Language nursery, kindergarten and crèche

We are one "Voice Kita"

Language is the key to the world: we need it to communicate, play and learn. Scientific studies show that children benefit particularly from language education if they start early. The daycare center is the ideal place to playfully stimulate your children’s language development.

Linguistic education integrated into everyday life means that the children learn the German language and expand their vocabulary on the side, in everyday situations. This does not mean that the children practice regularly in small groups or at certain times. The educators consciously use diverse opportunities such as lunch to stimulate and promote the natural language development of the children. It is based on the children’s individual skills and interests. In this way, all children can benefit from everyday language education.

What is a language daycare center?

The language daycare centers attach particular importance to language education in the Kita-everyday. An additional specialist for language education works in these daycare centers. She is given technical support as part of the federal “Sprach-Kitas” program.

What does the additional language education specialist do??

The additional specialist advises, accompanies and supports the day care team in the three Priority areas:

Language education work integrated into everyday life

Working with families

For example, it shows the educators how they can observe and document the children’s linguistic development. The observations form a good and important basis for discussions with the parents about your child’s progress.

She shows the team e.g. also how it can stimulate language in many everyday activities, that the diversity of children opens up many language opportunities and is an enrichment, and that educators can advise parents on the various areas.

How did that happen? And how do we see it? – Our conception

In autumn 2012 we started the project "Offensive Early Opportunities: Focus Kindergarten Language" & Integration". The aim and task of the program was to guarantee all children early opportunities for education and participation, regardless of their origin and social framework. The focus of daycare centers was to improve the language education offered by means of language education integrated into everyday life. This was the previous project and we were already allowed to be there. A first draft concept has been created here, which is currently being further developed by the new project, which will continue until 2019.

We would like to go to the St. Josef Catholic Kindergarten,

awaken and strengthen the children’s joy of speaking by actively listening and being interested in the child and its needs

that the children discover the desire for dialogue by asking open questions and taking time for the child

Strengthen children’s language development through the language model of adults by speaking slowly and clearly and in complete and correct sentences

In the entrance hall of our kindergarten you will find a poster of the "language tree".

The language tree according to Wolfgang Wendlandt symbolizes the influencing factors on language development in children.

Basic skills (roots) must be developed to develop language: seeing, hearing, touching, perception, motor skills, speech apparatus, mental development, brain maturation and social-emotional development. Now the social environment, the living environment and society also affect the child.

Speech stimuli (watering can) such as keeping eye contact and having them pronounced encourage the children in their language development. The joy of speaking is also an important prerequisite. However, understanding language is very important in order to develop expressive language (productive language).

In addition, there are the areas of articulation (first the children learn simple, front sounds, later phonetic connections), vocabulary (at the beginning simple doubling of syllables, later words, then parts of speech) and grammar (rules of the language: one-word over two-word sentences, use of subordinate clauses and verb placement ).

Basic requirements for growing are interpersonal warmth, love and acceptance. (Sun)

Linguistic education for 3-6 year olds integrated into everyday life:

Language acquisition takes place mainly in everyday life. In everyday activities, conversation and dialogue about the child are sought.

An exchange takes place daily, in the morning circle. The children tell e.g. of experiences and learn from us educators what else they can expect on that day.

The calendar is an integral part of the morning circle. The children learn the days of the week, months, seasons and numbers in a playful way.

The children are also familiarized with the written language in a playful way. The name of a child who can set the calendar is drawn every day. The children are shown the name and e.g. the initial name said. This way, the younger ones will recognize their name after a while. Based on the Würzburg training program “Listening, Listening, Learning”, we carry out playful exercises for phonological awareness with our preschool children a few times a week. Listening games, rhyme exercises, exercises on syllables, words and sentences as well as various phonetic exercises are offered. All of these skills are forerunners of written language acquisition. Exercises for phonological awareness are also part of our everyday work. So we clap e.g. our names or other words. We play rhyming games and speech drawing. Speech drawing combines language and movement. The short texts are written in rhymed form.

To strengthen the orofacial muscles and improve the articulation, we make oral motor stories and show the children the correct tongue resting position to prevent a wrong swallowing pattern later.

The promotion of linguistic action patterns and dialogues takes place in role plays, everyday activities as well as in stories and descriptions. In a memory game e.g. is named what can be seen on the map and if possible claps this word in syllables. If the child or adult has a couple, he immediately names the plural. Three different language levels are promoted.

The self-expression and the expression of feelings, experiences and thoughts are promoted in stories, games for body expression and certain projects.

Language education integrated into everyday life is aimed at all children. As many everyday actions as possible should be accompanied by language e.g. while eating, playing, etc. to stimulate the children in their language development.

