How do children develop language?
In this global era, it is expected from every one to be linguistically smart and learn at least 2 foreign languages to meet the global standards. Proficiency in English language has become a necessity. Parents and teachers attempt to start teaching the language, oral as well as written, at a very young age and expect children to show outstanding language skills. But before we get started with sculpting our children to be linguistically proficient, we need to understand the language learning process. This will help us set our expectations about our child’s language skills. It will also help us nurture them in the right path. If we take a step back and look, children acquire listening and speaking much before they attempt to read and write.
Children acquire mother tongue naturally with very minimal formal teaching. The important role parents perform is, talking to their children. Speaking to the child and interacting helps them form the fundamental building blocks of listening and speaking.
The best way to help children pick up a language is to simply speak to them in that language.
Children have an amazing capability to process and distinguish several different languages and categorize them into appropriate buckets. For eg: If we have a household where in the parents speak English, grandparents speak Hindi and maid speaks Telugu. Kids can, not only pick up all three languages but also, speak and translate it for them. The more language exposure we give in formative years, the better opportunity they have.
Talk a lot to children. Sing lots of rhymes & songs. Read and tell stories every day. Show and talk about different things children encounter generally. Give simple and crisp instructions and make sure they understood them. You will be amazed at their comprehension levels. Just give it a try. They might not speak but, they can identify and show through body gestures. If you notice that your child is not responding, don’t hesitate to consult a pediatrician. It could be a simple problem such as ear infection too.
Listening is an on-going process. The complexity of the listening and comprehension varies as they grow. So, as they grow, change the length and the complexity of the songs, stories or instructions as per their capabilities.
Few things to avoid:
- Avoid baby talk with your children. They try to mimic you and may not learn the correct way.
- Avoid the temptation to play nursery rhymes or cartoons on TV. We might think that exposing a child to nursery rhymes or other animation shows on TV will help the child with their listening and speaking capabilities. But, these hamper the child’s development significantly and cause speech delays. When a child is watching TV, his/her brain is overworking to keep up with the fast moving images on the screen.
Once they master basic listening skills, children attempt to speak. We need to create different opportunities for the children to speak. Letting them recite songs and rhymes, retell or create stories, answer simple questions, play in groups and talk to peers help children master speaking skills.
Focusing on speaking and listening will help children become more comfortable and confident with language and lays a solid foundation for further language skills: reading, writing. Reading and writing should not be introduced to the child unless they are ready.
Few things to avoid:
- Never criticize the child when he/she stammers.
- Don’t laugh when they don’t speak clearly.
Once the child begins to speak clearly, we can focus on their reading skills. Children need to be aware that sentences are made up of words and words are made up of sounds. Several games related to rhyming words, beginning and ending sounds etc can be played. Let the teachers introduce the phonics and augment their learning at home with some of the simple activities suggested by the teacher. Be ready to encourage and appreciate your child a lot as they accomplish simple tasks such as reading three letter words and subsequently small sentences.
Don’t forget to continue reading to your child.
Few things to avoid:
- Never criticize the child when child makes mistakes while attempting to read.
- Don’t teach wrong pronunciation. When in doubt, check the dictionary.
As children master reading skills, we can attempt to slowly start introducing them to writing. By now, children would have seen a lot of print media and can fairly visualize how different letters are made. Before introducing the child to writing, the child should be physically ready to write. Precursors to writing alphabets or numbers actually starts few years before. Children need to do several activities such as tearing paper, playing with dough,cutting, crumpling, painting & scribbling. Tracing letters or characters start much later and progresses towards words and sentences. Writing can be a challenging skill for children to learn and take a little longer time to develop interest.
Few things to avoid:
- Don’t force the child to practice writing before they are ready. It sets a negative tone. When children are very young, focus on pre-writing skills instead actually teaching them to write. This will help them prepare for writing.
Child Care During Monsoon
Water droplets, sweet smell of the earth, lovely breeze and puddles of water everywhere. Wow! That’s how we describe rainy season.
