School ReadySchool Ready Quick Reads
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Essential School Ready Preparation
This is a quick read extract from the article “School Ready.” To read this article click here.
Language and Communication
Exposing your child to lots of new language is an integral part of pre-school preparation. As is encouraging them to speak for themselves to make their needs and opinions understood. Every year, early years teachers are experiencing larger numbers of children starting school with under developed language and communication skills which can be a real hinderance for those children.
The Vocabulary Gap
The evidence shows us, the richer a child’s language the greater their advantage both academically and socially. There’s something called “The Vocabulary Gap.” This highlights –
the number of words a child knows in their pre-school years is directly related to their outcomes later on in life.
In short, we want to ensure all children have a wealth of language experiences so that they can achieve their absolute best at school.
Confidence in the Classroom
The broader your child’s language the more likely they will understand what is being communicated in the classroom. For example, in maths, a lot of the concepts are reliant on the child understanding the words being used. A simple example of this is solving a problem such as finding 1 more. If a child doesn’t fully understand what ‘more’ means they will find it difficult to solve this problem even if they can count to 10 confidently.
In addition to knowing lots of words, speaking is an essential pre-writing skill. If a child is unable to speak clearly in a sentence they will find it challenging to write one down. Likewise, clarity of speech is vital when it comes to writing. A child who speaks clearly will be able to hear the sounds in the words they want to write. Modelling clear pronunciation and setting high expectations for speech and grammar at home is really helpful for preparing your child to learn to write.
Encourage your child to speak up and out!
Four Simple Ways to Support Language and Communication at Home
Number 1 -> Read
- read, read & read some more
- visit the library (even if it’s just for a browse)
- read to your child every evening before bed
- discuss new vocabulary together during story time
- ask your child questions about what they can see in the pictures
- when a book is familiar, ask your child to ‘read’ it to you or a younger sibling
Number 2 -> Developing a love of reading
- find fun places to read, make reading more than just about bedtime
- buy books as presents
- when shopping take a trip to the local book shop; spend time browsing and looking at what is there (you don’t need to buy any)
- give your child an early bedtime, leave them awake in bed with a selection of books
- find out what interests your child and buy them books around that topic
Number 3 -> Chit-Chat
- speak to your child and engage in chit-chat
- ask your child questions and leave space for them to answer you
- try not to speak for your child when someone else asks them a question
- model out loud your thought processes; “If I go to the shops now it will be a rush, however, I could pop by later in the car.”
- go on little or big adventures
- engage in new experiences as a family
- when out and about, ask questions (even if you don’t know the answers) – “I wonder what this flower is called?”
- learn new facts and words together – looks up your questions together on Google
- don’t be afraid to use sophisticated language
REMEMBER: Your child is learning a new language, it is up to you what words you want them to learn first. You could teach them the word ‘nice’ or you could teach them the word ‘wonderful.’ The learning process is the same for both words. So, why not teach the word wonderful first?
Your child’s ability to learn sophisticated words will astound you!
(In school, at the age of 4, children learn the words digraph and trigraph – their little brains are amazing!)
Number 4 ->Family Adventures
One of the best ways to encourage your child to develop language skills is to provide them with a wealth of experience, such as; exploring in the woods, going to the zoo, cooking at grandma’s house or visiting the allotment. When a child takes part in something new and hands on it’s really exciting and in most cases, excitement fuels talking!
Some snaps from our family trip to Birmingham’s Chinese New Year Festival. We went as my son was learning about the festival in his Foundation year at school. During our time there he learnt so much (in fact we all did!) Lots of new vocabulary was learnt as the children saw and engaged in actives which they had never seen or done before. Both children learnt that even though Chinese dragons look really cool in books they are quite scary up front. They experienced the thud of drums pounding through their bodies and the peace of a martial artist. You can not beat real life experiences!
Stop & Think: When you next have some family time, try to notice all of the new experiences your child is being exposed to. Think about the language they are developing, the risks they are taking, the problems they are solving and the connections they are making.
Use the adventures you go on as a family as an opportunity to develop your child’s language skills. Give them the language and understanding to out smart their new class teacher!
Side Note: a four year taught me about the life cycle of a ladybird. It’s because of him that I now teach it as part of my curriculum!
Exploring the world around you with your child will provide so many great learning opportunities.
