Using simple, effective dialogue teaches children the power of conversation. Teacher-child and caregiver-child interactions, especially through questions, can significantly enhance a child’s language, thinking and social skills!
Using developmentally appropriate videos in early childhood education classrooms can help children foster conversations. An integration between Procare Solutions and MarcoPolo Learning, the award-winning global developer of educational products and instructional resources, offers educators using Procare a way to incorporate these kinds of videos into their lesson plans.
“If you want to cultivate talking in classrooms, you need to offer something that children want to talk about,” said Dr. Nermeen Dashoush, chief learning officer of MarcoPolo Learning and clinical associate professor of early childhood education at Boston University.
MarcoPolo Learning videos model beneficial interactions between teachers and young learners. Teachers learn how to respond to a child who makes an off-topic comment and how to engage in rich conversations rather than moving on.
Different tiers of vocabulary are used as well.
“These tiers cover everyday words such as cat, sit or stand,” said Dr. Dashoush. Another tier covers words that are not as common, such as together, playful and colorful. A third tier focuses on more intricate words such as migration, hibernation and molting, as well as other words that are specific to the content.
Each video has specific vocabulary and questions.
“Words are something children should be able to play with. Think of a toy you can flip or manipulate. It’s the same thing with a word,” said Dr. Dashoush.
Use questions to guide vocabulary enhancement. Photo cards, which teachers often spend a lot of time making, also are helpful. To save time, MarcoPolo Learning photo cards are available to Procare users to help reinforce vocabulary.
“We see children exposed to richer vocabulary and to higher-level talking concepts,” she said. And family engagement activities provide parents with specific questions to ask their child to reinforce the learning at home.
Take Advantage of the MarcoPolo Learning and Procare Integration!
By using videos to boost development with everyday talk, you’ll create a classroom environment where dialogue helps children in literacy development, social development and expressing feelings.
MarcoPolo Learning’s comprehensive library of developmentally appropriate short videos, educator guides and activities can now be accessed in Procare, making it easier for educators to incorporate the resources into their lesson plans.
Child care centers using MarcoPolo Learning can access classroom videos and educator guides with open-ended questions and activities that make class preparation easier and foster effective teacher-child discourse, all within Procare.
Learn more about how the MarcoPolo Learning integration with Procare works and get started today!
