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Topic “Communication, Language and Literacy”
Use the auxiliary verb is
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Describe the picture Selection of pictures of people carrying out different actions. Cue card with the word "is" written on it. Pen and paper (optional) | 1. Explain that you are going to practice sentences remembering to use all the little words; 2. Explain that one of the words that the child needs to remember is the word "is"; 3. Show the child the cue card and explain that it says "is"; 4. Show the child one of the pictures and give a simple description e.g. "the boy is running"; 5. Show the child another picture and encourage them to describe it; 6. Use the cue card to prompt them if they forget to use the word "is"; 7. You could write the child's descriptions down, and use this to reflect back whether they had remembered the word "is". | Photos are usually easier for children to interpret. In natural speech, the "is" in these sentences often shortens to a "s" or "z" sound, for example "the cat is playing" becomes "the cat's playing", and "the kettle is boiling" becomes "the kettle's boiling". Either the full form or the shortened form is acceptable for this activity. |
| Make a book Small notebook or exercise book, or a book you have made Pens, pencils etc. "is" cue card as previous activity |
Use prepositions in short sentences
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| In Pictures of a fridge, washing machine, cupboard, suitcase Pictures of food, clothes. | Take it in turns to instruct each other to put e.g. 'socks in the washing machine', 'put the pasta in the cupboard' | When the children are confident with this, move on to use two prepositions, e.g. 'in' and 'on'. |
| On A clothesline - either a picture or a real line and pegs Pictures of clothes A TV guide Outline of a pizza base Pictures of pizza toppings. Or - draw a base and draw the toppings onto it. | 1. Take it in turns to instruct each other to put clothes on the line, e.g. 'Put the jumper on the clothesline.' 2. Go through the TV guide and find favourite shows. Say what you are watching on TV'. e.g. 'I'm watching cartoons on TV 3. Put toppings on the pizza base e.g. 'I'm putting chicken on my pizza'. | When the children are confident with this, move on to use two prepositions, e.g. 'in' and 'on'. |
| To Action pictures Place pictures | When the children are confident with this, move on to use two prepositions, e.g. 'in' and 'to'. | |
| Under Pictures of furniture and objects | You can use real objects for this. When the children are confident with this, move on to use two prepositions, e.g. 'on' and 'under'. | |
| Behind, Next To, In Front Pictures of people Outline of a bus / train / classroom Pictures of different vehicles | ||
| All Together An interesting object to use as 'treasure' |
Four word phrases
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Act out a simple story with miniature people Use an event retell sheet with columns for 'who', 'what', 'when', 'where'. Simple everyday stories, for example: 'Going to the shops to buy new red shoes, nearly not finding red shoes, happiness at finding them at last' 'going out to play in the rain and jumping in puddles. Mum is cross' 'playing football with Dad and Dad kicks the ball into a tree' 'going on the bus on the bus and loosing teddy. Finding him next day at the bus station'. | Tell a story to the child using miniature people, some eg's in next column. Get the child to retell the story to you. This works well in a small group or in a one to one situation. Use a retell sheet to help the child answer 'wh' questions about the story. The child can write the answers and/or draw a picture. The child can read the story back to an adult. | Remember to give children enough time to produce the language you want. Use the figures or pictures as a prompt to get the language you want. |
| Barrier games Barrier games designed to elicit 4 word phrases e.g. Black Sheet programme | ||
| Books | If a child is struggling say it for the child 'as he would if he could', then ask the child to produce the phrase again without your language model. | |
| Digital camera record of school trips or games in the play ground |
Give 4 word instructions
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Giving 4 word instructions Big and little food pictures (cut out), 2 baskets and 2 trolleys, each with a picture of a girl or boy. | 1. Place the baskets and trolleys with some matching food pictures where the child can see them. 2. Ask the child to put the big or little items of food in the girl or boy's basket or trolley e.g. put big apple in girl's basket / put little banana in boy's trolley / put big biscuit in girl's trolley. Encourage the child to put the food into the appropriate basket or trolley. | Give the child plenty of time to respond. Give the child plenty of praise and encouragement. Allow the child to explore materials and give time to respond to questions |
| Giving and understanding 4 word instructions Toys/pictures of table, cupboard, chair and bed. Pictures of dog and cat actions (cut out). | This task allows for opportunities to give and understand 4 word instructions. | |
