. In particular, the most main question– how to teach a small child using Zaitsev’s method so that it is really interesting? After all, the rather thick book included in the kit cannot boast of a clear and harmonious program of activities for kids.

In this article, I will briefly talk about the basic principles of Zaitsev’s method of teaching reading, and most importantly, I will give options for games with cubes that will help build fun and interesting lessons. – the manual is truly unique and worthy of attention!

Basic principles of Zaitsev’s technique

When you began to think that it was time to teach your child to read, what method of teaching first came to your mind? Most likely, the one you were taught to read as a child! First, we learn all the letters using the alphabet, then we learn to merge them together, experiencing a lot of difficulties, and then we move on to reading sentences like “Mom washed the frame.” Nikolay Zaitsev does not support this approach and for the following reasons:

1. When a child learns letters from the alphabet, in his mind the image of the letter is too tightly attached to the picture that was located in the alphabet next to this letter. As a result, such images prevent the child from combining letters into words and the simple word “PIT” turns into “Apple, Ball, Watermelon.” It’s even worse if parents teach their child not how the letters sound, but what they are called (i.e., not “L,” but “El,” etc.). Then the child does not understand at all why “Se-u-me-ke-a” should suddenly turn into “Bag”.

2. Learning to read by syllables, according to Zaitsev, is also not the most convenient way, since Russian syllables are too diverse in the number and combinations of sounds. They may include several consonants in a row (for example, STREAM) and other forms that are inconvenient for a beginning reader (for example, CANVAS, A HISTORY - yes, yes, it’s all one syllable).

That is why Zaitsev’s method is based on teaching a child to read not by letters, and not by syllables, but by warehouses . Nikolai Zaitsev defines a warehouse as a minimally pronounceable unit that is easiest for a child to perceive. It is the word, and not the letter or syllable, that is easiest for a child to say and read. Warehouse is the first thing a baby begins to say when he starts talking - MA (mother), KO (cat). And it is precisely the warehouses that a child typeset for himself when he learns to write - KO-L-BA-SA.

The warehouse may be:

fusion of consonant and vowel (YES, MI, BE...);

separate vowel as a syllable ( I-MA; KA- YU-TA);

separate consonant in a closed syllable (KO- Sh-CA; MA-I- TO);

consonant with a soft or hard sign (Мь, Дъ, Сь...).

Thus, the warehouse never consists of more than two letters, and by this it compares favorably with the syllable, which can consist of either 4 or 5 letters.

However, the warehouse approach is not Zaitsev’s only innovation. He suggested putting aside the boring primers and play with warehouses! Zaitsev wrote all the warehouses on cubes and suggested a lot of games and songs with them. Thus, while studying according to the method, we simply play and during the game we repeatedly show and voice the warehouses to the child. So, while playing, the baby unnoticed learns to recognize warehouses, and then read them independently. It is worth noting that in Zaitsev’s method, letters are not purposefully studied; they are learned on their own thanks to many games with warehouses .

What are Zaitsev cubes?

So, let's figure out what is the fundamental difference between Zaitsev's cubes and ordinary cubes with letters. On all sides, not letters and syllables are written on Zaitsev’s cubes, but namely warehouses. And they are not written randomly, but according to certain rules:

All warehouses on one cube start with one consonant. For example, MA-MO-MU-ME-WE-M.

There are cubes big and small. On large ones, all warehouses are solid. On small ones they are soft.

There are cubes different colors, and if you shake them, they sound different. Inside the orange cubes there is a wooden filler and warehouses with a voiceless consonant are written on them. And inside the gray ones there is an iron filler, and the warehouses here have a voiced consonant.
The warehouses, which represent a separate vowel, are placed on separate cubes, painted in bright yellow colors.

There are also unusual "double" cubes. On one side of such a cube are combined warehouses that, although written differently, are read the same. For example, ЖО and ЖО, Ш and Шь.

Such distinctive features make it easier for the child to find the desired warehouse among the entire mass. As Nikolai Zaitsev says, “among the 500-800 books on your shelves, you can also easily find the ones you need, remembering their color, height, thickness and spine design.” Only there are not 800 cubes, but 65. And if you don’t count duplicates and auxiliary cubes, then there will only be 39 left. Finding the right one is quite possible!

Previously, followers of Zaitsev’s method glued the cubes together themselves (which is very difficult, since there are a lot of them and they must be made of very thick cardboard), but now they can be bought together with tables and training manuals at specialized stores with development tools.

Activities and games with Zaitsev cubes

How to play with blocks so that your child gets really interested in reading? The manual includes a methodological guide by Nikolai Zaitsev, describing the options for classes. To be honest, the manual is not a pleasure to read. There is a lot of text, but, in my opinion, there is a lot of unnecessary stuff. I would like a clear description of the games with specific recommendations, and a step-by-step program. It is also a little confusing that in the manual there are very few games that involve teaching a child from scratch. After all, the author promises that you can start teaching a 2-year-old child.

But, don’t be alarmed, all this in no way detracts from the advantages of Zaitsev’s method. If you figure it out and organize the game process correctly, you can get really excellent results in the form of a child who reads and is not tortured. While we were studying with my daughter, I collected the most interesting ideas for games with cubes, I would like to bring they are here in order of increasing difficulty

Before we move on to the games, I would like to say that you should not limit your activities to just cubes! Dilute them with others, it will be more interesting for the child!

And one more very important point ! Don’t expect your child to read the letters on his own in the first lessons (even if he already knew the letters before). Do not give your child constant checks (“Tell me what letter this is?”, “Read what is written here”). All activities should turn into a game, during which you will show and name warehouses to your child many times. The result will not be long in coming; first, the baby will learn to recognize warehouses and will easily find the ones he needs among a number of those offered. And then he will come to independent reading. Don't rush your baby!

So let's get started. I bring games with Zaitsev's cubes in order of increasing difficulty . The games can be repeated several times with your child, using different cubes each time.

We take the cubes out of the bag / put them back

It is always better to start games with solid warehouses (these are large cubes). Prepare an opaque bag and place several cubes in it. Together, take one cube out of the bag and say what is written on the side the cube is facing towards you. Ask questions and answer them yourself. “What kind of warehouse is this? This is MU!”

