Presents examples of young children using written language. Shows teachers and parents what they can learn from children's developing sense of written language. Suggests activities by which parents and teachers can spur child language development. (RL)

This collection of exercises, intended principally for parents and teachers engaged in early childhood education, contains 30 pages of exercises designed to foster speech and vocabulary development of young children. Although the book is primarily intended for use with native speakers of French, the exercises would be useful for elementary school…

Explores the transition of several children from spoken language to beginning writing. (HTH)

Concludes that it is time for teachers to be more critical of the commercial materials and classroom practices commonly used to sensitize children to different semantic cues and morphological units. Argues that without a firm knowledge of context clues and morphemes on the part of teachers, the teaching of these skills will remain incidental. (FL)

Discusses a model for teaching reading and writing in which skilled language users provide support for new language activities in context. Gives examples of typical classroom activities that provide too little or too much support for natural language growth and of activities with a balanced instructional "scaffolding." (HTH)

The teaching activities presented in this paper focus on expanding children's language. The paper describes (1) a "community journal" activity in which students recorded observations about events occurring in various parts of the classroom, (2) a poetry assignment using Richard Wilbur's book of poetry, "Opposites," (3) an exercise to assemble…

Reflecting the work of Yetta Goodman on child language development, this paper examines Goodman's five "roots of literacy" and offers suggestions on classroom techniques for nurturing these roots. The first half of the paper explains how Goodman identified the roots of literacy and describes each of them, including (1) print awareness in…

A language-focused curriculum emphasizes the development of language skills as a key to learning. The curriculum is designed to be appropriate for 3- to 5-year-olds, whether having difficulty acquiring language, developing language skills at a typical rate, or learning English as a second language. Intended to accompany the first volume's…

A child's literary experience may be "stretched" through extension activities such as reading aloud, discussion, writing, art, music, and drama. While any planned activity can be overused and work against the intent of furthering the child's literary growth, there are many valid ways of offering the child opportunities for savoring and reflecting…

Originally developed as part of a project for the Department of Defense Schools (DoDDS) system, this learning package on language learning and the young child is designed for teachers who wish to upgrade or expand their teaching skills on their own. The package includes an overview of the project; a comprehensive search of the ERIC database; a…