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.
Packed full of advice and practical examples, this book shows how teachers can develop children's vocabulary. We see the importance of becoming a fluent talker whilst learning to write. I love the idea of 'suave words’ and language use. Highly recommended for all those seeking to value heritage and local languages whilst embedding the necessary skills of standard English.Dame Alison Peacock – Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching
Ros’s principal is based on the understanding that talk is key to writing. She uses inclusive strategies whereby children will be proud of their difference and dialects, whilst developing their use of Standard English.Chris Dyson, Headteacher of Parklands Primary School
Words, thoughts, and concepts are so deeply interconnected that I would argue that talk is the foundation of learning. What I love about this book is that it takes this deeply philosophical, abstract foundation and turns it into concrete practical ways that help teachers and schools.Professor Sam Twiselton, OBE
This book reinforces that crucial link between talking and writing and the need to train children to develop agility with their use of language. Ros’s approach gives teachers the tools to teach children how to ‘code switch’ through the teaching of ‘suave speak’, whilst still valuing and celebrating the local dialects that enrich our school communities.Simon Kidwell – Headteacher
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
Talk:Write Video CPD
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. Each package also includes printed books and digital download 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.