Five key principles to support learning the five components of language

Attention and listening

• Make listening an active and explicit process.
• Provide children with strategies for good listening.
• Give regular, ongoing and specific feedback.

Vocabulary

• Teach meaning and phonic (letter-sound) makeup.
• Use the words: repetition and practice in different contexts.
• Link to current knowledge and make meaningful.

Building sentences

• Build a solid understanding as well as talking.
• Target the right level and ‘scaffold’ from there.
• Model and encourage longer sentences.

Telling stories

• Focus on the importance of day-to-day narratives and stories.
• Spoken stories and narratives come before written.
• Children need clear and explicit narrative structures to support these skills.

Conversations

• Focus on verbal and non-verbal elements.
• Share with children the importance and purpose of conversations.
• Provide opportunities for conversations, both for social interaction and learning.