TODDLERS MAY

• Enjoy finger plays (songs and games that use hands).
• Respond to action words by performing the action (child starts to eat when caregiver says “Let’s eat!”).
• Respond by looking and attempting to locate when directed, toward a certain object (“There’s a car”).
• Listen to short and simple stories.
• Change intonation and tone to communicate meaning.
• Use non-verbal gestures and body language to express needs and feelings (gives spontaneous hug).
• Communicate with familiar play partner (says sibling’s name instead of crying).
• Use jargon along with regular words in conversation (child uses inflection to say sentence-like communication with embedded real words).
• Pay attention to speaker for at least a portion of a conversation.
• Begin to demonstrate turn-taking in play and conversation.
• Make a related comment (adult says, “Here is your water.” Child says “Cup.” or “Water cup.”).
• Make a formal verbal or sign request or response (“Please?” “Thank you.”).
• Follow non-verbal directions (signal for “Come here”).
• Follow simple verbal direction in home language and attempt to make sense of direction given in English when accompanied by a non-verbal gesture.
• Use sounds from home language when speaking in English (Spanish “v” may be pronounced like “b” so Spanish speaking child might say “bery” for “very”).
• Have a larger vocabulary in home language and begin to acquire an English vocabulary.
• Recall words from simple songs in home language and recognize words from songs in English.
• Ask simple questions in home language; use gestures or single words to ask questions in English.
• Sometimes insert words from home language while speaking in English.
• Enjoy creating or participating in humorous situations (child puts shoe on head as a hat, child makes up a nonsense word).

YOU CAN

• Use puppets and/or other props when reading or telling stories.
• Have a child listen to recorded stories and nursery rhymes.
• Include songs and stories from child’s home language in group activities.
• Use hand motions that go along with stories and songs (e.g. make a duck beak with hand to quack with ducks).
• Hold child in arms/lap while telling stories or reading books.
• Play simple games asking child to find toys or pat pictures in books (“Where’s the doggy?”).
• Listen to child and give him/her time to respond.
• Find places where child can play with other children, encouraging taking turns and, with adult assistance, pretend play (baby doll falls, gets hurt, caregiver talks about feelings and how to help baby feel better, rock and hug baby).
• Demonstrate, explain, and encourage child to practice cultural values (greeting an elder).
• Communicate using English in ways that help English Language Learner children communicate and socialize (simple sentences, repetition, use of gestures).
• Rephrase or expand child’s speech during conversations. (If child comments “I eat,” caregiver expands with “You are hungry, you are ready to eat”).

TODDLERS MAY

• Follow directions with two related elements (“Get your boots and coat”).
• Be willing to sit through most picture books and enjoys longer stories.
• Understand a greater variety of words in the home and community (300 words by 24 months).
• Show understanding of verb/action words (“Who is eating?” and points to a picture of child eating).
• Answer simple questions.
• Begin to show understanding of concept words, such as big/little, hot/cold, fast/slow, one vs. all.
• Begin to point to a greater variety of body parts when asked (chin, cheek, knee, etc.).

YOU CAN

• Play simple listening games such as hiding toys and asking child to find it by listening to clues (“Your car is on the couch … under the pillow.”).
• Continue to play simple games during routines (When diapering ask “Where are your toes?”).
• Ask child to help with household activities, such as doing laundry. Ask child to use listening skills to “find the sock” or “give me the shirt.”
• Provide opportunities for English Language Learner (to ask questions in his/her home language first as that might be more closely linked to the development of understanding).
• Use a game or echo song where child repeats what you say (“I Met a Bear” and “Down by the Bay”).
• Read same story many times, including stories from diverse cultures and then engage child in conversation about the story.
• Find ways to include the child’s home language when telling a story from a book or an oral story.
• Continue to add to the child’s descriptive language by adding new words regularly (spongy tundra, slimy fish, windy day).

TODDLERS MAY

• Use mostly two- and some three-syllable words (“cracker,” “banana”).
• Ask others to label unfamiliar objects and pictures by pointing and/or asking “what’s that?”.
• Use adjectives to describe nouns (“red ball”).
• Imitate simple two-word phrase/sentences.
• Use some pronouns (“Mine”; older toddler adds “My, me, I, you”).
• Use simple questions with rising intonation (“What’s that?”).
• Use regular plural forms for nouns, sometimes (“boots”).
• Use negatives (“I don’t want it.”) in English or home language.
• Begin to sing along with familiar songs and fingerplays.
• Use three-to four-word sentences with noun and verb.
• Begin to tell others about prior event with help from caregiver.
• Say first name.
• Produce early developing sounds and vowels as they form simple words. Expect speech articulation errors.
• Child’s speech is 75 percent understandable by 36 months.
• By 24 to 36 months, demonstrate use of an expressive vocabulary of more than 100 words, or a combination of words and signs, or alternative communication, in home language.

