Teaching children good speaking habits begins at a very young age.
It is the dream of many parents to have clever, articulate, eloquent children, but without being overly critical of them or paying for expensive and boring etiquette classes. Fortunately, there are a number of techniques and practices that can help children to develop their vocabulary naturally and, more importantly, feel confident about articulating their opinions. Eloquent children will grow into eloquent adults with an ability to accurately express themselves in a range of situations.
Instructions
1. Listen to what your children have to say and respond appropriately. This will build their confidence and encourage them to speak more often. When mistakes occur, repeat the sentence back in the form of a question. For example, if the child says: "I falled over in the playground," respond with "You fell over in the playground today?" Finally, ask questions that require full answers rather than one-word responses. Instead of "Did you have fun at Jack's house?" ask "What did you do at Jack's house today?"
2. Encourage a love of telling, reading and hearing stories. Ask them to make up adventure stories for their toys, or describe what's going on in a picture book. At bedtime, read classic tales such as "Wind in the Willows" or "Arabian Nights" instead of simple children's storybooks. Children can handle far more complicated language than many parents realize, so make the story exciting and characters come alive.
3. Encourage your children to interact with more articulate children and adults to provide a natural way for them to challenge and expand their conversational abilities. Have the children help you at the checkout counter of stores and order their own food in restaurants.
4. Avoid simplifying speech, as children learn the vast majority of the vocabulary from their parents. Encourage your children to ask if they don't know what a word means. Children are more likely to retain vocabulary if it occurs in dynamic conversation. Similarly, make sure to use a lot of synonyms and always be as accurate as possible with language. For example, don't just say "tree" -- be more specific with "oak," "beech," "maple" and so on.
