Talk! Talk! Talk!

One of the greatest things we can do as parents, educators and supporters of children's learning is to talk to our children. Talking teaches children:

• about words (language/vocabulary)
• about how words are put together to make phrases and sentences
• about what words mean
• about how words can be used to express needs, wants and desires
• about how words can communicate feelings
• about how words can communicate messages

When our babies are little we model language and repeat it to encourage them to say what we say (the parroting method). As children get older we often stop this or do it less often. A valuable technique with young children is to provide a running commentary as they or you do activities as it supports their language and vocabulary extension.

Young children have an innate curiosity hence the endless 'WHY?' questions. We need to foster this curiosity and provide some of the answers through discussion with the child and through providing them with rich experiences to give them things to talk about. Our children are worth listening to because their views are untarnished and quite wondrous.

Our histories were transferred via word of mouth for centuries before the written word was introduced to record any of it and despite modern ICT tools it is still the most humanised and personalised form of communication. When you talk to me I feel valued, acknowledged and when you listen to me I feel valued, acknowledged, respected and as though I belong in this place with people who care.