Conversing with children

I found this wonderful article on PBS and wanted to share if you want to read the entire article you ca go to the following link,is call Let's Talk About It: Fostering the Development of Language Skills and Emergent Literacy.

http://www.pbs.org/wholechild/providers/talk.html

Here is a little preview:
Conversing with Children

The most vital thing to stress about language development is the value of conducting a true conversation with children. This means listening with sincere interest, responding in a way that will enhance and continue conversation, and allowing children time to formulate their ideas and answers. Wainting for replies is one of the most important things we can do to encourage language growth. slow down and take the time to listen to what children have to say.

Look for opportunities to give children something real to talk about. Children's talk should be based on real, lived thoruhg experiences. For example, asking children to discuss ways they could get water over to the sand box extends their problem solving abilities while keeping the subject both real and relevant to them. They can make it more real by trying out their idea to see if they actually work.

Encourage conversation between children by urging them to ask questions of each other and engage in interesting conversations among themselves. It's through these encounters that children learn that talks is important and satisfying. Encourage conversation and dialogue between teachers and children. The skills involved in discussion and conversation are vital so be sure to give children opportunities to pratice these skills as well. Ask open ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer, questions to which you don't already know the answer.

Comments

I was able to post a comment successfully on Maria's blog I guess persevarance paid off. Yay!!!!!!!

Writign Comments

I have try to write comments and I have not been successful at this. I will continue to investigate but is so hard when your time is limited. Not going to give up!!!!

Observation

In the past weeks I have been able to observe and interact with this teacher during literacy time in the classroom. This classroom is vibrant and rich in language not only during literacy time but throughout the day. Its rich in language and children are address in if their native language if the need arise.  Parent are made very welcome at arrival time teachers make sure to address the child as well as the parent , from my observation parent are given a few minutes to talk and ask question if needed. Parent can also set an appointment if longer time is required. I learn during my observation that is important to give the child plenty of time to process what is being spoken by allowing the child to express verbally and ask questions. Children in this classroom interact with their peers and are able to maintain conversation among them during play time. Looking forward to more observation, and holding more in-depth conversation on literacy with this teacher.

Early Literacy and the Impact onFamilies

Early Literacy and the Impact on Families

Virgen Velez

I met with the psychologist and the teacher in the toddler classroom. During my interview with the psychologist we talked about the need to address violence and the impact on brain development from infancy through the primary years and thereafter and how there should be more in-depth research. While this topic was of great interest it was the teacher who led me to choose my topic for the research paper. She addresses the need for Early Literacy and the issue that as professional they face with parents. One issue that I would have not thought about was the issue with immigration, how some parents are afraid to get a library card. They are afraid to fill any type of forms because in their mind this might lead to deportation. This teacher goes beyond the call she tries to get parent to participate and makes books available for the families to take home, even creating books and teaching parent how to create book with material they might have around the house. Another issue she had is the parents that refuse to have the child speak their native language; these parents want their children to speak English only. So my question is what do you think of parents that only want their child to speak only English with no regard for their native language? Second can a child learn two languages at the same time? Another issue is the parent that is illiterate. How can you teach parents to read to their children without making them uncomfortable?  In my research paper I will address the issues of language when is the right time for a child to learn a second language, literacy and immigration how this issue affect the families and children in our programs.

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