In a busy early childhood classroom full of diverse needs and abilities, it can be challenging to engage all children in the high-quality interactions that support their language, literacy and social skills. 

The Learning Language and Loving It™ guidebook offers a comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide for creating enriched and inclusive learning environments for all children, whether they’re typically developing, have a language delay or are second language learners. The guidebook offers practical strategies for making the most of everyday interactions and play to engage children in meaningful back-and-forth interactions that build on their interests and support their individual needs. Educators learn how to become more intentional in their interactions with each child, tailoring their support to ensure that each child has the best opportunities to learn.

Learning Language and Loving It offers concrete strategies for helping educators: 

• Promote every child’s language, social and literacy skills using natural everyday activities, interactions and play.
• Support the inclusion of children who are often left out of interactions.
• Become attuned to children’s interests so they can follow their lead, which is known to foster language development.
• Adjust the way they talk to help children develop more advanced language skills. 
• Promote peer interaction for all children.
• Facilitate language learning in pretend play.

The guidebook offers three equally important kinds of strategies for ensuring the best possible learning opportunities for all children: 

1. Child-oriented strategies – These strategies encourage children to initiate and engage in conversational interactions so that educators can respond in ways that encourage the child’s continued engagement in the interaction.
2. Interaction-promoting strategies – These strategies encourage extended individual and group conversations between adults and children.
3. Language-modelling strategies – These strategies expand the child’s oral language skills and facilitate the development of decontextualized (or abstract) language.

• Checklists and guidance to identify children’s stages and styles of communication.
• Observation Guides to help educators use the information they learned from each chapter to become more aware of individual children’s needs and abilities.
• Concrete, easy-to-follow guidance for building children’s social, language and literacy skills during everyday interactions and play.  
• Illustrated examples of educators using the strategies with a variety of children.  
• Print and e-Book formats available.