How to use TV to improve elementary school language

Ask any child below the age of 10 whether they would prefer a book, a worksheet, or a video…. And you know exactly what they are going to pick.

But don't despair. Use this fact to your advantage! You can definitely use TV and movies to help children better their speech and language.

Because if you can’t get your child to answer questions, to sit at a table, or to do an activity… you can almost always get them to watch something with you. And no matter what it is, you can make it a learning experience.

Here are 8 rules you can use when watching the big (or little) screen.

Tip # 1: Pick something easy to work with

Parents can choose a child’s favorite Disney movie or favorite TV show with no sweat (in the unlikely event that they have time to watch the entire episode / movie).

I also recommend any of the bedtime story videos on Youtube. Or, you can also use clips of vintage cartoons, like the Looney Tunes.

Tip # 2: You pause the video every couple of minutes

… and then you talk with the child about what you just saw.

This can be a bit irritating for the child, so you can set the expectation at the very beginning.

“I’m going to watch this with you. BUT the condition is, we have to talk about what we watch every few minutes. Okay?”

Try a pinky swear for more commitment.

And only use one tip for each pause.

Tip # 3: You can recap what you just saw

Or, to be more specific, you can make the child recap. You can do this in one of two ways –

a. Asking wh – questions about what you just saw : Who ran away? Why did she run away? Where did she go? When did she run? What did the Queen say?

This works particularly well in the beginning…. Because it is priming and prepping for something more difficult (below)

b. Simply ask the child to recap.

“What happened?”

The wh- questions in (a) help a child get in the habit of picking out the most important parts of a clip.

Tip #4: Correct any grammar errors you spot

You can keep an eye out for incorrect tenses (especially past tense –ed like "walked" and irregular past like "woke"), plurals (irregular like “children” and regular like “dresses”), verb agreement (“She runs” vs. “she run”), pronouns (gave it to "him" vs. gave it to "he").

For each correction, you can wait until the child finishes talking. Then you can model the correct form.

“Oh, did you mean he woke up?” (Pause). “Can you say that for me? ‘He woke up.’”

Tip # 5: Correct any speech sound errors

Make sure the sounds are appropriate for the child’s age by checking a milestone chart.

If a child says “wabbit” for example, let him finish talking. Then say, “Did you mean “rabbit? Can we try that again, just 2 more times? Rrrrrrabbit.”

Tip # 6 : Throw in some social language.

“How is _______ feeling? How can you tell? And Why?”

Or

“What would you say if you were ______?”

Or

“How can _____ make this better?”

These might be a little hard. You can give choices to scaffold this skill. “Does she feel sad because she is lonely? Or does she feel sad because she broke her shoe?”

Tip #7 : Throw in some predictions

It’s an important higher level language skill. Try “what do you think is going to happen next?”

Again, if this is too hard, give options, and fade the options with time. “Do you think he will follow her? Or do you think he will say ‘bye’?”

Tip #8 : Point out new words, and have the child infer their meaning

Inferencing is another higher level language skill.

“What does puzzled mean? He said “I’m feeling so puzzled. Can you guess?”

Give choices as needed. “Is he happy or confused?”

Tip #9: You can Practice Phonological Awareness even without a book

Phonological awareness is an important predictor of reading ease. You can pick a core word and work on generating rhymes, identifying the first sound of the word, or clapping out its syllables. You’re strengthening the ability of the child to think of the aspects of the word - which helps increase pace of reading.

Tip # 10 One tip per pause

You don’t want to overwhelm your child with questions. You can ask one – or at the most two -- of the above questions each time you pause the video.

This way, the child will stay engaged for longer – and over the course of the video, attempt more questions.

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That’s all, folks!

If you or your child is not in the mood for a book or a seriously intensive activity, reach for the iPad, the phone, or the TV.

It will be a nice “break”, without being a “break” at all. You’ll get a lot done for speech, language, and learning – while having fun.

This activity can supercharge kids, gets them excited for work, and make them more likely to stay engaged for extra enrichment.

Happy Watching!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.