TALK with babies and young children:
Talk with babies and young children a lot. The more words they hear the more they are likely to learn.
Talk with babies and toddlers during daily activities. A young baby will connect conversation with pleasure; an older baby will begin to learn words.
Engage babies in frequent, back and forth conversations, even if their part consists mostly of babbles and gestures. Eventually, they will use more and more words.
As a child begins to put words together, elaborate her language to keep the conversation going.
Include young children in adult conversations. It makes them feel important, and also gives them opportunities to hear and practice new words.
Give children WORDS:
Talk with children about how they are feeling and how you are feeling. Give them words – excited, worried, unsure, frustrated, curious, eager, proud.
Talking with children about what is going to happen helps them to cope with new experiences. Give them time words: “soon,” “tomorrow, ” “after lunch.”
Young children love big words. Using interesting words with children, in ways that make your meaning clear, prepares children to be strong readers and eager, competent learners.
Help children “USE THEIR WORDS”:
Ask children open-ended questions that don’t have right or wrong answers. This prompts them to think through ideas and to put their thoughts into words.
Encourage children to ask you questions. Answer in words that they understand, but also introduce new words.
Positive discipline - offering choices and explanations - strengthens children's language development and prepares them to thrive in school.
Use story books and pretend play to help children talk about their feelings.
Explaining to children how things work helps them make links between cause and effect and develop their ability to use language to solve problems.
Talk with children about past events, and help them retell or replay recent experiences. This develops memory, sequencing, and storytelling skills.
Teach through PLAY:
Join children in pretend play. Talk for their stuffed animals, be the customer in their store, help build a castle the dragon or a tent for the camping trip. As you have fun together, you’ll be expanding their ability to create a world with words.
Jokes, tongue twisters, and nursery rhymes help children to tune in to the sounds and meanings of words and of word parts. Children who enjoy word play and have had lots of practice with it generally have an easy time learning to read.
Provide LANGUAGE-RICH environments:
Make sure your child care program meets high professional standards. Get it accredited by NAEYC or NAFCC.
Provide young children with interesting things to talk about and interested people to talk to, both children and adults.
Listen to children’s ideas and then ask questions that will push their thinking.
ENCOURAGE reading and writing:
Books provide springboards for conversation. Read with each child several times a day, in ways that hold her interest.
Let children see you reading and writing – for work and pleasure. They will want to do the things that you do.
Encourage children’s pretend reading and writing. They will learn key concepts about how print works that provide a foundation for reading.
Give the benefit of BILINGUILISM:
Support children's home languages. They provide essential, ongoing family connections.
Learning a second language increases children’s verbal and nonverbal intelligence and their cognitive flexibility.