Developing Language And Communication Skills Through Effective Small Group Work

First published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Research shows that poor language and communication skills have a profound effect on the life chances of children and young people. This highly practical book will enable you to give children in your care the help they need to build their language skills at the earliest point in their development. Based on the author's highly regarded SPIRALS language development programme, the book provides 30 tried and tested sessions to help develop children's early speech, language and communication. Each language concept is introduced one at a time and builds on the most frequently used words by infants and uses music, repetition and simple meaningful gestures and signing to reinforce children's understanding.

This book offers an inclusive approach to developing children's language and thinking skills and their emotional literacy. By running small group sessions for children who are vulnerable in these areas, you can make a difference. Children are encouraged to take small steps and build up their confidence gradually, with the aim being to allow them to catch up and keep pace with their peers. The sessions are very practical, involving games and activities. They are graded to cover important areas of language development and expansion, early pragmatic skills, listening skills, social skills, critical thinking skills, self-esteem and self-confidence. Straightforward directions are given for each individual session, which can be followed by the class teacher and classroom support staff. Teachers, Teaching Assistants and Speech and Language Therapists will find this book easily accessible.

Creating Effective Groups, Third Edition gives students the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary to communicate more effectively and interact more productively in the small group setting. This new edition features all new sections on diversity, group dynamics, online resources, and social media.

"Developing Baseline Communication Skills" is a practical resource designed to fit with the baseline assessments that are now part of the national curriculum in schools. It contains a programme of games and activities aimed at fostering personal and social development and promoting language and early literacy skills. Teachers often express concern about the many children who enter reception classes lacking the listening, understanding and speaking skills necessary to make a successful start to their school years. This resource seeks to address some of these problems by offering: Games and activities suitable for four to five-year olds in nursery education, playgroups, reception classes and those attending speech language therapy clinics. These are appropriate for both mainstream and special schools. There are two hundred games and activities, graded into level of difficulty, for whole classes or smaller groups, with a key to indicate where each activity can be easily incorporated into the existing school curriculum. It has a clear aim and full instructions for the games, which are easy to organise and with equipment kept to a minimum. Photocopiable templates are included where necessary. It includes activities that can be carried out between teachers, classroom assistants or volunteers, with simple record sheets for optional use. The book includes materials that may be used as an effective part of a speech and language programme in consultation with a speech and language therapist. This is a unique manual that should be an essential addition to the materials used by every professional working with young children.

Conversing with others has given insights to different perspectives, helped build ideas, and solve problems. Academic conversations push students to think and learn in lasting ways. Academic conversations are back-and-forth dialogues in which students focus on a topic and explore it by building, challenging, and negotiating relevant ideas. In Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings authors Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford address the challenges teachers face when trying to bring thoughtful, respectful, and focused conversations into the classroom. They identify five core communications skills needed to help students hold productive academic conversation across content areas: Elaborating and Clarifying Supporting Ideas with Evidence Building On and/or Challenging Ideas Paraphrasing Synthesizing This book shows teachers how to weave the cultivation of academic conversation skills and conversations into current teaching approaches. More specifically, it describes how to use conversations to build the following: Academic vocabulary and grammar Critical thinking skills such as persuasion, interpretation, consideration of multiple perspectives, evaluation, and application Literacy skills such as questioning, predicting, connecting to prior knowledge, and summarizing An academic classroom environment brimming with respect for others' ideas, equity of voice, engagement, and mutual support The ideas in this book stem from many hours of classroom practice, research, and video analysis across grade levels and content areas. Readers will find numerous practical activities for working on each conversation skill, crafting conversation-worthy tasks, and using conversations to teach and assess. Academic Conversations offers an in-depth approach to helping students develop into the future parents, teachers, and leaders who will collaborate to build a better world.