The objective of the article is to make educators and parents aware of some aspects of conversation development in preschool age. Likewise, it refers to the importance of everything that surrounds the child and the experiences of the immediate environment, to stimulate conversation, both in the institution and at home.
The basic elements for the development of conversation and the treatment given to these elements in children's circles are also explained, in which the family plays a determining role in their home-institution relationship, all for the benefit of correct educational process of the preschool child.
The conversation
Many authors have written about the importance of the development of the ability to converse and especially for those of the Preschool Age.
Preschool oral relationships occur in two possible ways: dialogue and monologue. Children feel the need to verbally express their ideas, their opinions, their desires, their experiences. This requires that the ability of preschoolers to converse or write stories be refined and developed.
Conversation is one of the forms of dialogue language, it is the exchange of ideas, opinions, criteria between two or more subjects that transmit their thoughts in this way.
It is a very important procedure to establish and maintain good relationships between children and between them and educators and others.
Conversations can have very different topics, family, walks, nature, animals, in short, everything that surrounds the child in its immediate context, so the topics suggested by the educator must always start from the surrounding environment and from the close experiences of the little ones.
The themes suggested by the educator are part of the content of the fourth year of life and will depend on the objective that she sets for herself, for example, if what she is interested in is that the children talk about the work of the people, the educator can take a walk the areas of the circle and highlight a colleague who, because of the clothes he has and the instruments he works with, is the gardener.
You can start a verbal exchange between her, the children and the gardener, trying to get the little ones to ask questions, express opinions, speak one after the other, referring to the topic.
Here the free oral expression of the child is important, who can relate or tell things related to the subject, starting from their own experiences. This does not prevent the educator from occasionally interrupting to make clarifications, guide the matter, etc. The activity can conclude with the help of the children in the work that the gardener does, drawing the gardener, etc., thus related to other activities.
As these situations can be created, for example, through a small dramatization by the educator who has started to talk about the work of the doctor and the nurse in the children's circle.
In this case, she can even coordinate with the nurse to participate. This way, when you enter the classroom, you can pretend that your knee hurts, ask the children what to do about it, so that they can suggest ideas and express their thoughts.
They can advise, look for the nurse, then she will enter the room, ask what is happening, act to resolve the knee pain, and on this basis the educator will encourage a rich conversation about what happened, the work of the doctor and nurse who they allow pain relief, etc.
Play situations can be used in the same way to facilitate a conversation between children based on what they have done. It should not be forgotten that the conversation is richer when children start from an experience of their own, such as a visit to the zoo, than when it is transmitted by the adult and the child does not know it.
Some topics of conversation:
Conversations can have very diverse topics, family, walks, nature, animals, in short, everything that surrounds the child in its immediate context, so the themes that the educator suggests must always start from the surrounding environment and experiences. close to the little ones.
In the fifth year of life, this content incorporates the topics proposed or suggested by the children themselves, that is, free topics in which the educator guides them towards what they are going to do: "talk" and they propose about who want to talk.
Children can raise collective topics where everyone has their say, or in the same activity suggest several topics according to the interests of each one, the important thing in all cases will be that they are able to reestablish a coherent conversation, to present their ideas logically ordered.
The differentiation between a theme proposed by the educator and those suggested by the children is not radical, and a creative educator can indirectly suggest themes that she considers important to deal with and that leave the choice as a group.
In turn, the difference between the fourth and fifth year is that, due to the possibility of a greater number of experiences and a better mastery of communication skills, it is easier to use topics proposed by children in the fifth year, but in the fourth year towards the end of the school year, it is possible to introduce these free subjects if the group of children has reached the sufficient verbal level to carry it out.
In both years of life, different procedures may be used for conversations on these topics: walks, dramatizations and role plays. The educator will look for the organizational forms that she considers for the achievement of these contents, always arousing interest and motivating children in a playful way.
An important aspect of conducting conversations, whether they are free or suggested topics, is not constantly supporting the conversation with questions. The educator has to teach the child to present her ideas without waiting for the answer, the use of interjections or phrases, such as yes! OH! Etc., are stimuli that promote conversation; without having to continually fall for questions.
When children come into contact with objects, they constitute a stimulus that arouses in them an interest in knowing what surrounds them, in appreciating the beautiful and taking care of these objects.
Children meet objects every day, some known and others do not, questions and desires arise to know what is this ?, how is this ?, how and what is it made of? What use is all this contact with objects, with the environment that surrounds them, they develop their vocabulary and incorporate new words every day into their language that broadens and enriches it.
The educator strengthens the representations that the children have acquired during the walks and excursions.
In the observation process or when describing pictures, the complete and comprehensive educator with her approaches, children's representations; Children's experiences are reflected in conversations.
The educator guides children's understanding towards the relationship between objects and environmental phenomena.
At the same time, it educates a correct attitude towards those aspects that are talked about in conversations: interest towards the environment, attitude towards work, love for the homeland.
When he talks, the child learns to listen and understand the language of others, to contain his desire to answer immediately.
The child who speaks works mentally intensely, post. You have to organize your ideas, order them and express them in an understandable, coherent, logical way. This activity enchants children because they like people who speak, tell, narrate, and also be heard and by those around them.
Orientations to the family
Family members must be guided to become aware of the role they must play, and they take advantage of all the possibilities that life offers to educate their children.
It will be applied to the family that their contribution is necessary for the child to develop their potential: a clear, precise and beautiful language. Hence, emphasis will be placed on the pattern that everyone around the child should show. It will work with parents, attending to the differentiated character that this work demands. For example, the family will be oriented about:
- The peculiarities of age. The characteristics of language at these ages. How to talk to children. How to take advantage of all the moments of life to develop your language: walks, excursions, parties, visits to public places. How to expand your vocabulary and especially how to teach new words. What characteristics should the stories, rhymes, riddles, poems and through which ways do they reach the child? How to provide experiences and provide experiences to the child that can be topics for their conversations.
It is important for the family to know what is the development achieved by their child, how can they help to achieve higher levels, how to continue what started in the circle at home, and, above all, what procedure to use.
The routes that will be used will be agile, dynamic, freed from all rigidity, always in a positive way and never reflecting the child's difficulties, among others: direct conversations with parents, messages, demonstration of activities with children, media exposure, etc.
Orientation to the family should be a planned organized action, as part of the strategy of working with the family that should start from the diagnosis and characterization of the children. In this way, the joint action of parents and educator in the education of the child will be made possible.
Finally, the importance of conversation for the development of thought and language is that, during its development, the child is forced to think carefully, not to stray from the subject of the conversation and to express his ideas in an understandable way.
Bibliography
(In Simiente (Cuba) year 24, No 1, January - March, 1986, p 39).
MINED: Preschool Education Program. Editorial Pueblo y Educación, Havana City, 1998.
• Methodological guidelines for Preschool Education. Editorial Pueblo y Educación, Havana City, 1998
• Methodological guidelines for the 5th year of life. Preschool education. Editorial Pueblo y Educación, Havana City, 1981.
Martínez Mendoza, F. Oral Language. Editorial Pueblo and Education, Havana City, 2004.
