Love in many languages

These pictures are of a cozy/quiet space decorated for Valentine’s Day created by Ms. Katelyn at our preschool. Our “cozy cabana” is used when children need a place to go to be alone; and is filled with quiet activities to help a child work through their feelings – (possibly of saddness, tiredness or being overwhelmed). I love how Katelyn decorated this for Valentine’s Day … with words of love written in the hearts in all different languages. It looks so visually appealing, and maybe a child who is feeling sad at the moment will see the hearts and know that they are loved.

I also really like the use of other languages to say the word “love”. No, the 4 and 5 year old children in this room can’t necessarily READ the words. But think about how this LOOKS to them.

1) First, they can associate the shape of a heart with the word “love”. So, even though they can’t read the word “love” in all those languages – they can still look at those hearts and KNOW what is written on them.

2) Second, what they are learning about language is that there are so many ways to say the same word … “love”. Keep in mind that early literacy is “everything children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write.” And so a visual such as this teaches young children that their language is not the only language in the world. And for some children who are learning a second language, they can help to teach some of their classmates how to say the word “love” in their families’ home language as well.

And .. it just looks beautiful, doesn’t it?

Source: Multnomah County Library