Unlocking Speaking and Listening in Every Child: Strategies, activities and resources to create good speakers and listeners(Professional Development in Literacy)

Unlocking speaking and listening skills is crucially important in the development of a child's literacy and communication abilities. Good communication improves performance, is more rewarding for the individual and builds self-esteem. Speaking and listening is now higher on the teaching agenda than ever before, but many teachers still find it a difficult subject to tackle. Many are not sure what's involved and how to teach it. As a result, its a topic that is all-too-often neglected. This book, the fourth in Ransom's practical series of handbooks for teachers brings focus and clarity to the subject. Mary Hoppeer provides structures that enable teachers to teach it effectively and she shows how improved speaking and listening can bring benefits in all subject areas. Put simply children who speak and listen well are better all-round learners. Produced in the same highly practical way as other books in the Unlocking series, the book includes sections covering developing listening skills, speaking for a purpose, structuring group discussions, building self-esteem and social skills, word games, language play and assessing speaking and listening. Topics include: talking about talk: 'spoken texts', speaking for a range of practical purposes learning to listen: listening, evaluating and responding structuring speaking and listening sessions types of talk: discussing and persuading; informing, explaining and instructing; and recounting, imagining and retelling meeting individual needs using speaking and listening to support reading and writing speaking and listening through the curriculum. Unlocking Speaking and Listening in Every Child brings together the best of teacher's resources to help develop speaking and listening for children in a practical, interesting way. Written by expert Mary Hopper, this book is essential for teachers who want to develop their own understanding and abilities on this topic.

About the Author :
Mary Hopper is an independent literacy consultant supporting schools, charities and organisations to develop children's use of English.   As a teacher of many SEN and EAL pupils, Mary ignited a passion for high-quality teaching of speaking and listening. She continues to champion the spoken word as a vital element of all learning. She is a certified NLP practitioner, a former local authority adviser and a specialist in educational coaching. Mary is also the author of teaching resources on outdoor literacy and practical approaches to teaching grammar.