Boosting language skills

Boosting Language Skills

Boosting your child's language skills can help them communicate better and boost their confidence as well. Here are two big ways to pump up your preschooler’s language skills:

Have your child learn music for at least an hour a week.

According to recent research summarized in a Guardian newspaper article of February 27, 2014, “when children start studying music before the age of seven, they develop bigger vocabularies, a better sense of grammar and a higher verbal IQ”.

The article explains that “music and language neural networks have significant overlap…children who learn music become better at learning the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of any language.”
Only one hour a week of learning music is enough for the brain to benefit according to the article
Read the entire article at: www.theguardian.com/education (“Are musicians better language learners?”).

Make today lively and low-tech.

Go for hands-on activities: face each other, not a screen. Try these activities:

At home

Make cookies together. Try a new recipe.
Make a simple craft together.
Set up a safe “obstacle” course. Are you up for crawling under the table?

In the community

Visit a farmer's market and select fruit and vegetables together
Take a class together
Visit the Telus World of Science

These activities will:

build the parent and child bond; you will be a more intuitive and natural teacher
give you naturally interesting topics to discuss
expose your child to new words and concepts