The Play by Play

In the language modeling section of the CLASS assessment, there is an element called “Use Self and Parallel Talk”

This is kind of like doing a play by play of your, and the children’s, actions. 

I witnessed this just the other day when doing an observation.  A toddler arrived with mom.  The child care provider scooped him up with a hug.  After saying goodbye to mom, the provider sat in a chair with the child on his lap to get him ready to play.

“I’m going to take your coat off now, so you won’t get too warm.  Now let’s take off your shoes and socks, because I know mommy likes you to have your socks off while you are inside.”

From the CLASS dimensions guide:
Talk about what you are doing or what the children are doing to help them link language and action in a way that can help them develop their vocabulary and language skills.

An example of parallel talk (mapping the child’s actions to language):  “You put on a chef’s hat and an apron, now you are getting out a pot.”


An article from Education.com about the importance of exposing young children to language describes this play by play from parents:   http://www.education.com/magazine/article/30000_words/

What they found is startling. Sure, quality matters when it comes to verbal interaction between parent and child, but it turns out, so does quantity. Their research, published in the benchmark book, Meaningful Differences, shows a direct link between a child’s academic performance in third grade, and the amount of words spoken in their home from birth to age three.

Parents that reached or exceeded the 30,000 words a day tended to narrate what they were doing, or chatter at their kids. All the kids, whether their parents were talkative or not, heard language. But by age three, the differences in how many words each child heard was significant: some children had heard over 11 million words per year; others only 3 million.

Try it.  Be a play by play announcer today and expose the children to language!