Play up the activity with some kind of plot. For example, a bear brought you a bag and asked you to tell you what was inside.

Then all the cubes can be put back into the bag, also calling them.

2. Transfer the cubes from one container to another

The game is similar to the previous one. Pots and boxes are suitable as containers. While we are moving, we read what is written on one side of each cube. Or you can “sing” them completely.

3. Singing on cubes

Warehouse singing is one of the integral elements of Zaitsev’s technique. All warehouses are written on the cubes in a certain sequence (for example, MU-MO-MA-ME-WE-M, DU-DO-DA-DA-DE-DY-D), if you practice in advance in rotating the cube in the right way, you will get very good results. folding songs. Like this:

The secret of the songs is that they are all similar to each other, both in appearance and in hearing. If the baby recognizes at least one consonant on the cube or at least one word, he can quickly reconstruct the entire chant from memory, and, accordingly, sing the entire cube.

Sing these songs with your child more often, and he will quickly learn to read the words on them.

4. Hide and seek

Take one cube and hide it under a scarf/blanket and ask them to guess which side it will appear to you now. Then take out the cube, sound it out together and be sincerely surprised by what you read. Repeat the game again, turning the cube on different sides. “Which side do you think the cube will appear to us? Let's watch! This is MI! A surprise moment will increase the child's interest in the game.

5. Toys and houses

Invite your child to place the toys in cube houses - “Our bunny will live in the KO house,” etc. If desired, the warehouses can be selected so that they correspond to the first syllable in the name of the animal, i.e. the horse will live in the LO house, etc.

When everyone is settled, play with the characters, visit each other, hide in different houses and do not forget to unobtrusively name the warehouses in the game. Similarly, you can play train, in this case the toys will be seated in carriages, the names of which will be warehouses!

6. Sort the cubes into large and small

Take your baby's two favorite toys. It is advisable that one of them be large, and the second smaller. Let's say it will be a big bear and a bunny. Tell your child that the bear likes big cubes, and the bunny likes small ones. And then sort them among the toys. Don't forget to read what is written on them.

Also remember that you read the warehouses first all the time. Then, when the child has already memorized them a little, offer recognition tasks - “Please give the bear the TO cube,” etc.

7. Run to MI!

Place several cubes (4-5 pieces) around the room in different places at the child’s eye level. Invite your child to race (for example, with a teddy bear) to the warehouses that you will name.

For example, you shout “Run to MI!” or “Who will bring the spacecraft first?”, the baby quickly finds the desired warehouse and runs up to it. The bear you will play for, of course, will also “try” to overtake the baby.

8. Trains and towers

Invite your child to build a train, but not a simple one. In this train, all the warehouses will have the same vowel, for example MA-KA-PA-TA-DA or TU-RU-DU-LU-PU, or even longer. (Don’t forget that it’s always better to start games with hard syllables; they’re easier for your child to read!)

To make it more interesting for the baby, each building block can come with a toy. When the train is ready, sing or say its long name together, pointing your finger at each warehouse. Or excitedly clap each warehouse and name it!

And then also place small toys around the train. Each passenger, before taking his seat, will tell the child which car he bought a ticket for, and the child will find the appropriate warehouse and place the passenger.

You can build storage towers in the same way. We play with the tower in the same way, except that we won’t be able to resettle the residents

9. Finding errors

Before class, build a train or tower without your child’s participation. In this case, all warehouses must end in the same vowel, and in one you will deliberately make a mistake. Tell the kid that the bear built the train himself, but made a mistake somewhere, help him find this mistake. To do this, read the warehouses together.

10. Brothers and sisters

Tell your child that all the cubes are relatives, each of them has a brother or sister. So, the cube with hard warehouses MA-MO-MU-ME-WE-M has a younger sister - MU-MYO-MYA-ME-MI-MY (smaller cube) . Explain to your child that relationship can be determined by the first letter of a syllable. Don’t forget to sing the pairs you find. This way they will be remembered faster.

11. Telling stories

We've already gotten used to the warehouses a little, we can try to form our first words. And simple fairy tales, for example, like this one, will help us with this:

“Once upon a time there was a gnome SO ( show the cube with the corresponding side). He was very lonely and sad because he had no friends. He looked for them everywhere: on the chair, under the table, on the bed, under the bed (depicting searches), but I couldn't find it. And then one day, completely by chance, on the street he met a gnome named K ( show). How happy our gnome SO was! He began to jump for joy, and Dwarf K was happy too. SO-K, SO-K, SO-K, SO-K! So they jumped and jumped, and then they stood next to each other and were surprised because they saw what they had done word SO-K! Then they told other warehouses about this, and they also began to come to visit SO, making up new words: SO-M, SO-N, SO-VA, SO-DA, SO-L ( other dice should be ready)»

Here are other word options for other fairy tales:

TEA, MAY, GIVE, DRINK, LEI, BEAT, MY, SING;
MOTHER, MASHA, LITTLE, POPPY, OIL;
Mitya, Vitya, KATYA, AUNT, PETYA.

12. Who is faster?

Build in front of your child a word that is not too complicated, but interesting for him (for example, BEAR), read it together, running your finger along the folds. And then suggest that they race (preferably with some kind of toy) to look for the given warehouses in this word. For example, who will find the spacecraft faster?

Then offer to find MI, etc. And then change the word.

13. Toys write words

Tell your child that now the toys will write the word he wants especially for him. If the baby finds it difficult, offer your choice of something favorite or sweet. For example, CAR or CANDY, CAKE.

When the choice is made, the toys will begin to bring cubes in turn - for example, the baby elephant will bring MA, the bear will bring SHI, the bunny will bring NA. The funnier the character carries his element, the more fun the game will be. He can drop the cube, always look for the right side, cheerfully hum his warehouse, etc.

It is important to place the finished word at such a height that the child can see the desired part of the cube.

14. Finding body parts

Before class, make up a few short words (3-4 words) denoting parts of the body and face. For example, NOSE, MOUTH, HAND, LEGS, FOREHEAD, etc. Read the words with your child. Then take a small toy and say that it will now jump from one word to another, and you will need to show the corresponding place on the body. For example, if the bear jumped on the word “NOS”, this means that you and your baby need to point to your noses very quickly.

Gradually speed up the pace. The game is usually very fun.

