ESF Educational Services Parent Workshops

1. ESF Educational ServicesParent Workshops 7:00 to 8:30 pmSupporting English at Home Parents as Learning Partners

2. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners Agenda • Meet and greet • Welcome and introductions • Overview of workshop for this evening • Guided group discussion • Tips and advice for supporting English at home • Question and answer session

3. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners Presenters • Lisa Byrne, Acting Head of Languages • Emma Dorrell, Senior Teacher for Primary

4. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners An Overview • Early Years Child Development • The Importance of Play • Reading Readiness and beyond • Computers @ Home

5. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners Guided Discussion… In groups discuss the following questions: • How often do you speak English at home with your child? • What can parents do as learning partners to support their children at home? • What are your concerns regarding supporting English at home?

6. Child Development & Language Acquisition Four main stages of language development: • Understanding • Expression • Speech • Social

7. Child Development & Language Acquisition • Stage I: Pre-production (e.g. gestures and mimes) • Stage II: Early production (e.g. 1 or 2 word phrases) • Stage III: Speech emergence (e.g. simple sentences) • Stage IV: Intermediate fluency (e.g. complex sentences) • Stage V: Advanced Fluency (e.g. near native ability)

8. Theory + Reality • How can you use the theory to support children in learning a language at home? Some questions to think about? • When is it best to introduce a new language? • How can you introduce a new language at home?

9. Introducing Parentese… • Parentese’ is a form of talking that tunes into and adjusts to a young child’s language, providing dialogue with the child and bringing them to their next level of competence.

10. Parentese • Parentesehelps babies learn a first language. How? • The elongated vowels, high pitch, exaggerated facial expressions and short, simple sentences help infants learn language. “Who’s my li-i-ttlebaybee? Are you my littleebaybee? Yes, yoo are!” • Babies brains are “mapping” the sounds they hear and talking in this way gets their attention. • This same repetition of short simple sentences, spoken slowly whilst pitched for older children can help them learn a second language.

11. Parentese in action… • Repetition of target vocabulary (colours) • Providing example sentence structures • Correction of pronunciation • Moving from ‘I’ to ‘We’ • Praise and encouragement • Extension – using opportunities to develop the dialogue

12. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners Play and Your child… In groups discuss the following questions: • How old is your child? • What types of play does your child engage in? • How often does your child play? • Who does your child play with? • Does your child have a favourite ‘play’ activity.

13. The Importance of Play • Play can be an ideal vehicle for language acquisitionfor a number of reasons (Sachs, 1984): • We know that children learn through play • Play is an integral part of a child’s development • We know that play involves social interaction and that through interaction children learn • Through play, children learn to explorethe world around them, develop and practice skills they will use throughout their lives.

14. Different Types of Play There are lots of different types of play that children can explore

15. How does play relate to learning a language? • Learning a language does not have to be approached in isolation. • Whenever we are learning we need to be motivated and stimulated – play allows us to achieve this

16. The role of the parent in facilitating play & language development • Create meaningful and interesting contexts for your children: • Join in during play time and talk through your child’s play • Encourage social interaction with others

17. How can adults support play? It is useful to consider the question: ‘What do children need in order to play?’ • A welcoming play environment where choices can be made • A choice and variety of activities • A variety of play materials • Play companions - both children & adults

18. Play at Work Let’s look at the language you can facilitate from playing with blocks. e.g. building a tower Speech opportunities: • Adjectives – big, tall, small, blue etc.. • Comparatives – bigger, smaller, higher etc.. • Numbers – 1,2,3 or 1st tower, 2nd tower etc.. • Verbs – fall down, build up, stack, • Prepositions – on-top, below, next to, beside, under etc. Social Skills: • Turn taking, sharing, listening & observing

19. Practical Tips • Use key prompts “Do you want to play?” “Let’s play” • Set aside regular short 1 to 1 English moments when you use only English • Use language children can 'recycle' through their own spontaneous play • Count down to English time, e.g. Let’s have English timein 5 minutes! • Use Parentese (Simple Baby Language) • Let children choose what they would like to play with

20. Activities to try….

21. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners Preparing your child for reading readiness: • Reading readiness is preparation done in order to support the journey of reading • It includes pre-reading, emergent literacy and early literacy • Reading readiness is the point where children are ready to learn how to read

22. Reading Readiness Some practical tips • Read his or her name • Recite/ Sing the alphabet • Recognize some or all of the letters in the alphabet • Match letters with their correct sound • Make rhymes • Hold a book right side up with the spine on the left, front cover showing • Recognize the text is left to right, top to bottom • Encourage children to echo a simple text • Recognize that text holds meaning • Re-tell a favorite story

23. Reading Readiness at Home… • Use learn-through-play to promote reading readiness. • Get the most out of reading a book out loud with your child. Point to the words and pictures. • Integrate early literacy activities throughout your day without stress, fuss, or pushing your child. • Prepare your child to read any time, anywhere – the supermarket, restaurants, on your way to school etc..

24. Supporting English at HomeParents as Learning Partners Computers @ Home • Research suggests that out of school access to computers can contribute to the improvement of children’s education. In particular, a study conducted by Kidsmart and IBM found: “Non-English speaking children have increased their vocabulary and learnt to speak English better.” • Two notable findings from a 2012 study by Intel found: • Students are more engaged and able to develop 21st century skills 2) Family interaction and parental involvement may increase.

25. Computers @ Home Why is it good for children? • It has been widely documented that play is at the centre of young children’s learning – computers can offer such opportunities. • Computers can enhance a child’s motivation, allowing him/her to reach own level of learning by exploring different levels at own pace.

26. Computers @ Home How can parents help? • Communicate: Ask children what they are doing and look for opportunities away from the computer to consolidate their learning. (e.g. shape of real objects) • Mastery: Don’t worry if your child is repeating levels but if they seem bored or not challenged enough, then suggest a new game or level. • Ownership: Allow students to be the decision makers during the games as they will be more motivated to succeed.

27. Computers @ Home Useful websites: • www.kidsmartearlylearning.orgeverything you need to use computers at home • http://www.sparkisland.com/web/open/login.aspx • www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/childrens_learning.shtml • http://www.sillybooks.net/

28. Applications • http://iphone.appstorm.net/roundups/50-learning-apps-for-kids/ This site has a list of 50 super apps to help aid your child’s learning in many school subjects. • https://itunes.apple.com/hk/genre/ios-education/id6017?mt=8 Look at the education section of I-tunes • In google, there is an ‘application’ option

29. To sum up…. • There are many different ways to support language learning at home • As parents your goal is to: • nurture language learning • motivate and inspire your child • create an environment for your child to flourish!

30. Q & A

31. Don’t’ forget to pick up your free copy of the Parents’ Handbook:“Parents as Learning PartnersArticles of interest and practical support”