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| Language allows children to make cognitive links, clarify their needs, gather information, label objects and experiences, categorize and classify, store information symbolically for later retrieval, plan, organize, and order experiences. The early childhood program should be sensitive to the diverse language backgrounds of its children. Preserving home language is vital, and bilingual education is desirable for all children, even those from English-speaking homes. Children learn language from carrying on conversations with adults and other children. The content of these conversations develops with age. Infants' and toddlers conversations tend to be playful exchanges, discussions about caregiving routines, or dialogues about events in the here and now. By two, children have usually added imagination to their talk as they begin to pretend. Preschoolers' conversations revolve around projects. Their language skills are becoming more sophisticated; they can communicate on different levels, shift registers, and develop story lines. School-age children's conversations run deeper and go on longer. They enjoy humor that is understandable even to adults and also engage in arguments, which can be considered language practice. The primary role of the adult in facilitating language development is to be a model of both language and listening skills. This book takes an emergent-literacy approach to reading and writing. An emergent-literacy approach is different from a reading-readiness approach because it is more holistic and integrated. It builds on language skills the children already have instead of teaching isolated skills out of context. The adult role in emergent literacy is to encourage conversation and language exploration in a rich environment that contains meaningful print, including books. Writing and drawing tools should be available on a daily basis to encourage children to explore and experiment with writing. |