In such a game, the child will learn to recognize words in their entirety, and the reading process will become increasingly automated.

15. Actions

The game is similar to the previous one, only now you need to assemble not body parts from cubes, but simple actions - EAT, DRINK, WASH, RUN, CLAPP, etc. The child’s task is to depict this or that action when you point to the corresponding word.

Due to the lack of a large number of cubes with a warehouse T, some words can be written on cards, highlighting the warehouses in them with different colors.

16. Hide and seek

This game also teaches the child to perceive and recognize the whole word. Put a few words in front of the child, for example, MOUSE, DOG, ELEPHANT, GIRAFFE, etc. Say that these are houses/train carriages in which these animals live/travel. Read the words together, ask your child questions like “Where is the dog?”, “Where is the elephant?”, “Who’s here?”

Then tell your child that the animals are playing hide and seek, ask him to turn away and change some of the words. After this, again ask the child to find the right words - “Where is the mouse now?”, “Where is the elephant hiding?” etc.

17. We write words together

When your child gets comfortable with blocks and enjoys playing with them, you can teach him to write words with cubes. Of course, at first the baby will need to be prompted, but gradually the number of prompts should be reduced:

At the first stage, simply serve the cubes to the child in the desired sequence with the desired side.
At the second stage, serve the cubes in the desired sequence, but provide the opportunity to choose the desired warehouse.
At the third stage, explain to your child how to determine which warehouse will be next in a word, and invite him to independently choose the desired cube from the 3-4 offered. To make the task easier for your child, turn the cubes to the desired side in advance.

What will be interesting for your baby to write with cubes:

Your name (having collected the name, rearrange something in it, laugh at what happened)
Names of loved ones - mother, father, woman, grandfather, cat, dog, Chupa (the name of a favorite toy), etc.
Ask your child what he would like to eat (ice cream, kinder, melon, apple, dumplings...)
Names of your favorite toys (Lego, car, doll, etc.)

Any word of the child's choice.

Prepare several cards with words written on them. Highlight clauses in words with different colors (). Invite your child to collect these words.

Don’t forget to play up the lesson with some interesting plot. For example, the game may begin with the dinosaur finding cards with “edible” words (for example, PORRIDGE, NOODLES) and asking you to make up what is written on them. After the baby collects and reads each word, the dinosaur will “eat” it.

19. Funny words

Let the child make several cubes in a row the way he wants. Then read what you come up with together. Surely, it will turn out to be a funny word, you can even imagine what it is.

20. Changelings

Invite your child to play magician. To do this, first collect some simple word, for example, MASHA. Then replace one cube in it with another (for example, replace the MA with a YES warehouse). Read what happened and explain to your child that even by changing the letters a little, we can get a word with a completely different meaning. Together, be sincerely surprised at what new word you managed to obtain.

Here are some chains of words you can build:

MASHA-DASHA-PORRIDGE-MISHA-OUR-YOURS,
STICK-FORK-BUIL-SQUIRREL,
Watering Can-Bunny-NUT-SEAGULL-SHIRT,
DRINK-POWER-WASH-BLEAT-GIVE-SING,
TANYA-ZHENYA-ANYA-SONYA-BATH-LENYA-TONYA-DANYA-MANYA.

21. Animal houses

Prepare a few of your baby's favorite toys with simple names/titles. Together, build a house for each toy by writing its name with cubes. Then place the toys in the houses. Act out a scene with animals walking and returning, visiting each other. The child must correctly read and find the house of each toy friend.

Similarly, you can build houses based on who says what. For a cat - MEOW, for a dog - WOOF, etc. Such words will be shorter and clearer. The principle of the game is described

22. We write words with certain parameters or in a chain

When the child has become very comfortable with writing words, you can compose words with given parameters, for example, containing a specific warehouse or letter.

Another option is to write words in a chain. For example, you put one word - HA-L-VA. You read it, then remove all the first cubes, leaving only the last one. Now your task is to come up with a word for the remaining warehouse, for example, WA-LE-NO-K. Then there may be K-RO-SH-KA, KA-SHA, etc.

23. Aids to Zaitsev's cubes

I would also like to draw your attention to Natalia Pyatibratova’s manuals, developed specifically for Zaitsev’s cube students. Notebooks allow you to work with warehouses in a planar version - in tasks you need to draw lines, draw and stick stickers. Moreover, in all tasks, not just warehouses are drawn, but Zaitsev’s cubes, which will further increase the child’s interest. The manuals provide great variety for “volumetric” activities with cubes. Here they are:

Warehouse stickers for games with Zaitsev cubes

Of course, the options for practicing with cubes are not limited to this list. I am more than sure that you yourself will be able to come up with a lot, guided by the interests of your child. The main thing is that all classes take place in an unobtrusive game form!

Well, one last thing. If you are interested in the warehouse approach, I highly recommend also taking a closer look at the step-by-step KoroBoom reading program. The whole complex is built on a large number of interesting and varied games with warehouses and words. To do this, the kit includes many magnets, cards, training books, written assignments, etc. All tasks are described in detail and distributed in order of increasing difficulty. The program was tested by me personally, and I had fun doing it!

I wish you interesting and productive games! And in order not to miss new blog articles, subscribe to updates in Instagram, In contact with, FaceBook

Every parent wants his child to be the most developed and the most intelligent. Parents feel great pride when their child reaches the age of three or four years calmly reads advertising signs while sitting in a car or passing by. Training always begins with choosing a methodology, of which there are now many. Teaching reading using Zaitsev's cubes is the most effective for working with the smallest children.

Zaitsev's cubes: what are they?

Zaitsev’s original method has been in existence for more than twenty years. Despite this, it is constantly being improved. Today, many games and techniques have been created that complement the basics. Using this technique, even the smallest children successfully learn to read and write. For example, for a six-year-old child, a couple of lessons are enough for him to start reading.

Zaitsev’s method is suitable for both children who love to play quietly and restless, active children.

This method of teaching reading is suitable for children with poor hearing, vision and mental development disorders. Reviews say that excellent results have been achieved. Children with autism also show good results.

Zaitsev in this technique involved all types of perception, such as visual, auditory, motor, thinking, touch and memory. When working with children, the teacher must organize learning in a playful, relaxed manner and at the same time become a mentor for the children.

