So you may (or may not) be wondering how the language acquisition is going for Adisu. Some days are really good, you feel like he's putting it all together. Some days ... go more like today. Now to understand why this morning was so frustrating, you must understand that he is mostly potty trained (except for sleeping times) and so we instruct him to pull up his underwear after he finishes his job. We talk about what he is putting on as he gets dressed in the morning and where to put each item (one at a time) in the evening. So words like "underwear"," pants" and "shirt" are very common around here.
This morning after his bath I told him to go get some underwear. Blank look. I repeated myself. He unsuredly bends down to his pants drawer and pulls out shorts. "No, those are shorts" I told him. He puts them back. "Get underwear" I repeat. Blank look. "Underwear go on your bum, where is your bum?" He points to his bum. "Good, underwear go on your bum, get some underwear." He reaches for his pants drawer again. I indicate that is incorrect. So he bypasses his underwear drawer and reaches for Eirena's drawer. This goes on for a while, until I pull underwear out for him and tell him that these are underwear. I have him repeat after me, several times. I think he has it. I point to his underwear and ask him what those are. "Shirt", he replied.
If anyone has any good recommendations for teaching language to a toddler please let us know!
9 comments:
From observing how quickly Ben and Marie memorize the songs they sing at preschool, music would be my guess for teaching new words to a toddler. Maybe make up some jingles to nursery rhyme songs for the various routines or words you're teaching him?
I had the same idea as Catherine. (To the tune of London Bridges)
Underwear goes on your bum
on your bum, on your bum
Underwear goes on your bum
change them daily
Socks and shoes go on your feet
on your feet, on your feet
Socks and shoes go on your feet
when we go
shorts and pants go on your legs etc.
shirts and coats go on your arms etc.
:)
Thanks for those ideas.
I did get some c.d.s for him to hear English more since E just picks things up from songs. But he doesn't seem to notice them yet. He notices percussion, not lyrics from cds. But he does when we sing to him so maybe this would work.
Aaww - the poor guy must be frustrated, but it is a precious story! I will look at some speech/language research and try to send you some stuff. :)
I'm sure E will end up teaching him a lot as well.
Poor guy, lots of new things to get used to. :) It's interesting to hear how he's settling in.
Hey, Happy Birthday yesterday by the way! I have the date right, yes?
Love the song, Jacquelyn! I was thinking today of this one to the tune of Old MacDonald's Farm
First we put on underwear,
then we put on pants,
Next we put on our t-shirt,
then we put on socks!
Just a hunch, but I would bet he will just observe and take things in for awhile and then suddenly burst out talking when he feels confident enough to really communicate well!
And, happy happy birthday (yesterday :-)!
It's hard to know exactly where he is in the language learning process at his age. I would just be very clear and very patient and keep up the good humor and he'll catch on quickly. He's young yet so I wouldn't be too worried about it. You're doing a great job!
Ha! It is a funny story, though I'm sure it must be frustrating for you. I'm glad you're writing this stuff down in your blog, though, so you'll remember it later. By the time he's 10 he will think it's hilarious.
thanks for all the suggestions!
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