HOMES ~ Where Are Story Begins & Language Grows
Language Takes Time To Develop
Children are born ready to learn language and interact socially. Our responses to their sounds, cries, words and gestures helps them learn our language system.
Important Fact:
Language is social and best learned
through back and forth exchanges
between children and people in their life
Hear with Your Ears and Eyes
Pay close attention to your child by listening to what they say and observing their actions
Think about what your child is saying as well as what their behavior is communicating.
Stop what you are doing and get down to your child's eye level. Face to face conversations are best.
Respond to your child's initiation as well as a variety of communication attempts (gestures, facial expressions, body language, sounds and words)
Give your child time to respond to you. Pause when talking and wait for your child to respond. Waiting 5 seconds is a good rule of thumb.
Use your own body language to encourage your child to take a talking turn.
Opportunities
Talk, talk, talk with your child during everyday activities to build language.
Within Daily Routines—
Mealtimes— “Mmmm that soup smells good. Can you please set out spoons and bowls.”
Chores— “Help me sort the laundry. You find all the white clothes. Put them in this basket.”
Dressing— “What do you want to wear today?” or “Pick out a red shirt to go with your pants.”
During Play—
Singing songs /saying nursery rhymes (Clap to the beat, sing loudly/softly, sing every other word)
Pretending (Pretend you are at a restaurant and your child is the waiter)
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Model Language
As children learn language, they are going to make some errors. Resist the urge to correct your child. Instead, model the correct use of their words in your own speech. Here’s how:
Use your own language to provide good models.
Comment on what you are doing (Self-talk)
“I am hungry. I better start supper.”
Comment on what your child is doing (Parallel talk)
“You are walking beside me. We are walking slowly.”
Important Note: Vary the length of your sentences to your child’s age & the situation.
Repeat what your child says, adding a little more information and emphasizing key words.
Your child says: “Mommy run.” And you say “Mommy is running!”.
Your child says: “Her goed.” And you say, “Yes, she went home.”
Engage in Conversations
Take turns talking. Conversations deepen over multiple turns. Try to talk with your child for more than 5 speaker turns.
Prompt child to continue, say “Tell me more”
Ask a variety of questions including:
Questions requiring a single answer (what, who, where);
Questions requiring thinking or imagining (why, what if, how, what do you think).
Acknowledge a child's attempts to communicate by nodding, smiling and encouraging all attempts to speak.
Talk about people, activities and objects that are not here, not now.
Share Stories
Shared Book Reading—Take time each day to share storybooks with your child.
Go on a ‘picture walk’, looking at the pictures before you read the words. Talk about the pictures, words the child knows and doesn’t know.
As you read, talk about what might happen next, how the characters feel, and relate it to something the child has experienced.
Ask your child questions that require them to imagine, explain and make connections (How, what do you think, what’s happening here).
Be a Story Teller!
It is important for children to hear and respond to stories told by other people, just as it is important for them to make up their own stories. When children see one parent telling another, “You’ll never believe what happened to me on the way to the store,” they begin to learn the magic, fun and purpose of stories (Burns et al.,1999, p. 37).
Make sure to tell stories in which your child is the star. “Remember when we went to the zoo? First we ...”or “Once upon a time there was a little boy named Tom. One day...”
Preschool and Early Elementary Language Activities
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Elementary Language Activities
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