By studying according to Zaitsev’s method you can:

The kit includes:

Sixty-one assembled cardboard cubes.
Six tables made of cardboard with letters, syllables and other signs.
Four cardboard tables in B3 format.
A disk containing songs for tables and cubes.
A manual that can be used as a notes for classes.

The SMARTUM Child Development Center is an excellent chance to refuse tutors in a specific subject and give preference to the comprehensive development of a child of school and preschool age.

Warehouse, what is it?

Zaitsev's method uses an alternative to syllables - warehouses. There the warehouse is the basic unit of language. A combination of a consonant or a vowel, a hard sign and a consonant, or just one letter - all this is a warehouse. The basis of this technique is warehouse reading.

The hand is placed just below the chin, then a word is pronounced, the strength of the muscles, which is felt by the hand, is the warehouse.

According to Zaitsev's method, warehouses are located both in tables and in cubes. There is no analytical thinking in learning, since it develops only by the age of seven. The warehouses that are located on the cubes differ in size, sound and color. This is done to ensure the operation of all channels of perception.

What is Zaitsev’s technique?

This method does not have authoritarian style communication between teacher and children. Here it is taken into account individually development and characteristics of each child. Classes are held exclusively in the form of a game. Children sing, move, dance, jump, and all this is accompanied by playing with blocks.

The cubes have different sizes. The large ones depict hard sounds, the small ones depict soft sounds. They come in both double and single. Double cubes contain consonants that are combined only with certain vowels (zhi-zhu-zha).

Metal denotes a loud warehouse, and wood denotes a dull one. Vowels are associated with gold. On the iron-wood colored cubes there is a hard sign, and on the wooden-gold colored cubes there is a soft sign. The white cube is covered with punctuation marks. The color scheme of the letters is different from the school one. Vowels here are indicated in blue, consonants in blue, and green indicates soft and hard signs. Zaitsev believes that the difference from the red, blue and green colors that are used in school helps the child begin to read fluently.

As for the filling, it is different for the cubes. Those who are just starting to learn, first get acquainted only with cubes, a little later they will be introduced to the tables. The set contains fifty-two dice and seven more repeat dice.

The sets are:

Collected;
Plastic based;
Cubes that need to be glued together independently; this includes a separate layout.

Gluing the cubes yourself will take a lot of time. They need to be further strengthened from the inside. This can be done using a cardboard cube of identical size. After gluing is completed, it is recommended to cover the cube with rubber bands so that it does not fall apart during the drying process. To make the cubes stronger, It is recommended to cover them with film or laminate the scan. When choosing this option, it is recommended to duplicate each scan in order to have a supply of warehouses on which the words will be written.

Tables should be hung high to prevent visual impairment and scoliosis. If classes do not take place in a group, but individually, then the height is determined by the child’s raised hand. He must be able to reach the top of the table. Often tables are placed in the corners of the room to make it easier for the child to find the necessary warehouses. Tables are also wrapped in film to make them last longer. Tables are just as important as playing with dice.

The technique involves singing all the warehouses. The author came to the conclusion that you can get a child interested in singing faster.

The cubes should always be in front of the baby’s eyes; first he will get acquainted with the manual, looking at it carefully. Let the child show the cube that interests him more than others. The warehouses that are written on the faces of the cube are shown by singing. Then you need to ask the child to find a large cube, then a small one, wooden, iron, gold. This is necessary so that the child understands that the cubes have different sounds and have different sizes.

When the baby understands the essence of this information, he should be shown the syllable tables. You need to sing one column from the table and ask the child to bring the same warehouse on a cube. You need to sing expressively to demonstrate what kinds of warehouses there are: silent, voiced, large or small. Many people also use movement. The child does not need to sing the words in response until he himself wants it and comes to it.

A child can be taught to write using blocks or a pointer. Understanding the composition of words comes by regularly showing the words on the table and singing them. By playing various games, including active ones, you can teach your child to write. It is recommended to conduct classes regularly, day after day, even a little at a time, however, if it is clearly visible that the child does not have the mood to study, it is better to postpone it; in no case should it be forced.

In training it is necessary to involve child's favorite games. If the baby is active, games should be active. It is better to offer quiet entertainment to diligent children.

The technique is successful if all requirements are fully met, and not some selective elements.

Advantages and disadvantages of the technique

Any technique in our time has its pros and cons, and Zaitsev’s cubes are no exception.

Advantages of the technique:

Disadvantages of the technique:

Creative abilities practically do not develop.
There may be difficulties understanding certain sounds, which can affect writing.
The choice when writing E and E is difficult.
Benefits are expensive.
Sound colors different from school ones.
Children may miss endings in words.

Everyone knows Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev for his famous cubes, which are used in kindergartens, elementary schools, development centers and at home. But the teaching method of this Russian teacher and educator is much deeper. It involves not only rapid learning of reading, counting, writing, literacy, foreign languages, mathematics, anatomy, geography, ecology, music, but also gives a powerful impetus to the child’s self-development. Its healing effect, high effectiveness and humanity have been confirmed by practice.

Biography

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev was born in 1939 in the village. Hills (Novgorod region) in a family of hereditary teachers. His childhood was during the difficult war years. After the war, the family moved to Leningrad. Nikolai was an active child: he attended swimming and athletics sections, and was engaged in drawing and wood carving. In 1956, he graduated from school and worked for 2 years at a factory as a grinder and molder. He took up wrestling and boxing.

In 1958 he entered the philological department at the Pedagogical Institute. Herzen (Russian and English). During his studies, Zaitsev began to study subjects in more depth due to a lack of understanding of many things. Even then, he began to draw tables and make graphs, making it easier for himself to understand the subjects.

In 1963, as a fifth-year student, Nikolai interned as a translator in Indonesia. There the young teacher laid the foundation for his original educational system. First teaching experience native language according to its methodology, it was successful.

He never received a diploma, because... his graduate work did not meet the standards. After college, Zaitsev worked as a teacher at an orphanage, in a children's colony, and a boarding school for special children. He tried his technique on special children. The success was variable, but it gave impetus to further research.

Then Zaitsev became a literature teacher at school. During this period, he developed a visual and without cumbersome rules system of teaching the native language for high school. The test results were negative: the students did not feel their native language, it was easier for them to memorize the rules, they were taught that way...

