como usamos el libro con nuestro nombre

Anteriormente: como hacer el libro con nuestro nombre



Seguimos aprendiendo con nuestro libro. En esta ocasion mostramos como podemos ampliar nuestro vocabulario con el uso de letras para aprender a leer y escribir.



Elegimos una imagen y vamos separando los sonidos, uno a uno. Por ejemplo, en el video tenemos "jabon" y a partir de ahi vamos sacando en primer lugar los sonidos para poder elegir las letras.



J

A

B

O

N



Cuando las tenemos todas en orden: J A B O N, ya podemos ayudarles a leer la palabra, primero por silabas, luego la palabra completa.



Para terminar podemos escribir la palabra de la imagen, podemos usar lapices, colores, marcadores,... incluso la pueden decorar a su gusto, si lo desean.



Cuando las tengamos todas podremos pasar a la siguiente actividad. Cuantas tienes ya escritas?

Look, but don´t touch! ...Really?

Why to kill the curiosity in Early Childhood?

Exploring and experimenting are key in our first years of life. Our own nature pushes us to learn by seeing, touching, smelling, listening, tasting,... all our senses are needed in this process.

Everyday in my classroom I can see my students enjoying with the hands-on activities, the materials in the workstations,... They always approach the stations of learning and attracted by the materials begin to use them and admired make comments to others. These experiences are precious since they develop many skills as cognitive, communicative, social,... It´s sad when sometimes we hear just at this moment the voice of the teacher/parents/legal guardian to keep silent and to make a line, indicating "it is not worth touching, just seeing".

Many theories of learning tells us that the child's learning in our early years has to do with our thinking levels; it is necessary to keep in mind the object and not only to observe it but to interact with it if we want them to question, reflect, imagine, generate ideas,... The object, by itself in front of the person who learns about it, does not serve as mediator of learning, it is not through a merely contemplative act (visual) as knowledge is constructed, that is, the object is an instrument whose function is to trigger cognitive development. (see my post about Bloom´s Taxonomy)

The first impulse of children when they are in front of an object is to touch it and ask. These are opportunities to foster the intellectual curiosity that surely leads to cognitive development. Touching the object is synonymous with questioning about it. For this reason, the adult must be close to them to answer their questions, to ask them questions, to explain its characteristics.  The role of the teachers (and educators/parents/legal guardians) is to solve the doubts of children, trying to offer real explanations that stimulate their curiosity and cognitive processes.

Learning from the use of objects (Vigotsky, 2000)

Parents/legal guardians/educators should invite children to manipulate the objects and ask him interesting questions that awake their interest and stimulate their expression (communicative skills), reflection and analysis (thinking levels).

In fact there are those researchers who affirm that intelligence is measured by the use of instruments to solve problems, based on the Latin origin of the word: 

inteligere, composed of intus (between) and legere (choose); 

so we can deduce that being smart is knowing how to choose the best option among those given to solve a problem

When children look at an object they immediately have the desire to understand it, and manipulating it is the best way to do it. The work in the classroom must include the contents within natural situations making connections with situations of real life and this implies the interaction of the children with real objects.

To prevent children from mistreating objects, we are only showing our dark side of the teaching. If it is a very delicate or dangerous object for the child, we must help him with care to touch him and explain the reasons for it.

Interact with the reality is the basis of learning, questioning reality and recreating it to understand it is the body, develop cognitive processes and generate knowledge is its maximum expression. Even adults need to touch objects, for example: to show us a shirt  is not enough to tell us it is cotton, we immediately touch it. To ask toddlers/young children not to touch and only observe is to attempt against their nature and their right to learn. 

Reading before bedtime

What to do after holidays to have our routines back?

After our winter break we need to come back to our habits and daily lives. 

Sometimes, the time to go to bed becomes a real nightmare, especially with the little ones. After a story, they want another and another... The stories are specially designed to make our children yawn and get them to sleep or to close their eyes while we read before bedtime. Here you have a small selection of perfect books to read at the end of the day that will surely help you in this arduous task. The selection of the books are proposed in the article 10 cuentos infalibles para ir a dormir (free and non-commercial translation of some parts)

Some of the stories are played by animals and others by children, some are realistic and others more fantastic, some are longer and others are shorter ... but they are all about emotions (sadness, optimism, hatred, the surprise, the calm, the boredom ...), to help the children to know their feelings and manage them.

