Observing Communication

This week, I went to observe a teacher with 3-4 years old children in an early childhood setting to see how the adult-child communication was and the effect of their communication. This observation took place during the free play time. The children were engaged in their own play; while the teacher sometimes joined them in the play or sometimes just stood by aside and watched them until intervention was needed. 

I noticed that the teacher would lower her body to the children's level when she communicated with them. She would listen carefully and patiently to whoever tried to share their ideas of play with the teacher. Even some non-English native speakers, such as Japanese, Korean, or Chinese children, could not express themselves clearly and fluently, she would wait until they finished their words and then tried to restate what they were saying to check whether they were well understood by the teacher. When one of the children, who was a Japanese girl, frowned, felt anxious and was about to cry since she could not put her words together properly, the teacher calmed her down by patting on her back and giving her more time. I learned that when the teacher tried to figure out what the children tried to convey, she showed her respect for the children; she made the children feel relaxed and comfortable to say their ideas out loud without feeling urged; she read their body language to give them comfort.

I think the communication strategies that the teacher used are quite affirming and effective; as well, those strategies are similar to what Lisa Kolbeck in the media segment presented to us. Lisa suggests that teachers show respect for children by going slow, "trying to be receptive to what the children were saying....and not jump in and take [their] words out of [their] mouth. Let them feel what the flower of their idea was, letting it come out of them" (Laureate Education, 2011). Moreover, she suggests that teachers be sensitive and pay close attention to children's body language so that we could "pick up cues about how to communicate" (Laureate Education, 2011).

Once children feel respected and have the sense of self worth, they would feel more comfortable to share more of their ideas; thus, more opportunities are provided for children to develop to their potential, emotionally, socially, cognitively and linguistically. For example, the Japanese girl that I observed, after the teacher's comfort and patient waiting, she calmed herself down, better expressed herself, and showed her teacher what she had created in the sand table. She would feel more confident in speaking English next time even though she would still have difficulties in expressing herself; she would feel herself heard and accepted.

The observation and the learning materials this week are beneficial to me. Before, in order to get a better idea of what children want to tell me, I sometimes interrupted and made assumptions about their ideas, which would make them feel frustrated when they were not well understood. However, I learned "how important it is that we not close children off with the walls of our assumptions. We leave ourselves open to surprises, because children have so many surprises inside we can learn about it if we're quiet enough to get them come to us with it" (Laureate Education, 2011).

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Communicating with young children. Baltimore, MD: Author