Early Language Development and Primary Languages

1. Early Language Development and Primary Languages What are the links? How can we use them to support children?

2. Aims: to identify ways in which MFL will support literacy development • MFL, a mirror of first language acquisition • The National Literacy Trust • The seven foundations of literacy, vital to a child’s linguistic development • Many MFL activities address one or more of these seven elements and will develop a child’s Language Learning Skills

3. The Seven Foundations for Literacy • Learning to listen • Time to talk • Music, movement and memory • Story time • Learning about print • Tuning into sound • Moving into writing

4. Learning to listen • Discrimination of foreground sounds against background noise • Discrimination of a widening range of sounds • Developing aural attention span • Social listening skills, including making eye contact and attending to the speaker • Mental imaging • Development of auditory memory

5. Time to talk • Compensation for language delay, including expansion and ‘pole-bridging’ talk • Social speech skills, including awareness of audience and turn-taking • Vocabulary development • Imitation of an innovation upon sentence structures • Development of language to explain, explore, plan, predict, recall, report and analyse

6. Music, movement and memory • Development of rhythm, beginning with the ability to hold a steady beat • Speech and listening skills as above, especially articulation and voice control, turn taking, singing in time with others and development of auditory memory • Physical coordination and motor control • Left-right brain interaction

7. Story time • Speech and listening skills as above, especially social skills and development of auditory memory • Familiarity with written language patterns, story grammar and prediction skills

8. Learning about print • Awareness of the nature and functions of print • Knowledge of the alphabet letters • Concepts about reading and writing • Emergent reading and writing • Knowledge of essential sight words

9. Tuning into sound • Listening skills and general language awareness • Awareness of rhyme, rhythm and alliteration (phonological awareness) • Phonemic awareness, including blending and segmenting • Phonic knowledge, including the alphabet code

10. Moving into writing • All the above skills and knowledge • Refinement of motor control from large scale to fine control and hand-eye coordination • Basic letter shape formation • Development of the finger muscles • Pencil grip and control

11. Activity – story telling • Look at the 7 foundations. In your group: what strategies do young children and parents employ in story telling sessions in the firts language? • Video: Joining in Story http://www.primarylanguages.org.uk/training_zone/teachers/active_learning/story_telling/joining_in_story.aspx • Strategies used by the teacher to engage the children. • All strategies mentioned are part of a primary teacher’s repertoire.

12. Some websites for story telling