Tutu, who is almost one and a half years old, walked into the classroom. He can already say some single words, such as "no" and "change", and can call out "mom", "dad", and "grandma". At this moment, two-year-old Dou Dou also came to class. Tutu stared at Dou Dou because it was his first time seeing her. The teacher introduced Tutu to Dou Dou, saying, "This is Dou Dou. She is a new child and you haven't seen her before." At the same time, the teacher also introduced Tutu to Dou Dou.
Tutu suddenly walked up to the job of scooping beans and pointed to the beans in the pot, saying, "Beans, beans." "Yes, you noticed that the name of the beans is the same as the beans in the cup." The teacher said, "Sister's name is Dou Dou, and the beans in this cup are black beans." Tutu nodded thoughtfully and then walked away.
Tutu walked up to the shelf where the water cup was placed and took out a cup. He pointed to an empty cup and said to the teacher, "No." The teacher asked Tutu, "There's no water in the cup. Do you want to drink water?" Tutu nodded while "Hmm".
How to help babies accumulate vocabulary
In the two brief scenarios mentioned above, Tutu used simple "words" and body movements to tell the teacher what he wanted to express. The teacher then used complete sentences to convey Tutu's meaning, and Tutu responded to the teacher with body language. In this process of back and forth communication, Tutu will absorb new vocabulary and word order. During the sensitive period of language, this storage will be explosively expressed at a certain stage, which we call the language explosion period. So how do we help children accumulate vocabulary during their language sensitivity period in our classroom. The following methods can also be used by parents at home:
1. For young babies, before changing their diapers, putting on clothes, and other daily care behaviors, use language to inform them. When speaking, be sure that the baby sees your mouth before doing it;
2. Speak more to your child and observe where their attention is when taking them outdoors. Parents should express what their child sees in clear and concise language;
3. When a child says a single word or phrase, parents should clearly repeat the word to the child. If the child says something wrong or has an inaccurate pronunciation, there is no need to correct it. Instead, parents should calmly repeat the correct pronunciation and phrase;
4. Give your child a choice, for example, do you want to eat "apple" or "banana"? This closed ended questioning helps to construct new vocabulary and encourages children to speak up.
5. Finally, it should be noted that adults can provide a rich language environment, but children will have their own pace of language development, and we should respect their unique growth schedule.