During the monsoon season, kids are excited to run and play outdoors making paper boats, splashing water and having fun. Each one of us has enjoyed rain dance and rain walks with or without umbrellas. Although rain brings much required respite from hot climate, it also brings along the seasonal infections. Monsoon is the breeding time for germs. Like all of us, germs are also fond of rainy season. Germs generally thrive in humid weather and can spread diseases like dengue, malaria and other microbial infections. So, it is very important to take care of ourselves and our children during this season. In order to do that we must monsoon proof our house and surroundings.
Here are special guidelines for parents to be followed during monsoon to ensure proper health of the child and enjoy the season too.
Catch hold of the cold before it catches you
During monsoon, cold, flu and other airborne and waterborne infections are common. Our bodies are more susceptible to health issues in rainy season because monsoon reduces the immunity of our body. If your immune system is weak then you will catch the disease fast. So, it is always better to build the good immunity to fight these diseases.
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C, a natural immunity booster. You must avoid eating raw vegetables in rainy season. So, it is advised to steam them before consumption.
- Antioxidants like ginger, garlic, turmeric and other herbs can be included in your child’s diet to keep the infections at bay.
- Fluid intake- It is important to keep the child hydrated by giving them enough water and juices. It is good to avoid aerated drinks as they can dehydrate the bodies even further.
My mommy cooks the best food
Since our digestive system slows down during the rainy season, it is better to avoid fried and oily food. Hot and spicy street food gives lot of comfort to our taste buds during the damp weather, but it may lead to several diseases. Street food is not cooked in healthy and hygienic conditions and may cause serious problems like flu and stomach infection. So, all you moms, show your culinary skills to your kids and make some tasty and healthy food for them. You can include a variety of soups in their diets to keep them warm.
Dancing in rain
The rains are inviting for kids as well as adults. Children love to get drenched in rain and enjoy watching worms, insects. They love to jump in puddle. But you must ensure that children must not walk in puddles and mushy areas for it is unhygienic and breeding ground of mosquito. Kids also love dancing in rains. It is wise to allow kids having a rain dance only when it is not raining hard. And once they are back, you must ensure that they take warm water bath immediately. Also serve them hot soup or hot chocolate milk.
Clothes and footwear
Light and loose cotton clothes are best for kids during monsoon. Cotton clothes allow the skin to breathe. They can be washed and dried easily. Change the dresses of kids after playing outside in the dirt and water.
Synthetic chappals and open sandals are a good option in the rainy season. Gumboots are ideal for kids. They help to protect the feet from dirty water, mud, insect bites and contact with other germs causing skin infections and keep them dry.
Some "must follow" tips to keep diseases at bay
- Keep your house and surroundings clean. Ensure there is no stagnant water in and around the house.
- Keep all the rooms well ventilated, clean and dry.
- Put mosquito net instead of mosquito coil in your child’s room.
- Make you house insect free. Mosquito generally breed in this weather.
- Keep children’s feet clean at all times.
- Teach children to wash hands properly before eating food.
- Teach children to use tissues if they catch cold
- Teach them to cough or sneeze into sleeve. Sneezing or coughing into palm will only spread germs to different surfaces.
- Make sure to get a flu vaccine to avoid it.
- Most importantly ….. let’s keep children at home if they are sick & help not spread it further.
Highlights Of The Month
Outdoor play and physical activities with peers play an important role in a child’s overall development. Kids learn to care for others, wait for their turn and be team-oriented. They develop intra-personal skills and also become physically strong.
We are happy to announce the kick start of ‘Sporty Beans' program at Sproutz. Sporty Beans is a well-designed sports program that aims at introducing young children (ages 2-8) to 9 popular ball sports: Soccer, Baseball, Hockey, Volleyball, Basketball, Cricket, Golf, Rugby and Tennis in a social, non-competitive and team-based environment. Children pick up not only the basic techniques of these games but also, the vocabulary associated with it. The best part of it all is, our kids eagerly look forward for the Sporty Beans activities every Tuesday and Friday. Now many of our kids can kick and hit, throw and catch, bounce the ball with ease, run through the obstacles and many more…….