By the end of the 70s. Zaitsev gradually determined for himself the direction of experiments: educational visual programs and manuals for children from 1.5 years old. Everything was presented in a playful way.

And then success awaited him. His learning through blocks was easy for kids to understand.

The pedagogy of that time did not tolerate any deviations from the traditional one, therefore, before perestroika (80s), all of Zaitsev’s developments and manuals were not in demand. And only with the collapse of the USSR it began to be used in kindergartens and schools. Although the Ministry of Education did not officially recognize it.

In 1989, JSC Mazai (methodological alternatives to Zaitsev) was created, where the innovator became a leading specialist. This began the active dissemination of Zaitsev’s methods and manuals. For the first time, the production of cubes was established.

Since 1991, the technique has already been adapted for children aged 1.5-4 years.

In 1993, at the St. Petersburg kindergarten No. 74, Zaitsev was allowed to apply his methods. It's been his since then creative laboratory. Here, in 1994, he first introduced a course in anatomy, physiology and human hygiene, ecology, adapted for children, and over five years of observation he noted a stable positive result. The children were interested and accessible to systematic, visual information about a person, his health, and the environment.

In 1995, Professor Ruvinsky founded the Academy of Creative Pedagogy (ATP). It united disparate innovative teachers, allowed them to exchange experiences, publish their methods, and improve their skills. Zaitsev became a professor at this academy.

In 1996, JSC Mazai was transformed into LLC Methods of Zaitsev, whose tasks remained the same: to develop, publish and implement manuals and methods of the author. This association continues to operate successfully to this day. It produces “Zaitsev’s Cubes”, “Stochet”, “I Write Beautifully”, etc.

Professor Zaitsev lives in St. Petersburg, gives lectures throughout the country, and develops new manuals. He has many like-minded students. He is still a leading specialist at a non-governmental institution additional education"Methods of N. Zaitsev." Despite its popularity, his system is never officially recognized.

Origins and fundamentals of the technique

When developing his system, Zaitsev relied on the research of I.M. Sechenova, I.P. Pavlova, A.A. Ukhtomsky, V.M. Bekhterev.

He used these conclusions:

dividing the sensory stream into elements, and then linking these elements into groups is very well perceived by the brain;
Perception can be enhanced by presenting information with a clearly defined rhythm.

Zaitsev made this discovery in neurophysiology the basis of his system. The main idea of his methodology is based on the fact that the process of cognition should be based on all forms of perception of the child:

thinking;
hearing;
vision;
motor and tactile memory.

Zaitsev's educational material activates the child's perception, since it is systematic (from the particular to the general and vice versa), collected in one place and attractive, attracting attention. Essentially, this methodology builds on the foundations of collaborative pedagogy. The role of the teacher is:

to organizing a fun, playful learning environment;
mentoring assistance to a child in learning reading, counting, writing, and grammar.

Another basis of his method was the use of the warehouse as an elementary particle of speech. A warehouse is a merger of a consonant and vowels of a letter, simply a vowel, a consonant in an open syllable. This is a more natural division of a word than a syllable. This is how babies start talking. And this makes it easier to learn to read.

The origins of this lie in the same neurophysiology, since the warehouse is a conscious effort of the muscles of the speech apparatus. These efforts can be easily detected by placing your hand lightly around your neck under the base of your jaw and saying something loudly. The idea itself is not new. Teaching literacy using Zaitsev’s method is very similar to Fedot Kuzmichev’s primer (19th century) and L. Tolstoy’s alphabet (he studied using Kuzmichev’s primer). These books are based on the warehouse method rather than syllables.

After 200 years, Zaitsev, having absorbed his previous experience, moved on. According to his method, there is no need to purposefully learn letters at all. They will simply learn themselves in the process of playing with manuals on which warehouses are written. For the first time, he tried a method of quickly mastering a language using warehouses on his cubes.

Then there were tables. Here Zaitsev relied on experience (a system of reference signals) and Erdniev (an enlarged unit of didactics). He created tables through which a huge amount of information was transmitted minimum quantity characters. The correct placement of these tables on the walls allowed information to quickly appear in memory.

Zaitsev’s methodology broke the main stereotype of traditional teaching: the rule-exercise, and moved away from the scattered and unsystematic nature of the material. Moreover, this neurophysiological approach ensured high voluntary mobility of the child during training with minimal visual load.

General description of Zaitsev’s technique

The innovative teacher set himself the goal of teaching children reading, writing, literacy and numeracy without cramming or imposition. While studying at the institute, he already realized that traditional education is not effective. His system was developed in the same direction. He moved away from the traditional training scheme: exercise-assignment. Only a game, only what is interesting and no violence. Nikolai Alexandrovich laid down the following principles in his system:

the child does not learn to live, but lives here and now, so he will learn what interests him now;
learning should keep pace with the child’s development, not ahead of it;
the child has access to any difficult tasks, if they are available and relevant to him;
a child is an active person, not an object of learning;
child studying the world with the whole body, movement for him - additional source information.

They allow you to give a powerful impetus to the child’s natural abilities, pushing him towards self-development.

Features of the technique

“The essence is simplicity and consistency!”

The technique is very child-friendly. Since classes are held in the form of a game, there are no:

fears of error;
losers and losers;
comments;
coercion;
notations;
calls;
assessments.

Zaitsev's classes are very noisy and relaxed. The author has developed hundreds of games, so each new lesson is different from the previous one.

Classes are equipped in a special way:

desks are placed around the perimeter so as not to obscure visual material;
Tables are hung on the walls at a height of 170 cm from the floor.

The material is given to the child immediately in its entirety on tables, and he can assimilate it at his own pace. All warehouses are systematized on cubes and wall tables. Each cube has a row and a column in the table. After working with the cubes, the children run with a pointer to the tables in search of the necessary warehouses. They involuntarily go through dozens of options, easily remembering them. The high systematic nature of the benefits allows children to quickly grasp their algorithm.

Between the tables with warehouses there are “Hundred Counting” tables, using which children learn to add and subtract two-digit numbers.

Lessons are naturally competitive: everyone wants to give the correct answer as quickly as possible and peers at the table from anywhere in the class. This is how you are forced to start reading tables from different distances, and your vision is involuntarily trained. Students spend most of the lesson moving with their heads raised (looking at the tables), strengthening their posture. In such an environment, children think more actively, and the learning process proceeds effectively.

