Talk Box: Activities for Teaching Oracy with Children aged 4-8

Talk Box supports teachers implementing the new curriculum, who are looking for fresh ideas with a focus on teaching talk skills, encouraging discussion and developing articulate children. It sets out different types of teaching involving children learning collaboratively through discussion with peers and centres on step-by-step lesson plans to develop hidden potential across the entire classroom.

At the heart of the lesson plans is the ‘talk box’ - a collection of interesting objects which provide a focus for class discussion and where the activities are based on these linked ideas:

• Young children need their teachers to help them make sense of the world;

• The most effective medium for explaining, discussing, describing with children, is talk;

• Children learn very well from one another when taught how to do so, and are a good resource for one another in the classroom;

• Children may be able to talk, but they are not often aware what sort of talk can help them to get the best from their education;

• Direct teaching of essential talk skills and understanding is straightforward and should be undertaken in school classrooms.

The numerous lesson plans included in this book are each built around specific learning objectives for speaking and listening and cover subjects such as literacy, numeracy, science, citizenship, ICT and Computing. Each lesson includes a resources list and photocopiable worksheets and range from whole class to small group work.

This book will help you teach children to engage in the educationally effective kind of discussion known as Exploratory Talk, where everyone’s viewpoint is considered, opinions are justified with reasons, and decisions are made together. This new edition includes updated curriculum links, new research findings, a home-school link section and contain additional EAL and SEN materials.

Lyn Dawes has taught science and literacy for PGCE and BEd courses at Bedford, Northampton and Cambridge Universities, and is a school governor.

Claire Sams has a focus on Special Needs in Education and is currently involved in teaching the Open University course for Teaching Assistants.

Both write from first-hand experience, having taught in primary schools for many years.