| Language Milestone | What it means | Links to Literacy | |||
| Recites and sings to an audience |
Children who can get up in
front of an audience at home and talk or sing their favourite song or
rhyme are well on the way to building the foundations for literacy.
For a start you know that they have been immersed in language; you know that they have built up a storehouse of memories about print; and you know that they have self confidence enough to perform in front of an audience. This is a very powerful way to build up self confidence. If your child is hesitant about performing you could help at first by sitting them on your knee and perhaps quietly joining in, but not leading the performance. You could use an older brother or sister in the same way. You could also try using puppets, dress-ups, or masks to encourage them to perform. Gently encourage your child to perform alone, and afterwards let him/her know that you recognise how they felt. Ask how he/she feels now that it has been done. Praise or other rewards are not necessary as the child must learn to please him/herself rather than the parent. |
Confident
children are excellent learners because they are more willing to take risks. Learning is a risky business. If you are shy, and you try and fail, you lose face and become embarrassed.
Such children may learn that it is safer not to try. Confident children, on the other hand are quite resilient and are quite willing to have a go at something (eg. spelling, reading, counting) and are not easily put off by lack of success.
They seem to know that you have to take risks and make some mistakes in order to learn.
Adults can make a difference to a child's confidence by responding to them in effective ways. For instance, when a child shows a drawing with a story (and you can't work out what it is) you wouldn't want the child to know that. You would want the child to feel proud of their work because you, as the understanding adult, knows that this work shows that this is the stage that the child is at right now. You mustn't dent their confidence. Your experience of children learning to speak tells you that whatever else you might do or say, you must leave the child wanting to continue to draw and write, because only through drawing and writing will the child improve his drawing and writing! So think about what you would do? You could say: Remember, don't try to correct errors or teach from their work as that will devalue it and deprive them of confidence.
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