Famous Zaitsev cubes: what are they?

The cubes are designed for teaching reading, primary literacy and writing. The set contains 52 cubes (7 repeating ones, for words like dy-dya). Each cube has warehouses marked on it, there are 200 of them in total. The cubes in the set differ in various ways:

size;
color (12);
material;
sound;
by filler;
by weight.

These features help children feel the difference between vowels and consonants, voiced and soft, and remember different characters:

Large cubes have hard parts, small ones have soft ones.
White cube - with punctuation marks.
There are double cubes with consonants that are not friends with all vowels (zha, zhu, zhi).
There are no warehouses on the cubes.
Voiced warehouses are a metal cube, blind warehouses are wooden.
The golden cube is the vowels.
Warehouses with a hard sign are located on iron-wooden cubes, and with a soft sign - on wooden-gold ones.
All letters are different colors: vowels - blue, consonants - blue,
Hard and soft signs are green.

While playing, children remember the shapes and features of the cubes. From warehouses it is easy to form words. Then it all comes together grammatical system. Getting to know warehouses begins with cubes and ends with tables.

Zaitsev tables

Zaitsev's tables are highly systematic visual teaching aids on which the entire educational material.

The tables present all the material at once and are hung on the walls.

They create a learning information environment. Tables are multifunctional intermediaries between students and mentors:

learn;
give information;
are guides to educational material;
practice the necessary skills;
help mutual learning.

to warehouses (for comparing the qualities of sounds - softness, dullness, sonority, hardness, softness and for composing words);
for hundreds (for learning to count within 100 - this is a 4-color tape with numbers from 0-99, groups of squares and circles for learning tens, even-odd);
to mathematical ones (shows what numbers are made of, their properties, operations on them, the origin of numbers, fractions, powers).

Tables and cubes are inseparable parts of the learning process.

Model of kindergartens according to Zaitsev

The Zaitsev system is often used in kindergartens to teach children:

reading;
mathematics;
singing in chorus;
synthesis of drawing and writing;
basic grammar;
anatomy;
geography;
ecology;
botany;
zoology.

Zaitsev has developed and tested special techniques and manuals for all these areas. In addition to teaching a child writing, reading, and counting, Zaitsev’s methods involve introducing children to the world around them.

At the age of 3, children experience a crisis in the formation of their personality, which is associated with the formation of their own self. A child who does not understand what is required of him and why refuses to follow the rules proposed by adults. The child begins to neglect his own safety.

The introduction of such areas as anatomy, ecology, and geography into the kindergarten curriculum is quite justified. As children get to know themselves, they consciously follow the rules proposed by adults. It is at 4-7 years old that a child easily navigates:

to maintain a healthy lifestyle;
on not smoking;
not drinking alcohol;
not using drugs;
to preserve the environment;
to maintain your health;
for your safety.

And for this, the baby must understand his structure, know about things that are useful and harmful for him. Moreover, after anatomy, botany appears, and then zoology. This signifies the importance of man in nature. And geography is the path to peace.

Everything is connected here: anatomy is the path from oneself to the world, and geography is from the world to oneself and from oneself to the world.

In kindergartens with such items, injuries are rare, children are not afraid of doctors, strive for physical education, are non-aggressive, neat, eat properly and strive to learn even more about the world around them.

Zaitsev’s pedagogy of cooperation is very non-aggressive and gentle towards the child:

The mentor offers the children all the material at once, who master it at a comfortable pace.
The mentor works according to the child’s program without forcing him to do anything.
The absence of assessment of children excludes the emergence of lagging behind. Children's fear disappears, they just play, and in the game it is possible to lose.
The atmosphere in the classroom is very democratic, children do not notice the learning process itself, they just play, and the teacher guides them in the right direction.

Role of parents

Zaitsev's methodology is part of the pedagogy of cooperation. The main thing in it is the creation of a learning environment and a mentor.

The educational environment is created together with parents, which gives a powerful impetus to the development of the child.
Parents should also support the authority of their children's mentors.
If at least one link drops out of the child-mentor-parents system, training becomes useless.
Parents should be passionate about learning and help their child with pleasure. This will be the key to their child's success.
If parents decide to teach their child according to Zaitsev’s method at home, they must create a creative developmental environment, understand the basics of the system, and then begin systematic classes. Only then can we hope for success. We must remember that Zaitsev’s cubes are not just toys, but teaching aids.

Advantages of Zaitsev’s technique

Doctors, psychologists, valeologists, physiologists, and teachers speak well of Zaitsev’s method. The system is based on natural, natural reactions of the body; it very easily adapts to the conditions of a kindergarten, school or home, groups of children of different ages and composition. Shows itself well when working with special children.

Here are its advantages:

quick mastery of reading, writing and counting (10-12 lessons for preschoolers and a week for first-graders);
not attached to a certain age;
each child learns at an individual pace;
the possibility of successful homeschooling;
literacy for life;
lack of physical inactivity and preservation of vision;
absence of student-teacher-parent conflicts;
development of the child’s self-organization;
simplicity, consistency, clarity;
a combination of play and strict internal logic.

Disadvantages of Zaitsev's technique

Many years of use of the Zaitsev system in kindergartens, development and rehabilitation centers, and schools revealed some shortcomings:

There are complaints from speech therapists and speech pathologists about missing endings in speech.
Children have difficulties with phonics.
Benefits are quite expensive.
Difficulties in using the letter E.
When homeschooling, a combination with traditional methods is required to achieve results.
Early learning to read gives a powerful impetus to the development of centers for the perception of writing, which can lead to a delay in the development of oral speech.
The technique is effective only for right-handed people.
Children may not be able to distinguish individual speech sounds by ear, which can affect their writing.
The system does not develop creativity.

Popularity of the Zaitsev system

The paradox of our country: a methodology that is not recognized by the state educational system, is widely known and used not only in Russia and the CIS countries, but throughout the world (in Europe, Australia, the USA, Israel). Open in 86 countries around the world specialized centers for the training of hare teachers.

The author of the methodology can easily adapt it to any language in the world, which means it is possible to create an international pedagogical complex. There are already methods in Russian, English, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Tatar, Armenian and French.

