成人快手

By the time your little one turns 3, you might find they've started to talk to you about things that have already happened.

When they do, it can help unlock a lot more complex language as they move beyond naming and commenting on things appearing in the here and now.

Dr Saloni Krishnan helps mum Anastasia explore how talking in the past tense can be good for her daughter Denisa's language learning in our Speech Lab.

Watch the video to find out how they get on.

The difference between talking about the present and past

Just as in the film, you will often find that there's a difference between the way your child speaks about things in the present and how they speak about past events.

When you talk to children about the here and now, they'll often do the sorts of things we do as adults - pointing to things, naming them, giving a little information only, as they know that you are there with them experiencing it as they are. You can see what they're talking about, so they don't need to say too much.

When you ask them about events in the past, they have to give much more detail to help you understand what they mean. You can encourage them to draw out this detail by asking lots of 'what?', 'when?' and 'where?' questions.

Diagram of a child's brain showing the hippocampus and a definition of episodic memory - 'long term memory of experiences and events'.
Image caption,
The development of the hippocampus in the brain allows for the development of episodic memory - the ability to recall details of events.

How does talking about the past link to memory?

Around the ages of 3-4 years old, children develop episodic memory as part of their brain called the hippocampus develops.

Episodic memory is memory about details like who was with them when something happened, where they were and what they did. This is great for their language learning, as they can begin to tell you all about these things if you help them practise talking in the past tense with plenty of questions about past events.

Scientists refer to talk about the past and future as 'decontextualised language'. This just means language about a situation they're not currently experiencing - they're having to put things into context for you so that you understand.

This is great for their building language skills as they're able to put their memories and plans into words.

Diagram of a child's brain showing the hippocampus and a definition of episodic memory - 'long term memory of experiences and events'.
Image caption,
The development of the hippocampus in the brain allows for the development of episodic memory - the ability to recall details of events.

Practise talking about the past with your child

There are lots of ways to practise talking about the past with your little one and build their ability to describe memories.

Memory games are great for chatting with children about things that you've done together. If you make a point of pointing things out as you go on trips - whether it's something at the supermarket, on walks, or on visits to see family or friends - and make a mental (or written down) note of what you could ask them about later on. For example, you could ask 'what did we see down at the harbour?' or 'what fruit did we buy earlier on? Can you remember?'.

Why not try taking the time to speak to your child about what you've done at the end of each day?

If your child is struggling to remember or recall events try taking a few pictures of the event on your phone and use these to help them talk about what they did and what they saw afterwards. Picture cues often help children to recall information or help them find the words to describe them to you. If you are able to collect any objects that link to the event, for example, shells from the beach or tickets from a bus trip, these can also help your child remember and recall the events better.

There are also ways of talking about the past that make use of much shorter term memories.

You could try getting them to recall details from a story after hearing it. Ask them lots of questions about what happened in the story and why.

More on the past tense

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