Talk = School Success

7 tips to maximise your child's school success through talk

Do you have a talk-a-lot family? Talking is key to your child’s school success. The more words and complex vocabulary that children have when they start school the greater their success with learning.

The more that children have talk directed to them:

• the more they can understand language,

• the more they can respond to language and,

• the better their attention- all valuable skills for learning at school.

Note the emphasis is on talk directed to them. Just overhearing 'talk' does not have the same impact as face-to-face active discussions. So TV is not the answer. One-way talking is not the answer either. Lectures and monologues aren’t going to generate the response needed for children to pay attention and get those neurons connecting. Hey, do they work on us?

When children are in conversations, they have to develop the skills to hear the words and the contexts, process those words to make sense, and then formulate an understandable reply. Each time they hear a new word and understand that word, neurons connect, and that child can then use that word in future.

Important disclaimer: no comparing your child with others. Every child develops differently and at their own pace. However, it's good advice to check in with your pediatrician every so often to check your child is on track.

7 tips to maximise your child’s school success through talk:

1. Let children see you talking. Be conscious about talking face-to-face with your child. Let them see your mouth moving. Let them your facial expressions and even your hands waving around if you’re a big gesture speaker. When children watch you as you speak, they pick up things such as pronunciation- this will help them when it comes to learning sounds and then putting those sounds together into words. Facial expressions and gestures help children understand the context of the words you use.

2. Ask questions. It's the 'deep' questions that will really make your child think. A good word to start a deep question with is ‘why’. “Why do you think the character was always grumpy?” These sort of questions challenge children to 'read between the lines'. An crucial skill for reading comprehension.

3. Wait. Young children take a little longer to respond to answers or get their words out- after all they’re learning hey? We might know what it is that they are trying to say but as much as possible, let them say it. If it is a bit muddled, we can simply rephrase it in a supportive way. “Red Riding finks the wolf is grandma” We can acknowledge and rephrase it “Yes you’re right. Red Riding Hood thinks the wolf is her grandma.”

4. Read. It’s true! Reading is so valuable. Read aloud with your child daily and remember to have those two-way conversations. Ask deep questions and listen to your child’s responses. Don’t rush those conversations- see how long you can have a meaningful discussion about one aspect of a story. Have fun using the new words you find in stories.

5. Create lots of opportunities to role play with you! This develops vocabulary and comprehension. It’s during role play that you can introduce new words such as ‘This is my kingdom’, ‘I’m coming to the rescue’, It’s a total disaster!’. Children can apply the new words they have heard. Get out the dress-ups, create a home corner, a play kitchen, and a stage.

6. Play barrier games. Barrier games are games where players have a ‘barrier’ between them. One player uses words to direct the other player to complete an activity. Simply print a scene in duplicate; for example an image of a playground. Place a book between you both. One player places a couple of counters at different locations on the scene. They then instruct the other player to place counters on those same locations on their own copy of the scene. Once all instructions have been given, players remove the barrier and compare how well they gave instructions and listened to instructions. Other barrier games include Mastermind and Battleship.

7. Offer two word choices. I LOVE this tip!. For example, you might ask your child “Are you feeling exuberant about visiting your friend or are you feeling elated about visiting friend?” Or “Is that a Siamese cat or is it a Burmese cat?” To answer these questions, children have to understand and then apply the new vocabulary.

That is, it for today. Feel free to write any comments or questions you have about teaching young children in the comments below. And here's a link to this discussion on my channel Talk=School Success and here's a link to my channel Teaching Young Children.

Happy talking!