Education

BACKGROUND

Whatever their religion, creed, caste or background, children around the world are benefitting from a diverse approach to learning.

The Jai Jais, created by paediatric Speech and Language Therapist Sunita Shah, can support a broad-based school curriculum in Hinduism, enabling pupils to discover Hinduism in a fun, engaging and modern way. Children across the country has fallen in love with The Jai Jais, which has brought culture and creativity into the classroom.

For over 20 years, Sunita has been working with pre-school and school-aged children with speech, language and communication difficulties. Her knowledge and skills have been used in developing The Jai Jais books.  Each book has been developed to support the ages and stages of communication development.  The books have also been a useful resource for children with Special Educational Needs.

BILINGUALISM IN CHILDREN

Research has revealed a host of positive results for pupils who are bilingual. In the classroom, they have better sound awareness and listening and reading skills, and are good at learning new words and putting them into categories.

Bilingualism increases creativity and thought processing, leading to improved ability in problem solving and finding new ways to use information.

Looking to the future, being bilingual can foster personal interaction in social settings and open up different career opportunities. After acquiring one new language, it can be easier to learn another.  The skill mixing of languages requuires a high level of neurological processing.

TOP TIPS FOR BILIGUAL SPEAKERS

It is important that you continue to use ALL the languages introduced to the child.

Do  NOT  be  concerned about mixing  different languages in one sentence. This is natural for a bilingual  speaker.

The focus should be on helping the child feel SUCCESSFUL in giving and receiving a message.

Continue speaking your chosen language/s even if the child replies in a different language. The important thing is that the message has been understood.

Use short phrases with lots of hand gestures and facial expressions, as well as EMPHASIS in your voice. This will help the child understand the meaning behind the words.

ENCOURAGE all attempts to communicate, whichever language is used, giving lots of praise. Use nursery rhymes and stories from ANY culture/language.

Be Bilingual be proud.