Oral Communication
We recognise that the Early Years are a crucial time for children to develop their oral communication skills and so have a number of strategies in place to help children develop their speaking and extend their vocabulary:
Children enjoy free play in stimulating environments both outdoors and indoors in areas which promote communication as children play
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Role play areas linked to topic are set up both indoors and outdoors and children are supported in their language development here by adults who model key phrases and vocabulary for children during free play. In the outdoor learning environment there are further free roleplay opportunities which stimulate communication
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During taught sessions we encourage children to share ideas with a talk partner
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Open questions and open ended tasks are planned for in order to challenge and extend children’s ideas and thought processes
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Opportunities are abundant in all curriculum areas for children to discuss ideas and share their thoughts with others
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Children are encouraged to learn stories and retell them, often with the help of actions or visual stimuli
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Vocabulary is developed by explicit teaching and practising topic related vocabulary
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Parents are encouraged to recognise the importance of oral communication through weekly talking homework questions
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All staff in our EYFS have undertaken extensive training relating to the different ways to help your child communicate effectively. We use a technique called ‘descriptive commentary’ to narrate every child’s play and to model language. This is something that parents are able to support at home with and more information about this will be shared when your child starts with us.
Click the links below for useful resources to help you support your child's communication and language development at home.
This NHS website provides lots of useful advice to support parents during pregnancy, birth and parenthood:
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Link to colourful semantics