Raising a Reader Part 2. Toddlers.

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 →

Raising a Reader Part 1: The Baby.

Jj is for Jottings 61.  Raising a Reader Part 1: The Baby.

There are various things parents can do to maximise their child’s chances of becoming a reader (i.e. someone who is proficient at reading, reads for pleasure and has no difficulty in using reading for information-seeking and the school curriculum.)  We can divide this topic into 4 stages: Baby, Toddler, Emergent Readers and Early Readers.  Question: What stage comes before the Baby stage?  Continue reading →

More Minimal Pairs: Voiced vs. Voiceless

Jj is for Jottings 59.  More Minimal Pairs: Voiced vs. Voiceless.

 

I was reminded a couple of days ago that there is more to say on the subject of minimal pairs ( see Jj is for Jottings 47.  Minimal Pairs: Voiced vs. Voiceless.  You may wish to read/re-read this before continuing), when an intelligent, well-educated adult fell into a common trap – thinking that the letter s (frequently a plural at the end of a word, but sometimes in the middle) is always pronounced as /s/, whereas in fact it is often pronounced as /z/.  Continue reading →

Reading to Dogs.

Jj is for Jottings 57.  Reading to Dogs.

If you had your reading L plates on, who would you rather read to – a person or a dog?  Young readers reading to dogs is an idea which originated in the USA in 1999, and is being adopted in Australia in schools and libraries.  Different programs exist, but they are all variations on the theme. Continue reading →

3 More Techniques for Helping Your Child’s Language.

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 →

Helping Your Child’s Language – Technique 1: Modelling.

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 →

Should I Correct My Child’s Speech?

Jj is for Jottings 54.  Should I Correct My Child’s Speech?

This is Linguine, Kieran’s Murray Darling carpet python. The pic I really wanted was too blurry. Shikha caught a 23 cm long baby brown snake last week and brought it to the front door step to play with. Having just stepped out of the shower I snatched him inside and dressed hastily. When I returned it was nowhere in sight. I found it wriggling around in David’s boot, on the step below! Taking photos inside boots doesn’t work too well. Great composition – reared up with its mouth gaping open – but blurry. Linguine said he’d be happy to stand in (and he’s beautiful and harmless).

 

Many parents these days are concerned that they will somehow damage their child’s psyche if they correct their speech and language Continue reading →