Talking Top Tips #2!

Date: 1st Nov 2021 @ 1:27pm

Hello all! We hope you had a wonderful, restful and fun half-term break. I would like to introduce the second instalment of our blog series to help to support your child with their speaking and listening skills. This week’s TOP TIP is all about building vocabulary.

Vocabulary is key. Learning and remember new words is tricky but incredibly important. Your child should know around 1000 words by the time they are 4 years old. Your child will use these words to communicate to you what they need, explain their feelings or ask questions to deepen their knowledge. The process of building up a language or lexicon continues throughout childhood and beyond with the average adult using between 20,000 and 35,000 words!

To successfully build vocabulary your child will need to hear words repeated many, many times. Practice makes perfect! The more often a child hears a word used in the correct context, the more likely it is that they will then be able to understand and use this word themselves.

If you are walking to school with your child on a cold winter’s morning, try introducing new vocabulary! You could describe the weather (drizzling, freezing, crisp, bitter..) You could name things you see along the way (post box, van, seagulls…)

Another great way to build vocabulary is to ‘add one word’. When your child uses a word (such as asking for a tangerine) you repeat the word back to them with the addition of another word (you would like a juicy tangerine). This way of teaching language helps children to retain the word as you anchor it to a word they are already confident using.

Give one of these strategies a try this week! Do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

Miss Wilkinson.