Every child a talker is a national project which aims to develop the language and communication of under 5s. It is about actively providing language opportunities at your setting to support children’s language development and communication skills. This is to ensure children are confident and articulate in making themselves understood before they start school.
As well as allowing children to interact with others, it allows them to put their thoughts, ideas and needs into words, taking non-verbal communication to the more advanced level of verbal communication.
Verbal communication problems in the early days can lead to problems in later life such as children struggling to make themselves understood, struggling to make friends and ultimately losing confidence delaying reading and writing skills.
ECaT aims to avoid this problems by ensuring every child at a setting is actively encouraged to talk, developing their vocabulary and clear use of understandable sentences.
Ideas to develop communication and language include:
1. Story telling:
- Reading books to children
- Using props to tell a story encouraging children to use the same props to make up their own stories
- Using small world figures to tell stories during play
2. Singing songs and rhymes
3. Talk nonsense
Dr Suess can help make language fun
4. Fun practical activities:
Developing language through counting activities like skipping, jumping, clapping
Setting up different scenes such as a restaurant, a post office, a shop, a hospital etc.
Group play activities, such as playing with water or sand or construction play
Role play
5. Bilingualism
- Learning another language
- Or supporting the other language used at home
6. Supporting reading and spelling skills in the Early Years:
- Helping children learn keywords
- Helping children learn phonics, alphabet and numbers etc.
7. Supporting wellbeing
- Talking about things children like
- Talking about things children are good at
- Making positive comments
- Being polite – teaching children to say: please, thank you, good morning, goodbye etc.
8. Talk to children
- Tell them what they are good at
- Talk to them how to keep safe
- Talk to them about the weather, their day, the things around them
- Ask them to make choices
- Tell them about what’s going to happen in their day
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