Good attention and listening skills
help with all areas of the EYFS
and particularly the development of children’s social skills,
their understanding,
ability to follow instructions
and overall communication.
So, when we’re teaching children about listening and attention
it’s really important that we show them how to do this,
modelling what full attention really looks like
so that they really see what
giving something a focus feels and looks like.
I’m wondering
how you do that as part of your practice with children?
When they are doing their explore time,
we’re modelling with the children
how we speak to them and how we talk to them.
Sometimes we sit down and we put our knees down
to go to their level so we make eye contact
and that child has got time to think what they want to say.
Getting that attention first
before you give the message or the information
that you want to pass, or
engage that child in conversation is really important
and I think particularly with the younger children
it can be really explicit about turning your whole body
so it is really clear that you are looking and giving them your full attention.
I’m just thinking about how
we use non-verbal communication to support attention and listening.
Yes, so starting with the youngest children
we use real objects, objects of reference
a lot to support the children’s understanding of the routine
nd help them to understand what’s going to happen next.
So, for example,
when it’s time for them to have their nappy changed,
we will show them their nappy or their nappy bag,
their real things and we’ll get their attention first.
Before we start a story,
we prepare for the props.
Children can understand easily when they see the props.
If we do the goldilocks story book,
we show the children the characters,
how the character are changing their voice
we show the expression, change our voice, our physical expression.
Those children that are sometimes
in a position where listening and attention is a bit more difficult
and how you might support children in a really inclusive way?
perhaps for children who’ve got special educational needs or disabilities,
in terms of their listening and attention.
I think getting to know that child really well, working with the parents initially,
investing that time to find out what’s that child’s strengths,
what are the things that they are motivated by and really capitalising on that.
So, perhaps for a child who has a hearing loss for example,
we would think very carefully about the environment
and make sure that there’s lots of opportunities during the day,
that they’re in a space, a physical space,
where the hearing that they may have is utilised as much as possible.
So, can you give me some examples of how you support
the children in your setting whose first language isn’t English?
And how that supports their listening and attention skills.
First thing I do is, I ask parents what that child likes,
or has that child got something special, like family photos
which helps with that child’s confidence and extended with that child’s communications.
And also, I speak that child’s language,
which gives children a bit of confidence with listening and attention.
And learning songs and listening to stories in other languages
is incredibly important to get that richness.
I think that really helps us to give that really clear message to parents,
of us really valuing the family’s home language
and that being bilingual is a real asset, it’s going to really support them.
Children who have English as an additional language
can be supported to listen by adults
who know them well and have learnt a few words in their home language.
Children who find listening and attention difficult
are supported by adults who spend time noticing their strengths
and what makes the difference for their unique communication style.
Listening, attention and understanding are so important for language development
and can be challenging skills for young children.
Practitioners tuning in to children’s play and demonstrating active listening
will help them to really want to concentrate and listen.