Handbook · Part III
Nine techniques from the handbook. None of them needs a budget — only intent. Filter by what today actually needs.
Say it and do it. “Stand up. Touch the door. Jump.” The body learns the word before the mouth does — perfect during the silent period, and pure joy for the young.
Real fruit, real objects, a real menu. Meaning you can hold in your hand needs no translation — it is comprehensible input at its purest.
Melody is memory. A tune carries vocabulary straight past the affective filter and into long-term storage. If they can sing it, they’ll keep it.
Repetition with a smile, never a shout. Substitution drills and the chain game (“I like swimming / She likes swimming, I like reading…”) give real practice inside play.
I know something you need. Two children, two half-maps; they must talk to complete each other’s. The reason to speak is built right in.
The shop, the restaurant, the doctor. Give a child a role and they lose their fear; give them a scene and they use every word they own.
Don’t correct — invite. Raise an eyebrow: “I catched the ball?” and let the child find it. Ownership beats correction every time.
Lean on what they already know. Words that resemble the mother tongue are free gifts — use them to lighten the load, and watch for the false friends.
Wake the mind first. A picture, a question, a guess before the reading primes the brain for what’s coming — and doubles what sticks.