Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

Eliot (at two and a half) was at homechalking on a blackboard and narrating atale of a donkey who ran away from ahorrible, cruel person – he traced swirls as hetold of the donkey’s wanderings and finallybrought his drawing to the centre of theboard when the donkey found shelter andhappiness with a little boy and girl. The staffat his nursery, when told of this storyingexplained that they had read a tale to thechildren about a donkey who had a cruelowner and who ran away.As well as signifying objects and eventsthrough making marks to symbolise themand fix them in time and space, childrenare also often encouraged at this stage tobe involved in writing acts in differentgenres that are socially and culturallysignificant, for example signing birthdaycards, mimicking shopping lists andwriting notes. Their name, and the lettersfrom their name, become the focus at thisstage for much of the writing as well as arange of other circular and stroke-likeshapes that young children perceive to bethe nature of adult writing. It is interestingthat very young children have beenobserved to make marks which reflect thewritten language of their culture at thisstage with, for example, children from nonwestern cultures making marks from rightto left, or top to bottom,using dots,pictures and other symbols, some of theirown invention, to represent and makemeaning. They are drawing on all availablecultural capital to create such scripts and’the decisions which children make inreading and writing…are not onlyorganised but are laced with bothpersonal and social organisation. Thisinterplay between personal and socialorganisation in the evolution of literacy isuniversal’ (Harste et al 1984: 107). Thus,individual children can be seen torepresent, in their mark making, whicheversociety, community and culture to whichthey belong.It is important to acknowledge thecrucial part that the context, a writingenvironment which is accepting,emotionally positive and in which thereare appropriate resources, plays inchildren’s developing understandingsof the codes, symbols and signs thatdetermine effective print communication.Such contexts, determined and definedby parents and carers, as well asaccompanying interactions, form the basisof the affective nature of the experience.Because a child must ’disengage himselffrom the sensory aspect of speech andreplace words by images of worlds…which lack the musical, expressive,intonational qualities of oral speech’(Vygotsky 1986: 181) then whether or notthere is any sense of emotionalengagement by and with adults will effectwhether or not children wish to repeat theprocess or event.For many adults and caregivers, suchpleasurable interactions are natural.Indeed, when Campbell recorded a day98 EDUCATION ANDSKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S