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Learning Through Talk in the Early Years
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Learning Through Talk in the Early Years
Practical Activities for the Classroom

First Edition

October 2005 | 128 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

'This book is written in a straightforward, unfussy style directly addressed to the busy classroom. The activities have obviously been tried successfully in real lessons, and the involvement and enjoyment of the children as a result is quite clear.'
-Geoff Dean
School Improvement Advisor

Milton Keynes Local Education Authority

Packed with ideas and activities, this book is a lively, practical guide to encouraging young children to develop their verbal reasoning skills and communicate more effectively.

Activities include:
- setting up a talk corner
- using story bags and story boxes
- using Circle Time and playing games to encourage talk

There is advice on linking the activities to the various curriculum subjects and a selection of photocopiable material is included. All the suggestions and ideas in the book have been tried and tested by the author in her own classroom. The focus is on children aged 5 to 8, but the activities can be adapted to suit younger and older children.

Class teachers, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCOs), Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT) and Teaching Assistants will find this book supportive, clear and rooted in good practice.

Elizabeth Sharp has been a Literacy Co-ordinator and Leading Literacy Teacher (demonstrating lessons for other teachers in her area. She is now a literacy Consultant and freelance illustrator.


 
How to use this Book
 
Activities around Songs, Poetry and Rhymes
 
Home Corners and Talk Areas
 
Drama, Role-Play and Mime
 
Story Boxes, Story Bags and Story-Telling
 
Debating and Questioning
 
Pictures and Picture Books
 
Circle Time and Talk Games

`This book is aimed at class teachers of Reception to Year 3 seeking ideas to develop their pupils' speaking and listening skills. The author describes each activity in an easy-to-follow format with links to the relevant curriculum targets... This book may be helpful to both new teachers and those who are more experienced with the curriculum for older pupils... The most valuable part of the book is the commentary from the author's own teaching experience. This provides some useful insights, such as the fact that the flow of children's ideas was improved while they had a discussion while engaged in drawing. The book is easy to read. It… provide[s] a practical guide to some tried and tested speaking and listening activities which may be useful for the beginning Foundation or Key Stage 1 teacher' - Special!


There were some valuable ideas that could be adpoted as starting points for school led practice however the book was not current enough to be used in a significant way.

Mrs Jennie Swift
Faculty of Education, Edge Hill University
July 13, 2012

It gives good strategies and resources for teachers in order to implement the oral language as learning methodology.

Dr Manuel Sanchez Cano
Psychology , University of Vic
August 31, 2011

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 4 (pdf file 197kb)


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Rent or Buy eBook
ISBN: 9781847877994

Hardcover
ISBN: 9781412903103
$190.00

Paperback
ISBN: 9781412903110
$56.00

This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.