Encouraging Talk

[juliewilk]

Hi Everyone

 

We're doing all of the usual things to encourage talk in our nursery but I'd really like some new ideas for activities/room/area organisation which would encourage more talk between the children.

 

Please help!

 

thanks

Julie

[Guest]

Have you thought about using music to develop language? I am involved in a project in South Glos called 'Every Child a Singer' which aims to use songs and rhymes to develop children's speaking. One idea I have come across is singing to everyday activities using the tune 'Here we go round the mulberry bush'. So when you are at the sand pit, 'This is the way we build a castle.....' etc. This has been really effective and the staff have found the children started to sing to all sorts of different activities making up their own words! Another idea is using a 'Song Sack' with small toys in to represent different Nursery Rhymes or other songs. This can be used in whole group singing so that the children become v familiar with the songs and also left out for the children to access. Something else I've heard of (not singing!) is having a board outside your setting for parents to see with 'Today we have been talking about...' so that the parents can pick up on this at home.

Hope this is of some help,

Kathryn

[blondie]

as part of the ecat ( every child a talker ) initiative we made a plan of our room then over a few sessions we monitored the whole room putting red crosses where there was lots of talking and blue crosses where there was little or no talking - we then used this information and looked at where the blue crosses were and discussed why we thought this was - we then rearranged / redeveloped these areas . we then watched the children to see what their reaction was to this and then did a new survey to see if there was any improvement in the talking in the newly developed / arranged areas - which there was.

i dont think you realise sometimes that some areas are cold spots for talking - but this quickly identifies them and allows you to think why this is and how to remedy this.

hope this is a hlep x

[redjayne]

as a follow on to the last post - we are also an Ecat satting - there are lots of ideas about communication friendly spaces in Elizabeth Jarmans book/website, sometimes something as simple s a cargo net over the playdeck or a few drapes/cushions in a cosy corner is all it takes to transform a space.

[juliewilk]

thanks everyone. As usual you've come up trumps. Love it all! Plenty to work on there and love the survey. Thanks x

[Guest]

thanks everyone. As usual you've come up trumps. Love it all! Plenty to work on there and love the survey. Thanks x

 

Also you could look for something about 'talking tables'. I have a piece of research on them somewhere, but as I'm moving house I can't lay my hands on it right now. There might be some stuff on the internet though. It was a lovely idea about in some sessions having a special table known as the 'talking table' staffed by an adult with something special to talk about (a small bear or special item like a shell). The whole table is covered with a huge sheet of paper and as a child joins the table they get entered into the 'guest book' and claim their space on the paper (the area their hands take up). There is then a lot of shared story telling and talk and drawing on the paper which was the part more difficult to explain since it has to proceed in a certain way for the whole concept to work, you'd probably have to read the article to get a clear idea. I'll see if I can dig it out and find out who it is by.

[Guest]

we found a good way to encourage talking is by making cosy areas, having little dens where they can hide with their friends and chat or placing something special and interesting inside the dens to encourage communication and language, dens are so easy to make by just using a table with a sheet on top etc

[juliewilk]

Thanks eveyone for your brilliant ideas. There's plenty to keep me thinking over the hols.

 

Julie