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Strange, Stranger, Strangest - CBBC Newsround. Five essential tips for teaching very young children English. Are you daunted by the prospect of teaching English to very young children? Sheona Gilmour, lead educator on our new online course for teachers and parents, offers a few tips. Teaching English to very young children can be challenging, especially if you haven't done any training for the early years classroom.

The first time I walked into a kindergarten, I didn’t want to go back the next day. I came from a background of teaching older children, who sat at desks and whose attention I could hold more easily. So the new environment, full of young children with much shorter attention spans, felt overwhelming. Pre-birth to Three: Observation, Assessment and Planning.

Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf. نوت. Whole Child Development Is Undervalued. The question is how to make such an approach both systemic and sustainable. Whole Person. Practical tips. By Opal Dunn, educational consultant and author Introduction Young children learn English differently from most adults.

Practical tips

Most have an innate ability to pick up English while taking part in activities, by making sense of what they are doing and picking up the adult’s language that accompanies the activity. You can find out more in the British Council booklet ‘How young children learn English as another language’, also available on the parents pages of the LearnEnglish Kids website. Planned English sessions. How to help your child learn English with YouTube videos. Tracey Chapelton, education consultant and materials writer, has some advice for parents of young English learners, whose home language might not be English. To learn a language we need a lot of exposure to it. YouTube is beneficial if you are not a fluent English speaker, and want a more fluent model of English for your child. Helped along by the visuals of their favourite cartoon, children can watch their favourite characters involved in adventures, while absorbing the language.

Repetition is also important for language learning. It helps us remember important words and expressions. The more they watch, the more they will understand, eventually using the language themselves. The Art of Control. Executive function — our ability to remember and use what we know, defeat our unproductive impulses, and switch gears and adjust to new demands — is increasingly understood as a key element not just of learning but of lifelong success. Researchers at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University describe executive function as an air traffic control system for the mind — helping us manage streams of information, revise plans, stay organized, filter out distractions, cope with stress, and make healthy decisions. Language development opportunities. MIT Brain Study: Back-And-Forth Talk Key To Developing Kids' Verbal Skills. New MIT research finds that for children's brain development, parents don't just need to talk to their kids — it's important to talk with them, in back-and-forth exchanges.

"What we found is, the more often parents engaged in back-and-forth conversation with their child, the stronger was the brain response in the front of the brain to language," said cognitive neuroscience professor John Gabrieli. Story continues below Most Viewed Stories. The Brain-Changing Power of Conversation. The Science Researchers used highly faithful audio recorders — a system called Language Environment Analysis (known as LENA) — to capture every word spoken or heard by 36 4–6 year olds from various socioeconomic backgrounds over two full days. The recordings were analyzed to measure the number of words spoken by each child, the number of words spoken to each child, and the number of conversational turns — back-and-forth exchanges initiated by either adult or child.

Comparing those measurements with brain scans of the individual children, the analysis found that differences in the number of conversational turns accounted for differences in brain physiology, as well as for differences in language skills including vocabulary, grammar, and verbal reasoning. Read the MIT News story for a fuller summary of the research. The Takeaways. Effective Teacher-Child Interactions.

Serve and Return. Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve. How can parents and teachers best educate young children? What principles can both teachers and parents bring to the education of very young children? Gillian Craig, who was part of the Learning Time with Shaun and Timmy writing team, explains. As teachers and parents, we follow certain principles in our roles. Sustained Shared Thinking in the Early Years ... Does my toddler have a short attention span because she won’t sit still for a story? A: It is perfectly normal for toddlers to not sit still very long—period.

Does my toddler have a short attention span because she won’t sit still for a story?

Most don’t like to stay in one place for long now that they can explore in so many new ways—by running, jumping, and climbing. So, an adult’s idea of snuggling on the couch to hear a story may not be the same idea a toddler has for story-time. You may only be able to read or talk about a few pages in a book at a time. "I Said I Want the Red Bowl!" Responding to… Amelia, told that she can’t have a fifth book before bedtime, shouts: “You are the meanest mommy!

"I Said I Want the Red Bowl!" Responding to…

You are not invited to my birthday party!” Derek, when offered a choice between carrots and cheese, not ice cream, before dinner announces: “I don’t like the choices you are choicing me!” Alex hurls a bowl of his favorite cereal off the table and screams, “I said the red bowl, not the blue bowl!” Schemas in Children’s Play - N a t u r e P l a y. Written by Clare CaroSchemas in Children’s Play are such an important concept when it comes to the development of our children that it’s worth taking the time to understand them so you can facilitate them when you see them.What are these schemas?

Schemas in Children’s Play - N a t u r e P l a y

Schema and Fairies. Schemas are one of those things that divide practitioners, like fairies at the bottom of the garden. You either believe in them and are in absolute awe at how amazing they are, or you just don’t believe they exist. It’s really interesting when you discuss this with people and it’s extra exciting when a ‘non-believer’ suddenly says “That describes my key child exactly!!” 2Bbellybreathhome. Heuristic play. Heuristic play is rooted in young children’s natural curiosity.

Heuristic play

As babies grow, they move beyond being content to simply feel and ponder objects, to wanting to find out what can be done with them. Toddlers have an urge to handle things: to gather, fill, dump, stack, knock down, select and manipulate in other ways. Household or kitchen utensils offer this kind of activity as every parent knows, and can occupy a child for surprising stretches of time. When toddlers make an enjoyable discovery – for instance when one item fits into another, or an interesting sound is produced – they often repeat the action several times to test the result, which strengthens cognitive development as well as fine muscle control and hand/eye coordination. What to consider when teaching English in large classes. How many students do you teach? Do you feel that your classes are too big? Author and education consultant Jason Anderson looks at the issues and offers some potential solutions.