Home is the first learning environment for children and particularly for children who learn through EAL, home can be a powerful learning environment filled with opportunities for language development. Multilingual families often wonder how they can help their children improve English at home or maintain their home language(s) and the answer to this is: use resources that you already have around you.
Click here to read an article about how you as a teacher can support families in maintaining their children's mother tongues
In this article, we will explore how everyday household objects can be turned into language-learning opportunities. The article comes with a downloadable resource on creating your own board game for English practice that is engaging, meaningful, and fun for multilingual families. You can download it by clicking on the buttons at the top and bottom of this article.
Learning at home
Learning at home supplements and reinforces knowledge acquired at school (Doyle & Betsy, 1990) but it can be more fun and relaxing and often even game-based. According to Bempechat (2019), meaningful homework needs to be authentic with a clear purpose and real-world relevance. A more games-based approach to home learning, where communication is more spontaneous and learners are more motivated to participate in an activity, can lead to meaningful learning (Wright, Betteridge & Buckby, 2006).
Multilingual families can create an engaging and conducive to learning environment allowing children to:
- Build vocabulary at home
- Explore connections across their languages
- Understand their strengths and weaknesses in each language spoken at home
- Develop world knowledge by talking about the functions of everyday objects, their different uses or materials they are made of
- Develop stronger bonds with the family by playing games and activities
- Encourage creativity and develop problem solving skills
But how can common everyday objects in our houses become creative tools for game-based language learning?
Using everyday objects to develop EAL language skills
Here are some creative ideas for activities that multilingual families can play together:
- Labelling objects: Children can label objects around them in as many languages as possible. They can use sticky notes to label objects in English and/or other languages. Then, remove the labels and ask children to match them back to the objects. Players get a point every time they manage to label an object in all the available languages.
- Memory cards: Children can draw objects around them on a piece of paper, cut their drawings out and create cards out of them. Then create cards with the corresponding vocabulary in English and/or in your home language(s). All cards should be placed face down. Players can then choose the pile of drawings to go with either the pile of English words or the pile of home language vocabulary. Each player opens two cards and earns a point if they match. They put the cards face down again if they do not match. Players take turns until all cards have been opened.
- Scavenger hunt: Give clues like “Find something that starts with ‘b’” or “Find three red things”, or “Find an object that is soft’’.
- What’s Missing? (3+players): One player lays out 5–6 items on a table and the rest of the players name them and try to memorise them. Everyone apart from the first player closes their eyes and the first player removes one object. The rest of the learners try to guess which item is missing. Players repeat the process with the rest of the objects.
- What’s it for? (in pairs): One partner points at an object, names it and asks ‘What’s it for?’’ The other player answers with the use of the object. For example: Player 1: Spoon - what’s it for? Player 2: The spoon is for eating.
Language learning requires opportunities for interaction, creativity, and active engagement. As a result, planning for activities that promote meaningful interaction can help turn your home into an environment of natural learning and a supportive context where learners are allowed to take risks with the language.
References
Bempechat, J. (2019). The case for quality homework: Why it improves learning and how parents can help. Education next. Accessible here.
Doyle, Mary Anne E.; Barber, Betsy S. (1990). Homework as a Learning Experience. What Research Says to the Teacher. (3rd ed.). Washington, D.C: National Education Association.
Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (2006). Games for Language Learning (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
