Pragmatics refers to how everyone uses language within social communication. There
are three different components including:
- The ability to use language for different purposes
a. Ex: To greet, inform, demand, command, and request - The ability to adapt language based on the listener
a. Ex: Talking to a baby vs. an adult, talking louder when there is a lot of noise - Following the “unspoken” rules of conversation and storytelling
a. Ex: taking turns in the conversation, looking at the speaker, standing an
appropriate distance from the listener, etc.
There are many benefits to using pragmatic language videos. These animated videos provide a
multi-sensory learning experience by combining visual and auditory elements. The child
can watch the video and understand real-life scenarios, role plays, and demonstrations.
Watching these videos before practicing in a real-life scenario can help alleviate some
of the pressure associated with the situation. These animated videos can be tailored to the child’s
needs to address the goals they are working on specifically. For example, many
children work on body language, facial expressions, and non-verbal communication.
“The Small Shoemaker” is an excellent video targeting many different emotions.
Throughout this video, the main character feels various emotions, such as happiness,
anger, surprise, etc. The viewer can then see the different emotions someone may face
and list the facial expression characteristics that show that the person is feeling that
emotion. For example, listing that a happy person is smiling or a sad person is
frowning.
Example videos include:
Snack attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38y_1EWIE9I
La Luna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbuq7w3ZDUQ
For the Birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTrIcn4rjg
Trouble in Paradise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am5lKJMibr0&t=221s
The Small Shoemaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvgRn8STjmQ