In her article, "Helping Young Children through Daily Transitions," which forms the basis for the newest Out of the Box Training Kit by the same name, Tara Katz offers this advice about talking to children:
"In early childhood programs, we nurture the children in their first steps as social beings. We help them learn to share and take turns; use their words and not their hands; not to bite others; and that when we hurt a friend, we take care of them by letting them know we are sorry.... We teach some children how to overcome shyness and step toward friends. However, in our work there lies a temptation to talk, talk, talk. When we talk incessantly to children, we break their quiet and agitate their nervous systems. This does not mean we shouldn't talk to children, rather that we should let them talk to us....
"When we let children play with their peers in an uninterrupted way, they enter into their play with a depth that's unattainable if we are constantly asking, 'What are you doing?' and similar superficial questions. When children have an hour of unstructured play, they are naturally ready to come in and have snack, and the transition goes smoothly."
Exchange is excited to announce a new Out of the Box Training Kit, Helping Young Children through Daily Transitions, designed to help teachers facilitate transitions in their daily work with young children. Well-managed transitions can lead to a better classroom environment and reduce challenging behavior.
Out of the Box Kits enable you to run a professional development training class. Each Kit includes step-by-step instructions to prepare, conduct, and evaluate your training session. They are also flexible enough to allow you to include your own ideas and exercises to meet any special needs of your staff.
Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsNorth Easton, MA, United States
This advise is good for some children, who have rich language environments at home.. However many children, include Dual Language Learners, need to be flooded with language in context. This means talking about what you are doing, and what the child is doing so they can hear words, learn the ways we form sentences, and absorb a rich language environment.
Aor International
Dallas, TX, United States
The technique S.O.U.L. Is effective for any adult supporting young children's play. S is for silence-be silent first. O is for observe. U is for understand. And L is for language from the children. Children will talk to us first, if we let them, and then we don't interrupt their flow.
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