Week 5

Why?

This weeks focus on the participant module will be on the ways educators support young children’s literacy, and numeracy development. Society is becoming more diverse which means early childhood professionals need to use strategies, which support language and communication skills of children from many cultures and languages. Educators must be able to adapt there teaching to children’s needs, to be able to support their experiences and learning in both literacy and numeracy.

What?

Bardige & Bardige (2008) identify strategies for educators, to support young children’s early language development.  Family members, carers and educators’ natural interactions with babies, support their language development. One of the best ways to enrich babies’ language and communication is through book sharing .

Babies

Bardige & Bardige (2008) define strategies that enhance babies’ language development. Interaction is exciting for babies and essential for brain development, the baby talk conversations and the way educators adjust their voice to babies’ cues, impacts on their language development. Bardige & Bardige (2008) highlight the importance of educator’s voices in providing security for babies, a secure base enables babies to engage in exploration. Educators should be continually talking to babies, they should make language a part of all baby care activities.

Toddlers

When educators are trying to enhance toddlers language development they follow the child’s lead and when talking to or responding to toddlers they use full sentences and add information. Educators use their voice to respond empathetically to children and to their efforts to keep conversations going, and respond to anything that sounds like a word and is used with communicative intent (Bardige & Bardige, 2008). And importantly educators give toddlers time to process information and to respond, and use language, which helps toddlers interpret their world and prepare them for transitions (Bardige & Bardige, 2008).  All these strategies that educators use when working with babies and toddlers enhance language development.

As with literacy, educators play a crucial role in children’s numeracy development. Young children’s reasoning can be enhanced or inhibited by educators actions which includes the classroom support provided, mathematical activities implemented and the way the educator implements them (English, 2004). To maximise children’s mathematical reasoning opportunities there needs to be an established “classroom culture that encourages discussion, questioning and debate, that welcomes diversity of thought, that values children’s inquiring minds, and that fosters a range of problem-solving and problem posing activities” (English, 2004, p. 208).  In conjunction with this educators need to be introducing young children to important mathematical concepts, skills and language.

Now what?
Both articles highlighted the importance of educators recognising diversity, meaning they must use strategies to enhance all young children’s language development. I think from this article I can see the importance of educator’s voices when working with babies, as they use them to provide security and to sooth and stimulate them. Having conversations with babies and babbling with them also helps their language development. I think it is important that educators create multi sensory environments that give opportunities for both literacy and numeracy experiences, where diversity is welcomed and children’s thought and opinions are valued.

References

Bardige, B. & Bardige, M. (2008). Talk to me, baby! Supporting language development in the first 3 years. Zero to Three, September, 4-10

English, L. D. (2004). Promoting the development of young children’s mathematical and analogical reasoning. In L. D. English (Ed.), Mathematical and analogical reasoning of young learners (201-214). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.