Use simple statements and questions often linked to gestures.
Use intonation, rhythm and phrasing to make their meaning clear to others.
Join in with repeated refrains and anticipate key events and phrases in rhymes and stories.
Listen to stories with increasing attention and recall.
Describe main story settings, events and principal characters.
Listen to others in one-to-one or small groups when conversation interests them.
Respond to simple instructions.
Question why things happen and give explanations.
Use vocabulary focused on objects and people that are of particular importance to them.
Begin to experiment with language describing possession.
Build up vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experiences.
Begin to use more complex sentences.
Use a widening range of words to express or elaborate on ideas.
Understands use of objects, for example "What do we use to cut things with?".
Can identify picture or object with three critical elements, for example, 'big girl jumping'.
Shows understanding of prepositions such as 'under', 'on top', 'behind' and 'next to' by carrying out action or selecting correct picture.
Identifies objects by description, for example, 'the wet one' or 'the dirty one'.
Understands all pronouns: 'they', 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her'.
Uses words to: - give reasons; - say what they want; - play with others; - direct others; - tell others about things.
Can retell a simple past event in correct order, for example, went down slide, hurt finger and later can retell a simple story recalling events and characters.
Provides appropriate information in response to 'what' and 'where' questions.
Can give information about own life and favourite things.
Answers 'yes/no' questions appropriately.
Uses a range of tenses, for example, 'play', 'playing', 'will play' and 'played'.
Asks increasingly detailed questions to find out information.
Answers questions more fully, providing more than one piece of information.
Uses plurals, for example, 'cats'.
Uses possessives, for example, 'the boy's teddy'.
Knows when to wait while others are talking and can control the urge to butt in.
Realises the correct volume to talk at, not too loud or quiet.
Likes saying learned expressions such as name and age or address.
Sings on own.
The gestures and body language children use.
Children's responses to stories and information books you read with them.
How children act out rhymes and stories.
Instances of children recalling and recounting their own experiences and sharing them with others.
How children take account of what others say during one-to-one conversations.
Children's understanding of instructions and the questions they ask.
The range and variety of words that children use.
How children are beginning to develop and expand on what they say, for example, "Come in, it's time for dinner. You'll get hungry if you stay out there".
Children's developing use of a preferred language and whether this has changed since, for example, attending the current setting.
The different ways children answer "Yes", "No", "What?" and "Where?" questions. Do they provide appropriate information in response to different types of language?
How children begin to add grammatical markers to the ends of words to indicate verb tense, possession or plurality, for example, "Play", "Playing", "Played".
Examples of how children participate in group discussions. Can they wait for their turn while other people are talking?
Talk with children to make links between their gestures and words, for example, "Your face does look cross. Has something upset you?".
Support children in using a variety of communication strategies, including signing, where appropriate.
Listen to children and take account of what they say in your responses to them.
Choose stories with repeated refrains, dances and action songs involving looking and pointing, and songs that require replies and turn-taking such as 'Tommy Thumb'.
Share rhymes, books and stories from many cultures, sometimes using languages other than English, particularly where children are learning English as an additional language.
Give children clear directions and help them to deal with those involving more than one action, for example, "Put the cars away, please, then come and wash your hands and get ready for lunch".
When introducing a new activity, use mime and gesture to support language development. Showing children a photograph of an activity such as handwashing helps to reinforce understanding.
Provide practical experiences that encourage children to ask and respond to questions, for example, explaining pulleys or wet and dry sand.
Introduce new words in the context of play and activities.
Show interest in the words children use to communicate and describe their experiences.
Help children expand on what they say, introducing and reinforcing the use of more complex sentences.
Respond to children's requests and communication using language that gives descriptions and explanations.
Continue to share stories together and talk about the characters and events, including how characters might be feeling.
Collect photographs, leaflets, tickets and drawings of things your child has enjoyed or been involved with. Display them in scrapbooks or photograph albums that you can look through together, talking about what you did.
In the jungle - In a nursery class, the practitioner and a group of children explore ideas about the jungle through words and actions. [transcript]
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Encourage children to express their needs and feelings in words.
Provide opportunities for children whose home language is other than English, to use that language.
Find out from parents how children make themselves understood at home; confirm which is their preferred language.
Set up a listening area where children can enjoy rhymes and stories.
Introduce 'rhyme time' bags containing books to take home and involve parents in rhymes and singing games. Ask parents to record regional variations of songs and rhymes in other languages.
Introduce, alongside books, story props, such as pictures, puppets and objects, to encourage children to retell stories and to think about how the characters feel.
Help children to build their vocabulary by extending the range of their experiences.
Ensure that all practitioners use correct grammar.
The story tent - In a busy reception class, a child and a practitioner take a quiet moment to explore a book.[transcript]
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Language for Thinking
Talk activities through, reflecting on and modifying what they are doing.
Use talk to give new meanings to objects and actions, treating them as symbols for other things.
Use talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next.
Use talk, actions and objects to recall and relive past experiences.
