What is Talk:Write?

Created by Ros Wilson, Talk:Write is an easily-accessed programme that raises standards in talk, communication, writing, and the general range and richness of vocabulary and language structures for pupils in English speaking schools.

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How Can Talk:Write Be Used?

Standard English

Ensure all children can talk and write confidently in Standard English, whilst celebrating pupils' accents, dialects, and languages.

Vocabulary

Change the whole school culture around vocabulary, talk, discussion, and writing. Make oracy a key part of your school.

Language & Structure

Teach sophisticated features of language, understand the structure and organisation of content, and build and maintain stamina for writing.

Speech Codes

Study examples of different speech codes and enjoy exploring speech in different codes, while showing respect for different ways people speak.

Underpinned by Research

Talk:Write draws upon decades worth of research into vocabulary and its impact on children’s education. It provides teachers a robust platform to develop and improve talk and writing in school.

Suitable for:

Pupils aged 4 to 12

All School Staff

All English Speaking Schools

National Curriculum

Curriculum for Excellence

Curriculum for Wales

The Talk:Write School Package

This programme of CPD is provided as a series of videos that may be watched as one whole day of in-service training, as a series of staff meetings, or by individuals – to suit the school’s own agenda and to cater for the pressures of time on the school and staff diaries. It also includes 6 copies of the Talk:Write book and a range of digital resources.

The importance of talk and why talk is an issue.

The five codes of speech: local speak, dialect, Standard English, suave speak, and writer’s voice.

The five suave features of language: suave words, suave sentence openers, suave connectives, suave punctuation, and literary features.

The suave writing session: a weekly, extended, silent writing session.

Stamina with style: develop writing stamina.

Progression steps and exemplification: a progression of steps in talk skills by age with written examples.

Children new to English: advice and support for children for whom English is an additional language (EAL).

A range of games, activities, and examples.

How to manage and maintain the approach.

The Importance of Talk

Talk:Write is the progression of all Ros Wilson’s previous work regarding the underpinning principles of the impact of talk on writing. The cruciality of talk as a tool in learning and communication is now, at last, nationally recognised – as is reflected in the report from Oxford University Press, Why Closing the Word Gap Matters (2021).

Download the Report Here