1. Let’s talk!
Creating opportunities for children to express themselves

2. Creating opportunities for expression
Talk about…
Oneself
Things around and experience in school
Pictures
Stories

3. Talk about oneself Thoughts/ideas Needs, wishes, desires Experiences
Connect with the lives of children. Ask them about their :
Thoughts/ideas
Needs, wishes, desires
Experiences
Emotions

4. Talk about objects and experiences in school
Children could accurately observe :
trees
houses
flowers
bee-hives
butterflies
shops
street
taps
drains
…and various other things around them and talk about it

5. Talk about pictures Each group can be given a picture from :
Newspapers
Magazines
Calendars
Stamps
Labels
Posters
Children can discuss the picture within the group and the spokesperson can describe it to the whole class. Pictures can be used for creative and analytical talk.

6. Talk about pictures
With the help of pictures we can direct the child to do the following things: Finding - Eg. Who is sitting on the chair? Reasoning – Eg. Why is the girl crying? Projecting – Eg. What will the little girl say to the lady selling the vegetables? (projecting into an imaginary situation) Predicting – Eg. What will the girl do when she reaches home? Relating - Eg. Did you ever sit on a bicycle? What does it feel like?

7. Listening to stories and talking about them
Give the children a chance to :
Listen to the story
Relate to the story
Imagine characters and events
Complete the story
Recreate the story and its characters in a meaningful way

8. Role play
Playing the roles of characters in a story develops: - communication skills - insight and imagination - group decision making - conflict resolution

9. Tips for teachers Allow the child to say the whole thing
Be interested in what he
is trying to say
Control your desire to
contradict
Respond by saying elaborately what the child has said,
bringing in new vocabulary and a richer sentence
structure
Ask for more information
Direct the child to a new aspect of the topic

10. Adapted from the handbook, “The child’s Language And The Teacher” by Krishna Kumar