How can I support speech, language and communication? (for practitioners)

Training

Would your setting like to know more about Communication Champions and receive some free speech, language and communication training? Please contact Tracey Hawthorne or Jess Bell office@lakenham.norfolk.sch.uk for more details. We now have free training that can be completed online during lockdown. Let us know if you are interested.

Network Meetings

Please note the dates of next years network meetings, Invitations will be issued nearer the time. We hope you will come and join us for training, shared best practice, chat and refreshments.

Monday 5th October 2020 4-6pm environments

Monday 23rd November 2020 4-6pm parental engagement

Monday 18th January 2021 4-6pm English as an additional language

Monday 15th March 2021 4-6pm interventions

Monday 17th May 2021 4-6pm Early Years Advisor

Monday 7th June 2021 4-6pm Transitions

Monday 12th July 4-6pm Celebrations

No Pens Day Wednesday

As a school we hold termly 'no pens day Wednesdays' to encourage a whole day of speaking and listening activities. More information can be found at https://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/projects/no-pens-day-wednesday/. These are next years dates if you would like to join us.

Wednesday 25th November 2020

Wednesday 27th January 2021

Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Environment

The environment a child is in can have a great impact on the communication that happens. Have a look at the following documents from the Ican communication website https://ican.org.uk/ for ideas to ensure your setting has good spaces and times to talk.

Children who speak English as an additional language.

Due to Covid 19, many children have now had a long time away from their settings and may have only been speaking in their own languages for months before returning to school, so may find it more difficult when they come back. It will be stressful and tiring as they are working so hard to keep up in English. The positives are that research shows children find it easier to switch between languages than we do as adults and EAL children are often very good at reading body language due to not always understanding words. Due to the potential benefits to EAL children including flexibility of thinking when speaking two languages, we need to ensure we are encouraging speaking in home languages in addition to English.

Karen Nemeth of www.languagecastle.com talked about her CASTLE strategies to help support EAL children.

C Choose keywords in both languages to support children in increasing their vocabulary - say the word in their language and English to make meaning clear.

A Adapt areas to help learn keywords - add enhancements to ensure these words are repeated to embed learning

S Sort supplies - plan ahead to make sure you have the resources needed

T Themes and Time - revisit themes - don't just cover once and expect it to be remembered

L Link to real life experiences to help make real and embed language and understanding

E Engage - use non verbal language such as tone of voice, eye contact and gestures to help understanding.