Family Mealtime. Family conversations around mealtime are another opportunity that can expose children to literacy development. Dickinson and Tabors (2001) suggest that children can learn a lot from listening, watching, and participating in conversations with their families. As in many societies, family mealtimes can provide the comfortable, natural, and unplanned conversations that create important teaching moments. During these mealtimes, children have the opportunity to participate in stories and explanations about everyday life. Children who hear discussion around a variety of topics show higher scores on vocabulary, definitions, and listening comprehension measures (Dickinson & Tabors).
