Our group elected to spend the morning at a popular children's park, making observations about the forms of literacy going on around us. Courtney and I shared the responsibility of observing and recording vocabulary (both written and spoken) that were unique to the park environment we witnessed.
I hypothesized that much of the language unique to the park would center around the play equipment found there, as this is what makes the park itself unique from other environments. I strategically camped out by some "spinners" (devices you sit in to be spun around) and the "spider web" climbing structure, hoping to hear children and adults used invented terminology to discuss these apparati. I soon discovered, however, that much of the language used for these play structures was implied (for example, "let's go climb on that" or "can you help me into this?" For more familiar equipment and play areas, I did often hear parents and children say things like "I'm going to the red slide," "You wanna go swing?", and "if you want to play in the mulch, use that yellow tub." While it comprised much of the unique language I heard at the park, spoken words about the play structures were not the only thing noticed.
There were some phrases spoken at the park that while not unique to the park, certainly took on a unique context in the park setting. It was common to hear children asking to be pushed, and the question "can you push me?" meant something in the park context that it would not mean elsewhere. A lot of language that focused on children's accomplishments (e.g. "am I allowed to go to the tippy top?" or "you made it to the very top!" are things that could be said in different arenas but clearly refer to the unique play structures when heard at the park.
It was common to hear sound effects and onomatopoeia that were special to the park setting. The distinct "wheeEEEEeeee!" of a child going back and forth on a swing, or the echoing "whooooooooo!" inside a tunneled slide were constantly ringing through the park. It was not unusual for children and parents to create sound effects (e.g. "thumpthumpthump" when stomping around) that connected to their unique activities on the playground equipment.
There were not many written signs unique to the park environment, though I have included a few. The vocabulary on these signs wasn't especially unusual, but the combination of words is such that you would only find them on a park or on specialized play equipment. Most of the signs I chronicled related to specific rules or safety information connected to the park. A couple examples are shown here, one taken at the park's entrance and one taken on a swing.
The park proved to have a language of its own -- one I likely would have heard more of had I not been a little intimidated about being a solitary male sneaking around the park with a camera!
Here are my teammates' blog entries:
Patti (http://l549patti.blogspot.com/2010/09/community-literacy-dig.html)
Diana (http://l549diana.blogspot.com/2010/09/literacy-dig-at-park.html)
Your post reminds me that playground culture and children's need to communicate runs deep. It is big enough to overcome differences in age, race and language. I remember being a playground monitor for a mixed Spanish-English speaking kindergarteners and witnessing the development of a new pigeon language. Once a child demanded, "Empushame" which is a combination of push me and empujame. What fun!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great location to do your research! I imagine it must have been fun to watch children in such a healthy, energy filled atmosphere enjoying themselves. It was interesting to think about the context of what was being said. I never thought about how "push me" could be a good thing, but obviously getting pushed on a swing is a great thing! Sound effects are also a superb observation. I don't think other groups will find the amount of sound effects you and your group experienced. It important to notice that the words "this and that" can communicate objects that may have a more complicated name but the communication to parents is still understood.
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought in the sound effects. Had this been my portion of the assignment I probably would have left them out. As you know, all those sounds are an important part of language awareness for the little ones, and just plain fun for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteNicole: yes, the "this and that" was a good reminder that so much of our speech is implied, especially in familiar contexts. My 19 month old son uses specific nouns to refer to the things we need, but my 3 and 6 year old are much more general in their language. (For example, when my children want more of a snack, my oldest two will ask "can I have some more?" while my youngest will say the name of the food.)
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about going to the park is that children can create their own vocabulary for equipment pieces. I'm sure if we'd stay there all day, we'd hear regulars refer to things with specific names or even nicknames. Or perhaps frequent vistors always refer to the orange thing as "the orange thing"
ReplyDeleteIts so strange that it wasn't until going on this dig that I realized how very odd some of our "park talk" or "play talk" must sound to someone outside of our own culture. Imagine if you'd been a person with limited English hearing children asking to be "pushed" and parents telling them to "pump" their legs (for swinging - one of the few things I caught someone saying as I was concentrating on our park peoples appearance and activity)? I'd imagine that they could be very confused but also that it would be quite a learning experience for them to hear English in this context. I wonder if this wouldn't be a great activity for teaching the difference between denotative (dictionary-literal) and connotative (contextual-idiomatic) use of language for ELL or ESL students of any age?
ReplyDeleteI too found the park had a language of its own (and also felt somewhat self-aware while "digging" for literacy). I also agree that there did often seem to be a focus on children's accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteJen, taking ELL students to learn language nuances to a park sounds like it could be an excellent idea!
***
Side note: Concerning the power and usage of "this" and "that," when writing the sentence above I first wrote,
"Jen, that sound like..."
and then later clarified what "that" was in parentheses. My clarification proved to be longer than the initial sentence!
That = (that is, taking ELL students to learn language nuances to a park).
I just found that interesting and felt that it related to Matt's discussion on the use of the powerfully ambiguous "this" and "that" in familiar contexts.
I like that you took into consideration that much of the dialogue was between the parents and their children. Similarly, I also like that you noted that not only do children make sound effects, but their parents also participate!
ReplyDelete