Have you ever overheard someone talking to an infant, and they use that high, sing-songy voice? That’s called “parentese” and it’s been shown in research to support language development in infants. Now, have you ever heard someone use that same voice and watered-down words with a preschooler? That’s called patronizing, and it shows a gross underestimation [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘language’
June 22, 2010
Building a Bilingual Home – Guest Post at Modern Familia
Angélica at Modern Familia asked me to write a guest post focusing on the language development of bilingual children. Slide on over there to check out more on this topic! Here’s just a taste: I remember my first summer working at a migrant school and watching in amazement as a tiny three year-old girl sat [...]
March 5, 2009
Rhyme-A-Saurus
For a fun rhyming activity with your preschoolers, create a Rhyme-A-Saurus! This dinosaur is not a meat-eater or a plant-eater, he eats rhymes! Using a set of rhyming cards (you can find printable ones here or purchase a set at a teaching supply store) give your children one card each, and keep the rhyming pair yourself. [...]
August 9, 2008
Let’s Pretend
Photo provided by rrss. “Let’s play house. I’ll be the mom, and you be the Dear.” This is one of my favorite lines I’ve ever observed in the dramatic play area of a laboratory preschool. Dramatic play is known by its more common monikers, such as dress-up, playing house, or playing pretend. Whatever the name, it [...]
August 9, 2008
Language & Literacy
Photo provided by Bies “A bandaid feel me better.” We relish the quirky sayings our children devise as they wade through the task of decoding the furtive rules we use as we communicate. Our children’s faulty contrivances are not only endearing, but give us some insight into their progress as they decipher our mysterious code. The development of [...]
