Zaitsev cubes

Zaitsev’s unconventional cube method is recognized as one of the most intelligible and original methods for developing reading skills.
If your baby, who is already 3-4 years old, begins to ask: “What is written here?”, “Read”, “What letter (number) is this?” This means that he has a natural interest in reading and is ready for classes using Zaitsev’s developmental methodology. You can enroll your child in a group early development. Most of them practice classes that use Zaitsev cubes. Or practice this method yourself at home.

Who is N.A. Zaitsev?

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev is an innovative teacher. He published more than a dozen manuals various directions on the development of children's skills and learning skills. Works in the mathematical and linguistic fields of education.

What are warehouses?

Cubes are made from different materials, on each of their faces are written skl A yes. The warehouse is absolutely new unit, invented by Zaitsev. The fact is that children are able to acquire a letter and a syllable as a unit of language only from the age of 4-5. And warehouses have been around for 3.5 years. Skl A d, which implies a pair of a vowel and a consonant, a consonant and various sounds, or even one letter. From these warehouses it is easy to form any word: VE-R-B-LYu-D, etc.

What is the essence of Zaitsev’s technique?

The teacher was of the opinion that a big role in the development of children is played by how and in what way he learned the basic learning skills - reading, counting and writing. Important role The child’s desire plays a role, that is, whether he wanted to learn it, whether he studied with pleasure or not, whether learning had a positive effect on his health. If children are taught to read and write incorrectly, they will develop a negative attitude towards reading in the future. And this attitude will be deposited on the subconscious for the rest of his life.

By the age of 5, the majority of children have not yet matured enough to sit at a table for about half an hour without moving and pay all their attention to the teacher. And it will take a lot of time to explain to such kids what a letter, syllable, and sounds are. And the patterns in the notebook are not at all pleasing to most children, because they need to for a long time circle.

Undoubtedly, such sitting at the table will be useful for young students in the future, but they most likely will not receive joy from studying at this stage of their development.

So, Zaitsev decided to choose a completely different technique, in three classes according to which four-year-olds I'm already starting to read. A sedentary mode of learning and an authoritarian teaching style are not acceptable here.

What will you see when you walk into a classroom where kids are studying with blocks? The picture will surprise you, since children do not memorize letters. They learn on their own, using many games and memorization exercises. For this, not only the cubes themselves are used, but also tables on which warehouses are recorded. Children first merge letters into syllables, then syllables into words. At ease, with pleasure, playing.

In such a classroom, two large tables hang on the wall, and under them on the table there should be a mountain of sounding cubes. The room is very spacious so that children can move around comfortably. Somewhere there must be Zaitsev’s manual “I Write Beautifully” and “Warehouse Pictures”.

Tables must be placed high to ensure the prevention of posture and vision disorders. The cubes should be arranged in a random order so that children can quickly switch when they find the right cube. Zaitsev's set consists of cubes various colors and sizes, there are also those that can produce various sounds(crackle, ring, etc.). This is necessary in order for the desired effect to occur on all children’s analyzers.

Zaitsev's set.

What does it consist of and how to make it yourself?

You can make Zaitsev’s cubes, tables and warehouse pictures yourself. Cut the cubes out of cardboard, glue them and fill them according to the instructions below. You can use old unnecessary plastic children's cubes, cut them along the edges, fill them and cover them with paper. Some people manage to make these cubes from juice boxes. Cubes can be made from cardboard (diagram). Bottle caps, cut tin from cans, coins, pieces of wooden rod, bars or beans were used for filling. However, today such cubes can be found in almost any specialty store or ordered online.

So, what does a set of Zaitsev’s cubes and tables consist of:

"Iron" large cubes of Zaitsev. Cubes of gray, metallic color, filled with pieces of iron (coins, metal caps (6 pieces), etc.). These cubes depict warehouses with sonorous-hard mergers (1 cube each with faces LU-LO -LA-LE - LY -L, G-GA-GO-GU-GY-GE, DU-DY-DE- D-DA-DO, ZO-ZU-ZY-ZE -Z-ZA, N-NA-NO-WELL-NY-NE, RU-RY-RE-R-RA-RO) ,(2 cubes each with faces B-BU-BE-BE-BA-BO,YOU-VE-V-VA-VO-VU, MU-WE-ME-M-MA-MO).

