jean gross cbe, 2015. how communication-friendly are your classrooms? support for talk: teaching...

Jean Gross CBE, 2015

How communication-friendly are your classrooms?

Support for talk: teaching vocabulary, adult language

A reason to talk – at home : working with parents and carers

Intervention programmes for spoken language

A communication-supportive environment

• Have a look at the tool for auditing the environment

How communication-friendly are your classrooms?

Support for talk: teaching vocabulary, adult language

Working with parents and carers Intervention programmes for spoken

language

My Dad’s been in one of those....

STAR - SelectToo easy Goldilocks words Too hardEveryday words- ones a child might use to another child

Not too easy and not too hard, but just rightLikely to be encountered againAverage adult has a good knowledge of this word

Average adult does not have much knowledge of this wordHighly topic-specific

STAR - SelectToo easy Goldilocks words Too hardChildrenToys

PetticoatHoop

GruelWorkhouse

STAR – Select – from Y4 a village in India • Put the following into the three categories Country, continent, route, monsoon, river,

distance, weather , home, cash crop, family, economic activity, village, landscape, climate, crops, remote, symbol, hill, houses, occupation, nucleated, market town, settlement, city, road, linear, trade, airport, agriculture

Teaching vocabulary

Semantic - meaning

Semantic - meaning

PhonologicalPhonological

Grammatical Grammatical Motor

programmeMotor

programme

Orthographic(Written form)Orthographic

(Written form)

What it sounds like

Begins with:Sound:Letter:

Rhymes with:

Ends with :Sound:Letter:

Number of syllables:

Structure of word

Prefix, root, suffix, morphemes

Unbreakable Three morphemes: un- (a morpheme that means "not"), -break (the root), and -able (a morpheme that means "can be done").

What it means

How does it feel?

Sign/symbol

What do you do with it?

What does it look like?

Where do you find it?

What category is it?

Put it in a sentence

Words that go with it

How communication-friendly are your classrooms?

Support for talk: teaching vocabulary, adult language

A reason to talk – at home : working with parents and carers

Intervention programmes for spoken language

Commenting What’s that?What’s that?

I hope....I hope....

What noise does it make?

What noise does it make?

What colour is it ?

What colour is it ?

I wonder.....I wonder.....

Oooooo....Oooooo....

Context Child Typical adult response

Much better if......

5 year old looking at book about sea creatures

Look at that whale

What else can you see?

It’s a giant blue whale , I think. Swimming in the ocean.

Context Child Typical adult response

Much better if......

Child explaining why she stormed out of class

She were going on at me

It’s she was going on at you

OK, she was going on at you, criticising you... I wonder what that was about?’

Sharing a bookPrompts and open ended questions e.g. •I wonder why… •I wonder what the bear is thinking…•I wonder what will happen when he gets home …

Prompts and comments inviting the child to relate the book to their own experience e.g. •I don’t think I’d like a bear under my stairs …•When I was little I was scared of…

• Key vocabulary• Follow -up

opportunities to practise the vocabulary

• Small world figures and role play props

Language of :

Argument Explanation ComparisonOpinion Hypothesis Deduction

Description Prediction Evaluation

Retelling Explanation Sequencing

Language functions

Language functions

Report What happened ?Agree/disagree What do you think

about what x just said?Justify What makes you

think…how do you know?

Explain Talk me through it…

Language functions

Ask questions What will you ask ?Give an opinion What do you think?Hypothesise, speculate What do you think

might ?Evaluate What do you think of?Deduce What conclusions have

you reached?

Language functions

Predict What do you think will happen?

Compare How are they similar/different?

Classify How would you sort these?

Sequence What comes first…next…?

Language functions

Describe What could you say about?

Persuade Convince me that …Give feedback How was it, in your

opinion?

Give instructions What do I/they need to do?

How communication-friendly are your classrooms?

Support for talk: teaching vocabulary, adult language

A reason to talk – at home : working with parents and carers

Intervention programmes for spoken language

A reason to talk – at home

• ‘Ask me about’ stickers• Chatterboxes

Take-home shoe-boxes Twinkle, twinkle little star

• The rhyme• A card star to thread

with wool• Star finger puppet• Biscuit recipe and star

cutter • Glow-in-the-dark stars• Star kaleidoscope

Reminiscing

Films from The Communication Trusthttp://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/resources/resources/resources-for-parents/through-the-eyes-of-a-child.aspx

Sites for parents- milestones, tips, and activities

• ICAN’s Talking Point (www.talkingpoint.org.uk)• National Literacy Trust’s Words for Life site (

www.wordsforlife.org.uk)• www.bookstart.co.uk

Dad’s reading challenge:

‘It can’t be true, can it?’

I really enjoyed coming home from work, knowing that my son had brought a story sack home from pre-school for our bedtime story.

Older children... ‘talk homework’ • Loves and hates• When are the times when you get on best as a

family...and fall out?• Talk about your dream home• Can you remember the day that I was born?• The best/worst thing that happened to me

today was...• What cheers you up when you feel down?

How communication-friendly are your classrooms?

Support for talk: teaching vocabulary, adult language

A reason to talk – at home : working with parents and carers

Intervention programmes for spoken language

Three waves

Evidence-based primary Wave 2 interventions• Key Stage 1 Narrative, Key Stage 2 Narrative

(Black Sheep Press) • Languageland (Black Sheep Press)• Talk Boost (ICAN)• Nuffield Early Language Intervention (ICAN)• Language for Thinking (Speechmark) • SPIRALS (Routledge)• Talking Partners (www.educationworks.org.uk)

Examples of impact

• Talking Partners : 18 months progress compared to 5 for control group, over 10 weeks• Talk Boost : average progress 18 months over four month period

A language delay intervention

• Talk Boost narrows the gap between 4-7 year olds with language delay and their peers

• It is a structured and robustly evidenced programme that can boost a child's communication by an average of 18 months after ten weeks of intervention

• Already being used in over 2,000 primary schools

www.talkboost.org.uk | talkboost@ican.org.uk | 020 7843 2515

Talk Boost structure

• Small group intervention work Activities for groups of 4 children, 3 times a week for 10 weeks 30 – 40 minutes each session with a Learning Support Assistant/Teaching Assistant

• Whole class activities for class teacherWeekly activities linking small group

activities to the class and supporting whole class speaking and listening skills

• Children’s Activity Books Activities for children to take home and share with parents and carers

www.talkboost.org.uk | talkboost@ican.org.uk | 020 7843 2515

Talk Boost delivery

• One day training course – delivered by I CAN or I CAN Licensed Tutors• TA and teachers are trained in pairs• Recommended resources per training pair:

– Starter Kit – Intervention Manual, Teacher Manual, Children’s Books, etc.

– Optional Talk Boost toolkit with activities and resources for use in small group sessions

talkboost@ican.org.ukwww.talkboost.org.uk020 7843 2515

www.talkboost.org.uk | talkboost@ican.org.uk | 020 7843 2515

Talk Boost outcomesPiloted in 30 schools as part of A Chance to Talk: • Over 80% of children with delayed language moved into the typical

range of language development• 90% of these pupils met or exceeded expected progress in reading• 69% of these pupils met or exceeded expected progress in writing• 76% of these pupils met or exceeded expected progress in

numeracy

www.talkboost.org.uk | talkboost@ican.org.uk | 020 7843 2515