One of the things about having a kid who feeds while he sleeps is that I spend a lot of time trapped. So I have been watching some TED talks. I found the description of a language parent by Chris Lonsdale to be particularly interesting.
Lonsdale begins by making two observations about the parent child interaction:
- The parent is part of a safe environment where the child is understood even if the rest of the world does not understand the child.
- The parent talks to the child in simple language that the child understands.
He then goes on to give four language parent rules:
- The parent works to understand what the child is saying.
- The parent does not correct mistakes.
- The parent confirms understanding by using the correct language.
- The parent uses words that the learner knows.