Grandparents are special people with wisdom and pride.
They are always offering love and kindness and are always there to guide.
They often make you feel so confident and strong.
Their arms are always open no matter what you did wrong.
They try to help out in every way that they can.
They love all their grandchildren the same whether you're a child, woman or man.
They are always there to listen and to lend a helping hand.
They show you respect and they try to understand.
They give their love, devotion and so much more, that's easy to see.
Grandparents, what perfect examples of the kind of person that we should be.
Grandparents’ day is just one of the occasions we organized at Sproutz to express our respect and love for the wisest generation.
We had a gala time with all our grandparents. We were amazed to see the enthusiasm and energy levels of all the grandparents. They did not miss out even a single opportunity to bring out the child in them!
Our Expeditions -- Telangana
Our little explorers embarked on the expedition around the world. Our first stop is none other than our own neighbourhood – Hyderabad & Telangana. Our kids enjoyed knowing about their hometown and State. They now understand a lot more about the City of Pearls for their age. They can relate to some of the famous monuments in Telangana, the native festivals such as Bonalu and Bathukamma, and Hyderabad’s contributions to the culinary world – Hyderabadi Samosa, Biriyani etc.
It was a learning experience for not just kids but, for the staff too!
Toddler Group- Ashwini
I feel very fortunate to take care of the youngest lot who, I believe are the happiest people in this world.
6 things I learnt from these angels
- Be energetic and active all the time.
- Smile for no reason.
- Don’t hide emotions.
- Don’t be afraid of failure… keep trying.
- Make new friends.
- Be adventurous … don’t be afraid of getting hurt.
My little kids Aarna, Supreeth and Rishaan got adjusted very quickly and enjoy each other’s company. Their smile mesmerizes me and their energy levels are contagious. They enjoy the rhyme time and shake their bodies according to the rhythm. Ball pool is one of their favourite play area. They enjoy playing with balls and throwing them at me. They surprise me each day with a new act.
Play Group- Mounika
We welcomed two new buddies, Aarush and Nithya, into our room this month. It is just one month into school and most of our kids settled well in the class room. They have started enjoying the class routine.
The theme of this month was Hyderabad – Telangana, connecting with self, family, body parts and senses. During circle time, while teaching senses, I sung senses rhyme—blink, blink your eyes.., touch, touch your nose. I asked them to touch their nose. Instead of touching their nose, they were very much interested in touching others’ nose and my nose as well. That was a very funny moment.
During play dough activity, I gave them red colour play dough and mint leaves. I showed them how to make strawberry. Alaysha quickly finished that activity, and took a yellow block and put some mint leaves on that block. She eagerly showed that to me and said, “mango” and pretended to eat it. I was happy to see how she correlated the colour with the fruit. All the kids enjoyed that activity.
My kids also learnt to care for their friends. If one of the kids cries, others will look at that child, and wipe their tears saying “don’t cry.” Especially, Gowtham loves to hug them to console.
I am very happy to be with them. It’s like living my childhood again!
Play Group- Maya
It’s been a month that the school got opened. Some kids have settled down and some are still getting adjusted to the classroom environment.
Settled or unsettled; new or old, each child of my class enjoys rhyme time and join the tune by shaking their little hands and feet. They learn various concepts by listening to and singing songs and rhymes.
Children learnt about the family related vocabulary like father, mother, brother and sister by looking at their family pictures. When I was showing a family picture and talking about the family, Anvi said “Maya mam, Tiya (aka Anvi) is missing daddy and mama”. By seeing other child’s family photo, she was missing her family. That was a very emotional moment for me.
When I taught them the different vegetables. I told them that most vegetables have seeds inside them and they grow into new plants when sown in soil. We sowed seeds of tomato and coriander. Kids enjoyed touching the soil, filling soil in the container, sowing seeds. Now children are aware of the fact that fruits and vegetables have seeds. When I show any fruits or vegetables they ask me, "mam is there seed inside?” I feel happy that they understood what I was trying to teach them.
