Poor literacy skills have been shown to have profound effect on the life chances of children and young people. Now in its third edition, Developing Language and Communication Skills through Small Group Work provides essential information for practitioners working with linguistically struggling children. Using the Spirals language development technique predicated by psychological principles, this book contains a wealth of effective ideas to support children's language and communication. The book includes concise explanations of the terms and concepts involved, clear guidelines for setting up and running small group sessions, structured lesson plans and photocopiable resources.
Frequently asked questions
Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on âCancel Subscriptionâ - itâs as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time youâve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlegoâs features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan youâll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Developing Language and Communication Skills through Effective Small Group Work by Marion Nash, Jackie Lowe, Tracey Palmer in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Education & Education General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Are listed at the start of each session. Most are readily available in school or are included in the Appendix.
For four of the activities we have used pictures from the Talkabout series and Pragmatics series from Black Sheep Press (tel: 01535 631346).
Timing
Twenty-five to 35 minutes depending on how long you wish to spend on each activity.
Key teaching points
Pace
Essential: keep pace and content of speech slow and uncluttered. Use âponderingâ to wonder with the group about ideas that come out of the activities or to introduce new questions. For example, say âHmm, I have noticed that [pause] when you put Dozy Dog behind the tree [pause and consider] you were right. [pause] Hmm, but to me he looks as if he is in front of the tree? I wonder why that is? Shall we try it again?â
Thinking time
Give children at least 15 secondsâ thinking time. Frame it positively by saying âI can see you are thinking really well and carefully.â If the child cannot answer offer the help of the other children. The child retains control by choosing who they want to be helped by.
Positive praise phrases
Praise phrases should be going on all the time: âgood sittingâ, âwell doneâ, âbrilliant listeningâ, âgood, looking eyes and careful feetâ, âgood ideaâ, âthank you for listening so well to meâ, âgood thinkingâ, âyou played that very wellâ, âI like your ideasâ. Engage eye contact and smile, and also use accompanying low-key thumbs up gestures.
Try to avoid saying âNo, thatâs not right.â Clearly there are right and wrong answers but the group works on similar principles to brainstorming, where all ideas are listened to and considered, and then an answer is chosen from all the ideas. We tend to say âThank you, you spoke up really well. You gave me another idea.â
Language concepts: spirals of learning
The aim of the early sessions is to develop a structural basis to enable thinking skills and communication skills to develop, along with the confidence to formulate and express ideas and present those ideas to an audience.
The later sessions seek to consolidate this foundation and to build on it by extending vocabulary, expressive language, narrative and awareness of the structure of communication.
Responsive toys
Sometimes responsive toys are mentioned. If they are available they are useful tools to help children to realise that they must wait (e.g. until the toy resets itself) and sequence things in the right order (e.g. press teddyâs paw, wait for beep, speak, press other paw) to ensure success.
Dynamic assessment
It will be clear from childrenâs responses to activities whether they have grasped the concepts involved or not. This is a unique form of assessment, and can be ongoing. Concepts can be worked on in the classroom between sessions, then reassessed again in the next group session.
Fun
Enjoy this time together. It can be great fun, and fun is ...
Table of contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: how Circle Time has been developed in schools over time
List of materials which will need preparation before a session
