Language is an important aspect in every child’s development. The term language doesn’t purely mean the ability to communicate, it also includes the ability to understand and interact with other children. Developing these important skills at an early age dramatically increases a child’s development, as they progress through the school years. However, over the last 10-15 years studies have shown that there has been a decline in a child’s ability to communicate. This research has been conducted in many countries, including the U.K and New Zealand, and has shown that some children have reduced exposure to language. This could be attributable to reduced interaction between an adult and a child due to an increasingly busy, device driven society. Consequently, children are starting school with less oral language interaction, which then limits the child’s vocabulary and in turn their ability to communicate and interact.
This is a concern since a child’s brain is developing rapidly and is laying the foundations for their personal learning journey. The interactions children have with an adult helps to influence how the child will develop and learn. A simple thing such as talking to a child is a brain building activity, because every time a child has a vocal interaction with another person, new connections are being made in that child’s brain. The more verbal stimulation a child receives, the more they learn to understand and use new words and concepts.
It is a true statement,
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The greatest gift any person can give a child is their time.
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At Hiba we understand the importance of promoting language development and use different strategies to deliver this. Being a bilingual nursery, this is perhaps even more important, because whilst the children are still learning to speak in their home language of Mandarin, they are simultaneously being exposed to English. We offer the children opportunities to experience both languages fully through everyday conversations and activities. As early years teachers we know that children learn best by observing, copying and interacting, so we constantly model good language skills all of the time.
One example is that we begin every day with circle time, which offers children a good opportunity to practice their speaking and listening skills. Circle time supports the language development of all children, regardless of their ability, since each child has an opportunity to participate during the session. This might simply be talking about their favourite toy during show and tell or talking about what they did with their family over the weekend. This sharing also brings with it a feeling of belonging to the group, as they learn new things about their classmates. Circle time also gives an opportunity for the children to learn new English words, show their understanding and become confident using the words they have already learnt.
An important part of circle time is singing nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes provide opportunities for language learning, because they are often supported by gestures, such as in the íncy wincey spider,’ or by using puppets. Children love singing nursery rhymes, as they are an engaging activity. They enjoy listening to songs full of rhyming, rhythm and repetition. When singing nursery rhymes, the children are learning to articulate words, practice pitch, volume and rhythm and develop the listening and concentration skills that are essential for brain development and memory. Singing not only helps to boost a child’s language and communication, but also their literacy development as they get older, since the repetition of words teaches the children to anticipate the rhyming word and this, in turn, prepares them to make predictions when they read. Together with rhyming words they are also introduced to alliteration (a string of words beginning with the same letter) and onomatopoeia (words that represent a sound). Most importantly they are learning these new techniques whilst having fun!!
Finally, storytelling, or story talk, is an important aspect at Hiba when promoting language. Story talk is designed to gradually develop as the children progress through the years. In EY1 it helps introduce the children to books not previously read, especially English language books, and it supports the children to develop good listening skills. In EY2 the children are exposed to books with repeated refrains, so that they can learn them and join in with the story, before eventually retelling part or all of it verbally. In EY3 the children will listen to different versions of the story and begin to retell it changing one aspect of it such as, characters or setting. In EY4 the children begin to write their own version of the story, but again they change one aspect of it. This method has shown to dramatically increase a child’s language development within a short time frame. Using a sample of children where only 2% of 4/5 year-old in EY3 could retell a whole story at the beginning of the academic year, this increased to 76% by the end of the year. However, just like with nursery rhymes the most important thing is it needs to be enjoyable. The stories are read in new and exciting ways every time to help immerse the children and make them want to join in. This might mean using puppets and props or using music and dance. The children have shown that if they are read to this way, they want to listen to the story repeatedly.
These are just a few different ways that Hiba promotes building language skills, which can easily be used at home by parents or carers if they are not already. These methods support language stimulation during the first few years of a child’s life, and ultimately support better communication skills in the child’s future.