Cuentos para ir a dormir para niños

A todos los niños y niñas les gusta escuchar cuentos antes de dormir y más cuando los personajes viven aventuras en barcos o en magníficos castillos llenos de princesas.

All children like to listen to stories before they sleep and more when the characters live adventures on boats or in magnificent castles full of princesses.

Un beso antes de dormir

Todos los bebés animales besan a su madre antes de dormir. Un libro de cartón con tiernas ilustraciones para leer a tu hijo antes de ir a dormir.

All animal babies kiss their mother before sleeping. A cardboard book with cute illustrations to read to your child before going to sleep.

El libro de las buenas noches

Un libro increible para ir a dormir en el que se cuenta al niño cómo duermen diferentes animales.

An amazing book to go to sleep in which the child is told how different animals sleep.

Cómo dormir a tu león

Seguro que a tu león le ocurre lo mismo que a Leoncete: por muy cansado que esté, ¡nunca quiere irse a la cama! No te preocupes, Guille sabe bien cómo hacerlo. ¡Abre este libro y descúbrelo!

Surely your lion is the same as Leoncete: no matter how tired he is, he never wants to go to bed! Do not worry, Guille knows how to do it. Open this book and find out!

Todos bostezan

¡Un libro ideal para los niños que se resisten a irse a dormir! Cada doble página presenta a un animal que, bostezando, nos muestra su enorme boca mediante un mecanismo de solapa, hasta que al final… ¡todos duermen! Un libro de compañía para compartir con tu hijo el momento mágico de irse a dormir.

An ideal book for children who are reluctant to go to sleep! Each double page presents an animal that, yawning, shows its huge mouth through a flap mechanism, until in the end?? everyone is sleeping! 

A companion book to share with your child before the magical moment of going to sleep.

El conejito que quiere dormirse

El cuento de El conejito que quiere dormirse es un nuevo método para que los niños se duerman. Traducido a varias lenguas, este libro revolucionario ha ayudado a miles de padres en todo el mundo a conseguir que sus hijos concilien el sueño gracias a las innovadoras técnicas psicológicas que aparecen a lo largo de la historia.

Escrito en un lenguaje sencillo, este libro logra que los niños se relajen y se queden dormidos antes incluso de que termine el cuento.

Y si quieres más, conoce el nuevo libro de Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin La elefantita que quiere dormirse

The story of The Bunny that wants to fall asleep is a new method for children to fall asleep. Translated into several languages, this revolutionary book has helped thousands of parents around the world to get their children to sleep thanks to the innovative psychological techniques that appear throughout history.

Written in simple language, this book makes children relax and fall asleep before the story ends.

And if you want more, know the new book by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin The little elephant who wants to fall asleep.

Cuentos bonitos para quedarse fritos

Cuentos bonitos para quedarse fritos es un divertido libro recopilatorio de cuentos que llega para hacer frente a la insistente petición de todos los niños que quieren un cuento antes de acostarse (¡y sobre todo a la de los padres que quieren que sus hijos se duerman pronto!).

Beautiful stories to stay fried is a fun storybook compilation that comes to face the insistent request of all children who want a story before bed (and especially to parents who want their children to fall asleep soon !).

Mi Camita

Mi Camita es un álbum ilustrado que también puede servir de apoyo para vencer o superar otros miedos infantiles, como el miedo a los malos sueños, el miedo a la noche o el miedo a la oscuridad.

Este es un cuento que debería ser contado en el momento de ir a dormir, y preferiblemente en la propia cama del niño o niña. Aunque también puede ser utilizado en la guardería o en la escuela para inducir a los niños a reflexionar acerca del momento de ir a dormir.

Mi Camita is an illustrated album that can also serve as a support to overcome other childhood fears, such as fear of bad dreams, fear of the night or fear of the dark.

This is a story that should be told at the time of going to sleep, and preferably in the child's own bed. Although it can also be used in daycare or school to induce children to reflect on the time to go to sleep.

¡Uno más, por favor!

¡Pídele a tu hijo que escoja su «cuento corto a la carta» girando la rueda mágica de este libro! En ella encontrará sus personajes y sus escenarios favoritos: hadas, niños, ratones, bosques, lagos o castillos... Una vez que haya escogido los que más le gusten, tú podrás leerle el cuento en tres minutos y él, después de escucharlo y disfrutarlo, dormirá tranquilo y feliz.

