I was fascinated when I started to read about the work of Betty Hart and Todd Risley [1] and the early language differences between children growing up in different socioeconomic circumstances. But it took me a while to realize that we care about words primarily because of what words indicate about knowledge. This is important because it means that we must focus on teaching children about a wide range of interesting “stuff” [2]– not just vocabulary for vocabulary’s sake. So, if words are the tip of the iceberg [3], what lies underneath? This metaphor inspired me to create the short animation below. Check it out!

- Esther Quintero