SWATCA 2025 - South Western Alberta Teachers' Convention

The Science of Language Learning: This presentation will explain how children can be successful language learners. The structure will be to answer the following questions by outlining the latest research and then providing examples from in-school experience. 1.) What is unique about a child's first language acquisition, and how is it different from animal communication or AI-based language? 2.) When does child language learning begin and what are the critical periods for language learning? 3.) Who are the people in an ideal language development community? Are screens helpful or harmful for language development? 4.) Where are the places that language learning occurs most successfully? 5.) How can home, school, and outside contexts be transformed into language-rich environments? 6.) Why is language development so vital to a child's social, academic, and future vocational success? 7.) Which way is language leading us next? Each of these questions will be answered in a way that attendees can understand and apply to the classroom, as well as the home and the community.