Language learning starts at birth. Language skills are upgraded through development, learning and different experiences. Preschoolers have a strong ability to learn, and it is important to develop the pre-reading and pre-writing skills in the kindergarten. Developed functional literacy is the key to successful integration of individuals into society. Every country has its own national documents governing the language acquisition in educational institutions and in the family environment. In my master's thesis are described the Slovene, Croatian, Norwegian and American national documents.
It is necessary to start learning in the preschool age and it is particularly important that the teachers of the preschool children are aware of the importance of the early literacy, that begins with toddlers. All attained knowledge in the fields of literacy at the preschool age is emergent literacy. It should ensure a language rich environment for children and it should promote their language development. An essential aspect is a positive example of the adult person, because children often imitate many things that adults do.
The survey has involved 107 preschool teachers at kindergartens all over Slovenia, they have filled out the questionnaire, where I asked what activities the preschool teachers could use to develop the pre-reading and pre-writing skills. I have noticed that the teachers choose the development of graphomotoric skills as the most important activity that develops the literacy and as the most important communication activity, they choose reading books with children and the time spent together with books. This is in line with the finding, that the most teachers (very) often read to children, they show them elements of the book and different ways of reading, and that they often visit library together. In the field of visual perception, the preschool teachers mostly direct children to observation of details in the space and in the picture, they develop the auditory perception mostly with attentive and accurate listening. An important literacy element is also the family literacy. I have noticed that the preschool teachers mostly motivate children with book backpack, and they inform the parents during individual parent-teacher conference where they talk about their child.
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