I was reading an interesting article about preschool language literacy on the Vanderbilt University website. The discussion centers around research that seems to show that preschool children who are exposed, in a structured way, to more sophisticated language will go on to have a larger vocabulary and better reading ability by the time they are grade 4 students.
This is of course very interesting news for childhood educators and parents alike. There are plenty of things that both these groups can do to foster improved language development. Some of them include the obvious such as reading to young children. At kindergarten, group stories using a large picture book, e.g. The Hungry Caterpillar have been popular for years. This is just one example of how we can excite youngsters with language.
There are practically limitless possibilities. For instance, at home parents can introduced their children to their own hobbies. Talking about something you are passionate about will likely rub off on your child and provide an excellent opportunity for learning as well as provide a perfect language learning opportunity. So if health is your passion, perhaps you could involve your child in gardening or food preparation in the kitchen. Click here to read more about health through juicing. Teaching young children about the importance of a healthy diet is knowledge that can benefit them for the rest of their lives.