Workshops

Workshops using video and hands-on practice are available to parent groups, preschools, daycare programs and professional organizations. Choose from one of the workshops below, or ask us to develop a workshop customized to the needs of your group.

Learning to Talk

Promoting Language Development from Birth to Three

Parents and caregivers play a critical role in acquisition of language that takes place during this period. With the help of video examples and role-playing activities, participants will learn:

• Stages of language development from birth through age three.
• Principles of adult-child interaction that promote language growth.
• Activities, games and books to use with their children at each stage.

Now We're Talkin'!

Promoting Language Development in the Preschool Years

The growth of language that takes place during the ages of two to five enables children to successfully participate in the social and academic realms of school. With the help of video examples and role-playing activities, participants will learn:

• Stages of language development from ages two to five.
• Principles of adult-child interaction that promote language growth.
• Activities, games and books appropriate for each stage.

Just Between Us

Facilitating Peer Interaction in the Classroom

Every classroom has a few students who tend to interact only with adults or who are not successful at verbally engaging their peers. Participants will:

• Increase awareness of peer-directed language in the preschool setting.
• Learn discourse techniques to assist development of peer-directed language.
• Learn specific games and activities that promote peer interaction.

Getting Ready to Become a Reader

Not as Simple as ABC

Solid oral language skills and development of phonological awareness are major pre-requisites to learning to read and write. What are the component skills and how can preschool teachers help children become ready to crack the code? Participants will learn:

• How to help children develop metalinguistic awareness through activities that involve rhyming, sentence and word segmentation.
• How picture-books and homemade books can serve as a link between oral and written language development.
• Techniques and activities involving picture sequence stories, category cards, role playing, and easy-to-make games.