REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER Dee’s Message
18TH FEBRUARY 2022
Dear Parents and Caregivers, Children’s book writer, Richard Scarry, said that “It’s a precious thing to be communicating to children, helping them to discover the gift of language and thought.” While I entirely agree with his sentiments, if there is one word which I would change it would be that we communicate ‘with’ children and not ‘to’ them – for as we all know only too well, our conversations with children are far more than just talking ‘to’ them. Of course, while their language might be in its formative stages, communication is about so much more than only words. From their earliest smiles, we learn to read their emotions from their facial expressions, tears and physical actions. And they do the same with us. Babies and young children are incredibly adept at picking up what makes us happy, or what disappoints us. They soon learn what elicits a favourable response and what produces a frown, or even worse.
This topic of conversation and how best to converse with children remains one of the integral parts of early childhood development. As we are reminded in the Early Years Framework: “Communication is crucial to belonging, being and becoming. From birth children communicate with others using gestures, sounds, language and assisted communication. They are social beings who are intrinsically motivated to exchange ideas, thoughts, questions and feelings, and to use a range of tools and media, including music, dance and drama, to express themselves, connect with others and extend their learning.” The teachers also realise that each child develops language competency at a different rate to that of his or her peers. It is really important to celebrate the language acquisition milestones for each child, rather than trying to compare them to other children. After all, we are all unique and this isn’t about a race to the finish line.
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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