Listening differently for the 100 languages
Children are communicating with us all the time, even when they aren’t using words.
Are we listening to ‘the hundred’?
Through his powerful philosophy, The Hundred Languages of Children, Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, invites us to slow down, look more closely and listen differently.
The ‘hundred’ are there.
When we recognise children have many ways of knowing, thinking, expressing and making sense of the world, we see the infinity of languages through which they are making their thinking visible. Beyond words, through drawing, painting, movement, music, storytelling, building, pretending, their gestures, and even through their silence.
Communication goes both ways
As we set up the easels, it can be tempting to see painting as simply an art experience. But what if we see painting as the tool, the ‘language’ for the child to express, be heard and be understood? If we put out more than just the primary colours, we give children access to a rich range of shades, a broader ‘vocabulary’ for expression.
When we take the paintings down and roll them up to take home, we miss the opportunity to sit alongside the child to listen, to talk about what they have created. Communication is a two-way street. Our conversation becomes an opportunity for the child to feel:
My ideas matter
You are interested in what I am thinking
My ideas will be listened to
Something might happen because I shared them
A powerful sense of agency and pride emerges. The painting isn’t the product, it becomes the seed of ongoing conversation, empowering the child through a rich vocabulary of expression.
The same principle applies to clay, blocks and loose parts play, to name but a few of the ‘languages’. Making space for the process invites children to move between them depending on what they are trying to communicate. An idea might begin as a drawing, become a conversation, transform into a clay sculpture and then inspire a story. There is no single correct language for expressing an idea. The art is in our listening.
Consider this scenario
Two children are building a tower with wooden blocks
At first glance, we see children stacking blocks. But when we look closer, we see them investigating balance, height, shape and gravity. We see persistence, patience and problem-solving. We see children negotiating roles, taking turns, sharing ideas, testing theories and adapting their plans. The learning isn’t contained within the blocks. It is happening between children, within the environment and through their interactions. This is the social construction of knowledge, where learning doesn’t happen only inside an individual child’s head, but where children build knowledge together, through communication, relationships, shared experiences and the exchange of ideas.
Environments for fluency in their expression – 100 languages
Our role is to create the environments for children to move between, to make space for fluency in their expression. When children can return to painting regularly for example, they begin to develop familiarity, confidence and intentionality. Painting becomes something they can choose when they have something to say.
This shifts our thinking from:
‘Today we’re doing painting’
to
‘Painting is one of the many ways children can communicate their ideas’
In practice, this means embedding the hundred languages into the everyday curriculum, not as a special project or activity that sits alongside the ‘real’ learning. Our role is to intentionally support children to move between languages. This doesn’t mean we need to ask children to explain everything they have created. Sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is simply observe, to know when to put on our ‘invisibility cloak’ and step back to allow children the space and time to develop their own theories, ideas and possibilities.
Sometimes we need to step forward, to listen deeply and enter the conversation. The skill is knowing when, and seeing beyond the learning outcome by asking ourselves:
What are they trying to understand?
What are they communicating?
What theories might they be developing?
What could we offer next?
Observations and documentation as a way of listening and noticing the competent child – making learning visible
Our observations and documentation then become much more than a record of what happened, but a way of listening to inform what comes next. Our documentation moves from simply demonstrating compliance, satisfying an assessor or proving that learning has occurred, to helping us build a picture of the competent child, to notice patterns over time. A drawing today might connect to a thought or idea from a week ago. A child’s conversation might reveal a theory that has been emerging through their play for months.
When we document these moments, we make children’s thinking visible to ourselves, to the children, to their families and to the wider learning community.
When their voice is valued, they can look back and see:
This was my idea
This is what I was thinking
This is what happened next
My ideas mattered
Reflection – are the 100 languages supported in your spaces?
When you reflect on your spaces, can you see the hundred?
Are there open-ended materials that invite more than one answer?
Is there space for collaboration?
Is there somewhere for quiet reflection?
Can children access materials independently?
Are drawing, painting, construction and creative expression available as genuine choices rather than occasional activities?
Does the environment communicate: “We trust you to have ideas.”
Our learning environments are the child’s third teacher, inviting exploration, inquiry, experimentation and collaboration in more languages than just one. The environments we create become the seeds of deeper learning. And from the seeds of interest, ideas and deep listening, great things can grow!
Each child’s multiple languages are worth listening to. And those languages doesn’t always arrive as words. The hundred are already there. How are you listening?
Inspire your heart, head and practice
Change from the hectic pace and pressure of the Educational Program. Grow in expertise and confidence as an educator to support real and meaningful learning for children. Nurture active, capable learners and see the joy and rewards of your role as an educator.
