Teach Primary - Issue 19.4

www.teachwire.net | 21 F EATURE S ORAC Y of thin air, so we provide optional conversation prompts, sentence starters, images and props to ignite pupils’ connections with each other. These often link to our current topic, our local environment, recent festivals and celebrations, or what the weather is like that day. Our favourite prompt is an unopened box and a question mark, which is enough to spark predictions, reasoning and curiosity with children discussing what could possibly be inside the box, and its size, suitability and relevance. We make sure that staff are there to provide support through high-quality modelling, which encourages children to become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures. W e all know that the art of conversation is crucial for language and cognitive development in Early Years, as it forms the foundations for all future learning. For us at Linaker Primary School, with a higher-than-aver- age percentage of EAL students, promoting an environment where children are encouraged to tell stories, share ideas and question with curiosity and sensitivity is crucial, particularly in a world of increasing technology and seemingly less social interaction for our children. So, we had to come up with an idea that wasn’t too heavy-handed or cumbersome, but that encouraged our children to really communicate with one another, on their own terms. We found that a conversation café is the perfect spot to do just that! Scaffold chatting The café is open during rolling snack time, and there is only one rule... to dine here you must hold a conversation with your friends. We offer our conversation café during continuous provision time twice daily, serving healthy food such as cereal, fruit, cheese, crackers and vegetables. We set clear rules for the cafe, too: no lone diners and lots of chat. Children are encouraged to invite a friend or sit with a group for their snack, and it often leads to both familiar and unfamiliar friendship groups sharing conversations. Some children aren’t necessarily confident in sparking up a chat out A little help We’ve now noticed that pupils have started to lead the conversation café themselves, and will often even bring in things from home to talk about, blending the traditional ‘show and tell’ with chat and oracy development. This places ownership of the conversation with the children, and they often relish the opportunity to host the chat, comparing opinions, likes and dislikes with one another. All this happens during snack time, with low stakes and an infinite ceiling of language, vocabulary and confidence-boosting chat; it’s a joy to see. The opportunities for talk really are endless, but I would recommend that you Conversation CAFÉ Discover how stopping for a casual chat can teach pupils crucial skills without them even knowing it... Sarah Wilcox is Early Years lead at Linaker Primary School in Southport. “Children relish in the opportunity to host the chat, comparing opinions, likes and dislikes” have staff on hand to support oracy skills. This has been particularly useful with our EAL children, so staff can subtly model vocabulary, dialogue and listening skills, and help pupils whose first language isn’t English to feel more confident. Most of the time children lead their own conversations with debate, opinion, empathy and understanding, however staff join in here and there to challenge children’s opinions and encourage them to reason and justify their thoughts, while nurturing back and forth interactions, turn taking, active listening and understanding non-verbal cues. Communication and language interventions are often laborious in nature and time, but the conversation café is actually jam-packed with learning outcomes and oracy development without feeling like an intervention at all. We have seen a significant increase in communication and language skills since we launched the café, and are really proud of our confident, chatty children. Life in Reception is busy, and there is always something to do, but stopping for a chat might just be the most valuable tool in our teaching kits. TP SARAH WI LCOX @_MissWilcox @Linakerprimary