Learning does not only take place in the formal classroom. In China， schools usually put much emphasis on organizing the extracurricular classes after school time. In particular， nursery schools set up different kinds of interest classes， such as dancing， music， calligraphy， chess， etc. Parents are keen on taking children to these classes as well. Likewise it is common to see parents send their children to different extracurricular activities at the weekend. A recent online survey also shows that over 75% children aged from 4 to 16 participate in these activities. Parents hope， through these extracurricular classes， children’s interest and potentials in music， fine arts， and sports will be developed into a professional level， and additionally， children will form a good learning habit and being equipped with some fine qualities that are also fundamental in the school academic learning.

Literature review

Learning optimal in the early age

Learning is ‘the process by which the brain’s neural networks are developed’ （Beadle， 1972： 83）. In this process， children’s cognitive ability is developed. Piaget and Inhelder conducted many detailed studies about children’s cognitive development since 1920s （Bee， 2000）. According to them， there are four periods in children’s cognitive development： the sensorimotor period from birth to 1.5/2 years; the preoperational period from 1.5/2 years to 6-7 years; the concrete operational period form 6/7-11/12 years; and the formal operational period from age 11/12 onward.

As the behaviours ‘become internalized and representational’ （Gupta， 1994： 47）， children enter the pre-operational period. This period is featured by symbolic function （Piaget and Inhelder， 1969）. According to Piaget （1950）， this period is subdivided into 2 stages： pre-conceptual stage and intuitive stage. In this period， Piaget and Inhelder （1969） identify five behaviour patterns of children： 1. the deferred imitation. 2. Symbolic play. Beard （1969） points out children begin to represent actions with symbols. For example， they use the wooden chair as a horse and use fingers to mimic guns. 3. Drawing. 4. Mental image. Piaget （1951， cited in Beard， 1969） explains that children’s thinking in this period is irreversible， which means that they can only accept images， characters and some simple concepts without changes. So what children could do is only internalized imitation. 5. Language. Piaget and Inhelder （1969） find that children aged from two to four have mastered some grammatical structures and they can articulate some simple sentences. While in the last year of kindergarten， the development of the sentence is practically complete （Beadle， 1970）.

Integrative or instrumental motivation

Students’ achievement is attributed not only to their skills and abilities， but also to other basic factors such as motivation. Therefore it is important to understand motivation’s nature. Motivation can be defined as ‘the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal-seeking acts’ （Pandey， 2005： 80）. According to Gardner （1985）， motivation involves three elements. The first one is effort. The more one is motivated， the more effort and enthusiasm he will put into learning. He will accept extra work， spend more time and even learn unconsciously to improve his skills. The second element is desire. He may have the strong desire to achieve a goal. And the third one is affect. He would enjoy the learning process which may be challenging and difficult. From this we can see that this inner drive is concerned with the determination of direction， persistence， and vigour.

Based on their research of language acquisition， Lambert and Gardner （1972） identify two types of motivation： integrative and instrumental， from the socio-psychological perspective.

Integrative motivation refers to ‘the motivation to learn a second language because of positive feelings toward the community that speaks that language （Gardner， 1985： 82-83）. Gardner （1985） figures out three components for integrative motivation： 1. integrativeness， which consists of three factors： integrative orientation， interest and attitudes to the language community; 2. attitudes towards the learning situation; and 3. motivations （i.e. desire， effort and attitude）. Therefore， integrative motivation indicates an interest and positive feeling to the learning and a strong desire to incorporate oneself in the target culture （Gardner， Smythe， and Brunet， 1977）. Learners also get pleasure and satisfaction from learning. There are several ways to foster integrative motivation. Dornyei （2001） suggests that teachers motivate young children by engaging them in stimulating and enjoyable activities so that their interest is generated. They are also suggested to pose reasonable challenges， like competitions， on the students to enhance children’s motivation. Furthermore， teachers should provide opportunities for children to apply skills they learned to real use. In addition， ‘interest is engendered if learners become self-directed’ （Ellis， 1994： 80）.