My kids are very caring and loving. If a child cries, they go to that child and say, "no crying. Mama will come”. They are slowly developing love and care for each other. Me and my little ones are already a family!
Nursery A- Nidhi
One more exciting month ended and the excitement for the next month has already begun. In this month, kids shed their inhibitions and adjusted well with me. They had all kinds of stories to tell me. So many activities were covered in this month and so many concepts were learnt. We talked about sun, stars, numbers, letters, apples and alligators. And not to forgot the theme – ‘our city and neighbourhood’. Oh! the list is endless and so are the stories.
In this month we celebrated two festivals-Eid and Bonalu. Eid celebration gave children an idea about how the festival is celebrated, they all hugged and wished each other Eid Mubarak.
Kids were excited to watch Bonalu festival happening at school. After returning to the class when I asked them about the celebration, Ridhaan prompted, ”ma’am fire”. He was referring the diya used during the festival. They are so observant.
During free play time, Varsha made a structure with the straws and said “star shoooo…..” this is what I call imagination. While discussing about the food, Parnitha said, “ma’am, no chocolate, no juice. I cough.” That is when I explained about the harmful effects of having junk food. The other day we were discussing about ‘a’ words and I told them about ambulance. The very same day, fire alarm rang and Aadhya ran out saying “hospital bus”. I am glad that my kids are learning concepts really well.
Nursery B- Anitha, Swapna
Our little kids have settled down well in the class and started enjoying coming to school. The day starts with wishing each other. This month children enjoyed knowing about the monuments, places of visit, food and festivals of Hyderabad and Telangana. While connecting kids with food of Hyderabad Tavvishka said, “I like chicken biryani.” And, all the other kids started telling about their favourite foods. The discussion went on endlessly discussing about different kinds of foods…. Chocolates, ice-cream, pizza, chicken and the list goes on…. Kids have the capability to connect the dots.
Our kids love to do things hands on. Especially, when it comes to cooking, they enjoyed rolling rotis, cutting and folding the roti to make a cone and stuffing to make samosas. With their little hands they made Hyderabadi samosas and enjoyed eating them hot.
During the literacy time, I introduced letter S by drawing snake. Looking at the snake all my little kids started hissing like snake s/s/s/s/s/ & started showing crawling of snake using their hand. These little actions of kids bring a lot of fun to my class.
We enjoyed our first field trip to Shilparamam & neighboring places in Hitech city. Kids enjoyed going in school van with their friends and talked about all the familiar places. As the school van passed by Meenakshi Sky Lounge, Prateik and Shivika showed their friends where they live. Vaishnav wanted to eat Ice-cream as we entered the shop. We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Kids amaze me with their capability to comprehend instructions and do the activities we plan for them. For example, we gave them hand full of different kinds of seeds. We wanted them to sort and count. They quickly understood the task and finished with no difficulty. We are looking forward for more excitement with these sweet angels in the coming months.
Can you believe it? Just one month and kids have become so close to each other and me. Very often I hear kids saying, “he /she is my friend”. They console each other saying “don’t cry, mama will come”. Their smiles, happy moods, naughty looks, giggling, the way they greet one another in the beginning and at the end of class is a lovely sight to watch.
Our neighbourhood, places in Hyderabad and culture of Telangana are few of the many things we talked about this month. We wanted kids to know and observe their surroundings. During these sessions, kids swiftly related to the places they usually visit. They all could say names of their apartments. Taran said, ”ma’am, I go to reliance and dominos”.
My children enjoyed their first field trip of the year. We went on a city tour in our school van and visited places like Birla Mandir, Tank Bund etc. While going on the field trip kids expressed several things about the places they observe in the neighbourhood along with the places we discussed in the class. Charvi says ”ma’am,, I want to go to that shop” (pointing out at a shop) and Shanvita says ”ma’am, we will go to Charminar”. They enjoyed field trip to Birla Mandir and Tank Bund.”
I am very happy to see kids’ enthusiasm to learn new things. Bonalu celebrations was a big hit with kids in traditional dresses, decorating pots with kumkum and turmeric powder. They all wanted to decorate the pots and do Pooja, especially girls.
