Is Your Kid Ready for the Future? They Should Learn this One Language!

Learning a new language has never been such an easy feat. Have you ever been in a situation whereby you are sitting with a group of friends and they start talking in their native language and all you feel is loss? That’s the difference between us, the passive tech consumers and the coders. Now that the schools are closed this may be the perfect opportunity to teach your child/children a language they will need in today’s and tomorrow’s world. The holidays are here, and it seems like the kids will be staying at home for the next few weeks. While to some parents this can be a stressful prospect, the reality is that the kids will be home and they need to be engaged. And what better way than with the very gadgets they spend hours with.

If the pandemic and work from home restrictions have shown us anything; it is that the future will be technology-driven. Very many well-paying jobs will be in the tech/IT space, similar to how some jobs are being deemed redundant or obsolete. As a result, knowledge in programming or coding is proving to be a necessary skill today. Countries like Estonia and Singapore are at the forefront in teaching kids coding right from preschool.

The ability to create computer programs is an important part of literacy in today’s society. Coding is a skill that is likely to be desirable for a long time to come and your child will be highly advantaged if they possess the skill, as they shall be at the epicenter of the tech action.

The process of upskilling however does not have to cost you a bucket load of money. There are YouTube channels as well as websites that have been created to specifically teach children how to code. Most of them for free, all you need is an internet connection and a computer. These YouTube videos and sites present learning coding/programming in a fun and interesting way. Kids are able to learn to code while having fun. Here are a few examples:

1.                  The coding train

This channel is hosted by Daniel Shiffman. He teaches young students to code using YouTube videos with funny animations. His videos cover topics from the basics of programming languages like JavaScript (with p5.js) and Java (with Processing) to generative algorithms like data visualization.

2.                  Code.org

This channel is dedicated to promoting computer programming by providing free coding educational videos. It doesn’t matter if you have any coding background or experience, you will always find a course here that’s suitable for you to start with! Additionally, they run the hour of code program which was endorsed by Barack Obama when he was encouraging American kids to embrace computer science. As he believes that these machines are the future and they need to be equipped with these skills as the future is digital.

3.                  Scratch

Apart from YouTube channels, there are certain websites such as Scratch which is designed for use by children between the ages of 8 to 16 as an educational tool for coding but is used by people of all ages. Scratch enables its users to program their own interactive stories, games, and animations. It also facilitates sharing of the creator’s work with others in the online community. By using Scratch young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively, thus gaining essential skills for life in the 21st century.

4.                  Codecademy

Codecademy is an American online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different programming languages including Python, Java, Go, JavaScript, Ruby, SQL, C++, C#, Swift, and Sass, as well as markup languages HTML and CSS.

If your child is younger, between 8 and 16 years old, Scratch might be a great starting point. And if they’re in their teenage with reasonable concentration span, then the hour of code can be helpful to cultivate the discipline needed to become a software developer at an early age. Teaching these skills to children ensures that they are not just bystanders in the consumer market. These skills open unlimited doors and as a result, they can achieve whatever they set their mind on. You never know the next, Zuckerberg or Larry Page could be in your house, playing computer games. 

Happy Easter everyone and have yourselves a lovely weekend and week ahead. May you also have prosperous a prosperous month.