As I sat watching the heart-warming Christmas pageant presented at our church this morning, I was struck by the example it was providing in support of using multi-sensory input to promote word retrieval.
The 3 to 10 year olds inadvertently provided me with today’s post. With apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein, they presented”The Sound of Christmas.” As “Maria” told the children about her favorite things and they all sang the Do Re Mi of Christmas, it was apparent that remembering lines of dialog was tough. Remembering words of songs with their rhythm and rhyme was easier. Easiest yet was remembering the words of songs that were accompanied by gestures. When they acted out “The Lonely Goatherd,” they could belt out the words. The kids may not rival The Von Trapp family singers, but they were certainly entertaining!
If someone asks you to name the notes of the scale, don’t you sub-consciously sing “Do Re Mi”? And how many 5 year olds recite “elemenooopee” in the middle of the alphabet? Think of the language concepts preschoolers learn with fingerplays and gestures. Use songs and gestures to promote new vocabulary and retrieval. Make up your own words to familiar tunes. It’s fun and effective!