Gypsy Roma Traveller Leeds

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Images in this section

Images in the ECAT section of our website come from the National Strategies pdf documents: Every Child a Talker: Guidance for Early Language Lead Practitioners.

These documents are available from The National Strategies website.

Every Gypsy Roma Traveller Child a Talker (E GRT CAT)

For the lesson planning, activity evaluations and advice below, our thanks go to staff at: Drighlington Primary (Nikola Cockroft); St. Batholomews Primary Armley (Kathryn Brown and Maria Harvey); St. Francis Primary Morley (Alison Scott); Windmill Primary Leeds (Rosie Watkins).

Camera and Talking Postcards

(5 years 5 months)

Use the camera to take photos of child engaged in different classroom activities. Print photo off and stick on to one of the Talking Postcards for child to take home. Send instructions about what to do on a second Talking Postcard with teacher voice.

“Initially enthusiastic about talking into the postcard. Enjoyed seeing themselves in the photos. Sending the second postcard meant that parents (who do not come into school) were aware of what was being asked. Mum phoned school when these sent home to give her support to this. Opportunities to practise saying a sentence and listen back to it and change. In one sentence said” I playing in the tent”.

Advice: Practise using the Talking Postcards in class before sending them home.

CLL Language for Communication - E3 - Use language for an increasing range of purposes.

CLL Language for Thinking – E3 – Begin to use talk instead of action to rehearse, reorder and reflect on past experience.

Camera/Barnaby Bear/A4 Talking Album

(3 - 4 years)

Take pictures of Traveller child doing favourite activities in school with friends and record child using sentences beginning with “I like …” to describe pictures to share with family. Take camera and bear home over the weekend. Make photos into album at school. Slide show of photos for peers.

“Helped relationships between home and school as well as child and peers. Increased parental confidence in setting. Encouraged use of sentences.”

Advice: talk with child about pictures before slide show and show pictures more quickly.

CLL – Language for Communication (30 – 50 months) Use simple statements and questions often linked to gestures.

CLL – Language for Thinking (22 – 36 months) Use language as a powerful means of widening contacts sharing feelings, experiences and thoughts.

PSED – Self confidence and self esteem (30 – 50 months) Talk freely about home and community. Have sense of personal identity.

Barnaby Bear

(4 – 5 years)

Circle time about transition to Year One.

“Children loved looking at the photos of Barnaby Bear in the different places in their new classroom. Promoted lots of discussion and questions about their new classes/experiences. Children have been very excited taking home pictures of themselves in their new classrooms. The parents have also found it useful to see where their child will be next year.”

Advice: create a new set of photos of the children in their new setting as a follow up session. Photos of new teacher in the classroom to share with the children. Provide emotions fans for all children if they wish to use them as an alternative as some were reluctant to talk to the whole class.

PSED ED 3, 4; SD 4
CLL LCT 1, 7

Large Talking Photo Album

(4 – 5 years)

Children to talk about and evaluate their paper mache mini-beast models – recording something to go alongside the page with their design and photos of them making their model.

“Children loved talking about their models and by having the models to look at the children talked in detail about what they had done in correct sequence. Children were highly motivated seeing their models/photos displayed in a book and all enjoyed looking at it on other occasions. They loved listening to their voices when played back and trying to guess who they could hear.”

Advice: Have the children in a quiet room to record their pieces as can be hard to hear them with the background noise. Give the children plenty of time to practice what they wanted to say as many of them forgot what they wanted to say when it came to recording.

PSED – DA 6,7; SD 3,4; ED 4
CLL – LCT 3,5

Small Talking Photo Album

(4 - 5 years)

Recount a class trip.

“The photographs provided lots of discussion about the trip and the children ordered these with little support to put them in the book. The children were highly motivated and this activity provided them with language choices and helped to develop their vocabulary.”

Advice: Take small groups into a quiet area to record their pieces to match the photos. Give the children lots of opportunity to practice what they want to record before they actually record it.

PSED – DA 6,7; SD 3,4; ED 4.
CLL – LCT 3,5

Talking Postcards

(4 – 5 years)

Phonics activity to develop phoneme/grapheme correspondence.

“Children were highly motivated by hearing their own voices and having that instant gratification when playing it back. Talking postcards were very easy for the children to use. They were able to, after being shown, use the cards independently. Provided a motivation tool for children who can sometimes be reluctant to talk.”

Advice; extend by introducing Talking Postcards to areas of provision for the children to access independently.

PSED – DA 5,6,7; SD 3,4
CLL – LCT 1,2; LSL 4

Camera, Talking Postcards, Pictures of Familiar Objects in Nursery, Arrows

(3 – 4 years)

Place “hide and seek” objects around the nursery playground with pictures and Talking Postcards as clues. Initially adults will hide the objects and the children will find them but gradually through the adults modelling what to do the children will set the clues using the talking Postcards and the pictures that they have taken as positional clues and objects of reference.

CLL 22 – 36mths. Learn new words very rapidly and are able to use them in communicating about matters which interest them.

CLL 30 – 50mths. Use simple statements and questions often linked to gestures. Listen to others in one to one or small groups when conversation interests them. Build up vocabulary that reflects their skills in turning on and operating some ICT equipment.

K & U 30 – 50mths. Describe and talk about what they see. Know how to operate simple equipment. Show an interest in the world in which they live. Comment and ask questions about where they live and the natural world.

K & U 40 – 60+mths. Explain own knowledge and understanding, and ask appropriate questions of others.

Camera, Talking Photo Album, Talking Postcards, Field, Simple Maps

(3 – 4 years)

Walk around the field talking about what they are seeing, familiar features, seasonal changes, stories they have from visiting the field with parents etc. the children will take pictures of what they are seeing and what interests them. When they return to school the pictures will be printed off and the children will record an explanation of why they took the picture and what it is about. These pictures and explanations will be in the talking Photo Album that will be used throughout the year as a reference of what the field looked like at certain times of the year. This will be an ongoing activity and will build up series of non fictional seasonal books that the children made and thus relate to. Another set of pictures will be printed off to be displayed in a talk around the field map with the children scribing and using the talking Postcards to say what they saw and places of interest.

CLL 22 – 36mths. Learn new words very rapidly and are able to use them in communicating about matters which interest them.

CLL 30 - 50mths. Use simple statements and questions often linked to gestures. Listen to others in one to one or small groups when conversation interests them. Build up vocabulary that reflects their own experiences. Use a widening range of words to express or elaborate on ideas.

K & U 16 – 26mths. Sometimes focus their enquiries on particular features and processes. Show curiosity about the environment.

K & U 22 – 36mths. Explore, play and seek meaning in their experiences. Show interest in why things happen. Show an interest in ICT.

CAMERA, TALKING POSTCARDS, PHOTO ALBUMS, BEAR (3 – 4 years)

Make a talking book / postcards with pictures taken within the Nursery of children showing the bear where they like to play and giving him an explanation of why. The children will take photographs of their favourite games / toys / place. These pictures and explanations will be put into the talking Photo Album entitled “All About Me”.

CLL 22 – 36mths. Learn new words very rapidly and are able to use them in communicating about matters which interest them.

CLL 30 - 50mths. Use simple statements and questions often linked to gestures. Listen to others in one to one or small groups when conversation interests them. Build up vocabulary that reflects their own experiences. Use a widening range of words to express or elaborate on ideas.

CLL 40 – 60+mths. Initiate conversations, attend to and take account of others. Use language for an increasing range of purposes.

K & U 16 – 26mths. Sometimes focus their enquiries on particular features and processes. Show curiosity about the environment.

K & U 22 – 36mths. Explore, play and seek meaning in their experiences. Show interest in why things happen. Show an interest in ICT.

Photo Album, Talking Postcard, Bear, Camera

(Reception)

Children take home school pack focused around journeys. Talking postcard – instructions to parents in dual language. Children take bear on a journey into the garden, to park, to shop or journey round house/home take pictures – record on postcard or in photo album in any language – speaking and listening.

“Children really enjoyed taking pack home. Really encouraged children to develop speaking and listening skills. Parents enjoyed sharing the activity – created further links. Children and parents were able to use home language to communicate. Photo album created exciting resource to be used again in the classroom. Camera brought experiences to life.”

Advice: this activity worked really well – would just change time of sharing session – before lunch was a little rushed and has been changed to end of day. Resources worked really well.

CLL 30 – 50mths. Use a range of words to express or elaborate on ideas. Build up vocabulary that reflects their experiences. Use vocabulary focused on objects and people of importance. Begin to use more complex sentences.

Aspects: A Unique child – inclusive practice.

Positive Relationships – Development of relationships with parents.

Talking Postcards, Bear, Dual Language Texts

(Reception)

Record the events of the story in simple sentences in English onto the postcards with pictures stuck on colour photocopied from the story. Also record the story in Slovakian. Children use the postcards to put the pictures / sections of the story in the correct order and retell the story to the teddy. Take dual language story home.

“The children enjoyed listening to the postcards and developed their language / vocabulary through their use. Children practised speaking in sentences. The children enjoyed retelling the story to the teddy in English and Slovakian – emphasised importance of home language and developed skills through home language use.

Home language developed through shared story – worked well with instructions on talking Postcard.

Advice: have less Talking Postcards and a Postcard for beginning, middle and end of story – had 5 was too many with Slovakian translations as well. Next time – record English / Slovakian sentence on same card or ensure storage keeps cards separate.

CLL 30 – 50mths. Describe main story settings and events. Begin to use more complex sentences. Be aware of how stories are structured. Show an interest in illustrations and print in books. Respond to simple instructions.

Key Principles: Enabling Environments – Learning Environment; Positive relationships - Parents as Partners; Learning and Development – Communication, Language and Literacy; a Unique Child – Inclusive Practice.

Talking Photo Album

(Year One)

Make bilingual talking book about key characters and everyday objects from “The Giant in Town”

“Children enjoyed looking at the book. They commented on the animals in their first language. Then with prompts commented on them in English. Children were able to find pictures in the story book when asked.”

Advice: Follow up using additional pictures to improve understanding. Involve children in the recording of the talking sections of the book.

NASSEA Steps - Is beginning to respond to English and has some understanding of English.

Talking Postcards

(Year One)

In writing area. Children have a sheet with pictures of CVC object e.g. cat, dog, pin etc. They have to press the postcard listen to the word and find the picture. If the children wanted they could then label the picture from listening again to the postcard.

“The children enjoyed using the Talking Postcards and were keen to try and locate the pictures. Some even tried to write the words to go with the objects.”

Advice: Follow up by using additional pictures to improve understanding.

NASSEA Steps – Is beginning to respond in English and has some understanding of English.

 

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