{"id":44051,"date":"2026-02-27T12:52:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T01:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/?post_type=article&#038;p=44051"},"modified":"2026-02-27T12:52:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T01:52:47","slug":"pre-kindergarten-and-interactive-language-development","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/article\/pre-kindergarten-and-interactive-language-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Kindergarten and Interactive Language Development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pre-Kindergarten students commenced the\u00a0NELI\u00a0oral language and early literacy program this week. A key feature of the program is the use of the hand puppet <em>\u2018Neli the Elephant\u2019<\/em>, which supports engagement and facilitates interactive language development through shared storytelling and discussion.<\/p>\n<p>The initial focus text, <em>\u2018Neon Leon\u2019<\/em>\u00a0by <strong>Jane E Clarke<\/strong>, explores the story of a fluorescent orange chameleon who is unable to change colour. Students examined targeted vocabulary from the text and were encouraged to apply these focus words across varied contexts. Learning experiences extended to developing an understanding of camouflage through creative and play-based activities, including producing fluorescent artwork, constructing desert chameleons using playdough, and engaging in role-play with story props to deepen comprehension and expressive language skills.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:gzucco@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au,sblanche@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au,ccatania2@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au\"><em><strong>\u2013 The Pre-Kindergarten Team<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-44053\" src=\"https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant-640x476.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant-640x476.jpg 640w, https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant-1024x761.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant-768x571.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant-145x109.jpg 145w, https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant-202x150.jpg 202w, https:\/\/d1dfwahqlx324v.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/38\/2026\/02\/Resize-Neli-the-Elephant.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pre-Kindergarten students commenced the\u00a0NELI\u00a0oral language and early literacy program this week. A key feature of the program is the use of the hand puppet \u2018Neli the Elephant\u2019, which supports engagement and facilitates interactive language development through shared storytelling and discussion. The initial focus text, \u2018Neon Leon\u2019\u00a0by Jane E Clarke, explores the story of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[5],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-44051","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_category-junior-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/44051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=44051"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/mlc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=44051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}