When kids are listening or reading, they often hear new words that they don’t understand. But when they come across them in ‘intelligible contexts’, they’re able to come up with a theory about what the word means.

They might get this a little bit wrong at first but that’s okay. In fact, making mistakes is a key part of learning a language. But as a child is exposed to the word in multiple and varied contexts, they’ll develop their understanding of what it means, be able to recall it faster and soon be able to use it in their own speech and writing.

Speakers choose to do it for lots of different reasons. They might want to express a concept that doesn’t easily translate to another language, or just use it for emphasis. Sometimes, it’s because of who the individual is speaking to or the situation they find themselves in. Sociolinguists have suggested that switching codes like this actually demonstrates a heightened language appropriateness and greater communicative sensibility. 

Swapping between languages is especially common in bilingual families- Alex is always speaking Spanglish when his parents phone him up! Some parents raising their children to be bilingual try to avoid code-switching but studies have shown this doesn’t make language acquisition happen any faster. In fact, exposing children to language mixing may even have cognitive benefits as they develop strategies to process all that input. Bring on the brainy babies!

With their help our story boxes are full of fun and cover the main four elements of language learning: listening, reading, writing and speaking.

Psychologists have long pointed to bedtime stories as an important part of a child’s development. Not to mention the fact they’re lots of fun and good for parent-child bonding!

One of the reasons stories are so good as an educational tool is because they keep the kids interested. Children are much more likely to retain vocabulary when they’re reading or talking about something they are curious about and enjoy.