How Hanen Helps Early Childhood Educators Build Language and Literacy in Early Childhood Settings

As an early childhood educator, you have a significant impact on the communication development of preschool children. Because the early years in a child’s life are the most important for brain development, the quality of a child’s experiences during this time will contribute significantly to his or her ultimate success in life. 

In the short time that children spend in early childhood settings, they need to develop a strong foundation in two vital areas of development:

  • Social skills – so they can establish and maintain successful relationships, and
  • Language skills – so they can communicate effectively, develop strong emergent literacy skills, and succeed in all areas of academic learning.

In order to flourish in these areas, children need a classroom environment that’s rich in learning opportunities, and in which the teacher engages every child in responsive interactions throughout the day.

To help early childhood educators create this kind of experience for the children they work with, The Hanen Centre developed several programs and resources based on the most current research in early childhood development.

Our goal is to equip you with the knowledge, skills and tools you need to make language and literacy-learning a fun and natural part of every child’s day. Our programs and resources show you how easy it is to enhance your students’ learning opportunities simply by adapting the way you interact with them during everyday activities and routines. The Hanen approach and strategies become a natural part of your teaching style.

Programs for Educators

►Learning Language and Loving It™ — The Hanen Program® for Early Childhood Educators

Learning Language and Loving It™ is an evidence-based professional development program offered by Hanen Certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and specially trained early childhood education consultants. The program is designed to help educators learn to use interaction strategies that are known to promote children’s language development in their day-to-day activities.

If you work in a childcare, preschool, nursery or kindergarten setting, this program will provide you with specialized training and resources that will allow you to interact with each child in an individualized way so that every child gets what he or she needs to develop the best possible language and early literacy skills.

For more information about the Learning Language and Loving It Program, click on the following link:




►Teacher Talk™ Training Series

In the event that a Learning Language and Loving It Program is unavailable, educators may opt to take the Teacher Talk Training Series. This flexible series of 3 one-day training sessions was designed as an introduction for educators to the Learning Language and Loving It approach.

While Teacher Talk training is not as intensive as Learning Language and Loving It, it does cover the key principles and strategies of that program.

Click on the following link to learn more about Teacher Talk training:


 

►ABC and Beyond™ — The Hanen Program® for Building Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Settings

ABC and Beyond™, Hanen’s newest program for early childhood educators, focuses specifically on the promotion of emergent literacy in early childhood settings. You’ll learn practical strategies for using book reading and everyday conversations and activities to promote the seven building blocks of literacy: oral language, vocabulary, story comprehension, language of learning, print knowledge, and phonological awareness.

Hanen-trained speech-language pathologists and early childhood education consultants/trainers will begin offering the ABC and Beyond Program in late 2011.

To learn more about the ABC and Beyond Program, click on the link below:


 

Resources for Educators

►Learning Language and Loving It™ Guidebook and DVD

The Learning Language and Loving It guidebook is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide that helps educators create an enriched and inclusive environment that fosters the social, language and emergent literacy development of children from birth though kindergarten. This user-friendly resource is packed with examples and illustrations that make learning the strategies very straightforward.

The Learning Language and Loving It DVD can be used alongside the guidebook to further enrich your learning experience by providing you with real-life video examples of Learning Language and Loving It strategies in action.

To learn more about how Learning Language and Loving It resources can help you, and to view sample pages and video, click on the link below:




►ABC and Beyond™: Building Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Settings

ABC and Beyond is Hanen’s brand new guidebook for promoting emergent literacy in early childhood classrooms. With the specific goal of preparing preschool children to learn to read and write successfully, ABC and Beyond gives you practical strategies for making language and literacy-learning a fun and natural part of everyday conversations and activities.

For more information about the ABC and Beyond guidebook and to view sample pages, click on the following link: