My husband and I teach English as a second language one night a week to people from several countries. I have students who speak Spanish, Arabic, Nepali, Hindi, Korean, French, and a number of African languages that I can’t even pronounce. The No. 1 question I get from people when they find out we teach English is: How can you communicate with them if you don’t speak the same language?
It’s pretty simple, really. How do you communicate with a child under the age of two who doesn’t speak English? You just . . . do.
That’s really what I’m doing at home these days–teaching English to my 14 month old. Among many other things, like how to love well and practice patience and build trust and give lots of hugs, I am teaching her every day how to communicate with those around her.
We decided to give sign language a try . . . not because we had done a lot of research (although doctors think it’s actually very beneficial) or because it’s the newest craze with celebrity parents, but because it was easy, and we figured it couldn’t hurt. We had picked up some signs from our niece a few years ago and had used signs like “more, please” and “all done” for years as inside jokes at home. (Use your imagination.) So from around the time our daughter could sit up, we started using signs as part of natural conversation with her.
She didn’t get it. At all.
She never once repeated a sign, looked interested in a sign, or showed any inkling of understanding what they meant. Until a week ago, when we were eating pie and gave her a bite. She looked up at us with those big eyes of hers, and then quite emphatically signed “more, please!”
And from there, the signing hasn’t stopped. It really has been life changing. This child, who for her whole life has only been able to communicate with us by crying and pointing, can now tell us exactly what she wants. I sign to her “Hungry?” And she’ll repeat it and then walk over to her high chair. A few nights ago as I fed her dinner, she would look at a certain food item and then sign “more, please.” If I offered something else, she wouldn’t respond, but when I would pick up the item she wanted, she would start excitedly signing “more, please!”
It was as if she was saying, “This! Feed me this!” Imagine how wonderful it must have felt for the first time in her whole life to have a say about what she ate for dinner. I was so proud that I didn’t care her dinner consisted mostly of applesauce and raisins.
Up until now we have only introduced a few basic signs: more, please; all done; hungry; and milk. But now that she has mastered these, I plan to introduce some others, including diaper change, water, sleep, bath, and play. I found a great resource online that walks me through just about every sign we could ever need, complete with pictures.
Don’t you just love it when you accidentally do something right as a parent?
How did you or do you break down the communication with your infant/toddler? How do you incorporate language development into your daily schedules?
As an Early Intervention Specialist, I often recommend sign language to my families as a way to increase communication. Thank you for spreading the word!