Zaitsev has hundreds of like-minded people and followers. For example, Elena Grigorievna Afanasova, a valeologist from Moscow, herself develops training manuals according to the Zaitsev system, and has been successfully teaching children and training teachers for 10 years.

Let's consider the basic principles of Nikolai Zaitsev. We will offer a methodology for conducting a lesson according to Zaitsev, and also give an answer to the question: What is unique about Nikolai Zaitsev’s magic cubes?

At school, learning occurs from the lips of the teacher to the ear of the student, and yet the child absorbs 80% of the information with the eye. I show it thousands of times, maybe tens of thousands of times... The ancient teaching system can no longer be used: life has changed, the way of perceiving information has changed and its volume has changed. (N. Zaitsev)

New - forgotten old

Nikolai Zaitsev's methodology occupies a special place in pedagogy. The Russian teacher and educator was one of the first to begin to practice early teaching of children counting, reading, music, foreign languages (in particular English) and other cognitive disciplines.

Zaitsev is better known, of course, for his cubes, which many teachers and kindergarten teachers use in their work. But training according to Zaitsev’s method is not only tables of syllables, warehouses and arithmetic operations. These include funny toys that make different sounds, musical instruments, cubes with cut-out pictures, cards, puzzles, construction sets, etc.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev was born in 1939 in Novgorod region in a family of rural teachers. After the war he came to Leningrad. After graduating from school, he worked as a grinder and molder for two years. Then he entered the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute. Herzen (philological faculty, specialist with knowledge of a foreign language). In my fifth year I went to practice in Indonesia. Teaching local residents the Russian language, the future teacher was already thinking about an original educational program.

Returning to the USSR, Zaitsev began teaching, while continuing to work on his own developments. He worked as a teacher in an orphanage, a colony for juvenile delinquents, a boarding school for the mentally retarded, a teacher of Russian language and literature, in English, Russian as a foreign language.

During his time at school, Zaitsev determined his direction pedagogical activity— educational programs for the little ones.

In those years (and this was the end of the 70s), official pedagogy did not recognize any deviations from traditional forms of education. More than ten years passed before Zaitsev’s manuals saw the light of day, and his methodology began to be used by educators and teachers, although it has not yet received official approval from the Ministry of Education. Zaitsev, meanwhile, continues to lecture, he has many students and followers, and his new manuals and developments on early learning are still being published.

The main idea of Zaitsev’s method is the following: learning should be based on all forms of perception of the child - thinking, active practical independent activity, hearing and visual memory, and most importantly - you need to help the child read and count while playing, having fun, without tiring sitting at a desk.

Here it is appropriate to remember that traditional pedagogy arranged educational material according to the same principle: rule - exercise. In addition, all the material was not collected in a specific location. It was not used according to the system “from the particular to the general, from the general to the particular.”

It was these flaws that Zaitsev drew attention to. He offered new way learning, taking as the unit of language structure not a syllable, but a warehouse, using which the child begins to compose individual words. These warehouses are located on different sides of Zaitsev's cubes. This technique is used not only to quickly teach children the Russian language: with its help you can learn English and any other language just as quickly.

By the way, the warehouse method has been known since the time of L.N. Tolstoy. A warehouse is considered to be the fusion of a consonant with a vowel, a separate vowel as a syllable, a separate consonant (in a closed syllable), and a consonant with a sign. For example, SO-BA-KA, PA-RO-VO-3, A-I-S-T and so on. Baby starts to talk

MA-MA by word, not by letter or whole word. In terms of language, it is easier and more natural to teach him to read. So Nikolai Zaitsev had something to rely on in his program.

Warehouses in tables and cubes differ in color, size, volume, sound (the cubes are filled with different materials). Thanks to this, the child easily learns the difference between vowels and consonants, hard and soft, voiced and unvoiced. In other words, the child does not go from simple to complex (letter - syllable - word), but immediately gains access to all the warehouses, which he remembers through repeated repetition and warehouse refrains.

All the material is also presented to the child in its entirety, i.e. if it’s cubes, then everything at once, if it’s tables, then everything that can be learned. Everything is thought out so that children do not experience stress or discomfort during classes. The tables are located at a height of 170 cm from the floor. The child learns while standing, which has a beneficial effect on his posture. The letters are depicted large, there is no need to strain your eyesight, the child is in motion all the time, the lesson is in the form of a game, nothing is learned or memorized.

However, this approach also has its difficulties. First: there are more than 200 warehouses, but, as you know, there are only 33 letters. Therefore, a child who is taught according to Zaitsev receives 10 times more information than one who is taught to read as usual. And finally, the warehouse reading skill does not correspond school system spelling. This means that the child will have to learn to read again. And in the beginning it will be much more difficult for him to perform such mandatory types of analysis as phonetic, word-formation, and composition.

Principles of Zaitsev’s technique

♦ From general to specific and from specific to general.

♦ From the concrete-figurative through the visual-effective to the verbal-logical.

♦ Providing visibility (not only from the word “look”) using various channels of perception.

♦ Systemic material supply.

♦ Algorithmization of educational actions.

♦ Taking into account the physiology of perception of educational information.

♦ Protecting the health of students.

➠ The warehouse principle of learning to read with the help of sounding cubes is adequate to neurophysiological freedom, i.e. freedom in which a child, like a beginning musician, on his own initiative conducts a creative search for the sounds and notes he needs, extracts them with the help of his own efforts, hears himself, corrects itself. (N. Zaitsev)

Reading lesson according to Zaitsev

Unfortunately, ready-made manuals of Nikolai Zaitsev’s methods ( cubes, tables) are quite expensive, so not every mother can use them. But there is a way out: make your own one of the manuals, which are cards with letters. These will be the king's house, the queen's house and consonant cards.

King's house: A, O, U, Y, E.

Queen's house: Ya, Yo, Yu, I, E.

Cards from the king's and queen's houses must be cut out and connected vertically (that is, in a column in the order in which they are printed). Then (at the parents’ request) these houses are covered with tape on the front side, and glued to the back with fleecy paper (another option is to stick Velcro). You need to put them under a press for a day - a sheet of plywood or thick cardboard - and cover them with flannel. Now the king and queen houses can easily be placed on a flannel board.

