Dear Caregivers,

Have you ever stopped to think about how important vocabulary is to your child’s overall development? Words are essential building blocks for nearly all basic skills. They make it possible to think, to understand abstract concepts, to ask and find answers to questions, and to communicate. The more words a child knows, the easier it is for him to learn most of the things we hope to teach him.

Research shows:
• Young children with strong vocabularies become good readers and do better in school and beyond (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997)
• Kindergarten children who had received carefully developed education in understanding of words and how to use them meaningfully fared much better later in studies, reading skills, attitude towards school and even attendance (Hanson and Farrell, 1995)

You are your child’s most important teacher and she looks to you as her role model. You can ensure your child gets a great start in life. You help your child to form a solid foundation upon which all subsequent education builds. Explore these pages for ideas on reading to your child, encouraging her budding language skills, developing her vocabulary, and using Galli Galli Sim Sim T.V. show and online resources to provide your child with additional enjoyable learning experiences.

-- Editor

As a caregiver the first thing you have to know is that children develop skills gradually. Our guide helps you identify the stages of development that a child goes through.

Babies
Your child learns mostly through his physical senses- by being able to touch the things he sees, sees the things he hears, and interact with the people around him.
What You Can Do...
• Sing your favorite folk song or lullaby to your baby.
• Play peek-a-boo.
• Encourage your child to talk by mimicking the sounds he makes.

Toddlers
Your child develops skills by trying things over and over again, so she needs opportunities to talk, “write” (scribble), and “read” (holding books, turning the pages).
What You Can Do…
• Read picture books to your child. Have her identify pictures and name objects.
• Give your child tools to help her budding language as you read, write, and speak with each other. Keep crayons and paper handy for her to write a letter, or make up a toy phone for her to speak into.

Preschoolers
Your child asks questions and uses his imagination to explore answers. He is ready for books that solve problems, take him on adventures, and provide information. He is also eager to write, both by scribbling and by copying the letters of familiar words. At this stage he begins to understand cause and effect. His conversations contain longer, more complex sentences.
What You Can Do…
• Teach him the words of a simple song.
• Talk about what he sees on television.
• Ask him to retell an event or story.
• Assign him simple tasks involving reading or writing, such as writing a grocery list, to give him a sense of accomplishment as well as practice.

Primary Schoolers
Your child will become curious about the world around her. She will learn to read and write. She will use words to express feelings and cope with emotions.
What You Can Do…
• Take pictures of a day’s events and let your child write captions for them.
• Watch Galli Galli Sim Sim and ask your child to retell the story, either from her own perspective or pretending to be one of the characters on the show.

Growing Children, Growing Vocabulary
1. Fall in Love with Words!
Foster a love of words.
Your child learns new words best by hearing them often in meaningful ways. Build on words your child already knows to introduce new related words.

Bring in different foods and have your child describe them. Have him create favorite food signs. Help him write the name of the food he chooses and draw a picture to go along with it.

Help your child stretch her speaking skills by encouraging her to act out familiar situations, pretend to be someone else, or invent dialogue.

Placing signs or labels around where your child plays, reading books together, taking time to talk, playing music, and singing together are fun and simple ways to expand vocabulary.

2. Use Words Everyday!
Let your child see you read and write, even if it is just part of simple, day-to-day tasks like making a shopping list, reading a recipe, or checking the TV schedule. You can use your everyday routines to give your child chances to practice language skills. Here’s how:

Talk with your child. At the dinner table, in the car, on the trip to the store, the more chances you give him to have conversations, the more he develops language.

Sing. Whether it is a lullaby at bedtime, a nursery rhyme, or a song on the radio, singing is a fun way for your child to learn new words as well as the rhythm and sound of language.
Tell or read stories everyday. Any time that fits your routine is fine. Don’t be concerned if your child wants you to read the same book over and over. Repetition helps him understand and enjoy stories. When you can’t read a book, try making up stories together.
Hunt for letters and simple words around your home and neighbourhood. Pick a letter and let your child find examples of the letter on food packages, clothing labels, and mail. Point out and read signs in your neighbourhood. Label her room, bed, or drawers with her name.

3. Play With Words!
Play with words and bring them to life.
1. Sing nursery rhymes and simple songs with words that rhyme.
2. Say a word and try to come up with real or nonsense words that rhyme.
3. Use pictures or hand motions to define the words in a song.
4. Let your child fill in sound effects while you are reading with him.
5. Make characters in books come alive by using different voices, body language, and facial expressions.

4. Make Words For Life!
Use words to help build your child’s life skills. Encourage her to use words to express and understand emotions, to build social skills, to learn about other cultures and the world around her.
Emotions. Talk to your child about different emotions. Have him tell a story about the times he felt happy, sad, angry, surprised, or worried.

Social Skills. Use words to build on your child’s social skills. Have your child remember how she met her best friend. Have her recall all the questions she asked on their first meeting.

Culture. Introduce new words or make labels for the things in a room using all the languages that your child speaks. Talk about the many ways to say the same thing; paani, neeru, jal and thanni are different words for ‘water.’ Sing songs in a variety of languages.

Make the Most of Galli Galli Sim Sim
Media tools like television can open new worlds for your child, building new skills and an enthusiasm for learning, especially when you help.

Point and label objects that you see on screen, ask questions, and interact with your child as you would when reading a picture book.

Connect what your child sees on screen to real life. Encourage your child to participate by singing or dancing along, predicting what will happen next, or helping characters solve problems. Read books together and plan activities that explore topics he has seen on screen.

Take advantage of teachable moments. Talk about the program. Watch together and ask what she thinks and let her know what you think.

Choosing Books for Children: A Checklist
Building a book collection with lots of variety will make reading with children enjoyable and will open their eyes to ideas about the world around them. The checklist below can help you select a variety of different types of books. Though not every feature needs to be included in every book, asking the questions below can help you find high-quality books.

Will you and your child enjoy the book?
Does the book involve things your child likes to do or things he is experiencing?
Does the book use language that your child will understand and introduce new experiences?
Does the book celebrate the sounds of language by using rhymes, catchy phrases, or silly sounds?
Does the book introduce your child to different cultures, languages, and ways of life?
Does your book collection contain poetry, rhyming and non-rhyming books, folk tales, picture books, and song books?
Does your book collection include books in the language(s) that your child speaks at home?