Wearing costumes with the theme of the2008 Olympic Games mascots - the Five Fuwas - children from differentparts of the country perform at Tian'anmen Square yesterday, the eve ofInternational Children's Day.(Photo: Chinadaily.com)

Photo Gallery>>>BEIJING, Jun. 1 -- By around 18 months, most children come to use a spoken vocabulary of about 50 words, but the choice of words differs from child to child. The common core of words usually includes "allgone," "baby," "beepbeep," "bye-bye," "daddy," "mummy," "mama," and "night."

By the third year, a tattered form of grammar has been acquired, as in "this is him's car," "her gave me one," "I happy," "Me do it," "want Teddy drink," "I ride train?" "James naughty."

These constructions are really "small clauses," and can be compared with similar constructions to informal adult speech. Children aged between 2 and 3 do not use auxiliaries, inflexions, infinitival "to," or other numerous obligatory elements of adult speech. In this form of reduced grammar, "I can see a bus" becomes "see bus," and a great many clauses are verbless, e.g., "Jane good girl."

After the age of 3, a child's acquisition of language proceeds by leaps and bounds. Forms such as "bringed" and "taked" are gradually discarded. An average child of 3 probably uses as many as 3,000 English words, including "hard" words like helicopter, calculator, computer (not perfectly pronounced but clear nevertheless) and "difficult" concepts like "triangle."

Parents and teachers can help sustain natural language development by providing environments full of language development opportunities.

1. Treat children as if they were conversationalists, even if they are not yet talking.

2. Encourage interaction between children. Peer learning is an important part of language development, especailly in mixed-age groups.

3. Remember that parents and teachers are the chief resources in language development.

Children in primary grades can keep developing oral abilities and skills by consulting with each other, raising questions and providing information in varied situations.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily)