Manor Park Talks

Effective ways to help children’s early language development.

We are learning all the time in this project: this poster will change and get better as a result of the work we do together.

We want to help children with their early language development. That means we need to do more than just giving them
appropriate environments and activities. The best way we can help children is by having high-quality conversations and
interactions with them every day.

Strategies
associated with What we will notice
What adults could do What adults could provide
positive outcomes children doing

• Increasing the • Focus our attention where the child’s • T

 ime to talk – not always being
amount they say. attention is. busy doing other things.
• Increasing the • Notice the child’s communication (verbal • S
 paces which promote
number of turns and non-verbal) conversation – not noisy.
they can maintain a • Comment/narrate/describe Comfortable places to sit and talk.
conversation for. • Wait – give children more time to process • E
 ngage children with expressive
Conversational • Increase the and respond when we say something to language in daily routines and
complexity of their them. naturally occurring situations
responsiveness conversation. • Add a word or two words, recast or extend
• Respond using our knowledge of the
individual child.
• Limit questions
• Display active listening by maintaining eye
contact, nodding, or smiling

• T
 alking and engaging • Comment - modelling literal and inferential • E nticing spaces for individual
actively with the responses curling up with a book and for
book, not just sitting • Use questions sparingly with type and focus sharing books.
quietly and listening. dependent on child’s development • S mall group and 1:1 reading time.
• Making individual • Give children time and opportunities to • A wide range of books which
comments about the share their own ideas about the book. match the many different interests
Interactive book. • Embedding prompts for children to talk of the children in the setting.
book-reading • Making links at both a literal and inferential level about
between the book vocabulary in the story.
and their own ideas
and experiences.

• Singing or talking to • Use songs and rhymes throughout the day • A

 shared repertoire of songs,
themselves using the and during everyday activities rhymes and stories
rhythm and some of • Model how you can change the words and • S
 mall world play, puppets,
Using songs, the words of familiar still rhyme dressing up clothes, trips and
rhymes songs and rhymes • Make songs, rhymes and stories personal other resources/activities linked
• Acting out familiar to individual children to popular songs and books.
and stories stories on their own • Model the use of props in songs, rhymes • P
 rovide props that will help to
to support or with others and stories. support understanding of key
• Singing and acting • Support children to ‘replay the story’ using concepts
expressive out rhymes and props at story times and throughout the • E
 ngaging environmental print.
language stories using props session. • M
 usical instruments and other
resources which promote careful
listening

• T alking about their • T

 alk about book illustrations and words • D
 isplays of print in the
interpretation of a • Point out familiar print when out in the environment through songs,
poster, a picture, the neighbourhood; point out meaningful print rhymes and stories
illustrations in a book in the setting e.g. names.
Print • Talking about the • Use activities to develop phonological
referencing features of print: awareness through rhymes, music etc.
to support e.g. a brand they
recognise, a letter
emergent from their name,
literacy

• Displaying • Encourage children to listen for sounds in • G ames and play that encourage
beginnings of sound the environment and letter sounds. listening for sounds
awareness • Engage children in activities that associate • Everyday activities that help
• Associating sounds a variety of objects and toys with letter support sound association and
with familiar objects sounds. differentiation
Listening for
sounds