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Although typical preschool children already know a lot about language, there are still many new words and many new meanings of familiar words for them to learn. There is also much to learn about how to create and understand more complex sentences. Children acquire language through extensive exposure to good models of language use, but they also need a lot of practice in using language themselves. Let’s look at what you can do in your preschool classroom to stimulate and support language growth.

Talk with Children

	Standard: IV.E.1 - Uses language to express needs and feelings, share experiences, predict outcomes, and resolve problems Standard: IV.E.2 - Initiates, asks questions, and responds to adults and peers in a variety of settings Standard: IV.E.3 - Uses appropriate language and style for context

One of the most important ways you can enhance your students’ language development is to talk with them—a lot. Children learn by listening to others and by expressing themselves. Children who have many conversations with adults learn more words and are better at putting words together in grammatically correct ways. These abilities have a tremendous influence on their later achievement in school.

Try to sit and talk with every child at least once or twice every day. One-on-one conversations are critical to supporting language development. Conversations provide an opportunity for individual children to have several turns to talk. Make it your goal to spend several minutes talking individually with each child in your class informally every day. While this may seem overwhelming, it can be done. Keep a checklist of your students handy. Plan for time to talk with them. You can find time to talk with your students throughout the school day: as they come in each morning, during breakfast or lunch, on the playground, during centers or snack time, and in small group activities. Remember: you need to sit, talk and stay awhile, not cruise around the room.

There are many ways you can encourage children to talk more when you sit and stay. One of the most effective ways is simply showing a genuine interest in what they have to say. More specifically, if you listen carefully to what a child says and then expand on what he says, you just might be surprised at what he has to offer. Here are some tips for making this happen.

Comment and Wait

First, comment on what child is doing and then wait. When you follow the child’s lead and wait for his/her response, you are encouraging the child to use language. For example, if a child is building roads in the block center, you might walk up and comment, “These are some interesting roads,” then pause and wait for the child to respond to your comment.