How do parents create opportunities for your child to talk?

A child's oral language skills are best indicator of how well they will develop literacy skills in the future. Oral language is the foundation for all literacy. Before your child learns to read and write they must have first developed strong oral language skills.

There are 2 types of oral language skills:

• Receptive (Listening)
• Expressive (Speaking)

World Leading Literacy Expert Marie Clay (2000) considered that a child's literacy education began with listening and speaking, then moved to reading and writing. In general, talkative children who have a wide vocabulary become successful readers and writers.

So, how do parents create opportunities for your child to talk?

There are a wide variety of settings:

• Home
• School
• Social gathering
• Enrichment classes
• On your way to school (driving/walking)
• Outings (parks, gardens)

Topics to cover

• The view (eg vibrant flowers, the swaying trees). Outings in a park.
• The feelings (dog-tired, on cloud nine). On the way home back from school

Role Play

• Magic show. Ask him to put up a magic show and explain the steps involved (plenty of magic books in the library)
• Cooking. Pretend that he is a cooking teacher and explain how to cook (recipe book comes in handy)
• Broadcaster. Give him a simple newspaper article and a toy microphone