Sixth Session

I apologize for being a few days behind in blogging about Wednesday's session.  We talked about language differences between economic classes, including formal and casual register, patterns of discourse and even the number of words that young children know from each class.  

The investigators shared stories of the ways they have observed people using casual and formal register.  We talked about people who have the ability to switch between the two, like the president.  They also gave examples of the different discourse patterns - like "getting down to business" vs. starting with the most exciting part of the story.  One woman told us that one of her children heard many sides to a story, with all the pieces out of order, and she had to help clear up what actually happened for her child.  This reflected the example in the workbook about Goldilocks and the Three Bears... fairytales teach children the order to a story:  beginning --> plot builds --> resolution. 

When we discussed issues of parenting related to poverty, the investigators concluded that parents set the pace for their children and that parents lead by example.  One woman instructs her child to choose three words that the child wants to learn, and the child looks them up in the dictionary, writes them down and uses them in order to learn them.   

I think the coolest thing I observed this week was all the abstract thinking.  The less that Pam and I have to prompt and probe, the better.  I love when the investigators figure things out amongst themselves.  It's hard to believe that we're halfway through and there is already talk about the next round.