Ask your child to choose his "short story on demand" by turning the magic wheel of this book! In it you will find your favorite characters and scenarios: fairies, children, mice, forests, lakes or castles ... Once you have chosen the ones you like the most, you can read the story in three minutes and s/he, after listening to it and enjoy it, will sleep calm and happy.

Bienvenido diciembre

Every morning we work our calendar as part of the morning message.

We sing a song "Los dias de la semana", our students like it so much! They stop when the name of the day of the week appears, in this case: Friday - Viernes (in Spanish).

This is a good opportunity to learn the days of the week but letters, sounds and early reading and writing as well. Besides, it's another excellent opportunity to work in pairs -bilingual pairs and thinking pairs-. We spell "viernes", letter by letter, we learn about sounds.

At this time we are warming-up our writing skills to be prepared for our journals that's why we do air-writing.

Today, December 1st, 2017, we introduce the month of December too. It's another opportunity to work months of the year.

As part of their language development we sing (it improves their speech articulation and it motivates them since they like singing!!!) and dance (motor skill - body coordination and Total Physical Response).

Let's see what happens next...

Have a good day, friends!

Child Road Safety

Child Road Safety

As parents and educators at Roosevelt ES (Houston ISD) we are concerned about this part of the education, we have decided to work together and dedicate one day a week to work on this life-safety project. From the very first moment we mentioned to do that, they couldn't wait to come to our room and start with our Dual-Language Prek students.

Why Child Road Safety at schools?

The doors of the schools in the hours of entry and dismissal become a real chaos where personal interests are a priority to the rules of coexistence and civic behavior of road safety.

Paradoxically these behaviors of individual overprotection that we intend for our children, wanting to take them to the same door of the center, translates into risk behavior for children, families, drivers and pedestrians, in addition to a negative model for the little ones.

For all this, we wanted to pick up a decalogue with the positive guidelines that we should establish in the children's voices.

A decalogue focused on nursery schools that due to the special characteristics of the users (SRI, strollers, motor skills, etc.) are more exposed to risks and is the basis of the education, training and awareness that is intended.

The road safety of school environments is everyone's responsibility, let's begin to apply common sense and we will achieve adequate and safe environments, sowing awareness in our children to collect self-protection and citizenship in their development.According to Unicef ​​data, thousand and thousand children from one year to 14 years of age are killed in traffic accidents in rich countries every year. The survey concludes that this is because children do not use security systems or do it incorrectly, or at home they are not well trained.

The best way to prevent accidents is education. With good information and awareness, in addition to the use of child safety system, the number of children killed in traffic accidents could be reduced by 75%. Parents should assume that they are solely responsible for the safety of their children when traveling by car, that's why their active participation is very important.

The consequences for the child of not traveling safe baby in car seat:

A strong impact can cause serious injuries to babies and children. In 80% of cases, the most affected areas are the head and neck. While for an adult the head represents an eighth of the total weight, for a child it represents a quarter, since 25% of the weight of the children is in the head. By not having well developed neck muscles, it could not withstand a violent shock, which can have serious consequences, such as injuries to the vertebrae and spinal cord.

Traffic accidents are the most frequent cause of multiple injuries in children:

- A child can suffer a traumatic brain or spinal injury, visceral injuries, or fractures of extremities.

- When a child is in a vehicle that collides with a pole or a tree, or collides with another car, if it has an adequate restraint system, it may have thoracic and abdominal injuries. If you do not have an adequate restraint system, you can die immediately or suffer a traumatic brain injury.

- When a child goes by motorcycle or bike. Children, when traveling with an adult on a motorcycle or bicycle, even if they go in a specific seat for them, can suffer injuries in the upper and lower extremities, including amputations of hands and feet.

The example of parents in terms of road safety

Children learn by imitating behavior, so it is imperative that parents are the first to set an example. If the children see that their parents are wearing the seat belt, they will also do the same and will not discuss the use of the safety systems as soon as they enter the car. There are cases in which children themselves warn their parents when they break this traffic rule. For this reason, it is very important that the elderly have the most correct behavior possible. The most convenient thing is to teach children the use of the indicated security systems, whatever the route. In this way, children will get used to using it as a rule every time they get into the car. Remember that the safety of children in the car depends on the adult.

