The importance of development of communication skills in early childhood education is of great significance. Communication skills are the key to accomplish every other milestone in a child’s developmental path. This is one skill which is needed to move up the ladder to achieve your desired goal irrespective of the field chosen.
English is a second language for most of us here in India. It’s absolutely fine, rather good, to be able to speak the mother tongue with fluency. However, this should not restrict us from using the other language as well. Research shows the benefits of being bilingual, especially so if it’s learnt in the early years of one’s life.
Children as young as 2 years have the ability to comprehend and speak in different languages. We simply need to provide them opportunities.
My family is an amalgamation of many cultures. We belong to Kumaon Region (Uttarakhand Hills) & my sister-in-law (brother’s wife) is Telugu. In our house my grandmother and mother would mostly speak Kumauni (our native language) whereas rest of us would converse in English and Hindi. My nephews, by the time they were 2 years, would speak English and Hindi as well as understand Kumauni and Telugu. This was achieved effortlessly as we were using all the above languages in the respective order of their speaking.
As an educator, I realized the benefits of learning English at an early age only after I closely watched my nephews growing. If kids are introduced to the English language much earlier, it definitely helps them stay ahead of their peers. I also realized the demerits of only speaking English among kids.
A language can only be learnt until spoken. So, until you don’t have an appropriate environment at home for the language, you can’t except any external factor, specially a playschool to help you in this. The playschool can only take this further, however the main language building tool is at home.
Make the learning process as natural as possible. Don’t treat English as a foreign language but include it in daily activities like games and songs, just as you do with the child’s first language. While colouring, name the colours in English, while dancing, repeat the names of the moves in English and so on.
Try playing dress-up games, hide-and-seek, Simon Says, charades and other popular games, whilst speaking in English. In other words, get them to learn the language in the same way they learned their first one!
Ask them open-ended questions that allow them to speak and express themselves as much as possible. Engage children in conversation which allows them to use the language as much as possible.
Let the teaching and learning process remain fun and engaging. Making use of tools like English movies and cartoons for kids can give their brain a great push, enhance the vocabulary and grasp the pronunciation by listening. These are classic techniques that work effectively on a child’s brain when trying to learn a language.
Most parents use screen time as a babysitter. Utilize that screen time by making them watch appropriate children series in English. The Peppa Pig series, Pete the Cat series are some examples of how screen time can judiciously be used. This comes with a statutory warning: It’s extremely important for the parent to first watch and hear what the child will be watching and hearing.
However, remember, language speaking needs to be direct, face-to-face input from a real human being; children can’t just learn language effectively from TV or computer games, even if they are educational.
It’s simply amazing then to see, or rather hear the result. Read them books everyday so that new vocabulary is introduced as well as they learn how to express themselves in many different ways.
Use as many new ways you can to say the same thing. For example rather than just saying, ‘Good job’ every time, you could say-
You must be so proud of yourself !
Wow ! I am so impressed !
I knew you could do it !
You are getting really good at it !
Way to go !
Listening is the first step towards learning any language followed by speaking, reading and writing. Use synonyms as you can while speaking. It enhances their vocabulary. Instead of saying, ‘stop touching things’, simply say, ‘let’s not fidget’. Kids will surprise you when they too start articulating in their second language.
While teaching your child to speak in English remember never to scold them if they reply back in their mother tongue initially. Respect towards all languages is a must and the child needs to know this. It’s very unfortunate if children unconsciously learn that speaking their mother tongue is inferior. It’s important to teach them to answer in the language they are spoken to. So, if a peer talks to you in Hindi you learn to reply in Hindi. Else it becomes difficult to make friends and play.
As adults we need to remember that kids are born to be bilingual. So please don’t get perturb if they play with their peers in the language of their choice. This is providing them an opportunity to learn the other language as well. As educators and parents, we need to continue emphasising use of English without demeaning any other language.
As parents, don’t get paranoid if the child is using more of Hindi at home. It just reflects that the one hour the child has spent with his friends has greater influence on them. You as an adult can’t control an external factor. As a playschool owner and educator, at Niño & Niña we emphasize on the use of the correct language. We even send home the vocabulary words introduced in the week. Those words are for parents to keep using in their sentences so that it becomes a part of the child.
All you need to do is converse in a fun way in English with your child. Learning a language takes years. Let them learn in a fun way.
-Divya Joshi
Co-founder, Niño & Niña Preschool & Daycare
