The Project
Play involves diverse meaning-making for young children and their families. These videos are from an intergenerational family practices project conducted in Australia during 2021-2022. The research team undertook intergenerational group interviews and filmed family play activities in addition to collecting video-clips and photos of young children’s play from six families.
Sara and Nina
Sara and Rina
In this short video Sara and Rina talk about how Sara is raising Nina, her young daughter, multilingually in Australia with Italian as her first language. The family has a language policy of Italian at home with Sara and her extended family and Spanish with Sara’s husband (exposure to English outside the home or when speaking to visitors who use English)
Rini and Ghina
Rini and Ghina
In this video Rini, as a mother talks about the languages she used growing up in Indonesia. Her eight-year-old daughter Ghina shares the language choices she is making after arriving in Australia with her family just over a year ago.
Generational Exchange
Generational Exchange
This video shows how family’s play interactions are complex and unique to a family’s everyday language ecology. The value and power of generational exchange is illustrated in the video and how it supports young children’s language learning and development leading to continuity and transformations in the types of language learning that takes place.
Language and Play: An Australian Intergenerational Family Study
Language and Play: An Australian Intergenerational Family Study
6 June 2024. 4:30pm – 5:30pm AEST, Online
Summary
In this professional learning webinar, Dr. Anne Keary introduced her recent work on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on intergenerational play in Melbourne, Australia. She discussed how six lockdowns, totalling 262 days, affected family dynamics, focusing on the closure of schools and playgrounds. Dr. Keary shared practical examples from her research, highlighting the crucial role of grandparents during the pandemic. Using Rogoff’s social learning theory, she explored the interactions between grandparents and young children. Two vignettes were presented: one involving a six-year-old and his grandparents, and another featuring a two-month-old and her grandmother. These examples illustrated how intergenerational play fostered learning and development despite lockdown challenges. Participants reflected on their experiences and challenges in facilitating intergenerational play during the pandemic. Dr. Keary emphasised the significant role of grandparents in providing support and the benefits of playful interactions. Thank you to Dr. Anne Keary for an informative and thought-provoking session!
Recording
Articles
Young Children’s Play and the Role of Grandparents as Play Partners during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Anne Keary,Susanne Garvis, Yvette Slaughter, and Lucas Walsh
Education Sciences. 2024; 14(7):771. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070771
Abstract
Play involves diverse meaning-making for young children and grandparents. This paper derives from a larger intergenerational family practices project conducted in Australia during 2021–2022 against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research team undertook intergenerational group interviews and filmed family play activities in addition to collecting videoclips and photos of young children’s play from six families. In this paper, vignettes from two families are described and given meaning. Rogoff’s social learning three planes theory involving the intertwined and interdependent—‘personal’, ‘interpersonal’, and ‘community’—planes is used to analyse the data. Our findings show the important role that grandparents play in facilitating children’s learning including through the creation of linguistic and cultural heritage play spaces. We argue that intergenerational play practices can offer a means to integrate linguistic and cultural experiences in young children’s lives by providing a space and time for social interaction and learning.