The awareness of drivers with children

The seats or safety seats for babies and children are the most effective measure to prevent traffic accidents. Therefore, to protect the lives of babies and children it is essential to use safety seats in the car. It is necessary to emphasize the importance of protecting children. That the drivers of the children are more aware of, for example, speed. It is physically proven that at a speed of 60 km / h, no arm is capable of retaining a child weighing 18 kilos. In the event of a frontal collision, its weight would reach more than one ton.

Some recommendations

Part of this post has been adapted and translated (free and non-commercial purpose) of the article Seguirdad Vial Infantil.

Aprendiendo letras con bloques

En nuestro salon cada centro de trabajo (workstation) supone una gran oportunidad de aprendizaje. Estas oportunidades de aprendizaje tambien suceden cuando los estudiantes participan y 

colaboran en el proceso de ensenanza-aprendizaje de los demas companeros/as.

En este caso Aaron (hablante de espanol) ensena una palabra del vocabulario del proyecto de otono: GRACIAS. Como pueden ver en el video, Aaron ensena como hacer las letras con los bloques, incluyendo su grafia, nombre y sonido, a Sergio (hablante de ingles, aprendiz de espanol) tomando como referencia la palabra del smartboard.

Esta semana empezamos con la parte del proyecto que se llama "Accion de Gracias". Tras haber contado la historia de los peregrinos y los nativos americanos, aprendimos la razon de esta festividad y esta maravillosa palabra: Gracias.

El agradecimiento y la gratitud son las puertas de las demas virtudes. Por este motivo, comparto mi mensaje de agradecimiento: estoy agradecido por lo que me ensenan mis propios estudiantes, paciencia para con los demas, conocimiento de si mismos y de los demas y una vision e imaginacion que va mas alla de lo que nos rodea.

Gracias! ;)

Mr. Usero

Viernes especial en el proyecto de otoño

Este vídeo resume el día viernes con la actividad especial que nos preparó nuestra increíble consejera de la escuela Roosevelt ES Ms Tamai.
En mis otras plataformas sociales pueden ver mas videos sobre dicha actividad en la que se formenta el respeto y dialogo, el civismo y los buenos modales, la posibilidad de ser un buen ciudadano.
Como siempre aproveche para destacar el trabajo de mis estudiantes, unos autenticos campeones y campeonas, que siempre dan lo mejor de ellos/as.

Trucos para motivar en el comienzo de curso

Que bien, campeon!

Que bien, campeona!

Trucos para motivar desde casa en un ambiente comodo para todos.

En ocasiones a los mas peques les de pereza hacer alguna actividad de repaso, normalmente estan jugando o viendo su serie de dibujos favorita y no la quieren dejar.  No vamos a ser siempre los "malos", asi que pondremos en practica algunos de estos trucos.

¿Por que no invitarles a "jugar"?

Encontrar el elemento divertido y de entretenimiento a algunas actividades no esta de mas, sino todo lo contrario les motivara a aprender jugando. Asi salimos ganando todos. Para comenzar a jugar podemos hacerles una invitacion al juego como "te apetece colorear?" "mira que libro he encontrado, quieres que te lo lea?" Creamos la invitacion, es decir, buscamos la manera de que se acerquen y les apetezca aprender de forma divertida. E incluso si alguna actividad se puede hacer fuera, pues preparen la mochila y unos sandwiches y al parque! que empiece la aventura!!!

Es importante que todo sea como un juego, es decir, hay normas que regulan el juego, no normas que "castiguen", por lo tanto no podemos usar palabras que digan "No! esta MAL!" ni criticamos con dureza, borramos o tiramos lo que estan haciendo (nunca). Todo lo contrario, queremos crear una atmosfera de paz y cordialidad, entonces ¿usamos palabras que nos gustan a todos? Si nos equivocamos, pues no pasa nada, decimos unas palabras como "Intentalo de nuevo", "no te preocupes, no es facil, pero lo conseguiremos",...

Las palabras ayudan, pero una accion mucho mas: juguemos juntos, crezcamos juntos. 

Muy importante cuando ofrezcamos nuestra ayuda es que nunca nos desesperemos o lleguemos a perder la "tranquilidad" y queramos ofrecer la respuesta. Asi no conseguimos mucho, todo lo contrario, se acostrumbrara a obtener las respuestas de ti. Y lo que es mejor aun, sera un juego para saber que decir para que les digas las respuestas jejeje... y caereis. En su caso, actuaremos como guias y les dejaremos que exploren. Para los mas peques, es recomendable hacer preguntas breves, cortas y directas, ya que estan aprendiendo a usar el idioma, y si usamos expresiones complicadas para ellos, se perderan.