Zaitsev’s “iron” small cubes. Cubes of gray, metallic color, filled with pieces of iron (coins, metal caps (4 pieces), etc.). These cubes depict warehouses with sonorous - soft mergers (1 cube each with faces V-VYA-VY-VU-VI-VE, L-LA-LE-LYU-LI-LE, D-DIA-DE-DU-DI-DE, B-BY-BY-BY -BE-BE, ZZ-ZYA-ZY-ZY-ZI-ZE, NY-NYA-NYO-NU-NO-NO, MY-MY-MY-MU-MI-ME, RY-RYA-RYO-RYU-RI -RE, GY-GYA-GYO-GYU-GI-GE).

"Wooden" large Zaitsev's cubes. The cubes are brown, wooden in color, filled with pieces of wood (you can use pieces of a twig with a diameter of about 1 cm or beans). These cubes depict warehouses with deaf-solid mergers (1 cube each with the faces SU-SY-SE-S-SA-SO, HU-HY-HE-H-HA-HO, T-TA-TO-TU-YOU- TE, F-FA-FO-FU-FY-FE), (2 cubes each with faces P-PA-PO-PU-PY-PE, K-KA-KO-KU-KY-KE).

"Wooden" small Zaitsev's cubes. The cubes are brown, wooden in color, filled with pieces of wood (you can use pieces of a twig with a diameter of about 1 cm or beans). These cubes depict warehouses with deaf-soft mergers (1 cube each with faces F-FYA-FYO-FYU-FI-FE, S-SIA-SIO-SYU-SI-SE, KK-KYA-KYO-KYU-KI-KE, P-PYA-PY-PY -PI-PE, HH-HYA-HYO-HYU-HI-HE), (2 cubes with faces T-TY-TY-TY-TY-TE).

"Golden" big Zaitsev's cubes. Cubes are yellow, gold in color, filled with pieces of iron (coins, metal caps, etc.). These cubes depict red vowels (A-O-U-Y-E -berry). Solid fusion (sounds).

"Golden" small Zaitsev's cubes. Cubes are yellow, gold in color, filled with pieces of iron (coins, metal caps, etc.). These cubes depict red vowels (Y-Y-Y-Y-E - berry). Soft fusion (sounds).

"White" small. Cube white, empty (or tightly filled with paper). On the faces of the cube there are punctuation marks (. , ? ! - ́) dot, comma, question mark, Exclamation point, dash and accent mark.

"Y" cube. A small cube of gray, iron color. Filled big amount piece of iron than other iron cubes. On each side of the cube (Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y).

"Ъ" cube. Large cube two-color gray-brown. Filled with two pieces of iron and 4 pieces of wood. (V-Z-B-D-T-S).

Double cubes. Two cubes are glued together, and warehouses are written on their faces. Moreover, on the same plane you need to place warehouses that sound the same, but are written differently (in italics).

1). Large “iron” + Large “gold” ( AND—LH-ZHA- JO-JO-ZHU-ZH-ZH).

2) Large “wooden” + Large “golden” ( SH-SH-SHA- SHO-SHO-SHU-SHI-SHE).

3) Large “wooden” + Large “golden” (Ts-TsA-TsO-TsU- TZI-TZI-CE).

4) Small “wooden” + Small “gold” ( W-W- CHA- WHAT?-CHU-CHI-CH).

5) Small “wooden” + Small “golden” ( SH-SH-SHA- SHCH-SHCHO-SHCHU-SHCH-SHCH).

Zaitsev tables. If you purchase Zaitsev’s method in a store, you will find several large wall tables included (1.5-2 meters long, 1 meter wide). For example, table No. 1 shows a matrix - the order in which the child needs to sing the warehouses (for example: first the row with hard mergers (large cube), then with soft ones (small cube)).

Warehouse pictures. Another required material for classes using the Zaitsev method. A stock picture is a white square of thick paper with an image and the name of that image above the picture itself. Moreover, the most important, shock warehouse is written in black, all other letters are green. WITH reverse side cards, just a word is written (without a picture), the word is written down different font. Warehouse pictures can be colored or silhouette (black, develop creative thinking). During classes with these cards, children learn to “read fluently,” that is, they grasp the word as a whole, and not by syllables or letters. May be sold separately, please inquire.

