Level 2 — learning new words in a sentence

Improving observation and action matching

Level 2 starts with the series Observation 2 so that the child gets even better at matching people's actions, identical and non-identical, and can watch for longer. All of this is very important for being able to learn new words in a sentence. Indeed, in the next series of Level 2, a short conversation is shown in the first video (in Level 2, we no longer show just an object whose name is given). Since the video lasts longer than before, the child has to learn to stay attentive for longer: that is what the child learns in Observation 2. In addition, since we will start teaching the names of actions, it is important that the child has mastered action matching.

Learning a new word by exclusion

Before we can start teaching them the different parts of a sentence, children must be able to learn a new word by exclusion. To do this, we show the child 4 objects, 1 of which is an object whose name they do not know. Then we name that object. Afterwards, they have a choice between the 4 objects. Since they know the names of the 3 other objects, they should choose the object whose name they just heard (and did not know), and afterwards they must be able to say that word again to name the object. To teach this, we developed the naming-by-exclusion series: Naming by Exclusion.

The series Mots qui se ressemblent was built to test whether the child can repeat the word correctly over time. If they cannot do this, they will struggle with the series Enseignement Phrase, where they have to remember and repeat a word for longer and longer.

Being able to repeat and remember 3 words

If you have to pick out a new word in a short sentence and you have to repeat it and remember it, you need to be able to remember at least 3 consecutive words for 10 seconds. To teach children this, we developed the following series:

• C'est un (objet 1) et un (objet 2), where the child already has to remember the names of two objects in a sentence.
• The "echoic" series where the child has to remember 2 words — first with a picture at the start (so the child can memorize the answer visually + auditorily), then without a picture (the child can only rely on auditory memory). Once the child can remember 2 words, we move on to exercises where they have to remember 3 words: first with a picture, then without a picture, then with a 10-second delay, and finally with a 20-second delay.

It is very important that the child can do the exercises where they have to find the 3 objects again after a 20-second delay before continuing with the series Enseignement Phrase! This is a mandatory prerequisite.

Since letters are used in the series above, we created the series Apprendre les lettres for children who do not know the letters. But knowing the letters is not required before doing the series that follow! Also, to train children to listen carefully and repeat sounds and syllables over time, we built the series Echoic lettres phonétique (sounds) and Echoic lettres alphabétique (syllables).

Enseignement Phrase

We realized that children were unable to pick out the name of a new object in a sentence. Indeed, some children could not isolate the verb / the noun / the first name. Some would repeat "gredese" (to name the salt in the sentence: "Greg, donne-moi le sel" — "Greg, pass me the salt"). To teach them to understand and repeat the words of a short sentence, we developed the series Enseignement Phrase.

In this series the child first learns the action in isolation, then the action is combined with objects whose names they already know, so that they clearly understand the difference between the name of the action and the name of the object. The child learns the names of actions frequently used in everyday life. Once the child understands those sentences, they will be able to learn new words in short sentences.

The core idea is that a child can learn a new name in a sentence (of an object, action or person) only if there is just one unknown word in the sentence. One of the reasons children fail to do this is that they do not understand several words in the sentence! We often think a child understands short sentences when in fact they do not really understand what is being said. Instead, they have learned either to infer what is expected of them from the context, or answers by heart. But when we vary things, or give no hints, or have them do a WNL exercise, we see that they do not in fact understand the words in the sentence!

So, in this series, we first teach the actions give, put down, take, show, pass with objects whose names the children already know. Then we add the people and the conversation. For example, we show a video in which someone says: "Hélène, pass me the book". Then the child has to find and name either the person (Hélène), or the action (pass), or the object (the book). We vary what they have to pay attention to so that they do not learn the position of the word in the sentence, but truly learn to differentiate the whole (verbs / object / person).

Once the child has learned this, we introduce an unknown object to see whether they can now name that object at the end of the exercise (with a verb and a person in the sentence as well). So far, children succeed at this if they have done all the exercises in the steps preceding this series. After that, we add a new action, then new people.

Once the child has done all the W- exercises, we can test whether they have mastered the taught targets (the names of the objects and actions) with the LR- (Receptive Language) exercises. In these exercises, they hear a sentence and then have to choose the video that represents that sentence. For example, in an LR-Apo they hear: "she opens the clock", then they see one video where someone opens the clock, another where someone closes the clock, another where someone grabs the clock (so the actions performed with the object change). In an LR-Opa they hear: "she opens the clock", but the choices will be different because there it is the object that changes: someone opening the clock, the pencil case, the bus, the bottle.