En relacion a las respuestas y el aprendizaje, debemos ser pacientes en su progreso. Cada estudiante tiene su propio ritmo de aprendizaje, por lo que no intentemos correr cuando no somos perfectos en andar. Y, con esto, incluimos tambien las comparaciones. 

Por favor, NO SE COMPARAN CON NADIE, pero ni para lo bueno ni para lo malo. 

A ninguno de nosotros nos gusta que nos comparen, somos unicos, y asi debemos seguir siendo, pero si podemos hacer algo, ayudar.

Y otra cosa importante que les ayuda mucho, y que esta muy relacionado con su aprendizaje afectivo, emocional y social, es el refuerzo fisico con un "hi 5", "que bien lo has hecho, campeon/a!!!!" Les sirve de animo, de apoyo para continuar aprendiendo. A todos nos gustan que nos digan tambien si lo estamos haciendo bien, verdad? Pues a los peques tambien!

En mis anos de experiencia como docente estos "trucos" me han funcionado, por supuesto que hay muchisimos mas. Les invito a que "crezcamos" juntos y compartan conmigo sus formas de motivacion para las tareas.

Maestro Usero.

Este obra cuyo autor es http://maestrousero.blogspot.com/ está bajo una licencia de Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional de Creative Commons.

Why comics as a project in Early Childhood Education?

This post is a justification and reflection upon the project we are currently doing at the school where I work, Ninfa Laurenzo ECC. My project is about the profession of comic creators because my students decided to do it. I am glad to guide them in a project like that since for years I have been the coordinator of reading programs for children and families at different schools and libraries in the region of Seville, Spain.

Having a comic or a story as a vehicle for learning is not new; indeed, it is one of the most used procedures at schools and education all over the world. The literary texts that the students listen with attention raise their message with extra and enriching information: socio-cultural conditions that will allow listeners to know about events, information and signals. And by understanding the story, remembering it and expressing it according to their feelings and experiences, primary students will personally participate in the reconstruction of the literary message, value it and interpret its contents making them theirs even if they are in the new language.

The advantage of popular literature is that the content that children access has the peculiarity that they exist in almost every culture in the world. All histories share an underlying basis and a relatively invariant structure, despite some differences. Obviously, they have some aspects or parts in common, like an introduction or presentation of the characters and the setting; a plot, in which the action is developed; an end with a final outcome of events. Another important thing in common is the fact that children feel sympathy for characters according to their features; they predict the action of the wicked witch, for instance, and are sure that the prince will save the princess after conquering a thousand dangers and obstacles.

They can also anticipate moments or episodes in the story, like the climax around which the action is organized. As they expand their knowledge and the volume of stories they hear, they manage to structure the stories according to a repeatable internal pattern, those discussed above. They also delimit the different characters and roles they play in the story. And finally, they participate in creating the story, using their language or the new, with a motivated attitude, a meaningful behavior and a learning process as effective as pleasant.

In this early stage of education, working with language and literature with comics and storytelling is benefitial since they can start to understan how a language works, as a system of signs that structures and formalizes experience and reality. Language and literature are elements of culture that complement each other, hence the contents of this area should enable the acquisition and mastery of the language, as well as knowledge of the various literary manifestations for their formative value as a universal heritage. This shows the interest in initiating the student in children's literature. In line with what has been pointed out above, recent studies show how the student acquires better the knowledge of a language if it is taught as a subject studied and not as a subject of study.

Telling a story to someone who wants to listen to it, entertaining themselves by learning about the art of telling an anecdote or a joke: all are entertainments, but also interpretations or representations of real life. They can be models of behavior beyond history and that is why they tend to have a teaching, because we project them, somehow, with our reality, no matter how far we look at it. The existence of archetypes shows a need to organize within history so that the pedagogical contribution goes from simpler to more detailed and complex. The models used have formed and will form a common base and memory for the society that listens to them and many of the models of behavior or interpretations of reality will undoubtedly form part of a know how to act or know how to solve.