Dice color is selected so that the child’s eyes do not become tired or irritated. Text is used large and clear in block letters so that children can see warehouses from afar. During classes they will be located in completely different places. Children will have to train the muscles of their eyeballs to be able to look around all the warehouses to find what they need.

As for sounds, then they are completely different in timbre and pitch. “Golden” cubes should ring, while “iron” ones rattle, and “wooden” ones make dull sounds.” This allows you to understand the difference that exists between voiced and voiceless consonants, etc. The fact is that it is very difficult for children to understand such abstract concepts, as “voiced or voiceless” consonants. And cubes that make sounds of a certain frequency while pronouncing warehouses make this perfectly clear. According to Zaitsev’s method, teachers also need to additionally voice the warehouses using sing-alongs. Warehouses are sung in a certain sequence, which is depicted in Zaitsev’s tables (matrices). This allows babies to develop their hearing and sense of rhythm.

Zaitsev's cubes can be used at any age, starting from one year. The earliest use will allow the child to learn to both speak and read. The ideal age for use is 3-4 years.

How to work with cubes if parents decide to independently practice this method with their child?

So, in Zaitsev’s set you purchased cubes, tables, a cassette with tunes and, of course, the training manual itself.

Place all the cubes in front of the child at once. It is important! You need to introduce the cubes gradually. Let your child look at the cubes, hold them in their hands, twirl them, rattle them, etc. Ask, by the way, to bring any cube the child likes. Turn it towards the baby and sing it “A-O-U-Y-E!” Ask for a wooden cube, then a small one.

Then you can play the game "Find similar letter" Show your child any letter on the cube and ask him to find the same one. If your child is spinning a cube, cannot find the letter and begins to worry (says: “There is no such letter here”), help him.

You can lay out two hoops on the floor different color or two boxes and ask the child to separate large and small cubes, yellow and gray, etc.

Using the table, use a pointer to sing through any warehouse and ask them to find the exact same cube and bring it to you.

Start with the names and titles that are most dear to your child. Place MAMA at one end of the room, place PAPA near the window, and place AUNT IRA on the table. And start playing with the child with the words “Meet DAD, let's run to AUNT IRA! Now let’s go play with MOM.” The child will learn in movement, without causing harm to health.

Don't worry if your baby can play with the blocks for less than half an hour at first. Gradually it will reach longer times. Even 10 lessons of 15 minutes each is enough for your child to learn to read.

Cubes are simply a brilliant educational toy for kids. Well, every child should have cubes. You can chew them, you can use them to build a house, a tower, an entire castle, or you can learn to read, count and even learn a foreign language. And if you have houses cubes designed by Nikolai Zaitsev, then you can be sure that your baby will master reading easily and quickly; by the way, you can make Zaitsev’s cubes with your own hands.

Nikolai Zaitsev has developed a simply unique method for teaching children to read using cubes. Your child will not even notice that he is learning; for him, cubes with syllables are just an exciting toy. If you start working with your child using Zaitsev’s method, then very soon the child will be able to not only read syllables on the blocks, but will also begin to compose words from them himself.

For practicing at home, you can make Zaitsev's cubes with your own hands.

Zaitsev's cubes are special boxes, on the sides of which, instead of letters, warehouses are indicated. All cubes have different sizes and, depending on the warehouse, there is different filling inside. So the gray cubes are voiced - they have pieces of iron inside them, the brown cubes are dull, they have pieces of wood inside them, and the yellow ones - with vowel letters - are filled with coins.

You can practice with Zaitsev cubes both at home and in kindergarten, and at school. When studying, it is imperative to use musical accompaniment - chants, tables and home exercise books.

For home use all materials according to Zaitsev’s method: dice templates, tables, musical chants, homework books, you can download on our website for free.

Read more about how to read with children in the article: Nikolai Zaitsev’s teaching methods.

Table for teaching reading according to Zaitsev’s method

Zaitsev's home exercise books for learning reading

We suggest you make a set of Zaitsev cubes of 52 pieces (7 are repeated to build simple known to the child words PA-PA, MA-MA, VO-VA, BA-BU-SH-KA, DYA-DYA, THO-TYA, KO-SH-KA

How to make Zaitsev's cubes with your own hands.

