5 Tips to cultivate a language-rich environment
1. Be a positive role model for language use by speaking to your child in short sentences at eye level. Make pauses, try to use intonation and repetition to hold their attention and respond to gestures. Encourage their attempts but respond by giving them the correct structure, word order and sounds.
2. Singing songs and nursery rhymes are easy and fun ways to expose toddlers to language as it helps to develop phonological awareness, rhythm, and vocabulary. Choose songs and rhymes with repetitive verses or catchy tunes and encourage them to join in.
3. Play is essential for language development and offers endless opportunities for interactions and conversations where your toddler learns how sounds, words and conversations work. Choose age-appropriate toys and encourage your child to express themselves in pretend play scenarios. Provide props, join in, name things that are new to them, repeat those and build on existing knowledge.
4. Introduce your children to a wide range of words by labelling objects, actions, and emotions in their environment. Use descriptive language when discussing colours, shapes, sizes, and textures and encourage them to use specific words. Listen carefully, observe their body language and respond warmly so a child learns to understand and manage their emotions. It also provides an opportunity to introduce a child to the language of emotions, so they have words to describe how they feel.
5. Use everyday situations where you encourage conversations with your child. Mealtimes, grocery shopping, bedtime or bathtime could be opportunities to engage in a conversation and to practice taking turns, speaking and listening. As children learn language by hearing, it is necessary to encourage back-and- forth communication by asking open-ended questions and listening attentively to their responses.