Have you heard of the Notre Dame de Paris, France? It is a gorgeous cathedral completed in the year 1260 under Bishop Maurice de Sully which displays elements of French Gothic architecture, including massive rose windows, sculptural decoration, and a funny term called ‘flying buttresses.’ (1) A buttress is simply “An architectural support that bears the load of roofs or vaulted ceilings.”(2) The windows and latticework would collapse under the weight of the roof if it weren’t for the flying buttresses.
Let’s compare your child’s language learning to a large building, like Notre Dame. The inside is where the beauty of learning happens, where new ideas bounce all around the stone walls and the child forms connections and meaning. It is crucial that this structure receives the support it needs in order to remain stable, last the course of time, and be a safe and functioning building. In this metaphor, we suggest that some of the main buttresses that help stabilize and reinforce the child’s language learning are: Encouragement, Opportunity, and Variety.