How children use talk to think through and revise what they are doing. For example, following a farm visit, Fiona talks as she rearranges toy farm animals, "Put baby sheep here... oh no... no mummy... that sheep has lost its mum".
How children use talk to connect ideas and explain things.
Prompt children's thinking and discussion through involvement in their play.
Talk to children about what they have been doing and help them to reflect upon and explain events, for example, "You told me this model was going to be a tractor. What's this lever for?".
Set up shared experiences that children can reflect upon, for example, visits, cooking, or stories that can be re-enacted.
Help children to predict and order events coherently, by providing props and materials that encourage children to re-enact, using talk and action.
Linking Sounds and Letters
Enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities.
Show awareness of rhyme and alliteration.
Recognise rhythm in spoken words.
Is able to follow directions (if not intently focused on own choice of activity).
Listens eagerly to stories and requests favourites over and over again.
Notices if adult uses wrong language in familiar story.
Concentrates and listens for more than ten minutes in adult-led activities that they enjoy.
Looks at books independently.
Takes part in 'reading' by filling in words and phrases.
Can remember three or four items shown on a list, for example, a picture shopping list of apples, oranges and bananas.
Can remember a spoken list of three objects or names (with no visual clues).
Speaks in longer sentences.
Shows interest in letter forms.
Can copy letter forms.
The rhymes and rhythms that children enjoy, recite and create in words and music, for example, tapping out the rhythms of their names.
How long children are able to listen to a story being read to them one-to-one or in a group of children.
Occasions when children express their enjoyment of stories and rhymes and how they participate as part of a group.
How many items children can remember when talking with an adult or looking at a picture book and talking about the things they see.
Ways in which children begin to combine more than one consonant sound together into consonant blends as their use of spoken language develops.
When singing or saying rhymes, talk about the similarities in the rhyming words. Make up alternative endings and encourage children to supply the last word of the second line, for example, 'Hickory Dickory boot, The mouse ran down the...'.
When making up alliterative jingles, draw attention to the similarities in sounds at the beginning of words and emphasise the initial sound, for example, "mmmmummy", "shshshshadow", "K-K-K-K-Katy".
Reading
Listen to and join in with stories and poems, one-to-one and also in small groups.
Begin to be aware of the way stories are structured.
Suggest how the story might end.
Show interest in illustrations and print in books and print in the environment.
Handle books carefully.
Know information can be relayed in the form of print.
Hold books the correct way up and turn pages.
Understand the concept of a word.
The stories and poems children choose and know how to follow. For example retelling a story, using words and phrases from a well-known story.
Children's familiarity with the way books work. For example, turning the pages and telling the story using the pictures and using phrases such as "Once upon a time".
Children's references to and understanding of how print works. For example, asking what a word says or what instructions mean.
Children's recognition of their names, or letters or words, in scripts other than English.
Encourage children to use the stories they hear in their play.
Discuss with children the characters in books being read. Encourage them to predict outcomes, to think of alternative endings and to compare plots and the feelings of characters with their own experiences.
Focus on meaningful print such as a child's name, words on a cereal packet or a book title, in order to discuss similarities and differences between symbols.
Help children to understand what a word is by using names and labels and by pointing out words in the environment and in books.
Read stories that children already know, pausing at intervals to encourage them to 'read' the next word.
Create an attractive book area where children and adults can enjoy books together.
Provide some simple poetry, song, fiction and non-fiction books. Include books containing photographs of the children that can be read by adults and that children can begin to 'read' by themselves.
Create an environment rich in print where children can learn about words, for example, using names and labels.
Introduce children to books and other materials that provide information or instructions. Carry out activities using instructions, such as reading a recipe to make a cake.
Ensure access to stories for all children by using a range of visual cues and story props.
Plan to include home language and bilingual story sessions by involving qualified bilingual adults, as well as enlisting the help of parents.
Writing
Sometimes give meaning to marks as they draw and paint.
Ascribe meanings to marks that they see in different places.
The marks children make and the meanings that they give to them, such as when a child covers a whole piece of paper and says, "I'm writing".
Reading a letter - In a nursery, a practitioner shares a letter with two children discussing the marks one child has made. [transcript]
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Make books with children of activities they have been doing, using photographs of them as illustrations.
Write poems and short stories with children, scribing for them.
Support children in recognising and writing their own names
Encourage the children to use their phonic knowledge when writing CVC words.
Provide activities during which children will experiment with writing, for example, leaving a message.
Include opportunities for writing during role-play and other activities.
Handwriting
Use one-handed tools and equipment.
Draw lines and circles using gross motor movements.
Manipulate objects with increasing control.
The way children control equipment and materials.
The marks children like to make.
Provide activities that give children the opportunity and motivation to practise manipulative skills, for example, cooking and playing instruments.
Provide opportunities for large shoulder movements, for example, swirling ribbons in the air, batting balls suspended on rope and painting.
Encourage children to make shapes like circles and zig-zags in the air and in their play, for example, with sand and water and brushes.
Acknowledgements
Disclaimer
00012-2007CDO-EN