However, during guided or independent reading children have to use what knowledge they have of the English language to read on their own. It is for this reason that practitioners will plan to teach the use of phonics to children from an early age.
As young children find it hard to discriminate the sounds of letters automatically the teaching of phonics or letter sounds is used by teachers to help children to recognise the correct spelling of a word (DfES 2001). The most effective practitioners will teach children how to identify the phonemes in spoken language and then build an understanding of how each phoneme is correctly spelt. When children have acquired a sound knowledge of these phonemes, practitioners will educate them in two new skills known as segmentation and blending.
Segmentation is the ability to recognise each phoneme within a word and segment them in order to make sense of that word. Once this is achievable if a child is reading and stumbles upon a word that he or she does not recognise, they will have the ability to segment each phoneme and then blend them together to pronounce the word (Ibid)
Shared and guided reading is an essential part of the literacy hour. Unfortunately, from personal experience it could be suggested that some practitioners believe that shared reading should be kept to a minimum as children tend to fidget, daydream and loose concentration if the teacher reads out something they don’t understand. However, Geoff Fenwick, author of teaching children’s literature in the primary classroom claims that whole class/shared reading improves and increases vocabulary, encourages imagination and helps develop children’s listening skills, (1990 p4)
Listening, along with speaking, is probably the most important part of our English Language. From an early age children are taught the importance of speaking and listening. The Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage stresses the importance of giving all children the opportunity to:
…talk and communicate in a widening range of situations, to respond to adults and to each other, to practice and extend the range of vocabulary and communication skills they use and to listen carefully. (QCA 1999:p8)
Although speaking and listening goes on right throughout the school day teacher’s will normally try to introduce a short speaking and listening session at the beginning of the literacy hour. This is commonly known as ‘circle time’. It is during this speaking and listening activity that teacher’s can utilise a number of ways to develop children’s language.
For example, children can always be asked simple questions such as ‘How are you?’ ‘What did you do at the weekend?’ or ‘Did you enjoy your holidays?’. In most cases children will respond greatly to the practitioner and reel off a long list of activities that they participated in.
However, the above are examples of closed questions and some less confident children may just as easily answer in one word. To combat this problem good teachers can use a combination of open questions that will allow the child to reflect and answer in greater detail. So questions such as ‘How can we… ‘Do you think… ‘Where did….or ‘Is there…. May open up a child-teacher or class- teacher conversation, which will benefit the whole groups language skills greatly.
From personal experience in an early years setting it can be suggested that allowing individual children to bring in toys or other items from home on selected days, and holding an American style ‘show and tell’ where the child will talk about his item, not only produces good results for the class but will have children talking to each other if they possess the same or similar thing at home. Role-playing at acting out stories or poems in the home corner is also another great activity for drawing out speaking and listening skills in the early years.
Although the above ideas are examples of speaking and listening strategies in the early years the importance of this skill carries on right throughout every key stage. The National Curriculum at key stages 1 and 2 stresses that children should learn to speak with confidence and listen to others, speak in a range of contexts and make relevant points during class discussions (QCA, 1999:p44-50).
One enjoyable activity to promote speaking and listening in the latter key stages is to hold a group discussion after a debateable article has been read to the class. The practitioner can split the class into two halves and assign the two groups the arguments for and against. If before the discussion the practitioner asks each group to re-read the article and write down any relevant points for discussion then, in one literacy hour, not only has the teacher delivered a speaking and listening activity he has also covered a shared and guided read and a guided writing session.
The final area of the Literacy hour that shall be explained is the need to develop good writing skills. According to the DfEE booklet developing early writing (2001) evidence from teachers using the National Literacy strategy suggests that the teaching of reading has been more systematic than writing and many children still find the process of writing difficult and make slow progress. White (1980) backs this up in his book Teaching written English by claiming that speech is regarded as primary importance but writing is placed a poor second.
However, the teaching of writing should be an important factor for all primary schools. If pupils are to become independent writers they need to be familiar with a range of writing so that they may adapt their writing to suit their intended audience and intention of a task. Therefore, during the literacy hour teachers should designate time to the teaching of writing non-fiction, poetry and plays. (QCA, 2000)
During this time writing, like reading, will often be broken down into shared and guided sessions. During shared writing sessions teachers should act as editor and scribe in activities which will allow pupil participation. For example, after an idea for writing has been introduced the practitioner should encourage children to think about wording and re-wording sentences, and debate about each other’s suggestions. During this time the teacher should also maintain a vigorous pace and focus on his set objectives.
During guided writing pupils should be set a specific writing objective (writing a letter or a short story for example) they should then be told to return to their groups and have a go of completing their work on their own. Pupils should also be allowed to view some past examples of good quality writing before they start so they have a general idea of what is expected of them. When the activity is being undertaken it is important for practitioners to remember that although this is independent work some students will still need support from their teacher. The guided writing sessions will allow for the practitioner to spend time with one or two of his/her ability groups so as to re-enforce the learning objectives and aid in the correct writing composition.
To conclude, it is thought that this essay has highlighted the importance of having a literacy hour and a national strategy from which to work from. Although the NLS is not compulsory it can be seen that by using the framework along with the national curriculum document teachers can plan and teach effective lessons using a range of fun and interactive methods.
Bibliography
DfEE (2001) The National Literacy Strategy: Developing early writing, London:DfEE
DfES (2001) The National Literacy Strategy: London: DfES
DfES (2001) The National Literacy Strategy: Progression in phonics, London: DfES
Fenwick, G. (1990) Teaching children’s literature in the primary school, London: David Fulton.
QCA (1999) The National Curriculum, London: QCA/DfEE
QCA (2000) Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage, London: QCA
White, R.V. (1980) Teaching written English, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
Wilson, A. (2000) Language knowledge for primary teachers, London: David Fulton.