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The California Infant/Toddler Curriculum Framework: Theory to Practice Language Development WestEd.org “The acquisition of language and speech seems deceptively simple. Young children learn their mother tongue rapidly and effortlessly, from babbling at six months of age to full sentences by the end of three years, and follow the same developmental path regardless of culture.” Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D., Professor, Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington WestEd.org Learning Objectives Participants will be able to: • Understand how the three learning contexts -environment and materials, intentional interactions, and caregiving routines -- can support language development. • Identify the language skills and knowledge (foundations) typically acquired by infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years. • Reflect on observations and documentation of child’s development and interests, and use the information to create and implement a plan. • Share reflections of child’s interest with parents to engage them as partners in facilitating the child’s language development. WestEd.org Reflective Curriculum Planning: Supporting Infants’ and Toddlers’ Language Development Section I: Key Concepts WestEd.org Key Concepts • Babies have an inborn capacity to learn language. • Language development occurs in the context of relationships. • The process of early language development is fundamentally the same across cultures and languages. • There is broad variability in the pattern and pace of a child’s language development. WestEd.org Key Concepts (continued) • Understanding language precedes using it to communicate. • To use language effectively, infants must acquire some understanding of the social processes involved in communication. • Teachers can enrich the complex and amazing process of language development. WestEd.org Children who are learning English as a second language: • Have a home language upon which effective support can be based. • May demonstrate language knowledge and skills in their home language before they demonstrate the same knowledge and skills in English. • May need additional support and time to engage in communication that includes English knowledge and skills. WestEd.org Strategies for Supporting DualLanguage Learners • Focus on the children's sense of belonging and need to communicate. • Allow children to participate voluntarily. • Create opportunities for interactions and play with peers. WestEd.org Reflecting for Action • What do (or could) you do to increase your knowledge and ability to support a child’s home language and culture when it is different from yours? • How do (could) you effectively partner with the family in this process? WestEd.org Reflective Curriculum Planning Supporting Infants’ and Toddlers’ Language Development Section II: Foundations for Language Development WestEd.org Foundations for Language Development Receptive Language: The developing ability to understand words & increasingly complex utterances. Expressive Language: The developing ability to produce the sounds of language and use vocabulary & increasingly complex utterances. 11 WestEd.org Language Domain Foundations (continued) Communication Skills and Knowledge: The developing ability to communicate nonverbally and verbally. Interest in Print: The developing interest in engaging with print in books and in the environment. 12 WestEd.org Research Highlight It is not until approximately nine to 12 months of age that an infant’s language capacities become specific to the language that the infant has heard in her or his everyday language environment. For example, in a study conducted with American and Japanese infants, at seven months of age, both Japanese and American infants were able to discriminate between the sounds /l/ and /r/. However, by 11 months, Japanese infants had much greater difficulty making this distinction, whereas American infants retained the capacity to discriminate between these two sounds. In the Japanese language, /r/ and /l/ are perceived as one sound, whereas in English they are separate sounds. Similarly, studies have shown that capacity of monolingual English-speaking infants to discriminate specific sounds in Spanish and Mandarin declines at around 12 months of age. WestEd.org Vignette: Sabella Consider how the teacher acknowledges and responds to the father’s concern, uses the foundations, reflects with a co-worker, and respects a child’s individual difference. WestEd.org Antonio, Sabela’s father, expresses concern about her language development to Sonja, Sabela’s teacher. I am concerned. Sabela doesn’t talk as much as her sister did at this age. Teacher Irene and I noticed Sabela doesn’t talk much. We are observing her language development. I will be able to share more with you next week. WestEd.org Teachers Sonja and Irene have been wondering about Sabela’s language development. They have documented that Sabela says about 30 different words but is usually quiet, and rarely engages in conversations. WestEd.org It is early in the morning, and 24-month-old Sabela has been sitting quietly in Sonja’s lap as they look at books together. WestEd.org “Tony, let’s go out early today. It’s supposed to rain this morning.” Okay! I want to play in the sandbox with the trucks. Without saying a word, Sabela hops up and gets the bag of sand toys to take outside. She often helps with taking the sand toys outside and bringing them back in. WestEd.org Later that day, teachers Sonja and Irene reflect on their notes about Sabela. Here’s another example from today. Sabela understood what I said to Tony. She got off my lap and got the sand toys! I looked in the Foundations at receptive and expressive language development and it seems she’s developing normally in these areas.” WestEd.org “We have documented that Sabela says 30 words, which is typical for her age. She also understands many more words than she speaks. While she is does not engage in many conversations, her language skills are developing normally.” Sonja talks with Sabela’s father the following week. “Thanks for letting me know. She is so different from her sister, I was beginning to