Speaking and Listening Session

Speaking and Listening Sessions




5 things I’ll try to remember when in the classroom from these sessions.


a) It is important not to bombard children with too many activities when trying to listen attentively. I particularly liked the tasks which appeared to facilitate learning e.g. main points of the narrative for the Alice in Wonderland activity. Also I liked the drawing activity which allowed

b) The power of active sessions which not only engages the pupil but also creates a fun, creative atmosphere.

c) Also how trust building through the ‘Robot trust game’ was very effective. It would be a good starter/warm up task to group work which involves relying on your group mates and allowing others in the group to take control and be comfortable with this.

d) The ‘Street Party WWI’ activity was an excellent example of how group dynamics can allow different, varied outcomes in which every group member has something to contribute.

e) The ‘how, how, are, are, you, you…’ activity brought it home to me the importance of nurturing and encouraging good listening skills in the classroom. When we were asked to interrupt the reader it seemed impossible for not only the supposed listener to concentrate but for the reader to maintain any fluidity.

2 . How I felt myself doing the speaking and listening.

Being asked to think about how I would teach chapter 1 of Alice in Wonderland without the luxury of actually writing down my thoughts to arrange them at least in some kind of succinct legible way was incredibly difficult. Even though I am quite familiar with the story I was in a state of panic at several points as not only had I lost track of the narrative but also my teaching ideas were so disjointed and confused! It was simply too much at once. It was a great reminder not to underestimate the pressure that I’m sure some children feel when asked to complete a listening task. They may be anxious about their recall and find concentration demanding never mind with too many thoughts to hold at the same time. I have mentioned in 1a) listening activities which I thought were particularly effective.


3. What it taught me about others/about group dynamics.


I think that when group work takes place there is a sense of groupthink and group bravado which takes place which seems to elevate confidence and spur creativity. It’s great I think it can sometimes remedy group divides and introduce people/pupils to others that they havn’t experienced working with. This can add to interpersonal skills and present pupils with different viewpoints (very important). I was impressed today that people were comfortable to be so creative, this pushes the boundaries and makes learning fun. I think that an important element of group drama is the ability to feel uninhibited to explore different themes and characters in an adaptable, creative way.




4b) and (c) Look carefully at the handout - the objectives and then the extracts from the primary strategy: go through and see which, if any of these aims today’s activities would ‘hit’, which weren’t hit? What activities can you come up with to ‘hit’ some of the aims we havn’t ‘hit’?

Hits

Speaking

Yr 1 – Retell stories,ordering events using story language (Alice in wonderland activity)
Yr 1 – Interpret a text by reading aloud (How,how…)
Yr 6 – Using a range of oral techniques to present persuasive arguments and engaging narratives.
yr 6 – Use dialogue talk to explore ideas (WWI Drama activity)

Listening

Yr 1 – With sustained concentration (Alice in wonderland)
Yr 1- Listen and follow instructions (high tide,low tride)listening Yr 1 – Listen to tapes or video (Alice in wonderland)
Yr 6 – Make notes when listening for a sustained period and discuss how note-taking varies depending on content and purpose. (Alice in wonderland listening task)

Group discussion and interaction

Yr 1 Take turns to speak,listen to each others suggestions (Alice in Wonderland discussion with other group members)
Yr 1 Ask and answer questions (Alice in Wonderland discussion)


Drama

Yr 6 – Improvise using a range of drama strategies and conventions to explore thene as hopes,fears and desires. (WW1 Drama activity)

Ideas for further hits….

Speaking

Yr 1 - Retell stories,ordering events – Could use pictures of a story to allow children to chronologically order and recall story.

Yr 1 - Tell stories from own experience – Could ask the children how the story relates to their own life and experience and encourage feedback, rewarding articulate speech.

Yr 1 - Interpret a text by reading aloud with some variety in pace and emphasis – Set up a whole class reading exercise by giving groups chunks of a well liked book to rehearse and dramatise back to the whole class.

Yr-1 Experiment and build new stores of words - encourage children to have a vocab book.


Yr 6 - Participate in whole class debate and Group discussion and Interaction – Give two sides of class differing accounts of world war one (one pro one against). Allow time for groups to construct their argument for their allocated point of view. End in whole class debate. Can allocate a designated speaker to voice the groups discussions viewpoints.

Listening and responding.

Yr 6 - Listen for language variation in formal and informal contexts - Let children listen to a phone conversation between mother and daughter, then the daughter and boyfriend and lastly daughter on phone job interview. Ask class in pairs to recreate these phone conversations based on personal experience. Children can show their work. Lastly group discussion on how the language differed.


Yr 6 - Analyse and evaluate how speakers present points effectively through use of language and gesture.

Split children into two groups. Give children same speech to watch only for one group the speaker uses more exciting language and uses gestures. Get both groups to feedback and inform them to their surprise that they watched a very similar speech. Both videos are played back and children must record similarities and differences and feedback.Are then asked what is it that makes a presentation effective?


Group discussion and ineraction.


Yr 1 - Explain their views to others in a small group and report views to whole class– pupils could work in 3-4s. They could discuss how they felt about a certain subject (e.g. bullying) .They could construct a presentation feeding back to the group with each child making a contribution.

Yr 6 – Understand and use a variety of ways to criticise constructively and respond to criticism- Pupils could be asked to look at a poorly written piece of work and correct the mistakes found within it. They could also make suggestion to liven up the language and make it more interesting. Also peer assessed learning could take place whereby children share their writing to accept advice and constructive criticism from their fellow pupils.


Drama

Yr 6 - Consider the overall impact of a live or recorded performance. Pupils could be given a short play to perform in groups of 3-4. The play would be recorded. Afterwards thoughts and feelings regarding this would be considered through whole class brainstorming.