10 Activities Parents and Teachers Can Do

1. Keep the focus on language skills throughout the day, even when working on "other" curriculum areas.  For example, create a "science corner" in the classroom stocked with an old typewriter, doorknobs, zippers, or other interesting contraptions.  Arrange for small groups of children (no more than four at once) to spend 10 to 15 minutes there with a teacher.  Encourage the children to explain how the devices work; encourage sharing of explanations in small groups.
   
2. Arrange meal or snack times so that small groups of children eat with an adult.   Let the children choose the topics of conversation: encourage talk about personal experiences; encourage "curiosity questions," such as what the food is made of, how it's good for the body, etc.
   
3. Create a "Personal Experiences" center in the classroom, where young children can talk with teachers about events in their lives while the teachers listen, prompt discussion, and record the experiences.
   
4. Put books at the center of language enhancement.  Read to children, and encourage them to read their favorite books with you.  Make time to read to children individually or in small groups.  Let children ask questions during reading sessions. Encourage children to reread familiar stories, and push for deeper understanding.   Provide books on tape that children can play while looking at the books.   Encourage children to record tapes of their favorite stories.  At home, parents can read an adult-level science magazine together with their children.
   
5. Lend copies of books to families.  Tell parents what the children are learning in school, and suggest ways to address the same concepts at home.  Parents should tell teachers what they are reading with their children at home.
   
6. Tell children personal stories.  Talk to them about things that interest you.   Acknowledge uncertainty about some things, and show children how to find answers to your questions.
   
7. When talking with children, support their efforts to communicate complex thoughts by waiting patiently, suggesting words as needed.  Let them control the subjects of conversation, when possible, and encourage their efforts to use new words and describe complex or distant topics.
   
8. Encourage pretending among children.  Make sure children have long periods of time to let complex pretend play develop.  Encourage pretending about familiar settings, such as restaurants and grocery store.  Provide props that link to play to ongoing curriculum units or favorite books.  Change props from time to time to keep interest high.
   
9. Make time for rich conversation with children.  Turn off the TV and use the time to talk, or at least watch TV together and then talk about what you watch.  Turn off the car radio and talk while you drive together.  Set aside a regular "talk time" during which adults and children share news for five to ten minutes and no other activity is preformed.
   
10. Take children to interesting places.  Every field trip or new experience has its own vocabulary.  Expose children to new places, people, and concepts in ways that permit on-on-one conversations with adults.  Encourage children to describe what they see, draw inferences, and predict outcomes.

Leon Lynn       
               The Harvard Education Letter       
Volume XIII, Number 4