Meanwhile， instrumental motivation is defined as ‘the desire to achieve proficiency in a language for utilitarian’ （Krashen， 1981： 22）. This means that it emphasizes ‘the pragmatic aspects of learning the second language without any particular interest in communicating with the second language community’ （Gardner， Smythe， and Brunet， 1977： 244，）. Learners with instrumental motivation are usually characterized by the practical or concrete purposes， such as getting the praise from parents， passing examinations， winning scholarships， obtaining the graduation certificate， applying for jobs or achieving higher social status. In this case， learners usually have limited interest in the culture of the group， and are unwilling to be integrated into the group. Instead， they give importance to fulfil the curricular requirement and other short-term goals （Ellis， 2008）.

In terms of the relationship between these two motivations， it is now acknowledged that learning in the early age is a complicated process and learners can have both integrative and instrumental motivation （Gardner， 1985， cited in Ellis， 2008）. Furthermore， during the growing up of a child， sometimes the instrumental motivation may be more effective and powerful， while in other cases the integrative motivation， like interest， may be ‘the best stimulus to learning， rather than such external goals as grades or later competitive advantage’ （Bruner， 1960： 14）.

My study

In this part， I will provide my story since the age in the kindergarten. It comprises three sections： what counts learning through interest and hobbies; what have I learned from this weekend calligraphy class; the influences on my school performance. In the first section， the reason why my parents chose calligraphy as my after-school class， the age factor， my motivation at that time and my parents’ involvement will be analyzed. In the second section， I will describe what I learned in this class， which was closely related with how I was motivated. In the last section， I will tell about the influences of attending this extracurricular class on my school performance. All these accounts reflect my own experiences truly.

Learning through interest and hobbies

In the formal classes in the kindergarten， we were required to study many subjects， such as learning some simple Pinyin and characteristics， doing some simple arithmetic and singing， no matter we like them or not. And usually parents were not allowed to accompany us in class. Since the second year in the kindergarten， we had been offered a variety of after-school classes at weekend， including dancing and singing， musical instruments， drawing， swimming， calligraphy and so on. Different from formal classes， we could choose classes according to personal interests and needs. Children had a happy time in the class; some even could not wait to attending these weekend classes. And our parents were allowed to accompany their children.

Fine qualities from calligraphy class

In the class， I learned from the basics： the horizontal line， the top-down vertical line， the left-downward slope line， the short and long pausing stroke. Firstly I watched the teacher demonstrating， paying much attention to the controlling of the pen， the stroke sequences and the structures of characters. Then the teacher would teach me individually by grasping my hand. After going back home， I practised about one hour almost every day. After nearly one year， I gradually became interested in exercising calligraphy， so I learned a lot from it.

Sense of aesthetic

Through learning calligraphy， my aesthetic ability was improved. It was never easy to write and understand a masterpiece. In fact， writers would change the density of the structure， the severity of the stipple， the speed of the writing to express the mood. Therefore， to understand works， we should not only pay attention to the flexible movement of the pen and the various use of the ink， but also try to understand calligraphers’ emotions， personal moods， knowledge， and personalities that were reflected through the works. To them， the pen was the extension of the fingers and the wrist. The pen’s jerk and pause， acuteness and steadiness were driven by the mind. We should feel the beauty with eyes， understand the beauty with heart and create the beauty with hands. From the class， I learned how to appreciate the beauty in an artistic production.

Habits of observation

Owing to the experiences of calligraphy， my observing， logical thinking and generalizing abilities was well trained and they distinguished me from other peers in early ages. This was because in fact， the process of writing was composed of three stages： observing， analyzing and writing. Before writing， I had to observe the models in the copybook and analyze its structure， every strokes and the relationship between strokes. Then， when I wrote an artistic works， I would analyze the relationship between a single character and the whole works. When writing， the feeling of the fingers was fed back to my brain that sent out instructions to conduct and adjust my operations at the same time. Apart from that， after writing a kind of stroke or character for hundreds of times， I learned how to generalize out typical ways of dealing with it. So in different situations， I was able to choose different methods accordingly. During the process， I gradually acquired these positive abilities.

