When was the last time that you had an extended, informal and relaxed conversation with the young children around you? A conversation where you let the child decide on the subject and you followed their lead, listening intently, nodding, making positive eye contact and holding back your questions? I hope it was recently and that it is a regular part of your everyday chatter with children.
We often disregard these informal chats as being frivolous or not part of the child's learning because they tend to take place outside a planned activity, usually as you sit together and have a snack or as you play in the garden. Interestingly, research is now telling us just how crucial these types of conversations are to children's thinking and learning as well as their emotional well-being.
The REPEY (Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years) research found that the conversations that children start are usually the ones that will develop into powerful learning experiences. They are also infinitely more interesting and thought-provoking than those the adult has planned.
Here's an example: Boy: (4:8) 'How did God make himself?'
Teacher: 'Well in most of the books about God, it says God just is.'
Boy: 'Well how did God make us?'
Teacher: 'I don't know. What do you think?'
Boy: 'I don't know.'
Teacher: 'Well how would you make yourself?'
Girl: (4:9) 'I would make myself happy.'
Boy: 'I think when God made us, we made God.'
Teacher: 'He putted (sic) our bones in first and then he putted our blood on the bones and then he putted our skin on.'
Boy: 'No - he opened up our bones and put the blood in us.'
Girl: 'No - if he put it in our bones, the blood wouldn't come out.'
Boy: (changing subject) 'You don't know what's there (pointing to throat).
These are microphones to talk. My dad told me.'
(Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years, page 45) The supportive adult listens and joins in at the appropriate times without dominating or overpowering the child with their own questions.
Italian educationalist Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) describes this 'conversational turn-taking' as a game of table tennis. One 'player' hits the ball to the other, who reaches it easily and returns it. The ball is hit by the first player again, but this time it is a little harder to catch or a little wider to reach so that the second player has to stretch to return it.
It's crucial to keep the game going, and the important thing is not to 'hit the ball' back so hard that it is impossible to return. If you do, your partner may lose interest and give up.
Malaguzzi's metaphor perfectly describes the way in which a conversation can be developed or constructed in collaboration with the children. It also describes very well the way in which children build their thinking and learning. When you are talking with children, it's helpful to keep this in mind so children can see themselves as an equal and competent partner in the conversation.
