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Teaching Children to Communicate One Day at a Time

One day my son will talk; one day my pupils will read better.

By Eileen DavisPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Teaching Children to Communicate One Day at a Time
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

From a young age, I enjoyed learning about the English, Spanish, Navajo (Dine), and German languages. I could see there was power in the dominant languages and dying languages. Living near the Navajo Nation, I could see grandmothers and grandfathers wanted to share their traditions with their grandchildren who had lost some of those traditions. The grandparents mourned their children (the baby boomer generation) who lost some of the language and traditions at Indian boarding schools.

Because of seeing the loss of language, I know how important it is to teach language so the generations can communicate with each other. Much of my efforts have been toward teaching English as a second language as a college tutor in Blanding, Utah, a volunteer teacher in China, and also bonding by learning some of their languages.

English may be one of the dominant languages in the United States, yet it can still play a role to preserve other languages too. Through a common language, such as English, speakers of other languages can communicate to a broader audience about their language. Then when they become competent bilingual speakers they can bridge the language generation gap within their families. My goal has largely been to bridge communication gaps too.

As a mom of two boys with language delays, I have had less time to seek out ESL opportunities. Instead, my time has been spent teaching my youngest two their native language of English. My youngest son understands English but only says a few words. He uses a mix of signs, gestures, words, and screaming to have his basic needs met. I believe this is a glimpse of what minority language speakers must feel. Lots of anguish and frustration. My goal for improving his communication has been advocating for him at school, learning ASL, and reading books to him. He responds well to me signing but will try to say words when my husband encourages him. Go figure

My other goal has become to teach language skills where I can within my community. In January, I began working part-time to teach reading to grade school children. A few of my pupils are bilingual, and I enjoy hearing them speak their native language of Spanish. I don't tell them that I understand some of what they are saying in their native language. But it has helped me understand some of their struggles to read the English language, especially /v/, /b/, and most vowel sounds.

Each weekday, I read from a script on different reading and phonics concepts to children. Within a month, I have seen them progress onto higher concepts. Others I see frustrated while they aren't improving as fast as they'd like. They become bored with it. The supervisor works to adjust these groups to relieve that.

I love when their faces light up when they reach a milestone or learn a new word. They sometimes laugh at the new word or ponder its meaning. What is so cool is that they love learning new things. They learn so quickly.

Beyond reading, these children tell me stories and ask so many questions. They desire knowledge about their world and beyond. They want to understand differences in skin color, their spirit animal, and so on. Their stories often meander then another child competes to tell a story. They are all so eager. Sometimes I wish I had more time to hear all their joys, triumphs, and woes.

But I do have time with my own children to hear their woes and stories. I hope to hear my youngest to tell his stories. I keep working with his medical and school team to achieve that goal. I pray for him often. One day his stories will be told.

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About the Creator

Eileen Davis

Writer. Blogger. Poet. Avid reader. Boy mom. Have bipolar 2. Experience bisexual attraction. News Junkie. Love America. Love China. English language BA from BYU. Follow me on X, Facebook, Medium, or my blog.

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