Babies will use eye contact and gazing to invite others to respond and share an intimate word with them. Later on they will smile, coo and invent intriguing bubbling raspberry sounds as they exercise the parts of their mouth, throat and lungs that are needed for talking.
When babies sit up they begin to use other 'tools' for talking, a favorite one being the passing game. The baby hands us a toy, spoon or piece of food and then we have to give it back. This becomes a game or a conversation without words and enables them to lead the fun and have 'control' of the adult.
Then there is pointing, the inquisitive finger that points at everything, wanting to know more and indicating what fascinates and interests the child. This valuable pointing finger becomes part of children's repertoire of language, along with plenty of repetition and copying to enable them to find out about their environment and what is happening around them. Babies are social beings; they want to communicate and they will find ways to do that.
The conversations that children start are usually the ones that will develop into powerful learning experiences for both themselves and adults who participate.
Research has shown that children will initiate rich conversations in their play which provoke a great number of opportunities for thinking and learning, especially if these are supported by an interested and sensitive adult.
Through these types of conversation children build or construct their knowledge with an adult or another child. This is called sustained shared thinking, where joint conversations are a mix of social interaction and 'cognitive challenge' and the child, who is supported by the other person in the conversation, gradually extends their thinking.
Asking the right questions Very often we can cut off a conversation with children by asking too many questions - usually ones that we know the answers to and which are not 'cognitively challenging'. Our questions are often framed around an excess of learning outcomes rather than questions which provoke children's thinking and send them into the realms of deeper understanding.
So, what kind of questions should adults ask young children? Bearing in mind that children's questions tend to be much more interesting than ours, the best way forward is to listen to them and frame our questions in the same way. A good start is 'why?'. Why do you think that happened? Why is it flying away?
Questions should be framed carefully to avoid over-questioning and to ensure that we challenge children's thinking and develop their understanding, for example, 'How can we...?', 'Can you find a way to...?'
and, 'How does this work...?'
When asking questions, consider:
* Do your questions stimulate the children's thinking?
* Are they at the right level for the children to understand (not too hard but not too easy)?
* Do they challenge and extend the children's thinking?
* Are they interesting and exciting?
* Are they meaningful to the children and based on the context that the children are in?
* Do you respect the child as a learner, or are you simply asking questions that have an obvious answer? (for example, what colour is this?)
* Do you listen carefully to the children's answers?
Remember too that if you ask too many questions, the children can:
* become confused
* feel that they are being tested
* be worried that they will give the wrong answer (which will affect their confidence and well-being)
* feel under pressure
* stop being inquisitive and curious and lose their innate need to ask questions
* stop doing their own thinking
* become bored.
Creating a conversational environment Creating an environment for talking does not require a massive amount of equipment or expensive toys. The best talk arises spontaneously from the child and what interests them. What we need to ensure is that children regularly engage in chatter and conversations, and have opportunities to extend and develop their language, in which case the most crucial resources are the adults and other children. Here are some ideas: Play Stimulating play activities promote thoughtful and complex conversational language. Often it is the simple, open-ended imaginative play materials, like curtains and fabrics, stones and logs, baskets and pots and pans, which create opportunities for talk. Open-ended materials allow children to turn them into anything they wish. Conversation is required to invent, negotiate and decide what they are going to be. The pre-formed, usually plastic, kitchen, workbench or playhouses do not have such open-ended possibilities and can stifle children's imaginative language and play. They frequently end up playing with the cardboard box it came in!
Cardboard boxes This seems obvious, but children will play and chatter for long periods of time with cardboard boxes. The imaginative possibilities are endless and talk is essential to communicate ideas. Bring in some large cardboard boxes, stand back and observe, record the children's language and use this to plan 'what next'.
Being outdoors Children tend to talk more readily and freely when they are outside - another important reason to make sure that you provide regular opportunities for outdoor play. Conversations are informal and frequently follow the children's ideas and thinking. Join in the children's conversations as an equal participant and follow their lead, become part of their imaginative games building dens, hiding and finding, being pirates and explorers. Such open-ended activities lead to imaginative conversational language and sustained shared thinking.
Time and space to talk If we want children to be confident and creative conversationalists, we need to give them some 'slow time' in which to develop this skill. Children should not be hurried, especially when they are thinking. It is through talk that we confirm and clarify our ideas and reflect upon what we have learned. Children also need time for this. They use their talk to think out loud and we have to listen, record it for important information about what they know, then support and extend their thinking.
Provocations Provoking conversations can be an exciting way to stimulate children's imaginative conversations and involve them in some tough problem-solving. A provocation is something that the adult plans to puzzle the children, for example, leaving a cardboard box and coloured fabric on a carpet or hiding a bear up a tree. They will be naturally curious and motivated to explore and engage in excited conversations stemming from this puzzle.
Mirrors To become a confident conversationalist, we have to be confident in ourselves and have a positive self-image. In Reggio Emilia philosophy, the view is that to know ourselves, we need to see ourselves, making mirrors an essential resource. Mirrors can stimulate and extend children's talk. For younger children, mirrors are the first and foremost way of finding out who they are and how they look and sound.
Playing with sounds and language Using songs, rhymes, stories and poems regularly within a cosy, relaxed environment is one of the best ways to model, develop and join in with children's chat. Simply making up sounds and playing with words can show that language is fun. If children are in a language-rich environment with adults who listen and respect their contributions, children will talk and talk. We need to remember Malaguzzi's metaphor and be an equal partner in the conversation.