When working with stories, the content of the lessons becomes more important than the language itself and this means that it is easier to relate the lessons to the experience and self-interest of the students. In addition, as we have already pointed out, such work helps the learning process as students can associate words with functions, structures and situations with a particular story or "reality". It is clear that the association contributes to have a good memory and improve their thinking levels as well as motivation for learningl; and learning a language in a given context helps understanding and memory. 

The storytelling, on the other hand, allows to deepen in the issues that arise with depth and rigor and develops reactions and feelings in the students that, otherwise, can not demonstrate with so much clarity in a textbook. The teacher's work, in this type of approach, provides a personal touch to the lessons, since it is the educator who knows the pace of classroom learning and of the students - and their needs - in particular, when they need more vocabulary or require communicative experiences.

Este obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional.

Why talk when being a toddler or young child?

Why talk when being a toddler?

“Early language and communication skills are crucial for children’s success in school and beyond”

“Children who develop strong language and communication skills are more likely to arrive at school ready to learn and are more likely to have higher levels of achievement”

Gardner-Neblett, for the FPG study.

The importance of communication

Oral communication is an essential aspect for the integral development of the child. The development of thought, memory, imagination, the ability to learn, to know the environment around him, to learn to transform it as well as many other cognoscitive skills.

The progressive characteristics of the development of verbal language in the different levels of age, are ascribed to the stages of integral development of the child, being closely associated with the following aspects:

• The maturation process of the nervous system, both central (CNS) and peripheral, correlating its progressive changes with motor development in general and with the particular vocal apparatus.

• To the cognitive development that includes from the perceptual discrimination of spoken language to the function of the processes of symbolization and thought.

• And, to socio-emotional development, which is the result of the influence of the socio-cultural environment, child interactions and reciprocal influences

And why are they so important? Because by developing language and communication skills children can develop different actions that improve their self-image and esteem, since they can understand others and can explain themselves, what make them feel motivated to communicate with others. Communication involves using words, body language, gestures, or facial expressions. Toddlers who develop conversation skills are more likely to succeed academically. Besides, they develop problem-solving skills that help them have higher stages of achievement.

The interactions that children have with adults have an effect on how children broaden and analyze. Those interactions should start with the family, since parents and siblings talk with the child, and later, at school, with their teachers and classmates. As a result, at school Early Childhood teachers offer them multiple opportunities with interactions which support kid's  improvement. It is important to underline the fact of language instruction in early stages of education: simple sentences, adapted to children’s level of comprehension and checking questions. These characteristics of adult-child communication will help children foster their increase and improvement in language interaction and conversation.

In this process, adults should use nouns, adjectives, and actions that form part of the child's daily life. This undoubtedly contributes directly and effectively to the development of language, intelligence and other areas with which this learning will be carried out.

Stages of Language Development

According to the previous references and taking into account the contributions of different researchers, here we divided the development of the language in two main stages:

• Prelinguistic Stage

• Linguistic Stage

Each of these stages is marking the emergence of new properties and phonemic, syntactic and semantic qualities as the child grows, as we will describe below.

• Prelinguistic Stage (preverbal stage - from 0 to 12 months of age)  

It is characterized by the expressions with mouth movements and sounds which in itself has hardly any communicative value, most of the sounds emitted are onomatopoeic. During this stage, which covers the first year of life, the communication that establishes the child his environment (family), especially and particularly with his mother, is emotional and gestural. As part of a proper language stimulation, the word should always accompany the gesture and activities of the mother with her baby.

Lately, neuroscience and neurolinguistics have proved the importance of this preverbal stage, that has a relevant and transcendental value in the configuration of the bases of Linguistic development, since both vocal expressions (sounds or group of sounds of simple signification) and verbal expressions (sounds, group of sounds, isolated words, etc.) influence in a decisive way in the later development of the linguistic communication of the child.

This stage comprises, in turn, substeps or stages with particular characteristics that are in agreement with the chronological sequence of the integral development of the child, which we describe:

a) From birth to month and/or two months

During this period the only expression that is heard of the baby is crying, which is the first sound manifestation purely mechanical or reflective and, as such, undifferentiated in tone, whatever the reason of its state.