1) When making cubes: A-O-U-Y-E and I-YU-E-I-Yo, before closing, put a few copper coins in them to make them ring.

2) Cubes with letters from BA, BO, BU, BY, BE and also V, G, D, L, M, N, R, Z - large cubes. Place lemonade caps or pieces of copper wire in them to make them ring loudly.

3) Cube with F - big double , is filled in the same way as the previous ones. It is double because you need to glue two cubes with folds F together with edges with an arrow, the arrow needs to be aligned.

4) Cubes with warehouses BY, BYA, BYU, BYO, BE, BI and similarly with V, G, D, L, M, N, R, Z, F - small cubes. Fill them with iron too, but with less

5) The cube with Y is small. but is filled with a double portion of filler.

6) Cubes with P, PA, PO, PU, ​​PY, PE and similarly with F, K, T, S, X are large, deaf. Place pieces of wood inside.

7) Cube with W - large double cube - filled with pieces of wood with a diameter of 3 cm.

8) Cube with C - large double cube — filled with pieces of wood.

9) Cubes Pb, PYA, PYO, PYU, PI, PE, and similarly with X, K, T, S, F - small cubes are filled with pieces of wood - 2 cm in diameter

10) Cube with H - small double, filled with wood.

11) Cube with Ш — small double, filled with wood.

12) A cube with b is large. Place 4 iron lemonade stoppers and one piece of wood inside.

13) The “Little White” cube is not filled with anything. There is an exclamation mark on the die and question marks, period, comma, dash (hyphen) - to form words like BABA-YAGA, GEESE-SWANS and similar ones, but the most important thing is an accent mark, it can literally be “placed” on the desired warehouse of a word typed from cubes.

The table is assembled from two sheets, hung on the wall, during classes you need to turn on a musical chant and use the table to show the warehouses using a pointer or just a pen.

No method of teaching reading and writing can be perfect. Let's look at the positive and negative points when teaching children to read using the method of Nikolai Zaitsev.

Advantages of the technique

Skim Reading

Of course, the main advantages of Zaitsev’s method include the fact that in the game the child quickly remembers combinations of letters. Since letters are used on the cubes instead of letters, the child does not need to think long about reading individual letters- he just immediately reads the consonant and vowel together. Thus, it is much easier for the child to master the reading process.

Competent letter

The warehouses that are depicted on the faces of the cubes represent only those combinations of letters that are possible in the Russian language. For example, you won't find a warehouse that combines sizzling with Y. Accordingly, when learning using Zaitsev's cubes, a child will never make such mistakes in writing, since he simply will not imagine such a combination of letters.

No age restrictions

You can teach your child to read even if he is not yet one year old. Zaitsev’s methodology, although developed for work in kindergartens, effectively teaches children as the youngest preschool age, and children who went to first grade.

Quick effect

Zaitsev’s method is so effective that three- to four-year-old children successfully learn to read in just 4-5 lessons with cubes and tables. Thus, the Zaitsev method is very useful if a child has difficulties with the school curriculum in the first grade or does not know how to read at all by the age of five or six. The technique works very quickly and effectively.

Independence

According to the author of the methodology, educational material should be integrated into the child’s life as something natural and inseparable from the daily routine. Classes should not be overtly serious - they should be carried out discreetly, in game form. By tossing cubes to your child while playing, you give him new information, you entertain him, and the child learns on his own - after all, he can play without your help, form words and perform various tasks.

Health promotion and general development

Zaitsev's set consists of multi-colored cubes different sizes, which also make various sounds: crackling, ringing, and so on. Thus, the author acts on several analyzers at once.

The color of the cubes is chosen in such a way as not to tire or irritate the child’s eyes. The text is printed large and clearly, allowing you to see the warehouses from afar. During games according to Zaitsev, the cubes are in different places and the child needs to train the muscles of the eyeball. To take in all the warehouses at a glance.

The sounds produced by the cubes vary in pitch and timbre.

In addition, Zaitsev advises parents and teachers to voice the warehouses with so-called singing songs. Thanks to songs and sounds, the child develops hearing and a sense of rhythm.

The cubes are different in size, which means that when working with them, the child will develop fine motor skills. From development fine motor skills The child’s learning ability and his ability to manipulate objects also depend.

