Principles & Practices

Principle

Experimenting with the use, form, purpose, and intent of both the first and second language, leads to growth in the acquisition of the second language.

Children love to play with language. When talking to themselves and with others, they experiment with phrases and sounds. Correcting their inaccurate language practices may hamper this tendency to experiment.

Practices

• Allow “trial and error” speech. Accept mistakes in pronunciation as well as in vocabulary and grammar. Children experiment with the sounds of the language just as they do with other components.
• Serve as an English language model for all children, especially for those who are learning English as their second language. Expand the child’s utterances; repeat with correct grammar and vocabulary.
• Encourage the child and model ways to elaborate or expand his or her utterances in both the home language and English. These elaborations can happen during social and instructional conversations, reading activities, and play.
• Celebrate a child’s attempts in using a new language. Learning a new language is as difficult for a child as it is for an adult. Children need support; like adults, they do not enjoy being laughed at when they make mistakes in the new language.
• Point to objects as you name them and coordinate actions with language. Emphasize key words in sentences. Repeat important words in context.