| Giving 4 word instructions: farm game Big and little toy animals Doll and teddy 2 barns and fields | ||
| Outside activity game A ball. Two goals, one red and one green. Two baskets, one red and one green. | ||
| Classroom tidying up game 4 pieces of classroom equipment e.g. pencil, pen, ruler, rubber. 2 boxes of different colours |
Use and understand regular plurals
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Understanding of plurals Use not more than 6 items of things that have regular plural forms, for example, key(s), cup(s), ball(s), sock(s) | 1. Put groups of each of the objects on one table, and single items of each on another table. 2. Point to each item or group of items, and name each, saying, for example, 'Here are the keys,' 3. Get the child to respond by indicating (eye/finger/head pointing or gesture) when you ask 'Where are the cups?' 4. Praise him when he does this correctly. 5. Then move on to the next item, e.g. 'Where is the Key? ' | Ensure that you use the full sentence when asking the child to respond, even though you are only wanting the child to respond to the actual noun plural / singular. |
| Pen and paper game Sheet showing a mixture of single items and groups of the same items (if laminated, this can be reused) Pen or pencil (use a whiteboard pen if your sheet is laminated) | ||
| To use singular and plural regular nouns correctly Follow on from the previous activity where the child is indicating his understanding of which objects are plural / singular. Not more than 6 different objects, as above The things should be laid out as for the comprehension exercise above. | Don't worry about whether the child uses a full sentence: the focus is on getting the word with the correct plural ending. |
Make phrases in past tense
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What have you done today? Paper, pens or pencil (for adult only) | 1. Go round each person in the group including the adults asking them for two things they have already done that day; 2. For each person write their name on the sheet and a key word for each activity they have done along with a very rough picture to help the children remember what each person did; 3. Each person then takes it in turns to recall what one other person has done today - using the pictures to help them to remember. | If a child does not use a correct past tense, for example "Terry do writing", just feed back the correct way of saying it in a conversational way, for example "oh, Terry did some writing?". |
| Picture sequencing activities See target sheet "sequences three or more pictures" Note - the activities shown there are at a slightly higher level than this one - so only use them if appropriate for the children you are working with. | Correct mistakes in the past tense in the same way as above. | |
| Action description Set of cards with simple present tense verb pictures on (e.g. "jumping", "writing"). | As above. |
Make phrases in past tense using irregular verbs 1
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What have you done today with visual timetable Paper, pens or pencil (for adult only), photos of events that have happened during the day (optional) See this list of common irregular past tense verbs for some examples. (http:en.commtap.org/content/common-irregular-past-tense-verbs) | 1. Make a visual timetable by writing or drawing each past day's activities on a board/sheet so that the child can see what happened. It can bring the past tense more alive if you use photos of activities that did actually happen on the previous day or earlier in the current day. 2. Ask 'What did you do here?' as you point to a picture/photo. The child may say 'Rided my bike.' You can confirm with 'Yes, you rode your bike.' Add emphasis to the correct form of the verb. You can invite the child to say rode. | It is very common for young children to acquire a few irregular past tenses for very common verbs (e.g. went). Then they seem to pick up the -ed rule and suddenly the went becomes wented. This will normally sort itself out. You will also hear goed. However, many verbs with irregular past tense forms don't emerge and some concerted practice is needed. Don't correct all day long - the child will often be quite sure he said it right! Until you have done the practice in the special activities, you can use the correct form yourself in confirmation e.g. the child says 'I eated all my cabbage' and you can say 'You ate all of it? That's fantastic.' |
| Lotto Lotto boards with pictures of activities the children have done recently - say four or six pictures per board. One board per child. Matching set of picture cards. If the boards are in black and white and the picture cards are in colour, this makes the game more rewarding. | You can vary how you play this game - this is one way you can do it. For the first game, you can be the caller, for subsequent games a child can have a go. 1. The caller takes a card. Ask the child to complete this sentence at each turn (using the verb in their picture): 'Yesterday, I ...' (For example: 'Yesterday I rode my bike.'). You could use a question, such as "What did you do yesterday?", "What did Max do yesterday?" 2. The child who's got it says they have got it, and they get the card; 3. Continue until all the boards are covered up. | The child may say 'Rided my bike.' You can confirm with 'Yes, you rode your bike.' Add emphasis to the correct form of the verb. You can invite the child to say rode - be sensitive if you do this, and don't repeatedly ask the child to say this. |
