Teacher intervention to support oral language and literacy in dramatic play contexts

A speech-language pathologist and former primary teacher who is now a researcher conducting action research with kindergarten teachers in northern rural Canadian classrooms, collaborate in an analysis of one teacher’s interactions with her students in a dramatic play center. We use three principles to show how the teacher supports children’s language, literacy and conceptual learning, and to propose additional ways to extend children’s learning. The principles are: observing what the children are interested in, waiting to give the children an opportunity to share ideas and following the children’s lead; building on children’s funds of knowledge to keep the conversation going; and posing a problem, to invite deeper thinking about the problem and propose possible solutions. We conclude with suggestions for teachers in grades one and five to address social studies and health curriculum objectives from the Texas curriculum while at the same time supporting and extending children’s language