worry.” WestEd.org Reflections for Action • How might observations of children’s language development in different contexts and with different people help you understand children’s language and foster your communication with their families? • How can you use the Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations to: Deepen your understanding and become a more careful observer of children’s language development? Engage families to deepen understanding of, and support for, their child’s language development? WestEd.org Reflecting for Action • What materials and systems do you need to make language observations more effective? • What would be the benefit of sharing these observations with families. • How could you share them in a way the increases family engagement? WestEd.org Making it Your Own: Step 1 Planning your support for language development Create 4 sections by folding your paper in half & in half again Reflect on your perceptions of the child - What currently delights you about this child? - What is the child drawn to and excited about? -Where do you see examples of language strengths & competence? -What language skills & knowledge are emerging? -Is there anything else to keep in mind about the child or family at this time? Record your reflections/considerations in the first section of your paper WestEd.org Reflective Curriculum Planning Supporting Infants’ and Toddlers’ Language Development Section III: Facilitating Language Development • Guiding Principles • Learning Contexts WestEd.org Guiding Principles • Be responsive. • Include language in your interactions with infants. • Celebrate and support the individual. • Connect with the infant’s culture and language experiences in the home. WestEd.org Guiding Principles (continued) • Make communication and language interesting and fun. • Build on the child’s interests. • Create literacy-rich environments. WestEd.org Curriculum Planning Contexts In developing curriculum for infants and toddlers, teachers need to plan for three learning contexts: 1. Play environment and materials as curriculum 2. Intentional interactions and conversations as curriculum 3. Caregiving Routines as curriculum WestEd.org Context: Environment and Materials • The environment sets the tone for communication between children and teachers, and between children. • The environment can be arranged to foster communication – such as making it easy for teachers to relate with infants at eye level. • Group size matters. Since language development occurs in the context of relationships, an important aspect is the number of children in the room. WestEd.org Supporting Language Development through the Environment and Materials • Engage infants with books and stories. • Moderate background noise. • Provide materials that foster communication. • Arrange the environment to support language development and communication. WestEd.org How can you arrange your environment to invite this kind of shared book exploration and communication with peers? WestEd.org How does this environmental arrangement and the materials support language development and communication? WestEd.org WestEd.org Making it Your Own: Step 2 Based on what you know about the child, how might you use your environment and materials to support & expand the child’s language development? Return to your sheet of paper and reflections on the child chosen for your course project. Consider: How is the organization and use of the space and materials impacting the child’s experience? What other materials, adaptations, and “invitations might be offered to enhance the child’s experience? What might be incorporate into your care routines? What adaptations to your schedule might be helpful? Brainstorm a list of ideas and record them in the second section of your paper WestEd.org Context: Intentional Interactions • Infants’ inborn capacity to acquire language is activated through communication with adults and with other children. • Adults responses to infants’ facial expressions, gaze, vocalizations, and gestures encourage them to keep trying to communicate. • Infants are naturally attentive to language and actively practice using it. • The amount and quality of language adults use with infants has a far-reaching impact on the child’s language development. WestEd.org Supporting Language Development through Intentional Interactions • Be responsive when children initiate communication. • Engage in non-verbal communication. • Use child-directed language. • Use self-talk and parallel talk. • Help children expand language. • Support dual-language development. • Attend to individual development and needs. • Be playful with language. WestEd.org Reflective Question Think about the nonverbal gestures and facial expressions that infants and toddlers in your program make. How might you incorporate these into back-and-forth interactions with the children? WestEd.org Context: Routines as Curriculum • Interactions during caregiving routines are important opportunities to form close, caring relationships. • Planning for intentional interactions during care routines can enhance learning opportunities for child. • Carry out routines at the child’s pace, allowing the child to participate fully and make choices. WestEd.org Making it Your Own: Step 3 Based on what you know about the child, how will you think about interactions and communication to support and expand language development? Return to your sheet of paper and reflections on the child chosen for your course project. Consider: What topics of conversation might be meaningful? When and where would these be likely to occur? What new vocabulary might be used? What questions might you ask to get the child’s perspective and expand the child’s thinking? Brainstorm a list of ideas and record them in the third section of your paper. WestEd.org Reflective Curriculum Planning Supporting Infants’ and Toddlers’ Language Development Section IV: Engaging Families WestEd.org Engaging Families Working together, families and early educators provide critical support for young children’s language development. Infant care teachers can build on children’s language experiences at home and share with families what is being done in their program to enhance language