Thursday 24 April 2014
Jam Sandwich Biscuits
Wednesday 23 April 2014
Turkish pancake recipe
Turkish Pancakes
Ingredients
For the batter:
Vegetables:
Method
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Felt Board
I am always looking for fun ways to work storytelling into our homeschool. A great way to do this is to make props for children to use to retell some of their favourite stories. We often use puppets to retell stories and you can see this article for details of how to make your own.
Storytelling is important for so many reasons. Here are some of the benefits.
Benefits of storytelling
Learn about the world and relationships
Storytelling is a way children can learn about the world and relationships. Stories are a way of talking about your own experiences as well as the experiences of others. Well-told stories, with the help of eye-catching pictures, are particularly engaging for younger children and if they are interesting children will no doubt learn from them. Therefore, stories are an excellent way of introducing children to new ideas and concepts.
Improves social interaction
The act of storytelling provides great opportunities for social interaction. Nowadays, with the development of new technology such as computers, opportunities for social interaction are, unfortunately, becoming rarer. People are spending more time in front of a screen and less time interacting with one another. Not only does storytelling provide an opportunity for children to interact with each other and adults, children can also learn about social relationships through hearing and understanding about the relationships the characters of the story have with each other.
Learn new skills
Storytelling can teach them many skills. When they listen to a story being told they become aware of what a narrative is and learn the skills they will need to tell a story. Also, listening and attention skills are being practised and developed when a child listens to a story being told. Literacy skills are another area of development if they are looking at a story in a book. Another advantage of storytelling is that it teaches organisation skills. Through listening to a story, children are not only learning about the structure of a narrative, but also about how to sequence events in order to produce a story themselves.
Encourages creativity and imagination
Finally, storytelling, quite simply, encourages creativity and imagination!
I had a pack of felt in the cupboard which I bought from a local supermarket and cut it up to make the pieces for the caterpillar and all the goodies he eats by using the pictures in the book for inspiration. The children were so eager to play with it that they couldn't wait for me to finish before starting to arrange the pieces of felt onto the board.
They played with the board for some time and it was wonderful to hear D retelling the story to R who listened attentively. The board serves as a wonderful prop that encourages the development of storytelling and narrative skills.
Friday 11 April 2014
Mother hen
Friday 4 April 2014
Nurturing Multilingualism
Bringing up my children as multilingual is something I am passionate about. Coming from a Polish family where only English was spoken at home I, unfortunately, have experienced first hand the feeling of such a lost opportunity. Growing up I could not get away from the fact I came from a Polish background. Just one look at my name and it was obvious to anyone that I have eastern European roots.
Once, the penny dropped and people realised it was, in fact, a Polish name the questions started;
'Are your parents Polish?' Yes.
'Do they speak Polish?' Yes, it was their first language.
'So, you can speak Polish then.' Umm, no.
It was more of a matter of fact statement than a question but, nevertheless, I was met with a look of disbelief when I gave my response.
No, I do not speak Polish. I mean, I can say a few basic words and phrases, afterall, I went to Saturday Polish school for a few months when I was five years old, but it was far away from our house so I soon had to give it up. Being the eldest of six children, my parents wanted our first language to be English and by the time the youngest arrived I was already nine years old and by the time my youngest brother learned to speak I would have been 11 or 12 and it was too late for me to become bilingual then, wasn't it?
Well, not necessarily. Recent research has, in fact, shown that there might not be a critical period for second language learning. Dr Grosjean's excellent article sums up the recent research findings,(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201309/how-early-second-language) which have shown that teenagers can be better language learner's than young children. The only thing which might distinguish a highly proficient later second language learner from an early second language learner might be difficulties acquiring native-like accent.
I do, however, have an interest in foreign languages and language learning, unlike my siblings. At school I studied French, German, Italian and Latin and I later took French and Italian at A level. I've had a go at learning Polish here and there when I've had the time (which is not too often lately!). More recently, after meeting my husband, I began to learn Turkish and have also picked up a few words and phrases in Kurmanji and Zazaki, both Kurdish languages.
Now I am doing a PhD in bilingualism (bilingual children with autism to be more precise). I know of the benefits of being bilingual and these have made me strive to make sure my children have the opportunity I have missed. My husband and I would like our children to be able to speak at least English and Turkish (I hope they will have some understanding of Zazaki in the future but this is not a priority for the time being) but, living in England, the Turkish is not so easy to acquire. We are surrounded by English everywhere and it seems such a struggle to get the children in an environment where Turkish is spoken even a few times a week. Wherever we go, evidently English still prevails! Therefore, I am constantly trying to think of ways to help nurture my children's Turkish language learning.
Today, while at university, I stumbled across a fantastic blog called biligualmonkeys.com and found a great article about helping your child to become bilingual:
http://bilingualmonkeys.com/96-things-you-can-do-today-to-boost-your-childs-bilingual-ability/
Do take a look as there are some brilliant tips and strategies there which I will definitely be attempting to apply to my own life!