The pursuit of perfection

The experiences of training calligraphy cultivated me the pursuit of perfection. To some， calligraphy only meant writing signs with brushes， so everyone who was literate could write it well. However， it was never a simple task to me. Beyond writing the character in a correct way， I had to learn how to improve it artistically. Due to the unique features of Chinese characters， every stroke had its stress and influence on the whole part. A tiny mistake could impact the beauty of the character or even the whole part. My teacher told me that some great calligraphers， who were not satisfied with what he has achieved， still practised hard to pursue the perfection. Aspired from their spirit， I decided to study calligraphy harder in order to be more precise.

From my accounts， we can see that according to Gardner and Lambert’s point， all the learning should be attributed to the fact that I had more integrative motivation. Naturally， I had the strong desire to integrate into the calligraphic culture. Therefore， unlike other children， I spent most of my pocket money in buying writing brushes， ink and papers. Also， I devoted most of my spare time in studying the copybooks and practising， and sometimes I even forgot meals. Besides， I participated in many writing and painting exhibitions， also some activities organized by my school， like writing the spring couplets for citizens. Every spring festival， I would go to the New Year Writing and Painting Exhibition. As Bruner says in the literature review， with integrative motivation， like interest， I learned better in the long run.

The impact on my school performance

The calligraphy class influenced my school performance from

kindergarten to my postgraduate study from different aspects. It brought

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me a lot of benefits that could not be obtained from the formal curricula in school where we did not have such classes. So I found that extra learning experiences complemented my school learning.

Conclusion

From my story， we can obviously find out that there are four periods in children’s cognitive development. In order to make sure that extracurricular classes produce positive influences on personal development， what parents should do is figure out the optimal age for learning according to the features of the extracurricular classes. Furthermore， we can have both the integrative motivation and the instrumental motivation， and they decide what and how we are going to learn from extracurricular classes. We can also conclude that the extra learning experiences influenced my personal development from different perspectives， and these experiences helped my school performance in a complementary way. The experiences brought about positive influences to me in school， no matter how old I was. The experiences of calligraphy class are wonderful and precious memory in my mind and I will be proud of them forever.

References

Beadle， M. （1972） A child's Mind： How Children Learn During the Critical Years from Birth to Age Five. London： Methuen.

Beard， M. （1969） An Outline of Piaget's Developmental Psychology for Students and Teachers. London： Routledge amp; K. Paul.

Bee， H. （2000） The Developing Child. Boston： Allyn and Bacon.

Bruner， J. （1960） The Process of Education. New York： Vintage Books.

D?rnyei， Z. （2001） Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Camgridge： Cambridige University Press.

Ellis， R. （1994） The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford： Oxford University Press.

Ellis， R. （2008） The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford： Oxford University Press.

Gardner， R. （1985） Social Psychology and Second Language Learning： the Role of Attitude and Motivation. London： Edward Arnold.

Gardner， R. and Lambert， W. （1972） Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Rowley， Mass.： Newbury House.

Gardner， R.， Smythe， P. and Brunet， G.（1977） Intensive Second Language Study： Effects on Attitudes， motivation， and French achievement. Language Learning， 27 （2）， 243–261.

Gupta， P. （1994） Piajet's Theory of Intellectual Development. In Oates， J. （ed.） the Foundations of Child Development. Oxford： Basil Blackwell.

Krashen， S. （1981） Second language acquisition and second language learning. "Oxford： Pergamon.

Pandey， V. （2005） Intelligence And Motivation. India： Isha Books.

Piajet， J. （1950） The Psychology of Intellengence. （trans. Piercy， M. and Berlyne， D.） London： Routledge and Kegan Paul.

piaget， J. （1951） Play， Dreams， and Imitation in Childhood. （trans. Gattegno， C. and Hodgson， F.） New york： Norton.

Piaget， J. And Inhelder， B. （1969） The Psychology of the Child. （tran. Weaver， H.） London： Routledge and Kegan Paul.