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Creating a Language Rich Environment

Talesha Binns
ECE/315
March 2nd 2015
Instructor: Patricia Sutton

Language Rich Environment

Creating a Language-rich Environment

Through my floor plan you will learn how communication, language, and interactions will
help my students. My students will learn how to foster language development throughout my
classroom using the three physical areas listed below. The three physical areas of my classroom
will consist of an art area, dramatic play area, and a reading area. These specific areas of
language development will help both the students and me achieve the highest success in
language acquisition.
Classroom Set Up
The way I have my classroom set up for my students is very simple and easy to follow.
Each area will have different learning materials that will help the children with language
development. The first area I will talk about will be the art area, dramatic play area, and lastly the
reading area. My floor plan will go as follow.
Art Area
Thisareawillfosterthegrowthoflanguageskillsbygivingchildrentheopportunityto
talkabouttheircreativity,inarelaxedenvironment.Thisareawillbesetupforchildrentohave
easyaccesstomaterialsthatwillbelocatedoneyelevelshelves.Theywillalsohavethechance
toparticipatewiththeteacherindirectactivityasawholeclassorindividual.Intheartarea,the
childrenaregiventhechancetospeakfreelywiththeirfellowpeersandteachersbydiscussing
whattheydidontheirownprojectsusingdescriptivewords.Ifeelthatprovidingmanydifferent
materialsthechildrenwillhavethechancetousetheirimaginationfreelytocreateamultitudeof
projects.Asateacher,theycanplanactivitiesthatwillfosterthedevelopmentoflanguageand
creativeactivitiesintheartareabasedontheirownobservationsaroundthem.Also, the teacher
is to make the children feel good about themselves and to give lots of praise and encouragement

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throughout these activities. You should be particularly supportive during the ones the children
find most difficult. ("Chapter 14: Activities That Promote Speech, Language, Literacy &
Learning", 2008). The teacher is to encourage oral language between the children, by asking
many open-ended questions, and stress to the children the importance of safety with art materials
and learn the importance of sharing. The materials that will be placed in the art are will be things
like glue, construction paper, pencils, crayons, markers, paint, paint brushes, smocks, drying
rack, play dough, cookie cutters, tape, and staple gun. Art activities are excellent opportunities
for encouraging language development. In planning activities, teachers should choose skills to
target according to the child's developmental level and match opportunities for verbalization with
the art task ("Language Development through Art", n.d.).
The activity I will be having the children to do is a story collage. Using newspaper ad
inserts, participants cut out and glue pictures that will help them tell a story, then they will share
it with the group. This teaches emphasizes how materials readily at hand can be used to support
vocabulary, narrative, and creative language. Specific student goals might include narratives,
description and vocabulary ("Chapter 14: Activities That Promote Speech, Language, Literacy
& Learning", 2008).
Toaccesstheeffectivenessofthisareawouldbethroughobservations.Theteacherscanwrite
downwhatlanguagewasbeingusedthroughouttheactivityandthengetwithotherteachersto
seeifanychangesneedtobemadewiththeactivityitself.
Dramatic Play Area
Dramatic play is the imaginary, illusory realization of unrealizable desires that fosters
cognitive and linguistic growth and represents a specifically human form of conscious activity
(Piper, 2012). I think dramatic play is the best place to foster language development. Engaging

Language Rich Environment

in dramatic play enhances young childrens development. Pretending builds social skills, makes
children more aware of their own emotions, and encourages shared language and problem
solving. As children play and interact in the dramatic play center in an early childhood program,
they practice skills in the following areas: Social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language
("The Dramatic Play Center in Child Care", 2015). Almost all children enjoy playing makebelieve or fantasy games, and they benefit in two important ways. First, is dramatic play helps
develop the imagination by giving children the opportunity to think about the past and integrate
it with present and future, this helping to increase memory capacity. Second, these games
provide the opportunity for children to use language that is not bounded by the immediate
environment or the present, they begin to decontextualize language (i.e., begin to use it for
abstract representation) (Piper, 2012, ch. 9.1).
The teachers role in this dramatic play area is minimal but when the teacher sees the
children having a difficult time getting into the dramatic play then the teacher needs consider
the following ways to help children engage in more complex and extended dramatic play: would
be to model pretend play: Use books, songs, or stories to engage children in using their
imagination and acting, and the teacher can also, Participate as a supporting character: If play is
"stuck" or children don't seem to know what to do next, consider entering their play as a
supporting character to give them ideas. If the area is a restaurant, you could sit down at a table
and say, "I'm hungry. Will someone please take my order?" ("The Dramatic Play Center in Child
Care", 2015). I think it is important for teachers to step back and let the children imagination run
wild. This will encourage language acquisition by allowing the children to express themselves in
a stress free environment without the teacher standing over them giving commands.

Language Rich Environment

Reading Area
Acquiring literacy is built on a foundation of oral language, but it is also interdependent
with it. In other words, children continue to developoral language skills as they begin to acquire l
iteracy skills (Piper, 2012, Ch. 9.2). Reading storybooks to children maximizes the kinds of
experiences that predict language learning and may even exceed the power of oral conversations
at times (Dickinson & Tabors, 2012). Here is one in which book reading influences language
learning and it is that it promotes joint attention and interest. Consider all the ways in which
storybooks conspire to help children maintain their attention. Childrens books often use bold
colors and strong contrasts and typically depict objects and animals that appeal to young
children (Dickinson & Tabors, 2012).
The reading area will have a square rug, where the children will be able to sit and listen
to the teacher read aloud, or they can sit and read alone or to another student. This area contains a
bookshelf, label with books in alphabetical order and the reading level of each book facing
outward. There will different types of furniture like beanbag chairs, sofas, and rugs depending
on their sitting preference. Books in this area will range from books like, pictures only to easy to
read chapter books that will be appropriate for children that maybe going to a higher grade. This
is why I think it is a great idea to have literacy next to circle time. The children will have the
opportunity to sit and listen to the teacher read a story aloud, one the teacher is done reading the
book will be placed into the library so that the children will have the chance to check the book
out themselves and read it the way they want to. To asses this area a tool that I would use on a
daily basis would be to do some screening and assessments through observations. Once I see
were my students standing when it comes to developing language properly, I will start working

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with each child accordingly on ways to improve their current level of comprehension in the
reading area. I want all my students to as successful as they can.
The important takeaway for preschool teacher is that learning should be embedded in
activities that are reflective of childrens prior experience of learning and that are embedded in
the process of socialization. Such as activities need to be appropriate to childrens stage of
development and natural rather than instructional (Piper, 2012, Ch 9.1).
My Classroom Floor Plan Layout

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References

Piper, T. (2012). Making meaning, making sense: Childrens early language learning. San Diego,
CA: Bridgepoint Education. This text is a Constellation course digital materials (CDM)
title.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ART. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.parentchildservices.com/
Chapter 14: ACTIVITIES THAT PROMOTE speech, LANGUAGE, literacy &
learning. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.yellowhousechildrens.org
The Dramatic Play Center in Child Care. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.extension.org/
DavidK.Dickinson,JulieA.Griffith,RobertaMichnickGolinkoff,andKathyHirshPasek,
HowReadingBooksFostersLanguageDevelopmentaroundtheWorld,Child
Development Research,vol.2012,ArticleID602807,15pages,2012.
doi:10.1155/2012/602807

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