Home / Educators / Professional Development (3 - 5 YEARS) / Engaging Children in Meaningful Conversation
- Introduction
- Build In Opportunities to Talk
- Model Conversation
- Use Complex Language and Vocabulary
- Try It
- Wrap Up
- Standards
- academic language: the language of instruction—specific words children learn related to subjects such as math, science, art, and so on.
- language/linguistic development: the process of developing language skills to understand when others speak (or use sign language) and to speak (or sign) and engage in conversation
- open-ended questions: questions that require critical thinking, invite opinion or explanation, and have the potential to result in a multipl-word answers
Try It
It’s time to practice what you’ve learned. In this activity, you’ll apply the strategies and techniques you’ve learned to your program’s learning environment.
Book Talk
Download and print the Book Talk (PDF). Read a short read-aloud book and think about how you will use it in a book talk with children.
- What concepts do you want children to learn from the book experience?
- What words will you define or ask children to define?
- What open-ended questions will you ask while reading aloud?
- How will you build on children’s own experiences to help them enjoy and relate to the text?