Learning through talk - Great resource

Kia ora Janet and All,

This is a rich discussion around oral language and I’m enjoying reading about the different approaches, strategies and resources being used and developed.

I agree that ESOL teachers are in a prime position to understand and support effective oral language teaching with their colleagues.

My little bit to to add to the discussion is to remind ESOL teachers that we have a wonderful mainstream resource in all NZ Primary Schools called ‘Learning Through Talk’. It’s a set of two handbooks (available through ‘Down the Back of the Chair’); one for Juniors, Years 1-3 and the other for Years 4-8. This is a free resource from the Ministry of Education and it is FANTASTIC- packed with research-informed information, sound advice and suggested ‘Deliberate Acts of Teaching’ for teachers to use in developing learners’ oral language, which is after all, the foundation for all learning and communication in the school setting and beyond.

I remember seeing a Speech-Language Therapist once demonstrating a language-acquisition model as a pyramid-shaped building with oral language being the basement. If it’s full of holes or weak, when input flows in to that basement like a flooding river, it will just leak out and the basement will be unable to support the floors above; ie feed on to subsequent language development in reading and writing. If the oral language basement is co-constructed planfully and strong, then continually reinforced, other ‘floors’ can easily and effectively be built on top.

Unfortunately, ‘Learning Through Talk’ is another of the MoE resources that was well prepared by its developers but was released into schools without corresponding and necessary PLD to unpack it. My advice to ESOL teachers would be to get alongside their Literacy leaders and dive into the texts, devising a programme of in-school PLD, perhaps little snippets at staff and team mtgs over time, to ensure that teachers are guided into it.

There are some ‘flash’ looking commercial oral language resources being released and these may well be very useful for hooking staff into explicitly teaching oral language and good for dipping into. But I think ‘Learning Through Talk’ is a wonderful and comprehensive resource to support good oral language teaching practice, if only teachers can be guided into it.

I would be very interested to know if anyone has come up with a different, effective and efficient way of introducing this great resource to other teaching staff?

Ng mihi,

Linda BJ

Motueka South School