What are ‘key languages’ and how do they support my child’s learning?
Early childhood is the period known in the child development field as the phase between birth and around 8 years of age. Over the last 100 years or so, research has gifted us many insights into children’s learning and development during this time. This research assists us, at Mother Child Care and Kindergarten, to make informed decisions about how we intentionally design teaching and learning environments for young children in order to support their understanding of, and navigation through, the world around them.
At Mother Duck, we have also made a collective decision to draw inspiration from the world renowned Reggio Emilia Educational Project, with a particular focus on the ‘languages’ that children use in early childhood settings to make sense of the world around them. This has led us to design our environments – from our Infant studios through to our Kindergarten studios – to support what we call ‘key languages’ which are supported by ‘libraries of intelligent materials’. Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994), the founding philosopher of the Reggio Emilia way of thinking, captured the notion of the languages of children through his famous poem No way: The hundred is there.
Guided by this thinking, and of course adhering to the requirements of the Early Years Learning Framework which governs all early childhood curriculum approaches in Australia, the Pedagogical Leadership team at Mother Duck developed the idea of the key languages that would frame the resources and materials that children have access to in our settings.
What is a key language?
Some of you may have visited our recent exhibition and viewed our presentation on the key languages and the many artifacts from children that accompanied it. A key language is a material, or resource, or a group of materials and resources, that have dedicated space or spaces within each of our studios, indoors and outdoors. These are designed in such a way as to not be transported or moved away from the dedicated space, so that the children understand that this is a place where this particular learning experience occurs. For example, clay belongs in the clay space and cannot be transported around the studio, or the reading library has books that are only used in that space for the purpose of reading for pleasure or research, or mark making with water and chalkboards stays on the table – they each have their own ‘home’.
At Mother Duck, our curriculum currently comprises five key language groups to support our inquiries. We have clustered materials and resources within each language because we believe it makes better sense when languages have a common thread, purpose, or developmental intention. However, we do not set these initial ideas in stone, rather they are fluid, depending on the age group of children, new research that comes to hand – or most importantly – through our collective critical reflection on how and why these materials and resources best support young children’s learning and development. Each key language is supported by a continuum of learning that helps educators explore a language with children from our Infant studios through to our Kindergarten Studios.
Constructing
The Constructing group of materials are designed for children to transform materials and resources that support playscapes – these the sites of many, many hours of play alone, alongside or with other children where, over time, children return to stories that help us view their understanding of the world around them. These may include, for example:
- Lego/Duplo
- Blocks for big builds
- Magnetic tiles
- Obstacle courses
- Woodworking
- Tinkering
- Dressmaking in our mannequin salon
On Country
The On Country group of materials support children’s strong connection to the land, waterways, beaches, skies, trees, plants, animals, birds, and seasons. At Mother Duck we are particularly proud of the work that we have undertaken, over the past 4 years or so, on our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). This has supported both children and educators in becoming more aware of the many and varied natural materials and elements that can be accessed to enhance teaching and learning in our settings. These may include, for example:
- Clay
- Sand
- Mud
- Dirt
- Water
- Rocks
- Sticks
Mark Making
The Mark Making group of materials supports young children as they begin to express their understanding of the world through purposeful marks, designs, drawings, letters, and eventually words, such as their names. Our intention here is to ensure that children have access to a diverse range of potential mark making experiences as they begin to recognise that the spoken word or an idea in their mind, can also look like something when you commit them to a drawing or other mark making attempts. These may include, for example:
- Drawing
- Writing
- Painting
- Screen printing
- Block printing
- Planning for play
Delicate materials
The Delicate Materials group of resources supports the idea that young children are capable of working with materials that take additional care and consideration to work with. At Mother Duck we have a strong belief in the capabilities of children when they are trusted, even expected, to be able to engage with items such as glass, china, hammers, sewing needles and the like. These might include, for example:
- Tea parties
- Sewing
- Transient art
- Musical instruments
- Books
- Knitting
- Technologies
- Flower arranging
Contentment
This addition tour key languages came about after giving consideration of children’s well-being, particularly after the Covid19 epidemic. Early childhood settings can be busy, noisy, and sometimes overwhelming contexts for some children at some point in a day. We have thought deeply about this and wish to provide moments and spaces of calm and retreat to support children’s self-regulation. These may include, for example:
- Mealtimes
- Gardening
- Cooking
- Music
- Time alone for wellbeing
- Rhythmic/cathartic experiences
Libraries of intelligent materials
Our key languages are supported by libraries of intelligent materials which is anything that can be transported, used, and reused again and again – indoors or outdoors. These materials, or loose parts, offer children the possibility of developing playscapes that can be enhanced by any materials which helps them to tell the stories of their play. These may include, for example:
- Dolls, cradles, baby baths
- Pots, pans, spoons
- Fabrics, lace, ribbons
- Hats, shoes, bags, scarves
- Lights, mirrors, reflective surfaces
- Mannequins
- Projectors, torches, speakers
- Blankets, tarps, netting
- Pipes, witches’ hats, ladders, cable reels
- Baskets, bowls, jars, containers
- Small world animals, people, vehicles
I hope that this has offered you a window into the way we, at Mother Duck, continue to explore innovation and creativity in the way we work with and alongside your children. It has become extremely important to us that children engage with resources and materials that offer them the possibility to become the best learner, thinker, and communicator that each individual child can become and, to learn to work with others with compassion, kindness, resilience, and perseverance.
Please reach out to your centre’s Pedagogical Coordinator if you would like more information on our curriculum and how we can help you be assured of your child’s learning and development outcomes and achievements.