Nursery World - To the Point - Shared Experience

Children have a strong desire to communicate, even when they don't share the same language, says Professor Cathy Nutbrown

I watched four young children playing in the shallows of the seashore last week. They had met for the first time and between them they had no shared spoken language. Their ages ranged from three to six years and each spoke a different language: Malay, Japanese, Turkish and French. What they shared was this place, new to them all, with unfamiliar features which they seemed keen to explore in some way.

There were tiny fish and crabs in the rock pools, small pebbles and stones rolling back, and there were the waves gently lapping the shore. The sun shone brightly on the water, making the wet rocks and stones glisten in the light.

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