Let’s Get Talking!

July 6, 2023 8:16 am

With the introduction of the revised EYFS in 2021 came a stronger focus on communication and language development.  As a prime area, it underpins development in all other aspects of learning. Promoting opportunities for talk is important as the most fundamental life skill for children is the ability to communicate. It directly impacts their ability to learn, to develop friendships, and on their life chances’ (Bercow, 2018).  It’s also a way for children to communicate their feelings and therefore support emotional regulation and help them make sense of their experiences.

Nurturing talk in the Early Years stems from quality relationships between children and educators, starting with the key person approach.  This enables strong attachments to be formed whereby the child feels safe, secure, and comfortable and the educator knows them well enough to support learning and development.  The key person will know the child’s strengths, preferences, interests, characteristics of effective learning and how best to promote their talk.  Through sensitive, playful interactions, children can be exposed to new vocabulary and situations where they are able to practise their talking skills with adults and peers.  It’s also important to stand back and observe, watching how children engage with others as this helps us build a picture of their overall development. Not only that, but it’s a useful way to reflect on how the children are interacting with the environment.  From this, educators can consider ways to enhance the resources and provision to incorporate more opportunities to encourage talk.

Children need us to facilitate an environment whereby they are inspired to talk but what does this actually look like in practice? The most important resource in the environment are the educators who will model talk through narrating play experiences, reading, singing, role play, and engaging in sustained shared thinking.  Educators will allow time for children to process information and think before expecting a response.  They will be play partners, getting down to the child’s level, making eye contact, and showing they are actively listening, and being responsive to the child’s talk or actions. However, this does not mean taking over the child’s play, jumping in when we see an opportunity for a child to achieve a learning outcome as this will mean the child loses interest and will disengage. Effective support to encourage talk requires educators to engage in continuous professional development.  This could mean certified courses, such as through Elklan, or even reading books, blogs or webinars. These are ways of understanding the stages children go through as they develop language, reflecting on effective provision, and being able to identify when children require intervention.

Serve and return conversations are vital for children to develop an understanding of how turn-taking in talk works.  We can model this through meaningful play opportunities within the setting.  An environment needs to be inspiring, with plenty to promote conversations and interest.  It is important to note here that a language-rich environment is very different from a print-rich environment.  Rather than sticking labels and posters everywhere with the aim of promoting language, instead, the focus should be on exposing children to talk throughout our everyday practice and provision.

Some ideas include:

• Books throughout the provision rather than a specific ‘book corner’.
• Quiet nooks and corners where children can retreat to talk or engage in play.
• Monitor noise levels and avoid background distractions such as radio or staff talking during group times.
• Plenty of open-ended play opportunities, indoors and outdoors.
• Ensuring the resources and space represents all children within it.
• Talk can be scaffolded through the resources and displays within the space.
• Setting up the environment to include children’s interests and inspire awe and wonder.
• Opportunities for children to investigate, explore and be curious.
• Make time to get out of the setting on walks around the local neighbourhood to enable children to experience different environments.
• Playing with words and sounds.

Settings need to start with a universal approach which sees all children supported with their communication skills, regardless of their level of development.  Then, educators can consider the stages of children’s talk as, for some children, a more targeted approach may be necessary.  This can be determined from observations, time spent with the child and discussions with parents and carers.  Others could need specialist support requiring referrals to be made.  When we are considering children’s development, we need to remember that not all children join a setting at the same starting point.  Their experiences, knowledge and skills will vary across the cohort and therefore it is important to meet children where they are.

Some children will not speak English as their first language and in this case, we need to be supporting the home language as well as introducing opportunities to learn English. By liaising with the family, we can ascertain the child’s level of talking and understanding so our interactions can be tailored to their development.  Children with English as a second language require us to be good role models, repeating back words and phrases, using photo prompts and respecting the child’s attempts at talking.

Developing relationships with families is an important step in supporting children’s early communication development.  When we involve families in their child’s time at the setting, it provides a starting point for conversation. To achieve this, we need to consider the ways we are communicating with families.  Newsletters can keep parents and carers informed of some of the activities or learning taking place within the setting, including ideas for activities at home.  This can also be achieved through e-learning journeys where information can be shared through a two-way process.  A benefit of this lies in the sharing of photos which can be a prompt for conversation.It’s also a good idea to share book recommendations, signpost families to support services, and offer advice on factors such as screen time and dummy use.

Finally, we need to make talking fun! Language development can be complex but for educators, it can be incredibly rewarding to support children’s talk, whatever stage they are at.  It is our interactions with children that nurture this early learning which is so crucial to later educational outcomes.

We have a brilliant guidance book to help practitioners encourage early language development, extending their vocabulary and helping them build sentences so they are confident and skilled comunicators when they start school.

References:
http://www.bercow10yearson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/337644-ICAN-Bercow-Report-WEB.pdf

Sources of support:
https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/communication-and-language/exploring-language

https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/talking-point/parents/ages-and-stages/

https://www.icancharity.org.uk/