How to play with your baby?

Come up with a fairy tale about a king and queen, about letters living in houses. For example: “Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, and they had many servants. The king's servants lived in a large house, the queen's servants lived in a smaller house. These servants were not easy, they all loved to sing,” etc.

Sing the letters from the houses (from top to bottom).

You can sing to any tune, the main thing is that the baby finds it interesting. There is no need to be afraid that you are deaf; the baby still thinks that mom sings better than anyone.

When these vowels have been mastered in the houses, you need to cut out and make consonant cards: B, K, M, P.

You can take, for example, B and distribute it among the houses: BA, BO, BU, BY, BE - bya, byo, bya, bi, bye. Then distribute the remaining letters in the same way: MA, MO, MU, WE, ME - my, my, mu, mi, me, etc.

Then you can substitute letters to the right and left of the houses: BAM, BOM, BOOM, etc., do the same with the rest of the consonant letters (make cards, “roll” them around the houses, substitute them with other warehouses). This seems simple at first glance, but it’s enough effective technique, which you can use to learn to read in a few lessons. Kids, naturally, will need more time to learn the material.

The creator of the programs is a child

How to explain to a child why today he needs to learn this letter and tomorrow another? Simple: easy, in the form of a game or a fairy tale. In any case, according to Zaitsev, this is the best way to determine the direction of study, since the entire volume of the language being studied is offered to children at once: take as much as you can! According to his method, there are no difficult or easy words, there is no clearly drawn up program and strict deadlines. The teacher works according to the child’s program - doing what you want is always more interesting than doing what you need. He simply asks the children what they would like to do.

If a girl likes the letter Y because her name is Yulia, she doesn’t have to wait until that letter’s turn comes. If a boy is interested in cars and wants to know how to spell the word “carburetor,” he’s welcome. Or maybe a fairy tale was read to a child today and some fancy names stuck in his soul? The teacher and children arm themselves with cubes, tables, pictures and begin to play with the words that they have chosen together. This is cooperation.

The technique is not at all aggressive towards children. There are no laggards or losers in the group. Even those who seem incapable of mastering the material can master the material. The classes are structured in such a way that the child has no fear of making a mistake - after all, this is a game in which everyone is busy with their own business. They even write everything only in pencil, so that there is always an opportunity to correct it without ruining the beautiful notebook.

Zaitsev’s classes cannot be called a lesson at all. Children run races, jump, sing, dance, fidget on the floor, hang on sports equipment, etc. So, scoliosis, fatigue, visual impairment, stress and other attributes of traditional study are the least feared here. As a result, even silent children begin to speak, expanding lexicon, speech becomes more correct than that of peers. And most importantly, children develop a lot of interests. They want to illustrate essays and sign pictures, read poetry and sing.

Zaitsev's technique can be applied in different ways. You can place your child in kindergarten, where communication is built precisely according to this system. You can also find a private teacher.

The teacher can come home, but it is still better for the child to study outside the home. Firstly, on foreign territory it is easier for him to gather and concentrate. Secondly, he will be able to communicate with other children (in a group the material is learned better). Thirdly, the child will get used to the process of getting ready, preparing homework - everything that awaits him at school.

In general, checking assignments and constantly sitting with a child is not a very useful activity; participating in educational activities with him is another matter. In the end, you can develop your child on your own, using the advice of “rabbit trainers,” although this does not guarantee better results.

Of course, difficulties along this path are inevitable, especially since, as already mentioned, the methodology has not yet been officially approved (there is no need to remind about the inertia of government institutions, the obstacles that everything new faces, etc.). But this is not a reason to retreat. According to Zaitsev’s followers, his technique is one of the most progressive, which means it is the future.

Zaitsev's method is intended for teaching children reading, mathematics, foreign language. Materials used for classes are cubes various types. They come in large hard ones, small soft ones, double ones, and with different fillings. Iron ones - with sonorous sounds, wooden ones - with muffled sounds, gold ones - with vowels. White cube to indicate punctuation marks. The letters on the cubes are written in different colors: vowels are blue, consonants are blue, hard and soft are green. This helps kids understand the difference between vowels and consonants, voiced and soft sounds.

When Zaitsev teaches reading, the main unit of language is the warehouse, not the syllable. A warehouse is a pair of a consonant and a vowel, or a consonant and a hard and soft sign, or this one letter. For example, BA-BU-SH-KA, and not ba-bush-ka, as is customary in traditional reading teaching. Using these warehouses, the child begins to form words.

All material is presented only in a playful form, so the child does not even notice that he is learning. Zaitsev’s methodology is intended for both individual development and group development.

In addition to cubes, classes using this method also include tables. It is assumed that the bottom edge of the table should be located at a height of 165-170 cm from the floor. In this case, the child will look at her with his head raised, which has a positive effect on posture. But in this case, it is quite difficult to imagine a 2-year-old child who will follow the pointer in such a position. Therefore, more often the child plays only with cubes.

Mathematics teaching is also based on a table system. This technique is intended for children 3-4 years of age. The tables clearly show the child what numbers are made up of what, what properties they have, and what actions can be done with them.

Advantages of Zaitsev’s technique:

The baby quickly masters reading, memorizing the words. He immediately pronounces, for example, BA, and does not think about how to read individual letters.
The cubes contain only those combinations of letters that are possible in the Russian language. For example, incorrect combinations ZHY, SHY, CHYA, SHCHYA are generally excluded.
Zaitsev's technique is designed for a large age range. You can start studying with a child at 1 year old, or at 5 years old.
Training using this method develops the senses, ear for music, sense of rhythm, and memory.
Cubes, consisting of materials of different texture and weight, affect fine motor skills, which already affects the development of intelligence.

Disadvantages of the technique:

Speech therapists, speech pathologists, teachers primary school This technique is often not very welcomed, because The child is accustomed to seeing only warehouses, and then difficulties arise when parsing the word according to its composition. The child cannot identify the root, prefix, suffix and ending. Problems also arise when analyzing phonetically and writing transcriptions, and the child has to be retrained again.
These benefits are quite expensive. In addition, it takes a lot of time at the beginning, because... they need to be glued together and then restored if a child damages them.

This technique is best used as an additional educational game, because Working with blocks will expand your baby’s vocabulary, improve search activity and visual perception.