Language Acts
An ongoing observation of inventive language use as part of my research through observation as a teacher of reading and writing.
"This is some crazy tarantula rain.'"
-Said by a five year old girl living in Hawaii, where they experience frequent torrential rains.
"Hey! you can take out a whole aisle! That's a great idea!"
-Said by a 4 year old while problem solving how to open up a box of crackers with three separately packaged sections.
"Hey! Spiders do that too! They must to be on the same team!"
-Said by a 4 year old on reading a book about lady bugs eating other bugs that are harmful to garden plants.
"It's bof! With an F!"
-Said by a 4 year old while correcting her younger cousin about whether a particular drawing was a spider or a crab.
"Yeah well, if you read at home you'll get homesick."
-Said by a three year old in response to her mom telling her older sister that reading in the car will make her carsick.
"A stringler is a string that I tie around my [stuffed] mouse's neck"
-The word morphing of a three year old.
"If this part is called a tongue, than my shoe must be a mouth without any teeth"
-Three year old wordplay.
Mom, I think you are fair because you took me to the fair"
-Three year old wordplay.
"I didn't know there was a direction that peace symbols went"
-Said by a ten year old after having been told that his peace sign drawing was upside down.
"I bet someone is going to invent a new way to write poetry today."
-Said by a ten year old while during a class discussion on ideas for writing poetry.
"A meckle deckter is a thing that you use to find treasures in the ground"
-Said by a three year old gracefully trying out her memory of language use without inhibition.
-Said by a five year old girl living in Hawaii, where they experience frequent torrential rains.
"Hey! you can take out a whole aisle! That's a great idea!"
-Said by a 4 year old while problem solving how to open up a box of crackers with three separately packaged sections.
"Hey! Spiders do that too! They must to be on the same team!"
-Said by a 4 year old on reading a book about lady bugs eating other bugs that are harmful to garden plants.
"It's bof! With an F!"
-Said by a 4 year old while correcting her younger cousin about whether a particular drawing was a spider or a crab.
"Yeah well, if you read at home you'll get homesick."
-Said by a three year old in response to her mom telling her older sister that reading in the car will make her carsick.
"A stringler is a string that I tie around my [stuffed] mouse's neck"
-The word morphing of a three year old.
"If this part is called a tongue, than my shoe must be a mouth without any teeth"
-Three year old wordplay.
Mom, I think you are fair because you took me to the fair"
-Three year old wordplay.
"I didn't know there was a direction that peace symbols went"
-Said by a ten year old after having been told that his peace sign drawing was upside down.
"I bet someone is going to invent a new way to write poetry today."
-Said by a ten year old while during a class discussion on ideas for writing poetry.
"A meckle deckter is a thing that you use to find treasures in the ground"
-Said by a three year old gracefully trying out her memory of language use without inhibition.
