Human language is such an important area of man's life that is necessary to teach it. Children learn language both formally and informally. Most of what we know in form of words is learnt informally as we mix up and communicate with people. Children learn the language of their society as they hear the language spoken.
HOME LANGUAGE
A Child Learn the language of his society at home where he first comes in contact with the language of the people. The mother is a very important figure in the early stages of language development with her children. The frequency and contents of her communication with her babies greatly influence their language development. In many homes, some mothers are so busy that they do not have adequate time to interact with their babies. So, in such cases, siblings play a great roles in the development of the toddlers in the home. These small children attend to the many questions which the kids asks, often describe several objects surrounding the child, play games involving language usage. So all these develop language skills of the children.
The social status of the some homes often determine the level of language development of the children. Children from middle-class home with rich, articulate background display marks difference in the vocabulary they use than Children from working class homes. The richer the environment to which children are exposed, the richer their vocabulary. Thus efficient language acquisition depends on the linguistic environment of the child.
Peer group is another factor that influence language development in children. I believe that the main reason for the differences in children's language usage is related to the influence of peer group than home. Children develop catch- phrases of their generation as they relate freely with their peer group. Nonetheless, the role of the family, especially the mothers in exposing children to language usage can't be over emphasized. The language skills of parents and the purpose for which language is used appears to be dominant influence.
In educated and enlightened homes, opportunities for two way, parent-child conversation, things that encourages language usage such as books, magazine, games involving words and bedtime stories are important language contacts.
LANGUAGE AT SCHOOL
School often provide very rich surroundings for children to acquire greater language usage. In school, there are not only opportunities for talking but also for reading and writing. We have some well organized school that have a number of programme for teaching spoken language in the primary school. So, Children are encouraged to attend to information which requires them to determine the area of named objects, making comparison to classify attributes which are general to concept formation.
Reading is one of the important means of acquiring language. As such as possible reading should be encouraged and meaningful, suitable reading material provided. The exact time for a child start reading has not been clearly defined.
However, children differ in their reading readiness due to environmental stimulation.
Writing is equally important in language learning, so Children in school should be allowed to do the enough of writing daily, and teachers should provide materials for writing which would widen the children's vocabulary.
