Chapter 4 mentioned five theorists that all describe how
they believe children develop language and vocabulary. Each theorist has a
different explanation; I believe that all of these theories contribute to
language development. Some of these theories believe its start at a younger
age, and some take place while children are a little older. During your experiences working with
children, which theory have you experienced? I work at a daycare with
infants through 18 months. I tend to see actions that go along with the
Behaviorist theory and the Piagetian and Vygotskian theory. I notice that the
kids I work with often imitate our actions. When we demonstrate that lions
roar, they kids will start to make that connection when we see lions in our
books and videos. Piagetian and Vygotsky say that development relates to the
children’s surroundings. One example from my experiences is many of our kids
learn to say “baby” as one of their early words. This is because they attend a
daycare where we have several babies, and they hear us say that often. They
will often point to the baby, and our response is “this is baby Emma.”
While visiting Apple Tree daycare, the majority of us are in
the rooms with children from 3-5. In our textbook on page 106 it mentions that
ages 2-3 is the most dramatic in development, 3-4 it develops rapidly, and 5-6
they sound much like adults when speaking. Are
you surprised that Apple Tree has such a wide range of children grouped
together? What differences have you seen in the younger to older children in
your class? Do you think this is good for development or hinders student’s
development being grouped together? In my classroom we only have one three
year old, and she is advanced for her age. She talks very clearly, and uses
vocabulary well for her age. I have not found many students that talk much like
adults in our class. In my opinion, the majority of our students fall into that
middle category. Maybe being grouped together its pulls the younger ones up
(they develop quicker), but the older ones tend to get stuck in that middle
category.
The book mentions strategies for Language development in
early childhood classrooms, what we are experiencing at Apple Tree. On page 115
it list examples of learning centers and materials appropriate for this age
group. Of these different centers which
ones have you seen in your classrooms at Apple Tree? How do you think these are
helping the students in their language development? My classroom has a fish
as their class pet. They are learning how to take care of their pet, and this
develops words that are related to helping/caring for others. This may be an
area that they have to have permission to use and listen to teacher’s
instructions in order to help.
Questions to consider:
§
Many of us work in daycares/early childhood centers,
and are now visiting Apple Tree. For
language development, do you think children benefit more from attending a
daycare or staying home with a parent?
§
Do you
think teaching children to use sign language is a form of language development?
I found a few resources that teachers can use to help
students language development.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor language development I would sway I would have to completely agree that children are heavily influenced with vocabulary and oral communication from adults an older children. Children really are like the whole idea of a sponge they will take in and absorb what they hear and see on a daily basis when its from either a parent or another authority figure because they assume its ok. I think at Apple tree we are able to see first hand how some of this is happening. For instance in my classroom we have a child who has toile with how loud they speak because they are more than likely around people who speak very loud or yell a bit. Children are also able to learn from one anther and in our classrooms we have the chance to work with children who are in a range of ages and they can learn from each other as much as they would an adult.
ReplyDeleteIn our class we are able to see how a lack of teacher or adult lead conversation has impacted the children in the classroom because of their social skills not being the greatest. Some of the children have lower vocabulary skills and then there are a few who have a much more advanced vocabulary. The children who pal with each other are able to see and learn from each other be engaging in multiple forms of play and talking to one another.
I think that teaching children to use sign language is a more complex form of language because in order to for them to understand sign a majority of the time they need to learn basic word structure first unless they have impairments I think that it would be very confusing and maybe harmful to their basic language learning.