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In early childhood kids usually tend to absorb what they see and hear. They mimic people and parents as they try to communicate their feelings towards their caretakers. As I have learned from the previous course, people learn better when they’re learning, for example, an L1 language from absolute necessity in order to understand and be understood in that environment. This is the case with children, in such an early stage of life kids will absolutely need to learn words and phrases so that they can understand and be understood. By the time children go to school, they already have a general understanding of certain language structures and words and are able to communicate simple actions and needs, such as when they want food, if they’re feeling tired, whether they want something or not, basically conveying all emotions. This, however, is just the first and simplest part of learning a language through speech. When kids, however, are able to read and be read to when they’re in early childhood changes the whole picture. By learning how to read and hear sounds from books they are able to understand much better how sentences are created, they also help enlighten their imagination with stories and stimulate their natural curiosity towards it. Reading to young children and having them learn how to read will also help stimulate their brain and help them communicate better. It also helps boost the memory of young children and even enhances their cultural understanding, according to The Learning Lodge. According to Geoffrey Nixon from geteduca.com, learning stories at such a young age help children get a sense of identity, family engagement, helps to stimulate the child’s perspective and helps children feel like they’re having an impact on the world. Learning reading at such a young age is all usually done within the context of that child’s first language but doing this type of activity with a second language during the same period has even greater benefits. First of all, we can already conclude that learning a second language is simply better because of the ability to communicate with a different culture and understand different people. According to Mary Field from The Rivard Report, “Dual language education does not guarantee that children will become fluent in a second language, but studies of many programs have shown positive results in language acquisition and correlation with other forms of academic achievement.” Even though kids are not guaranteed to be fluent in an L2 language by reading when they’re in early childhood it is still a great benefit to those kids that still do learn how to read a second language. They don’t have to be fluent to know a language at least to some extent. Learning stories within reading English is one of the best ways for young children to learn the language. First of all, there is an innumerable amount of books and E-books available even some free E-books for children through the internet readily available to download which helps access a learning source for those who don’t currently have a book. There are also incredible stories written in English even famous ones that we can see in animated movies. Books like Charlotte’s Webb (a personal favorite), Where the Wild things Are, The Snowy Day, and any DR. Seuss book, and much more. All of these types of storybooks and as mentioned help stimulate young children’s minds. Their natural curiosity will lead to reading more books which will help them grasp the English language a little better every time they read. This is why storytelling and storybooks are so important in the early development of a child even if it’s an L2 language. References: (2016). The Benefits of Storytelling for Young Children. The Learning Lodge, Blog. Recovered on: http://www.thelearninglodgeinramsey.com/about-us/blog/entryid/3/the-benefits-of-storytelling-for-young-children Field, F., (2017). Picking Up a Book Helps Kids Learn a Second Language. Recovered on: https://therivardreport.com/picking-up-a-book-helps-kids-learn-a-second-language/ Nixon, G., (2017). The Magic of Learning Stories. Bringing Learning to Life – Why Learning Stories. Recovered on: https://www.geteduca.com/blog/the-magic-of-learning-stories/ Reading and storytelling with babies and children. Recovered on: https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/play-learning/literacy-reading-stories/reading-storytelling
