Using TV to Help Your Child  Develop Language Skills 

     Most young children watch TV every day. Teachers and parents often feel that children watch too much television! Television time, however, can be turned into a learning experience for your young child. Listening skills, vocabulary, and important thinking skills can be developed when your child is watching his/her favorite program. Here are some suggestions for making TV time a learning experience.

   Sit down with the child when he/she is watching a cartoon or an "action-packed" television show. During the show, encourage thinking by asking questions such as "what do you think will happen next?"

LABELING - Ask the child questions about the story characters and the context where the story action occurred. "Who was in the program? "Where were they?"

DESCRIBING - Ask the child to tell you everything that happened in the story. Present prompts such as "Tell me more about that."

ASKING QUESTIONS - Have your child ask you questions about the program. Encourage him/her to ask  WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and  WHY questions.

MAKING COMPARISONS - Ask your child to compare two characters in the story. "How are they the same?" "How are they different?"

GIVING EXPLANATIONS - Ask your child to explain why specific actions occurred during the TV program. Questions such as "Why did that happen?" are great for stimulating thinking skills

EXPRESSING OPINIONS - Ask the child how he/she felt about the behavior of the characters in the story. Find out if he/she would behave in a similar manner.

TELLING A STORY - Ask your child to pretend that he/she is a character in the story. Then have him/her make up a story. Pretend that you're both on TV and act out the story with your child.

       Remember to ask a variety of  WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY questions when watching television with your child. Encourage your child to ask questions also. Children learn by asking questions.