Correctly placed tables are above eye level, forcing the child to keep his back straight and reach for the table. This means preventing scoliosis and spinal congestion.

Flaws

But at school it's not like that

The difference between Zaitsev’s technique and school curriculum learning leads to certain difficulties for the child. Let's start with the fact that it is difficult for a child to understand exactly how letters merge into syllables, and syllables into words. And at the same time, this is necessary in order to be able to correctly disassemble morphemic composition words and pronounce words correctly. Unfortunately, Zaitsev’s method does not explain the letter composition of the word to the child; it immediately invites him to get acquainted with the warehouses. As a result, children can swallow endings and make mistakes in morphemic and phonemic parsing of words.

It is also worth noting that the colors of the cubes that children have been working with for quite a long time are etched into their memory. This means that if at school a teacher depicts vowels, consonants, unvoiced and voiced words with colors different from Zaitsev’s cubes, the child will be confused for a very long time. It will simply be difficult for him to get used to the new designations of already familiar syllables. Thus, it will be very difficult to retrain the child.

Lack of consistency

As noted above, Zaitsev does not use letter combinations in his cubes that cannot be found in the Russian language. However, on the dice you can see such combinations as BE, VE, GE and so on. There are very few words in the Russian language in which E is written after the consonant. But, nevertheless, the child gets used to the fact that this combination exists and uses it not only in those words where it is appropriate. Therefore, educators will have to do double work, explaining to children which words can include the letter E after a consonant and which cannot.

Expensiveness and labor-intensiveness of the technique

As sad as it is, however, teaching aids Nikolai Zaitsev is not accessible to everyone. Blanks for cubes, tables and books with games and methodological recommendations will not be cheap. Even if you decide to make the cubes yourself, it will take money for printing and laminating, and your time too.

By the way, about time. Zaitsev's cubes are sold in the form of blanks. That is, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort to glue the cubes and somehow protect them from children's interest. After all, a two or three year old child may well tear apart the cubes in order to see what is inside.

The cubes are cardboard, which means no matter how hard you try. They will quickly become unusable. This means that you will need to spend more more money to buy new benefits.

Everyone knows Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev from his famous cubes, which are used in kindergartens, primary school, development centers and homes. But the method of teaching this Russian teacher and the educator much deeper. It assumes not only quick learning 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 active child: went to swimming and athletics sections, 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 language). 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 orphanage, in a children's colony, 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. Since then it has been his creative laboratory. Here in 1994, he first introduced a course in anatomy, physiology and hygiene of humans, ecology, adapted for children, and over five years of observation he stated a stable positive result. The children were interested and accessible to systematic, visual information about a person, his health, and the environment.

In 1995, the Academy was founded by Professor Ruvinsky 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 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. main idea his methodology is based on the fact that the process of cognition must 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 a warehouse as elementary particle speech. Warehouse is a merger of a consonant and vowels of a letter, just a vowel, a consonant in 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 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 great amount information was transmitted minimum quantity characters. Correct location These tables on the walls allowed information to quickly appear in memory.

Zaitsev’s technique broke the main stereotype traditional education: rule-exercise, got 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 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;
• child is active personality, 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 everyone new lesson not similar to 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. Most Students spend 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 learning to read, primary literacy and a letter. The set contains 52 cubes (7 repeating ones, for words like dyad-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 firm sign settled on iron-wooden cubes, and with a soft sign - on wooden-gold ones.
• All letters are different colors: vowels - blue, consonants - blue,
• Solid and soft sign- green.

While playing, children remember the shapes and features of the cubes. From warehouses it is easy to form words. Then all this is built into a coherent 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 all educational material is modeled.

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

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

• learn;
• give information;
• are guides to educational material;
• are working off required 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 all these areas special techniques and benefits. 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 healthy image life;
• 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, they strive to physical education classes, are non-aggressive, neat, eat right 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.
• At homeschooling To achieve results, a combination with traditional methods is required.
• At early education reading 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). Specialized centers for training hare teachers have been opened in 86 countries around the world.

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.

And the Glen Doman method, and many others.

Today we will talk about the well-known child development method of Nikolai Zaitsev. Zaitsev's method or learning to read is based on the use of special developmental material, on certain principles of constructing work in the form of a game.

