Early Language Learning at Goldfish Swim School
Disclaimer: We were provided free swimming lessons by Goldfish Swim School in exchange for collaborating blog posts. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Did you know that toddlers who have stronger language outcomes differed in two ways from their peers: their parents repeated words more often, and they were more tuned in to the language as infants, and thus better able to process what was being said.* A benefit of starting swimming lessons at a young age at Goldfish Swim School is that your babe will be exposed to the same skill week to week which inevitably means he will hear the same words and directions each week, which in turn, promotes language development through repetition and context each.
Our weekly swim lessons at Goldfish consist of practicing the same swimming skills each week, with variation in how the skills are presented. This means that my son hears the same words paired with these skills. The directions and tasks my son participates in involves a variety of basic concepts. Each week the same words are used when giving him directions — “climb out,” “put in,” etc.
A few favorite concepts my son is exposed to during his lesson:
Wet/Dry: The whole idea of swimming is to get wet. While we are walking in the pool together I talk about how we are getting wet and how the water is wet. When we are finished with the lesson we get our towels to dry off.
In/Out: During each lesson, we get in the water, put balls in the basket, and climb out of the water. I find myself repeating, “put in” and “climb out” throughout the lesson.
On/Off: We sit on the bench, on the raft, and on the wall. We jump and climb off.
Happy/Sad: At the end of each lesson, I talk to my son about how I am happy he was a good listener and how well he did (assuming that he did have a good day!). I don’t think I have ever used the concept of sad while we were swimming, but it could happen!
I do love watching my son’s language develop and I see it happen each week in our swim lesson. Each week he is faster to put in, give back, and smile when you can see his brain is understanding what is to come next.
The Details: We are currently enrolled in the Goldfish Mini 2 and the Junior 2 class at Goldfish Swim School. We attend lessons at the Goldfish Swim School in Westerville, Ohio. Check out the link for location, address/telephone details and how to sign up for lessons.
* University of Maryland. “Benefits of word repetition to infants: Repeat after me! Parents who repeat words to 7-month-olds have toddlers with larger vocabularies.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 September 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150921103539.htm>.