Jj is for Jottings 157. Word Confusions: Affect/Effect; Lie/Lay.
This article covers the topic of word confusions: affect/effect; lie/lay. Posts on word confusions will pop up from time to time. The two previous posts are: word confusions:ton/tonne;home/hone and word confusions:bought/brought;in a moment/momentarily. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 131. Learning Vocabulary.
Learning vocabulary – the words a person knows and uses – is a lifelong process. Talking to and reading with your child right from the start is a good recipe for a child to develop a rich vocabulary. I have talked about vocabulary in previous articles, mainly in the context of reading with children and children reading for themselves. But, given that vocabulary is so important, I thought it was worth going into a little further.
Learning Vocabulary. The User Guide in “Aa is for Alpacas” explains how to use the book to enhance vocabulary skills.
Jj is for Jottings 96. Interactive Reading With Children.
There is a difference between reading to children and reading with children. Reading TO children is just that – reading a story without any sort of discussion or interaction. (For disquieting statistics on reading to children, see here.) On the other hand, interactive reading with children, or reading WITH children, is an active process rather than a passive one. In this case, you are encouraging the child to think, predict, remember and discuss the story, and other related topics may also arise. Therefore it has all the benefits of reading to children, plus many more.
Too young for interactive reading with children, but the right age to start reading TO her.
Jj is for Jottings 95. Oral Storytelling.
Oral storytelling is wonderful for developing listening skills (no pictures – so there is no visual ‘cheating’) and language. It also encourages memory and can stimulate imagination. You can read about the importance of listening here and here. You can tell the story, or you can encourage your child to tell the story. Your child may not be confident enough to tell stories from the outset. However, after hearing you tell stories and with some encouragement, they may begin to feel like having a go. Even if your child doesn’t feel like telling stories, the listening, language and memory benefits are still there. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 94. Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness and Phonics.
Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.
You may have heard the terms “phonological awareness”, “phonemic awareness” and “phonics” and wondered what they mean and whether they are different terms for the same thing. Let’s sort this out right now.
This is sound-letter links – i.e. learning which sound is made by each letter of the alphabet, and other sounds which are made by combining 2 or more letters. Children develop the concept that there are consistent relationships between letter symbols and sounds. This book is a great way to learn sound-letter links. But you need to make sure you are saying sounds rather than letter names. You can find this on the video. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 90. The Effects of Screen Time on Children.
Avoiding the effects of screen time on children – Zara, Amy, Seth and Zack reading “Aa is for Alpacas” AND outside.
By now, there have been many studies done on the effects of screen time on children. My own observations on this subject are here and here. And here is an article on parental concerns about screen time. So, let’s have a look at some of the recent research. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 68. Communication Milestones.
Here is a chart put together by a group from Queensland and the National Office of Speech Pathology Australia which you may find useful.
Here is the link if you want to print copies.
www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/milestones
Jj is for Jottings 62. Raising a Reader Part 2. Toddlers.
Continuing from the previous article (here), you cannot overestimate the importance of reading with a child at the toddler stage – for intellectual, social and emotional development. They take in everything: vocabulary and language structure, numbers and math concepts, colours, shapes, opposites and many other language concepts, animals, manners and all kinds of useful information about how the world works. What’s more, when you read out loud, Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 56. 3 More Techniques for Helping Your Child’s Language.
We used all these language techniques with our “children”, but it seems that they still have too much screen time.
This follows on from Jottings 55, so you will need to read that first. (See https://educatingalpacas.com/general-language-stimulation-technique-1-modelling/). I decided to combine the last three techniques into one article: Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 55. Helping Your Child’s Language – Technique 1: Modelling.
Shikha and Shanti as kittens. They have to be careful when in the paddock with the alpacas because the alpacas will sometimes chase them. Although we refer to them as “the kids”, we didn’t have to bother with language modelling for them. Besides, they’re Burmese, and I wouldn’t know which language to model!
There are several ways in which parents naturally encourage the development of children’s language in conversation, and you may be using some or all of them without being aware of it. Continue reading