learning. WestEd.org Engaging Families During the first three years, the focus should be on: • Communication that includes language • Having fun with language • Being culturally and linguistically inclusive, and developmentally appropriate WestEd.org Research Highlight: Interactions Infants learn language through back-and-forth exchanges with parents and other adults who provide care for them. (CA Infant/Toddler Curriculum Framework, California Department of Education, 2012, p. 93) WestEd.org Ideas for Engaging Families • Ask family members to provide a list of words children know in their home language that are specific to the child or the family, including the names or titles of family members, pets, friends, and neighbors. Share words children have learned in the early education setting and consider providing home language translations of words that children are acquiring in English. • Create a lending library so families can take home books and other reading materials, both in English and in the families’ home languages. • When participating in interactions with infants, toddlers, and their families, acknowledge the communication efforts of all children by commenting on their use of nonverbal gestures, body movements, facial expressions, and vocalizations. • Encourage families to bathe infants and toddlers in language by engaging in “extra” talk that goes beyond the business of daily living: for example, play with sounds, sing, or make up nonsense words together. WestEd.org Scenario: Paula, 18 months Read the scenario. Consider how the teacher engages a father in a conversation about his daughter and an experience that had occurred earlier in the day. Notice that the teacher was attentive to and curious about a child’s attempt to communicate and partnered with the father in order to understand and support the child’s expressive language skills. WestEd.org Ruth, a family child care provider, wonders about a word that 18-month-old Paula used at lunch today. She wrote down what she thought Paula was saying. WestEd.org Later, Ruth connects Paula’s pretend play to their lunch time communication. “I wrote down the word you said at lunch today. Let’s ask your Papai about it when he gets here I really want to know what you were saying.” WestEd.org Soon, Paula’s father, Gustavo, arrives at Ruth’s family child care home to pick up his daughter. WestEd.org Gustavo greets Paula in their home language, Portuguese, and sits down so Paula can climb into his lap. WestEd.org “Paula, I am going to ask your Papai about what you were saying this afternoon at lunch.” “At lunch, Paula kept asking for something that sounded like At ‘gaffoo’ but I didn’t know what it was. Any ideas?” WestEd.org Ruth tells him they were having pizza. He speaks to Paula in Portuguese, and Paula nods. “I think she was asking for 'garfo’. Garfo is the Portuguese word for fork. At home, we eat pizza with a fork.” WestEd.org Ruth says “Oh, thank you for sharing the Portuguese word for fork!” Then she smiles and says to Paula, “You wanted a garfo -- a fork. Next time I will know.” WestEd.org Reflections As a result of this engagement, the teacher learned a word the child was trying to use. This knowledge can allow her to be more responsive to the child, encouraging the child’s attempts to use verbal language. That wasn’t the only thing happening in this exchange, however. Please pause and reflect on this question: What do you see as some of the additional benefits of this exchange? WestEd.org Reflections Consider: • The father’s awareness of the teacher’s attention to his child at meal time. • The teacher’s interest in understanding his child, and meeting her needs. How might this influence his level of trust and willingness to work in partnership with the teacher? WestEd.org Consider the impact For the family: What does the teacher’s response say about her attitude toward differences, specifically the family’s culture and language? For the child: What might the impact be when her next request for a fork is understood and met? What will child learn about herself and her teacher? WestEd.org Making it Your Own: Step 4 How will you engage the child’s family in understanding and supporting the child’s language development? Return to your sheet of paper and reflections on the child chosen for your course project. Consider How might the family’s background and values be influencing their expectations and experience in this area? What questions might you ask to deepen your understanding of the family’s perspective and strengthen your relationship? What might the family want to know about their child’s language development In how many ways might you engage the family in planning and/or implementing the ideas brainstormed in steps 2 & 3? Brainstorm a list of ideas and record them in the fourth section of your paper WestEd.org In conclusion, as you plan, remember: • Children’s capacity for learning language relies on experiencing language in their interactions with adults. • Perhaps the most important thing that teachers can do is include language in their interactions with children. • By planning environments that encourage communication and being intentional in communications with children, teachers can strengthen children’s language development. • By listening to and observing children, and learning from families about children’s communication experiences at home, teachers can understand each child’s path to learning language—and then share meaning with children by engaging in responsive communication. WestEd.org Making it Your Own: Steps 5-8 Developing and Implementing Your Plan Step 5: Create a brief and flexible curriculum plan for language development Review the ideas you generated in the previous 4 steps For each context, select a few ideas to implement Create your plan using the form provided. (Feel free to use the back, too.) Step 6: Implement your plan Step 7: Observe, document, and reflect as you implement the plan. Remember, this will become part of your project display Step 8: Record your reflections on the process. Use the form provided. This will become part of your project summary and will be shared at the next class. WestEd.org Wrap-up • Questions? • Assignment • Reading • Next session WestEd.org