YOU CAN

• Help child expand language by adding new descriptive language and more complete sentence structures (instead of “there’s a doggy,” “there’s a woman holding a dog on a leash. They’re going for a walk.”).
• Engage child in conversations that require more than a single word response (“Tell me about …”).
• Read books from child’s home language and in other languages.
• Make sure to wait long enough for the child to answer, when asking a question, as some children need more time to understand questions and put words together.
• Recognize that English Language Learners may mix words from different languages in the same sentence; repeat what child said using all words in the same language.
• Provide play opportunities that encourage children to engage in conversation with others and to tell family stories.
• Engage child in a game using a small stuffed animal to demonstrate prepositions (Caregiver and child play with teddy and model “The teddy bear is in the box.” or “The teddy bear is next to the chair.”).
• Support children to share experiences and interests with specific vocabulary across settings (childcare provider asks family to bring in family drum to share traditional song and language with peers at group time).
• Talk during everyday activities about words and sounds (at the grocery store, identify fruits with the same beginning sound, peach and pear).
• Learn and use keywords from home language that are used by children who are acquiring English as an additional language, including “signs” if appropriate.

TODDLERS MAY

• Imitate tempo and speed of rhythm (clapping hands fast and clapping hands slowly, speaking fast and speaking slowly).
• Recite a song with the letters of the alphabet, with assistance (alphabet song).
• Select specific details in a story and repeat them.
• Complete a familiar rhyme or line from a familiar story or song by providing the last word (“The wheels on the (bus)”).
• Participate in rhyming games and songs with other children.
• Begin to understand that print represents words (pretend to read text).
• Turn pages, usually a single page at a time.
• Purposefully use pop-up and interactive books (child understands purpose of different text features, such as lifting a pop-up window or petting fur on page).
• Use action words to describe pictures (picture of person running, child says “run”).
• Recalls specific characters or actions from familiar stories.
• Enjoy books about different things (books about animals, occupations).
• Respond to emotional expressions in a book (point to a happy face).
• Recognize signs and images in public (stop signs, store signs).
• Request favorite book to be read repeatedly.
• Look at books, magazines, and other printed matter without assistance and as through reading.
• Make comments on book.
• Select books and magazines when asked to select favorite objects/toys.

YOU CAN

• Read books with child in home language with supplemental reading in English. 
• Print materials available in both home language and English.
• Make up rhyming songs with varied tempos using familiar names.
• Repeat favorite books containing chants and rhymes. Leave off the last word and wait to see if child can fill in the blank.
• Encourage child’s attempts to identify letters in books.
• Engage child in pointing out letters and words in the environment (street names, billboards, signs, printed material).
• Sing alphabet songs.
• Look at the cover, reading the title and author’s name, when reading with child.
• Read and provide child with a variety of books from home culture and in home language, as well as other cultures and cultural backgrounds.
• Sometimes run finger along text while reading with child to demonstrate text progression.
• Read big books at story time so child can see the printed word on the page and encourage child to follow the printed words on the page.
• Use creative materials to help children identify their written name (Make a name block or rock for child with his/her name on one side and child’s picture on the other).
• Have child help decorate labels for objects in child’s environment (bookshelf, clothes closet, and shelf).
• Point out common signs when walking in neighborhood.
• Take child to library, bookstore, or places where child is exposed to books.
• Select books that are connected to the child’s life and help the child make those connections (when reading a book about gifts for grandmother, ask the child what gift he/she would like to give his/her grandmother).
• Read books yourself.

TODDLERS MAY

• Enjoy “making a mark” on paper and in play outside.
• Enjoy scribbling and may label pictures using scribble writing.
• Begin to watch and imitate drawing a horizontal and vertical stroke as well as a circular motion.
• Continue to observe and imitate adult writing behaviors.
• Enjoy making large strokes and movements with paint and markers.
• Draw simple pictures or scribble word-like marks to communicate a message or an idea, may label or tell a simple story related to their drawing.

YOU CAN

• Include child in cooking, involving pouring, cutting, stirring and feeling different food textures.
• Introduce playdough and other sensory play experiences that include poking, rolling, cutting and imitating the shapes of others.
• Encourage painting and coloring in upright positions, such as on an easel or paper taped to the wall. Offer large paper and thick handled brushes and markers.
• Draw simple stories child is telling using “quick draws” and using scrap paper or white boards.
• Encourage the child to use finger or sticks to make marks in outdoor environments, such as sand, mud, water painting.
• Find opportunities to label familiar items in the child’s environment (putting name on labels above coat hook or name inside coat and boots).
• Provide opportunities for the child to observe adult writing lists or notes.
• Engage the child in activities where he/she can manipulate and copy letters using different textures, tools, and mediums. 
• Provide physical/motor activities to practice letter shapes (make letters with body parts, on floor with yarn, chalk).