The design of our kindergarten also offers linguistic suggestions. So there is e.g. a digital picture frame in the entrance area, on which current pictures of projects, excursions, certain celebrations etc. can always be seen. This offers linguistic stimulation and exchange between the children, between child and educator and between child and parent. This is how parents see what their child has experienced and can interact with him about that change. We are aware of our role as a role model and regularly reflect on our expressiveness and dialogue. We use various modeling techniques such as Corrective feedback (incorrectly repeating what was said correctly and emphatically), we take the child’s statements and expand them, e.g. "There, car" – "Exactly, a red car. It runs on the street. ”And we ask open questions.

Development monitoring and documentation:

Most of the observations take place in free play. We use observation sheets (with date and name) on which we write short notes so that they are not forgotten. For a development meeting e.g. these are then summarized and evaluated in the group team.

We use an observation sheet to determine the general state of development, which roughly covers all areas of development and shows which areas should be examined more closely.

For the language area, we use the questionnaire "SELDAK": language development and literacy for children growing up in German as well as "SISMIK": language behavior and interest in language among migrant children in day care centers.

There is a Frank / Grziwotz sound verification sheet to determine the sound formation.

We also conduct the Münster Development Observation Sheet (MEB) annually, which is divided into age groups.

It is important to us to find out during the admission interview whether the child is growing up multilingual. Many parents are unsure in which language to speak to their child and sometimes mix the languages. That is why it is important to us to give parents tips to deal with giving multilingualism and separating languages according to people and situations. For this purpose, families receive information sheets that have also been translated into several languages. We have also created a questionnaire that is discussed with the parents. Parents should assess their child’s level of language development in their mother tongue, as this is the basis for acquiring second language and it is crucial that the child has a good foundation in one language.

We have made our way.

Each child should be welcomed with its strengths and weaknesses, its personal cultural background, its individual personality and its health situation. Because diversity is enriching and it is normal to be different!

No child should fear being excluded! Every employee of our facility actively works against exclusion and discrimination. In addition, every employee reflects on their language usage. We want to have an inclusive language in our facility, i.e. a respectful language!

Working with families:

In order to involve the parents in our work, there is the "Parents folder". This is in the parents’ corner. This folder contains everything related to language. Parents get tips and suggestions on how to implement everyday language support in a playful way from the start. It explains why correct tongue rest and oral motor exercises are important. Practical examples such as oral motor skills stories and certain oral motor exercises are also included. The information sheets on the subject of multilingualism as well as various finger games and perception games can also be copied. But also on other topics, such as Left-handed, there are suggestions and tips.

In this corner there is also a large partition. Again and again a few pieces of paper with suggestions and tips are taken out of the folder and hung up. There are also various current newspaper articles. In order to make our work transparent for the parents, all previously worked out topics with short explanations are shown on colored paper on a partition.

Education partnership is important to us. We want to look at the child together with the parents. For this reason, short door-to-door discussions take place when bringing and / or picking up, as well as at least one development meeting and one-on-one meetings every year. When their child is admitted, the parents and the child get to know the facility (premises) and the staff. The parents receive all the important information about the kindergarten.

Each group offers a parents’ evening each year. For some parent evenings, parents can have a say in the topic beforehand. Furthermore, we always offer lectures on various topics with external experts.

In order to continuously improve our work and to learn about the concerns / wishes of parents, we conduct a parent survey every year.

Reading sponsors have been in our facility since 2013. Once a month, a mother or father comes and reads a book they have chosen themselves.

There is a parents’ council in our facility, which is elected annually.

The transition from crèche to kindergarten takes place with the involvement of parents, because the transition should be consciously perceived by everyone, it should be positive and individual. This is why there are interim discussions with the parents, the nursery teacher and the future teacher.

With the annual surveys, a letter of complaint and the mouthpiece of the parents’ advisory board, we would like to give parents the opportunity at any time to submit their suggestions, concerns and complaints to us.

Parents have the opportunity to participate in festive arrangements, there are garden and house promotions as well as craft afternoons.

The management is a family counselor to help parents find jobs when help is needed (financial, social, emotional …)

There is a “language folder” in each group. In this are overviews of language development, development of consonants, playful language support, motor development, multilingualism, tips for playful language support in young children. In addition, you will find various finger games, oral motor exercises, perception games and much more. The folder is continuously expanded by the educators. So you always have the opportunity to look up if questions arise from parents or educators about language.

This is not the end:

Since we are still in the middle of the project, both this part and all other parts of this concept will be further developed. Our daycare team is qualified at regular intervals by the management and the additional specialist in the three focus areas. It is important to us to develop further with the children, the latest knowledge from science and research and with the families and to remain active and learning. So this conception will never really be finished.

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