Who is Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev? Why did Zaitsev create his own method for teaching children to read? What are Zaitsev cubes? What are the features of Zaitsev’s technique, as well as its advantages and disadvantages? You will find out the answers to all these questions by reading the article “Zaitsev’s Method or Learning to Read.” And also in the article you will find a video about this technique from the founder himself - Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev is a famous innovative teacher from St. Petersburg. Born in 1939 into a family rural teachers. As a fifth year student pedagogical institute, Zaitsev went to Indonesia, where he was a translator, learned the Indonesian language and taught Russian to foreigners. This time marked the beginning innovative ideas teaching reading by Nikolai Zaitsev.

Zaitsev is the creator of the famous cubes, thanks to which new opportunities have emerged in teaching children to read. Nikolai Zaitsev created his own method by which children learn to read while playing.

Nikolay Zaitsev founded and runs the Center for Non-Standard Technologies in Education. Zaitsev created about 25 effective techniques. These methods (teaching children reading, Russian language, mathematics; teaching adults and children foreign language and Russian as a foreign language) are popular in many countries Western Europe, America, CIS, Russia.

Zaitsev's method (learning to read) is based on teaching reading using warehouses (Zaitsev's cubes are used) in the form fun game using songs and sing-alongs.

Why did Nikolai Zaitsev create his own method of teaching reading?

• Often children, knowing the alphabet, cannot form letters into syllables and words. Since in the alphabet there is one picture per letter. The child remembers both the letter and the picture. And later he needs to explain why the word “juice” was formed from the picture words “magpie” - “glasses” - “goat”. Zaitsev came to the conclusion that in order to learn to read, it is not necessary to know the name of each letter individually.
• Children find it difficult to read syllables. After all, sometimes there are syllables that are difficult to pronounce, for example, the word “splash”.

Warehouse - what is it?

Zaitsev came up with an alternative to letters and syllables - a warehouse.

The warehouse is the basis of the method of teaching children to read according to Zaitsev’s method.

A warehouse can be called a pair of consonant and vowel letters, a consonant and a hard or soft sign, or one letter. For example, A-I-S-T, VO-RO-NA.

What are Zaitsev cubes?

Zaitsev's cubes are educational material for learning new knowledge during the game using several information perception systems.

The set includes 52 cubes, 7 of which are repeatable.

The cubes are divided according to several criteria:

• To size:

1. large (cubes with hard syllables)
2. small (cubes with soft syllables),

• By content or sound:

1. golden (cubes with vowels),
2. Iron (cubes with ringing warehouses),
3. Wooden (cubes with muted warehouses),
4. wooden-gold (cubes for warehouses with a soft sign)
5. iron-wooden (cubes for warehouses with a solid sign),

• According to the color of the letters written on the cubes:

1. vowels - blue;
2. consonants - blue;
3. hard and soft signs - green.

• Single and double cubes.
• A white cube with punctuation marks on it.
• The cubes vary in weight.

Zaitsev wrote warehouses on the faces of the cubes. Since the cubes differ in color, size and sound or content, when playing with them they are connected different channels perception of information. Children can actually feel the difference between the letters. Playing learning games with blocks is helped by singing syllables to several melodies.

I suggest you watch a video about the method of teaching reading from the author himself. So, Nikolay Zaitsev is on the air:

What are the distinctive features Zaitsev's methods?

• learning through play
• training-game takes place in informal setting. There are no desks and silence, children can go to tables, cubes, search and choose.
• The principle of visual presentation of the material is used. When studying using Zaitsev’s technique, the child uses hearing, vision and touch.
• The lesson lasts about 25 minutes, but you can play for less, the main thing is that the child has interest and excitement. Classes must be held regularly.
• developmental material is presented in one place in the form of tables and cubes, the principle is applied from the particular to the general, from the general to the particular
• teaching methods are universal. They are suitable for preschoolers, schoolchildren, and adults.

From this article we learned about the features of Zaitsev’s technique, about Zaitsev’s cubes, and also examined the advantages and disadvantages of this technique.

Parents have to choose how, when, what and in what form to teach their child.

Do you use, have used or are going to use this method of child development? What is your experience and your impressions of Zaitsev’s technique? Should a child be taught to read before school?

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