3 Ways to Improve Conversations with Kids

I've recently took part in a professional learning course about enhancing language use through conversation in the classroom. It was nice and affirming to find out that I am already doing a great job with my students in terms of building language through conversation but there were a few stand out strategies that I really wanted to share and have been trying in my classroom. They're not hard, it's just that I needed to be more aware and try to use them more often. Of course there are times where it will not be appropriate to use eg. while giving explicit teaching instructions but these strategies can be used by parents/teachers or any adult to encourage better conversations with kids.

1. Strive for 5

Strive for 5 is a strategy that teachers/parents can employ to engage students in sustained conversation. The aim is to have a total of at least 5 turns in speaking. Teachers/parents need to consider the types of questions/comments they make to children that will encourage them to take another turn. Sometimes a comment can bring about more conversation than asking a closed question. Here are some examples:

Example 1 (3 Turns)

1. Child: "I have a toy"

2. Adult: "What is it?" (closed question)

3. Child: "A doll". Child walks away to continue playing.

Example 2 (5 Turns)

1. Child: " I have a toy"

2. Adult: " That looks like an interesting toy. Tell me about your toy"

3. Child: "It's a doll and she like to play with me"

4. Adult: "Ooh, what things do you like doing with your doll?" (open question)

5. Child: "I like to dance, dress up and pretend cook"

As you can see, the second example of asking open questions leads to further conversation with a child as opposed to the closed question in the example 1.

  

2. OWL Strategy

I like this strategy because it allows children to lead the conversation on a topic or issue that they are interested in. It allows for all sorts of opportunities for communication.

0 - Observe

Sometimes it difficult to work out what is on a child's mind. And so adults need to observe and see what the child is doing (body language, hand gestures and facial expressions) and initiate a conversation based on what the child is interested in.

W - Wait

After initiating a conversation based on what you have observed a child doing, you need to WAIT! I feel like this is probably the most difficult part of this strategy because we as adult so often want to fill in the silence but waiting is a powerful tool. Waiting actually refers to 3 things:

1) stop talking

2) focus on the child by making eye contact or slightly leaning forward and

3) looking at the child expectantly.

This sends signals to the child that you're ready to them to respond to you or to take the lead in the conversation.  

If the child does not respond at all, the adult can ask a question or make a comment about the topic. Such as:  "Did you know...", "I wonder ...",  Try not to say "Thanks for sharing that with me" as that closes the conversation and the child is prompted to move along.

L - Listen

The listening part of this strategy is simple. Simply LISTEN to the child without interrupting. Whether or not you have understood the child's message just let the child speak. This lets them know what they are saying is important and it helps build their confidence in speaking to others.

Here is some further information about the OWL strategy from the Hanen's Early Language Program that I found online in addition to what I learnt on the course. 

3. Cueing Hierarchy

This is a great strategy to help those little ones who are anxious, unsure of what to say. It is a prompting guide for teachers/parents and is my favourite strategy of the 3. Here is a visual of this cueing system.

When you ask a question, allow waiting time for children to respond. If the child does not respond go through the cueing system. Start by giving the child a semantic clue (clue about the meaning), followed by a phonemic cue (clue about the sound). If this gets no response, provide the child with a binary choice. If by this stage the child has still not responded, model the word or sentence for them.

Here is an example:

Question: "What animal is the main character is the story?"

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide a semantic cue.

Semantic cue: "Some people call this animal the king of the jungle."

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide a phonemic cue.

Phonemic cue: "The animals starts with a 'l' sound like leaf"

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide the child with a binary choice.

Binary choice: Do you think it could be a lion or a turtle?

Wait for a response. If there is no response, provide the child with a sentence starter or word.

Sentence/Word starter: The main character in the story is a l... (stress the 'l' sound so the child can say lion with you).

Using this cueing system allow many opportunities for a child to respond.

Hope this has been a helpful hint to you about how to engage children in conversation.

Xx Laura