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Understanding the Language Environment Series: Part 3July 18, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments

The sequence of the Language Environment begins with the development of the child’s oral communication, this is why it begins with the Nomenclature lessons and Picture Story. These lessons help the child build confidence in speaking. Some of the Language Area aims are to increase vocabulary, help auditory discrimination, and develop left to right movement. This is done through Oral Language with lessons that increase vocabulary such as Classified Cards, Classification: Go Together, Vocabulary Enrichment Cards, etc. Then the child is introduced to Sounds and Symbols. These lessons teach the child to identify the sounds each letter makes. Exploration of Sounds and Symbols starts with the ‘I Spy’ Games. This activity helps the child develop his auditory skills, to be acquainted with the concept of words to understand that sounds have an order in words, and to hear sounds in isolation.

The child is also given lessons in the Key Sounds, Sandpaper Letters and the Movable Alphabet which then continue into Writing to Communicate. The Sandpaper Letters and Movable Alphabet prepare the child for writing and reading, to build words phonetically, and to associate sounds to symbols. After working with the Sandpaper Letters and the Movable Alphabet, the Object Game is used to introduce Reading. Reading includes Activity Cards, Long Word Lists, Secret Boxes, Sentence Picture Matching, Small Sentence Booklet, etc. Once the child is reading fluently he is introduced to the Reading Folders. The Reading Folders are a set of folders that include long vowel sounds. Then the child begins to work with the Function of Words. Here the child learns to classify words as a noun, verb, article, conjunction, preposition, etc.

The Language activities all are to help the child build his vocabulary and to communicate better with other individuals. Language is the most critical area of the classroom because it is here that the child learns to manipulate words in different ways. He also learns to communicate more efficiently with others. Only through verbal communication will the world ever have peace. Language encourages children to use verbal expression to have others understand them. Language is a universal way of human communication. The world may have many languages but we can all come together and learn to understand each other.