Developing Early Childhood Language Experiences - Assignment Example

? Speaking: Developing Early childhood Language Experiences Introduction Speaking is one of the best skills that an individual can learn. It is one of the earliest ways in which children connect with the rest of the world and it is therefore important for children at their early development. Looking at how children learn to speak can be an interesting way to ensure that these children are able to learn in a better way and to be able to express their ideas. Speaking is not just a window for the child into the outside world, it is also a window into the child’s world and this can help the children to be able to contribute to their own early childhood development by allowing the educators and other adults in their lives to be able to know what they are lacking. Speaking is a process which begins with thought. In other words, the words which come from the child are just an expression of the thoughts in the child’s mind. Yet, a closer look at the child can reveal that learning to speak is a major issue for the child. This is especially because most educators and parent s only focus on teaching the child other things such as reading and writing. As a result, many children especially those of ages 2-3 are more likely to face speech issues. In the above photo, the children don’t seem to be quite aware of the things they are playing with. This indicates a gap between the environment and the way the child learns their speech. In the photo above, there are a number of issues which were going on. First, the child did not know the name of the object he was playing with. This creates a gap between the child’s ability to learn speech. In this photo, the child is seen playing alone without an adult to help with the play. This places a limitation on the child’s ability to learn. As McMullen (1998) says, it is possible to see the child as they think especially during play. This is because as Diaz (2007) says, play is a way for the child to be able to learn. Helping the child to share their information is also important to help in learning speech skills (Marilyn & Williams-Kennedy, 2002). As Campbell and Green (2006) say, all literacy lessons are cantered towards culture. Using cultural artefacts is therefore necessary to help the child to lean their speech. Part II There are a number of issues which must be looked at when the education of the child is in question. Children learn in a very different way and it is necessary for educators to be able to know how to best improve the environment in which children learn. Most children in the modern education system are affected by a theory-practice gaps which leaves them to be educated in an uncompetitive environment. This is because many educators fail to apply what they learn in theory. Children learn by applying paradigms in their daily lives which means in their play. As a child plays, they are able to act out different issues and this makes them to easily learn. This shows just how important play is and why educators should adopt play as a major and vita part of the curriculum. The following action plan is intended to solve some of the issues which were present in the environment which was investigated. It offers a number of alternatives which will help in making sure that the environment which is conducive for the children to be able to learn as much as possible during their play. At the same time, it offers guidance for practitioners to be able to stick to education theory with regard to the role of play in a child’s learning process. Most of the suggestions given are based on theory of education and sound strategies which can enhance child’s learning process. Action plan Issue to be addressed Action Expected result Introducing sounds in the play area Introduce new toys which help the child to learn new words Learning to speak requires the child to be able to learn as much sounds as possible in order to help the child learn the various language outputs. Introducing sounds in the learning and play time will help the child to be able to learn as many sounds as possible. Inadequate time for learning speech Introduce (increase) time to learn sounds As already explained, one of the issues which came out was the fact that children don’t get as much time to learn about speaking as they do in other tasks such as learning. Increasing the time taken for learning speech will help the student to be able to have more time for learning speech skills. Child not allowed to participate Give the child more time to speak It is necessary for the child to be given more time to speak. As observed in this particular case, the children did not have enough time to speak and this made it harder for the child to learn speech skills. No link between words and the actions and objects Accompany actions with words such as when doing anything, say it loud to help the child learn both the actions and the objects The intended impact of this is that the child will easily remember the words when combined with the actions. If a teacher is lifting a book, the teacher should use the words “Lift Book” while at the same time giving the right gestures. This will help the child in learning a lot of words and pronunciations (O'Brien & Comber, 2000). No sounds in the learning process Use animal sounds when talking about animals Using animal sounds will help the child in two ways. To begin with, the child will learn how to make the various sounds that animals produce and this will help in making sure that the child is able to learn producing sounds. Secondly, the child will be able to lean the pronunciations of the different animals such as dog, cat etc (Tompkins, 2007). No visual aids used in the learning process Create a scrapbook for the children This will involve having a book with cut-outs of photos of different things such as daily objects such as fruits, utensils, cars furniture etc. Going through this book while reading out for the child and asking them to repeat the words will help them to be able learn the different words. Differences in meaning and context Repeat words to emphasise meaning and context At this young age, it is necessary for the caregiver to be able to help in reinforcing the meaning of the words. This can be done using repeated words (Beaty, 2009). Knowing the names of objects and their functions Have a group of different objects and ask the child to pick one by one while saying the names of the objects This will help the child to learn to pronounce the names of the objects and be able to attach meaning to these objects. Part III Implementation Activity one: Picking objects (day 1) The children were able to look at the object and say the names of the objects as well as the use of the object. In the case where the child did not know the name of the object or its use, this was clearly told to the child in a clear pronunciation to help the child to get the word correctly. When this was repeated a number of times, the children were able to learn a number of pronunciations while at the same time seemed to enjoy the process. In the above photograph, the children are seen picking different objects. This was the implementation of the above discussed issue. Issue II: Actions to words (day 2) In this step, the children were given the words for every action the adults took. The children started repeating the actions as well as the words. In this photo, the children can be seen waving good bye. As they waved, they also said the word and this helped them to link the word (pronunciation) to the actions. Issue III: Use animal sounds when talking about animals (day three) In the above photo, the children can be seen making animal noises. The process was successful as the children liked it even more than the rest of the things introduced in the previous days. Evaluation The above action plan was useful in some aspects but was also faced by a number of challenges which must be looked at in order to make sure that the children can be helped to learn their speech better and efficiently. Most of the actions which were supposed to be taken were actually taken as planned and were seen to be effective. However, there are some activities which were not carried out as planned due to time-related or resource-related challenges. Regardless of that, the action plan was effective in helping the children with their speech and this can be seen as a success considering the time limit. In future however, there is always a need to make sure the actions planned are considered in terms of their time requirement as well as any other considerations such as monetary resources. Practicality of each of the action to be taken is also something else which must be considered in detail in order to help in increasing the effectiveness of the plan. The following matrix is an evaluation of the action plan. The discrepancies between the action plan and the intended achievement is a good way to learn how to fine tune the learning plan (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996). Task Status Notes Lesson learnt Introduce sounds in the learning place Not implemented Although this is likely to be very successful, it must be a long term project which must look on a number of issues such as buying new toys. This could not have been implemented within the timeframe of the short study I was carrying out. In planning a lesson and a project such as this, it is necessary to consider both time and monetary cost implications of the project in order to see the feasibility of the project. Introduce (increase) time to learn sounds Implemented This was easy as it only required the children to be given more time to learn their words and pronunciations Increasing time to help the children to learn their pronunciations is a good thing in order to help the student to learn speech in an easy way. It is not good to assume that the child will learn speech naturally. Give the child more time to speak Implemented This helped the children to be able to learn new pronunciations and be more confident with words Giving the child more time to speak is one of the best ways in which to help the child to be able to communicate with speech Accompany actions with words such as when doing anything, say it loud to help the child learn both the actions and the objects Implemented This was the easiest part to implement. The children also seemed to like very much and it was a great success. If care takers and educators were to use this more often, there they would be able to help the child to learn speech in a very easy way. Use animal sounds when talking about animals Implemented This was a great way of helping the children with new pronunciations to aid in their speech. Making sounds to accompany meaning is a great way to help young children with their speech and this definitely helped the children to be able to look at the ways in which they pronounce words. It also seemed to increase their understanding of the words since the words were now linked to the objects or actions they refer to. Create a scrapbook for the children Not implemented There was no time to create scrap book In planning a lesson and a project such as this, it is necessary to consider both time and monetary cost implications of the project in order to see the feasibility of the project. This must be looked into in detail because as Goldstone, 2002) says, these kind of learning material is essential in teaching children. Repeat words to emphasise meaning and context Implemented This was easily implemented since it only involved repeating common words in sentences in order to bring out the meaning as well the pronunciation It was not easy to determine if this was effective in helping the children with their speech. Maybe there is a need to evaluate this better next time. Have a group of different objects and ask the child to pick one by one while saying the names of the objects Implemented This was very useful in helping the children to add to their speech skills. At the end of the process, most of the children were able to pronounce most of the words they could not be able to pronounce before. This is an easy task which every teacher can be able to implement any time. It is efficient in terms of time of preparation needed as well as in terms of the resources needed. It is also a playful way of learning which is very convenient for the children since children learn best during play time. The above shows that there is a need for educators to increase the time n doter resources needed to teach young children speech. Speech is much more important that it is thought to be and educators must recognise this. This is because it is only after the child learns to speak well that the educator can fully have access into the child’s world and know which issues may be affecting the child with regard to literacy issues. References Campbell, R. & Green, D. (2006) 'Extracts : Literacies and learners : current perspectives' In: Literacies and learners : current perspectives / edited by Rod Campbell & David Green. 3rd ed. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. : Pearson Education Australia, 2006. pp. 84-96, 191-203 Beaty, J.J. (2009) 'Extracts: Listening' In: 50 early childhood literacy strategies / Janice J. Beaty. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, 2009. Chapter 3, pp. 10-11 Benson McMullen, M. 1998 'Thinking before doing : A giant toddler step on the road to literacy' Source: Young Children, vol. 53, no. 3, 1998, pp. 65-70 Fleer, M. & Williams-Kennedy, D. (2002) 'Building bridges to Western literacy' In: Building bridges : literacy development in young indigenous children / Marilyn Fleer and Denise Williams-Kennedy. Canberra : Australian Early Childhood Association : Dept. of Education, Science & Training, 2002. Chapter 11, pp. 105-118 Fellowes, J & Oakley, G. (2010) Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (1996) 'Using assessment to inform teaching' In: Guided reading : good first teaching for all children / Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann, c1996. Chapter 6, pp. 73-87 Goldstone, B.P. (2002) ‘Whaz up with our books? Changing picture book codes and teaching implications’ Source: The Reading Teacher, 2002. vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 362-370. Jones, D.C. (2007) 'Literacy as social practice' In: Literacies in childhood : changing views, challenging practice / edited by Laurie Makin, Criss Jones Diaz and Claire McLachlan. 2nd ed. Sydney ; London : MacLennan & Petty, 2006, c2007. Chapter 3, pp. 31-42 Tompkins, G.E. (2007) 'Compendium of instructional resources' In: Literacy for the 21st century : teaching reading and writing in pre-kindergarten through grade 4 / Gail E. Tompkins. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Merrill/Prentice Hall, c2007. pp. 339-373 O'Brien, J. & Comber, B (2000) 'Negotiating critical literacies with young children' In: Literacy learning in the early years / edited by Caroline Barratt-Pugh and Mary Rohl. Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2000. Chapter 7, pp. 152-171 Read More