Going back to school for my Masters in Education has been a humbling experience. Somehow I thought it would all be old hat, and I would sail through graduate school. But I forgot about writing research papers. I have two due on Tuesday plus a presentation on Language Development in Children. Guess what I've spent most of the weekend doing? Big stretch, I know.
I enjoyed gathering the data on the Language Development piece because I found so many great examples of language growth in some miscellaneous videos of children parents had put up online. I've got anywhere from a 1 month old babbling to a 8 year old talking in a fake accent, and the development ramp in between is just amazing. I especially love how children learn to speak in the structure of conversations even before they know the words to say or how to say them. It's the same in reading. They learn the format of reading (how to hold a book, reading from left to right) before they learn what the words on the page mean.
I've attached just a short video clip that I found on youtube. It's cute and exemplative of the way these little minds work.
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When my daughter began speaking she followed the rhythm and patterns of the way I spoken to her since birth which interestingly led her say things such as, " I think we should go to the park,okay? Okay. "
ReplyDeleteBecause I had answered for her during all the months before she began to talk, she thought that not only did one ask a question, one answered it as well.
I am not sure if I've explained it in a way that makes sense, but it was funny see it and realize what I must have sounded like ... I wonder if her baby self ever thought, " Hold on a minute would you, I'd like to answer that one myself! "
Mummy I think I should have lots of ice cream now, okay? Okay! (That would have been my way of speaking!) :)
ReplyDeleteI speak with my nieces in much a similar fashion, but I think as long as we're talking to them they are learning!
I love the video because the father lets the child speak to him as long as he wants. Very sweet.