With crying, the baby puts into operation the speech apparatus, allowing him also oxygenation of the blood and the establishment of normal breathing. After this period, usually at the beginning of the second month, crying is no longer a phenomenon or a mechanical and undifferentiated manifestation, but the tone of the sound changes with the emotional content of pain, hunger or other discomfort; that is, the variation of the tonality is related to the state of well-being or discomfort of the baby. With the crying the baby manages to communicate his needs to the world around him and, as he realizes that thanks to crying his needs are satisfied, he will use it voluntarily, no longer being then a reflex or undifferentiated sound. That way the baby is communicating with its immediate surroundings, especially with master, understanding better and better what it communicates to him, although he is incapable of expressing it.

b) From 3 to 4 months

At the beginning of the third month the baby produces guttural sounds and vowels that last 15 to 20 seconds. It responds to Human sounds through smiling, cooing or murmuring.

At this age the baby already distinguishes between the sounds: / pa /, / ma /, / ba /, / ga /. Their vocalizations can already show joy or other feelings. The baby knows how to distinguish, affectionate intonations, reacting with joy, surprise or fear to the tone of voice, especially of their parents. At three months appears the babbling, which consists of the emission of sounds through redoubled syllables like "ma ... ma" , "Ta ... ta" and others.

In this way the child is progressing and increasing his vocalizations, which are already close to the word and, as such, are loaded with communicative intention with the mother. These varied vocal sounds and phonations close to the word that the child directs to the mother, must be attended to, understood, interpreted and answered by it in a repetitive way, stimulating and thus promoting its linguistic development.

c) From 5 to 6 months

The “babbling” (first attempt of communication) extends until the eighth or ninth month, progressing in the fifth and sixth month towards what is called "imitation of sounds". This begins in the form of self-limitations of the sounds produced by the child (circular reaction). Later it begins to repeat sounds that the adult or another child produces.

In this age there are clearly discernible intonation structures in certain contexts in which it emphasizes and excites.

The earliest vowel utterances are phonetic realizations that appear in the following order:

• / a / and variants close to the phoneme / e /, although before they usually emit sounds similar to / oe /

• Then the / or / and finally appears / i /, / u /.

The sounds of the consonants appear later in the following order:

• Labials: p (pa

-b) m (ma-ma) b (ba-ba)

• Dentales: d (da-da) t (ta-ta)

• Velopalatales: g (ga-ga) j (ja-ja)

In this way the child usually emits the first vowel and consonant elements, being an important progress with respect to the cries and different laryngeal sounds of the first months of life. As the child progresses, he will gradually replace gesture communication with verbal language.

Here it is important to emphasize the utmost importance of maternal language directed to the child during the middle of the first year of life, in which not only it is convenient to increase vocalizations, gestures, smiles and other expressions within the home, but also verbal communication should be something common among adults and the child.

d) From 7 to 10 months

Bruner (1979) points out that between 7 and 10 months the child progressively shifts from the "modality of demand" to the modality of exchange and reciprocity in child-child interactions. The giving and receiving of objects pronouncing the name of each one, while looking at the mother and son face and looking at the object together, manages to multiply and enrich the linguistic and communicative capacity of the child, this "conversation" forming a training exercise for speech , As well as for his nascent socialization. At this age the child performs multiple spontaneous vocalizations, both vocalic and consonantal, and even syllables and diphthongs. These vocalizations next to the word, are those that will soon lead the child to utter his first words. Here the alternating vocalizations between mother and child will allow early access to language.

e) From 11 to 12 months

The 11-month-old baby has more than five words in his linguistic repertoire. In this age the child uses the same words as the adult, but does not attribute the same meaning to them. However, as it progresses in this process, the meanings that are attributed to the words are approaching the meanings attributed by the adult.

In this way the child is forced to simplify adult language, without this meaning that he does not understand, but his expressive capacity is still very limited. However, according to some specialists, at 11 or 12 months the child usually articulates his first words "fingers" direct syllables: "mom", "dad", "poop", "tata", starting the next sentence or denominated linguistic or verbal, progressively sign language and "overcoming" the simplification of adult language as it increases his/her vocabulary.

With regard to the appearance of the "first word", it should be clarified that this depends on the moment the parents identify him as such, since the units of meaning that the child uses correspond to segments of speech. The child of this age (a year) usually occupies the center of attention of the family, whose actions, thanks and occurrences are usually celebrated and applauded, reinforcing the behavior, which will be repeated over and over again. This is good because it helps the child feel and live their own identity. In addition, the mimic and verbal gesture exchange of his communications with the adult, accompanied by the "giving and taking" behavior, allows the greater development of language.

