How I learned language!

I learned language through my blue book with a little school house on the front of it, aka my phonics book. We had a love hate relationship. I loved learning what verbs, adjectives, nouns, etc. were, but I could not stand sentence diagramming. I also learned a lot of language through learning to spell and understanding the meaning of words. From probably 1st-5th grade we would have a spelling test every Friday. Surprisingly, I learned a lot of new words (language) through spelling. Along with my beloved phonics book and spelling tests, I also think I learned a lot of language through reading. My parents ready to me starting as an infant and didn't stop until I was probably old enough to read on my own. I learned a lot of my words from being read to. When a book was read over and over, I would eventually catch on. The other I got, my parents would read books out loud with me. When I was capable of reading them aloud on my own, my parents would sometimes follow along in case there was a word I did not understand. When there were words I didn't understand, my parents would explain the word to me and then I would learn a new word. Come to think of it, I think that's an important way to learn language. I never really thought of it as a way to learn, but it certainly is.

My previous experiences have played a large impact on me. When I babysit, I read because the girl is at the age where she is beginning to speak, so I think it's very important that I read to her. One thing I always wish is that I had been better prepared for writing/grammar in high school and college. As a teacher, I want to make sure I give my students the best preparation there is.