There are various ways in which you can help enrich your child’s linguistic experience.

From an early age, children should hear daily news at home. Nursery rhymes, fairy stories, religious stories and folk tales all provide food for linguistic intelligence.

It is important not only to speak to your child, but also to speak in sentences as often as you can.

 

       

 

 

 

         

There is no more important activity than having a sustained conversation with your child. Such conversations, tuned to what interests your child, are essential for his intellectual growth. This means more than giving him one or two words answers that are all some children hear from their parents, as in the following:

Child: I’m going to play with my toys.

Adult: OK, dear.

Child: And I’m going to do my painting.

Adult: Good idea.

Child: And I’m going to kill myself.

Adult: All right, dear.

On the other hand, it is easy for adults to dominate the conversation with children. What children need is time to think, time to work out what to say and time to ask their own questions- not to be bombarded all the time with questions form adults.

 

Remember! A bright child is a thinking child!

The key idea is to encourage the child to ‘stop and think’. This means not hurrying her for and answer, or saying or doing the first thing you or she thinks of, but giving her time to think and talk it through herself.

-         Children who show good progress in reading have parents who read to them at least sixty minutes a week, in short, regular sessions, for example for about ten minutes, six times a week.

-         Don’t be afraid to buy books you think she will like, even if she cannot read them.

-         Young children should hear nursery rhymes some time every week. Buy your child some good poetry books and try to encourage her to memorise and say her favourite poems and rhymes. Also share some non-fiction books that interest your child- boys often prefer these.