• Linguistic Stage

a) From 12 to 18 months

Within his lexical repertoire he counts with 5 to 15 or 20 words, and each time he will demonstrate greater increase in his vocabulary by means of the inflections of his voice when he wants to identify something. Einsenson maintains that in this stage the true speech arises and it indicates that the child uses words to produce events or attract the attention of others. In some fairly advanced children, it is usually observed the use of some phrases with two words, mainly objects or actions, without ruling out in certain cases, also, the use of adjectives (qualifiers). However, before being able to make word-finger combinations, he will often continue to use a single word to refer to many objects. This semantic extension in childhood vocalizations will continue to accompany him for a long time. But as you increase your vocabulary and evolve your speech, you will progressively reduce this semantic extension.

From 16 or 17 months to two years of age, you will increasingly make the use of spontaneous combinations of several words and phrases, increasing the flow of words in its expression.

At 17 months the child increasingly extends his linguistic repertoire and begins to make combinations of two words. At this age, the identification and naming of objects, figures and different parts of one's body are highly recommended exercises for the development of the child's verbal language.

b) From 18 to 24 months

During this period, most children have a vocabulary greater than 50 words, going on to combine 2 to 3 words in a sentence, beginning with "syntactic" speech, that is, the child begins to articulate words in sentences and simple sentences. In their verbal expressions they use nouns (Names), verbs (actions) and qualifiers (adjectives and adverbs). Among these grammatical classes usually establish the following relationships:

• Between two names/nouns: "Shoe dad" (possessor and object possessed) "soup chair" (fortuitous relationship)

• Between name and verb: "Open door" (verb and object) "Papa eats" (subject and verb)

• Between qualifiers and adjectives: "Beautiful doll" (qualifier plus name) "More game" (qualifier plus verb) "More beautiful" (qualifier plus qualifier) ​​

By the age of two, the child has a vocabulary of approximately 300 words. In their expressions, the use of the personal pronouns "I" and "You" and the possessive "My" and "Mine" are also observed. His phrases express intention and action: "he does what he says and says what he does".

At this age the symbolic function in the child arises and the predominance of the intelligence-motorist gives rise to the representational intelligence. With the symbolic function the child has the ability to mentally represent things and evoke them without the need for them to be present. With the symbolic capacity, gestures and verbal expressions of the child begin to refer more and more frequently to more abstract realities, becoming more dominant In language. (Significant) symbols come to play a unique role in the development of the child afterwards, since these are the ones that will allow us to construct the codes on which the bases of the higher functions conform.

Through these codes is that we access emotions, abstract realities, language and convert the implicit explicit. This symbolic ability allows the child to explore and increase their verbal language, expressing interest in hearing stories about themselves or their family, in Which vacapt the sense of the words and sentences of the stories that the parents give.

Here you can find more information about the importance of language development at the age of two.

c) From 2 to 3 years old

There is a rapid increase in vocabulary, an increase that is much greater than what will occur later, reaching an average of 850 words and at three and a half years more than 1200 words (Smith, 1980).

The child in his verbal expressions already employs auxiliary verbs "to have" and "to be" and gives a certain prevalence to the determined article. In the course of this age begins to use the propositions and the child already has a understandable language use, even for people outside the family, manifesting a mastery of the majority of the grammar of their mother tongue (syntax), so that the specialists pronounce him as the period of "syntactic competence".

D) From 4 to 5 years old

At the age of four, the child virtually dominates the grammar, but begins expressing and pointing out. The child begins to use the pronouns in the following order: I, You, He, She, We-you, You; With a vocabulary of 1,500 words and at five years, 2,300 words approximately.

Among the 4 or 5, the child is usually already trained to answer questions related to the social behavior learned, since their language already extends beyond the immediate environment. This is due to the symbolic capacity of the child and, as such, can mentally evoke and represent things, actions and situations, transcending the reality and the present. This ability and the need to communicate, make possible a greater and rapid development of children's language, Also facilitating the development of intelligence.

If you are interested in "More Than Baby Talk" with its 10 ways to promote language development, click on here.

This is a brief summary of the process of verbal language development that occurs in average children, such as evolutionary psychology, psycholinguistics and others describe it. In this process many factors intervene, all closely linked to the development of the child. It should be noted that the development of verbal expression is usually after the understanding of language, that is, the development of the capacity for comprehension is anticipated to that of the verbal expression.