Teachers at Manangatang Pre School have embraced the Abecedarian Approach in our interactions with children. The overriding element of the approach is called “Language Priority”. This element encourages parents to put language at the top of your list of things to do with your child. Language Priority can turn an ordinary event into a chance for learning. In Language Priority we use the 3N Strategy: Notice, Nudge: Narrate.
Here is an example of how this went down with a three year old at Pre School this week:

Child: I’m a boatman
Notice (Notice what the child is interested in): Child, you have found the boat.
Child: I want to take the boat home.
Nudge (prompt the child for more information): What would you do with the boat at home?
Child: I would take it fishing.
Narrate (Put the experience into a story): You could catch some fish if you took the boat fishing at the river.

This strategy created an opportunity for a back and forth conversation between the teacher and child. It tells the child the teacher is interested in what they are interested in and this inturn builds relationships. It also gives the teacher knowledge about the child’s experience, vocabulary capacity and knowledge of sentence structure. Parent Challenge: Try this at home this week and let me know how it goes.