Introduction and language Learning overview
A great deal of a child’s acquisition of linguistic structure occurs during the first five years of life. This is the period when he is most active in discerning a set of underlying organizational principles of language from the expression that surrounds him. It is amazing how at a very young age, he is capable of abstracting meaning from direct experience with other language users depending on his own context. Beaty (2009) explains that even at an infant stage, the baby’s early nonverbal communication helps in preparing her for the spoken and written language to follow and at 6 months, she has become a language specialist, based on the sounds she hears most frequently. At 20 months, she may possess a sizable vocabulary if she hears adults around her talk to one another and to her all the time. Of course, good hearing and sensitive listening are paramount to language development.
Vygotsky (1962, as mentioned in Clay, 1998) emphasizes the value of children’s talk and their growing ability to articulate their understanding of their world orally and in writing. Taking part in negotiating meanings is part of the educational process, and Vygotsky believes that just being with others helps children learn. Benson McMullen (1998) agrees that children’s collaboration with their peers in problem-solving sessions encourages listening to each other’s ideas and in turn, express their own thoughts clearly. The varied ideas on dealing with problems evolve in group discussions making children understand that there may be more than one solution to a problem. It also prompts children to negotiate with others which solution to try.
Adults play a huge role in the language development of children, as they need someone who uses simple language incorrect form and is flexible enough to adjust his language to suit the child’s (Clay, 1988).
Lindfors (1987) notes that the child’s language environment includes a set of specific sentences, however, it is not this set of sentences that he acquires, but deduces from these an underlying set of organizational principles and sound-meaning relationships. Over time, his language system will be revised in many different situations, and his sentences will become more adult-like. For his own purpose, he builds his own rule-governed constructions as he has deduced from his environment. (Lindfors, 1987)
Language learning experiences
The state guidelines on the encouragement of language development of children indicate four areas namely:
- Provision of an environment supportive of communication and where language is richly used by both children and adults.
- Appropriate use of language and communication with children.
- Being responsive to children’s efforts to communicate both verbally and non-verbally and
- Active encouragement of children to use language and awaken them to the power of both verbal and non-verbal language.
(NSW Department of Community Services. Office of Childcare, n.d.).
Children’s centers must be able to provide learning experiences that welcome children’s self-expression. It is in feeling accepted and respected that one is capable of many things no matter what family or cultural background he comes from that a child may feel free to open up to others.
Following is a concept web/ map of a general unit on Family. It offers a plethora of possibilities of language learning experiences that children will truly appreciate and enjoy since the topics are very close to their hearts. It aims to target topics that may spur children to express themselves in language and be the communicators they were meant to be.
The activities planned for this curriculum concept web are balanced with quiet listening and active participation. It complies with state guidelines in the encouragement of children’s language the implementation of a curriculum that engages children in interaction and solicits the participation of family members, as they may be called upon to be resources in some of the activities.
Activities are both educational and enjoyable – a perfect mix for a developmentally appropriate curriculum for very young children (Neuman & Roskos, 1993). Learning outcomes for these activities are available in the appendix section.
Listening Activity: Storytelling of Family Stories
This storytelling activity aims to develop children’s attention spans and listening skills. It teaches various concepts on the family such as what roles of family members, jobs of parents, what they do in homes, various kinds of home settings, how families celebrate special occasions, family values, etc. Children learn the virtues and values of what keeps families together and how they can show love to their families. The story may be derived from commercial storybooks, family photo albums as documented by a family member, or a personally made family book authored by the children or their parents. It likewise encourages the development of communication skills as they ask and answer questions about the story. The storytelling activity stimulates creative thinking and innovation.
The teacher should motivate the children for the story by asking interesting questions such as: “How does your family spend Christmas?” or “Where did you spend your last family vacation?” This triggers children’s prior knowledge (Campbell & King, 2006) and questions such as these may open doors to children’s self-expression and sharing of remembered experiences.
Since preschool children have short attention spans, it is up to the teacher to ensure that they are listening. Teachers should not just read the story word for word until it’s finished. She must keep the attention of the children by being interactive. Once in a while, she may pause to ask questions or recapture the attention of children straying.
Speaking Activity: Family Story Chain
This activity aims to involve the children’s families in their learning. Hills & Nichols (2004) posit that quality connections between the home and the school explore the worlds the children belong to and highlight those for them. Since the children’s families are very important to them, letting them participate in the growing literacy of children will only emphasize just how relevant language is to children. Jayatilaka (2001) recommends family literacy programs in school that support the practices already existing in the home environment rather than attempting to ignore or replace them. It should also empower parents by introducing them to other ways of interacting with their children in terms of encouraging their literacy to develop. One activity is the Story Chain where a story is completed by all the families of the class by passing on the book with empty pages for families to fill up. Parents are instructed to listen to their children’s ideas in addition to the storyline already in existence and help write their ideas on the blank sheets, along with the children’s illustration of the event. When the book has gone around each family and is concluded either by an assigned family or the children in class themselves, everyone is invited to class for the “launching” of the book, and the teacher reads the story at length.
Such an activity fulfills the guidelines of active parent/ family participation in the early childhood program. It not only makes parents aware of their role in literacy development, but it forges tight knits within the family.
References
Beaty, J.J. 2009, 50 Early childhood literacy strategies, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, pp. 54-55.
Benson McMullen, M. 1998, ‘Thinking before doing: A giant toddler step on the road to literacy’, Young Children, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 65-70.
Campbell, R. & King, N. 2006, ‘Oracy: The cornerstone of effective teaching and learning’, in Literacies and learners: Current perspectives, ed.Rod Campbell & David Green, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W, pp. 84-99.
Clay, M. 1998, By Different Paths to Common Outcomes, Stenhouse Publishers, Maine, pp. 5-32
Hill, S. & Nichols, S. 2004, ‘Multiple pathways between home and school literacies’, in Early Childhood Education, pp.159-172.
Jayatilaka, J. 2001, ‘Family literacy: Schools and families of young children working together’, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 20-24.
Lindfors, J.W., 1987, Children’s Language and Learning, 2nd Ed. Prentice Hall, Inc.
Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. A. 1993, Language and literacy learning in the early years: An integrated approach, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, TX, pp. 27-31, 34-61.
NSW Department of Community Services. Office of Childcare, n.d, NSW Curriculum Framework for Children’s Services.