| Pairs Two matching sets of pictures of activities the children have done recently - say 20 cards in all. | You might need to prompt with a question, such as "What did you do yesterday?", "What did Max do this morning?". The child may say, for example, 'Rided my bike.' You can confirm with 'Yes, you rode your bike.' Add emphasis to the correct form of the verb. You can invite the child to say rode - be sensitive if you do this, and don't repeatedly ask the child to say this. | |
| Simon Says See this list of common irregular past tense verbs for some examples. (http:en.commtap.org/content/common-irregular-past-tense-verbs) | The child may say, for example, 'falled' You can confirm with 'Yes, you fell.' Add emphasis to the correct form of the verb. You can invite the child to say fell - be sensitive if you do this, and don't repeatedly ask the child to say this. | |
| What have you done today? Paper, pens or pencil (for adult only) See this list of common irregular past tense verbs for some examples. (http:en.commtap.org/content/common-irregular-past-tense-verbs) | If a child does not use a correct past tense, for example "Terry do writing", just feed back the correct way of saying it in a conversational way, for example "oh, Terry wrote something?". For this activity, when it is your turn, try to use an example with an irregular past tense verb (see below) particularly one which you know the child is having difficulty with. However do NOT force the child to think of something they have done which involves an irregular verb - accept, and conversationally correct whatever they say. You can do step 1 with one child as well as in a group. | |
| Retell a sequence Props to support a sequence of actions you will perform (optional) See this list of common irregular past tense verbs for some examples. (http:en.commtap.org/content/common-irregular-past-tense-verbs) | To make this activity a bit easier, you could make a memory jogger with action pictures lined up. The child may say, for example, 'you buyed milk' You can confirm with 'Yes, I bought some milk.' Add emphasis to the correct form of the verb. You can invite the child to say bought - be sensitive if you do this, and don't repeatedly ask the child to say the word. |
Contribute information appropriately in one to one or in small groups
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Dice Games A selection of pictures of different items, stuck on card A large dice | Play in a small group of children. Each child takes a turn to pick a card. S/he rolls the dice, and then tells the group as many points about his/her picture as the number on the dice. (e.g. if s/he has a picture of a train and rolls a 3, s/he tells the group 3 things about a train) | Choose items of interest to the children. Instead of talking about a picture, the children can talk about themselves, or each other, or things they did yesterday. |
| 'Who am I?' game Strips of paper/card to make headbands Sticky tape Blutac Pictures of clothes, animals and toys / furniture stuck on card | You may need to help the children think about the questions they ask, so that they don't just guess at what they are. E.g. have a photocopied sheet of all the pictures, put into their groups - clothes, animals and toys. Prompt the children to ask first e.g. 'am I an animal?' If you want to make it harder, you can put a limit on the number of questions each child can ask. |
Joins in small group for rhyme or stories
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Sing a welcome song or gently tap a drum and say the names of children as you welcome all the children to the group or use a puppet to welcome children with a wave etc. | Being a good singer is not important. You just need to enjoy the activity ! Other forms of welcome are fine if singing is not for you! |
| Define group rules | Use pictures to make things clear. | |
| Singing a song A song choosing board with pictures to represent the songs you want to sing velcroed onto a board | Use lots of gesture and facial expression. Repetition is important and children like it. | |
| A story activity | Same approach as for the singing activity. | |
| Good bye time |
Understand where
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sharing a familiar book e.g. a pop-up or a picture book | 1. When the child is familiar with a book point to pictures and ask questions using short phrases beginning with "Where?" e.g. 'Where's Spot?' 2. The child should either point to the appropriate place, or say the name of the place where the object is on the picture (e.g. "basket", "car"). | If the child is not able to respond to the question, find the object for them on the picture, and say for example "Oh! There he is." |
| Naughty puppet Puppet or teddy or doll. Items to hide and somewhere to hide them. | Choose items to hide which the children already know the names of. |
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