Oral Language Activities for Young Learners

Oral language is the crucial cornerstone skill of literacy and all other areas of academic and social and emotional learning. It is therefore essential that teachers of the youngest learners reinforce, support and nurture oral language in early childhood.

Oral Language Activities for Young Learners, by Cindy Middendorf, offers strategies for developing expressive and receptive language skills in children ages 3 to 5, and suggestions for incorporating these strategies into lesson plans for daily language instruction.

This four-page, quick-reference laminated guide provides teacher tips and recommends activities that provide young children the opportunity to participate in, practice, and enjoy the acquisition of oral language. These include

• Singing
• Shared reading
• Playing with rhymes
• Hearing read-alouds
• Sharing time
• Playing with peers

The guide also identifies easy-to-use strategies that serve the dual purpose of building expressive language and receptive language skills and promoting social and emotional skills.