Making Hyderabadi samosas also amazed my kids. They all enjoyed kneading, rolling and stuffing to make samosas. They awaited to eat them and enjoyed every bite they took.
Parents, involve your kids in making some special dishes over the weekends. They enjoy the process a lot and it is a superb way to introduce them to new foods.
Each kid changed significantly in their own way in the past month. They all are slowly getting into routines and following instructions. Kids have started paying attention to the beginning sounds that words make. They are more enthusiastic in participating in the activities.
PP 2- Alpa
It is just one month to school and I feel kids have already grown as they are more focused and enjoying all the learning activities. We all become very good friends with each other.
The theme of this month was Hyderabad – Telangana, connecting with self, family, body parts and senses. While teaching them internal body parts, I taught kids that our lungs are like balloons and showed the balloon expanding like lungs. It was nice that Akhil could co-relate this very well and happily told his mother that there are two balloons in our body. When I told kids to feel their heart, Anish told ma’am my heart is beating like train.
At the time of letter of the week art activity, we made origami bunny and cat . The only little doll, Marina, said, "ma’am, I want to make girl bunny and cat". All the kids enjoyed this activity and it was real fun.
While making traffic light, Arjun said, "my daddy always stops car on red signal". But, another child of my class said, “my dad sometimes crosses red signal.” Kids observe very minute things and learn from us. So, parents, please be cautions!!!!!! You are their role models.
My kids eagerly wait for Bina aunty (the Sporty Beans instructor) every Tuesday & Friday. They show the spirit of the games they are learning and can confidently throw, kick, bounce and catch a ball.
Kids also look forward for the play time they have with me in the class, be it jumping on the named shapes or the fun game ‘Lion-Lion what’s the time’. These fun activities keep the tempo of my class high. If you want to have fun at home, ask your kids and they will teach you.
We enjoyed our first field trip to Hussainsagar (Buddha Statue), Birla Temple and Shilparamam along with PP1 kids. They can talk about these great monuments of Hyderabad.
Kids love doing fun activities with me. It’s great pleasure for me to be with them.
Star readers of the month
Congratulations to PP2 students and their parents for being the Star Readers Of The Month! PP2 children together read for 910 minutes. Together, all Sproutz parents contributed 3,185 minutes towards reading! This is a phenomenal contribution!
We appreciate all the parents for taking time to do what matters the most for their kids development at this age-- reading to them. Thanks for helping us in progressing the reading program. We are very proud of you!
Congratulations Arjun, for being the STAR KID of the month for reading. You contributed 570 minutes to the total reading time.
Other Top Readers:
Shanvitha- 480 minutes
Ruhi- 400 minutes
Saanvi Jaiswal- 305 minutes
Saanvi Chowhan- 265 minutes
Keep it up Kiddos!
We hope to see many more kids join this list soon!
Professional Development Programs
Dr. Stephen R. Covey in one of his famous books ' 7 habits of highly effective people'.
To live up to our belief system we organize various in-house and external training programs.
In the month of June our teachers got equipped with the skill of lesson planning focusing on differentiated learning and multiple intelligence.
In July we started 'English Language Development Program' and successfully completed 2 modules of training . We will continue enhancing ourselves in the coming months with the same rigor!
Theme for the month of August
Help us explore the world with our kids!
- Artifacts collected from different states/countries. For example: Kathakali model from Kerala, Chennapatna toys from Karnataka, Kondapalli toys of Andhra Pradesh.
- Pictures of your close relatives or yours' taken at famous places/ monuments.
- Spend some time with our kids at the school and show the traditional dressing style of your state or celebrate native festivals the authentic way.
- You can perform arts (sing, dance, art, stories etc) that are native to your state.
Independence day celebrations – 15th August
Janmashtami Celebrations- 24th August
Holidays in the month of August
Independence day- 15th August- Early release for school & Holiday for Day care
Varalakshmi Vratham- 12th August - Holiday for School & Day care
Rakhi- 18th August -Holiday for School & Day care