VIRTUAL CLASSROOM TOUR Web Links Innovative Teachers Date Title Creator/s Homepage Objective/s Using talking books to promote inclusion within an early years setting My objectives are to enable children whose first language is not English to feel more included within the nursery and the curriculum, thus promoting inclusion within an early years setting with young children. To develop communication and language skills as the text comes alive when it is read aloud, thus promoting oral skills. To allow staff to be better able to assess and communicate with children for whom English is not their first language. To enable children for whom English is their first language to become aware of other languages that are spoken in a multi-cultural society. And finally to use the Talking PEN to give children control over their learning. January – March 2008 Bernadette Donald. Wallacetown Nursery School Minority Ethnic Pupils' Experiences of School in Scotland

Learning Together in Dundee Innovative Teachers VIRTUAL CLASSROOM TOUR Background/ Rationale Documents Web Links About Wallacetown Nursery School is a purpose-built nursery school situated near Dundee city centre and run by Dundee City Council Education Department. The nursery is open plan with three, home base areas and a fourth area with partitioning allowing full screening during quiet activity or rest times. There is also an extension to the main playroom, which leads to a fully enclosed outdoor play and garden area, of mature trees and shrubs. The service is used by children in their pre-school and ante pre-school years. There are two part-time sessions running daily, morning and afternoon. In addition there are some full-day places and a facility for extended provision at the beginning and end of each day. View Inspection Report from HMIe Click here for school handbook

Learning Together in Dundee Innovative Teachers VIRTUAL CLASSROOM TOUR People Web Links People In line with the Education Department policy, all staff are qualified and undertake on going staff development with a range of additional qualifications and certificates. These consist of five early years practitioners, one classroom teacher and a headteacher. We also have a part time clerical/secretary, a catering assistant and a cleaner. Each week we have a bilingual assistant who comes in to assist with the children however she only talks in Urdu and Punjabi. The children who attend this nursery come from a variety of cultural backgrounds and at present we have 15 Urdu, 11 Punjabi, 6 Polish, 4 Bengali, and 2 Arabic speaking children. Many children/families come to our nursery with little or no English. HGIOS Evaluating Educational Provision for Bilingual Learners.

Learning Together in Dundee Innovative Teachers VIRTUAL CLASSROOM TOUR Project Web Links To promote inclusion we have several resources that are in the child’s own language, such as computer games and children’s dictionaries. We feel that it is important to provide resources that are for children whose first language is not English. One of these being the Talking PEN books, the talking pen is a battery operated pen which when moved over hotspots on the book comes to life and retells the story in your chosen language. The books are narrated in a variety of different languages and voices. You can see the pleasure in the children’s eyes when they hear a page read in their home language. We already had some of these in English and took the next step of buying some that are dual language. The Talking PEN allows the staff to communicate with the children in their home language, further promoting inclusion within the nursery and the curriculum for all children. Because our staff don’t speak either of these languages we often use the parents to read to the children in other languages and we would assist them by reading the same story in English so that all children can feel included. It especially allows the children who do not understand English to follow the story being told as the pen enables the staff to change back and forth from which ever language is chosen. This greatly helps concentration as the children are able to follow the story and interact with their peers during the story. Mantra Lingua web site. View photo story

Learning Together in Dundee Innovative Teachers VIRTUAL CLASSROOM TOUR Web Links Impact The talking books have promoted inclusion as it has helped the children to work together and it has given them shared interests. It has helped immensely with early reading skills and has proven to work well with children at all stages of development. It has helped to make the bilingual children feel more comfortable using their home language in the nursery. This project has had a great impact on the users of my setting not just children but also the parents, carers and staff too. Without this resource the nursery would be limited in being able to allow the children to hear their home language at the nursery, therefore the children’s learning would be limited too. This resource specifically helps both the bilingual children to become more included in story telling and it helps the English speaking children to become more aware of the different languages that are spoken in today's multi- cultural society. The children have gained an added incentive as they are now more involved in the story telling experience. Dundee City Council web site

Learning Together in Dundee Innovative Teachers VIRTUAL CLASSROOM TOUR Next Steps The next steps for us would be to embed this project into practise. I have already given staff training in the use of the Talking PEN and gradually over time they have gained confidence in using it. One short training session is all that is required. This resource is now being used throughout the whole nursery by all the staff. Staff find it to be a valuable tool, easy to use and is enjoyed by the children. We wish to promote this resource to other nurseries by sharing our experience such as this VCT and by lending it on a trial basis to other nurseries to try before they buy. Finally we think that it would benefit the children if we purchased more pens and books in other languages and depending on the new intake of children and the languages they speak. Click here to view photo storyview