After this series, the child can do Level 2 WNL exercises that use the taught actions (open, close, throw, roll and — shown less often — catch, break, turn, shake).

The "multiple exemplar instruction" series

To make it possible to learn new words in the other frequent sentences as well, we developed series that teach the actions by presenting multiple exemplars (multiple exemplar instruction). There are always 4 actions performed with 4 objects, so a minimum of 16 videos, plus videos of the actions in isolation.

• Enseignement Mettre (1) — put on (clothing), put (object), take off, clean
• Enseignement Mettre (2) — put in, put on, open, close
• Enseignement Ranger — tidy up, clean, play, pass
• Enseignement vouloir-avoir — want, have, play, tidy up
• Enseignement venir — come, move back, take, play

All these series include at least: simple W- exercises of the actions (identical then non-identical matching of the actions spoken in the infinitive), W- exercises where someone gives an instruction to someone else and the child then has to name the action or the object at the end, and LR- exercises where the child hears a sentence such as "she takes off the boots" and then has to choose between someone taking off, putting on, cleaning or giving the boots. There are LR-Apo exercises where the child has to remember the action (only the action changes), and a few LR-Opa exercises where the child has to remember the object (only the object changes).

WNL Level 2 preparation

In the series Préparation wnl niveau 2, there are W- and LR- exercises for about ten actions, performed by about ten different people in different places! The idea is to vary everything except the action, so that the child can identify the action even if it was not performed in the same way, by the same person, or in the same places. The child does not need to do all the exercises: they just need to do all the actions at least once in the W- and in the LR- exercises. If your child can do the exercises without any problem, you continue with the WNL series below.

The Level 2 WNL series

After doing those series, the child will be able to do the W- exercises where they observe a conversation in which a new name is used, and they should be able to learn this new word just by listening to and observing the conversation. This is why we originally developed the Watch 'n Learn app: to learn new words in a conversation! To test this, we developed the series:

• WNL 1 objet: action1 + object1. The child sees a video in which a sentence is said using the taught actions + a new name. For example: W-Opa "Caroline, prends la mangue!" ("Caroline, take the mango!" — the highlighted word is the target word the child has to find). From this same video, we created a W-Pao exercise where they have to name "Caroline" at the end, and a W-Apo exercise where they have to name "take"! This way, they never know in advance which word they will need to remember, so they have to remember at least 3 — hence the importance of being able to remember the names of 3 objects before doing this!
• WNLniv2 2 objets: action1 + object1 + action1 + object2. Two short sentences are said using the same action, and the name of the object the child has to select and name is not always at the end of the sentence, but sometimes in the middle! Which is much harder. Example: "Caroline, prends la cerise et prends la mangue" ("Caroline, take the cherry and take the mango").
• WNLniv2 2 personnes: 2 first names.
• WNLniv2 2 actions: action1 + object1 + action2 + object2. Two different (known) actions and two objects in the sentence — much more difficult because the sentence is longer and the child has to remember many more words.

All the WNL Level 2 series include W- exercises (3 parts: naming the person, the action or the object at the end), LR- exercises (hearing a sentence and then finding the matching video) and Q- exercises (naming the learned object). The child does not yet have to name the actions, because we have not yet taught them to answer questions such as "who is it?", "what is he doing?", "what is it?" — that will be done in the next level. The Level 2 sentences contain a maximum of 12 words.

"I don't know"

To show that children start to understand language and sentence structure thanks to the Enseignement Phrase series, I would like to share what happened with two children.

Thanks to Enseignement Phrase, children start to understand the words in the sentences they hear. There are two children for whom, after doing the series, everything became clear: they were always able to find the right answer because we only introduced one new word at a time, and they always understood, step by step, what was expected of them.

After finishing the whole series, when I presented an exercise where someone said "I want x (unknown word)", Paul looked at me with a somewhat puzzled expression and said: "but... I don't know!". I thought to myself, "oh no, it didn't work!". Then I realized that we had not taught him "I want"! (only take, give, pass, put down, show, close, open, throw, roll, shake, break and catch). So there were too many unknown words in the sentence. What was beautiful is that ever since being taught the series, he had always understood everything and known how to answer — understanding had become "normal" for him. And now, he was able to identify that he did NOT understand and could not give the right answer.

A month later, Mael said the same thing — "I don't know" — when facing an exercise with too many unknown words. We no longer need to teach "I don't know": they do it on their own, since it is now normal for them to UNDERSTAND the sentences they hear in Watch 'n Learn. Before, they never said it!