Developing Oral Language in Primary Classrooms
Children’s Dictation Activities
These teachers understand that children who have had many opportunities to listen and speak and who have had many books read to them will find it easier to learn to read. Many set aside time each day for children to share their stories in class. Ground rules are established so that only one child speaks at a time. Everyone else is practicing listening skills.
The activities below can be used to encourage oral language development. While the primary purpose of these activities is to develop listening and speaking skills for young children, they are also opportunities to strengthen their reading skills.
Four Activities to Develop Oral Language
Ask students to draw a picture of something of their choice; their family, a house, their pet, or another concept that the child is familiar with. Then ask the child to say a sentence about the picture, for example “My house is white.” Write the child’s words on the bottom of his picture and read them back to him.
Have students tell a group story. The story could be about a classroom visit by a fireman, or about a field trip the class has taken. Explain that a story has a title, or name. Ask them to give their ideas about what to name the story. List the ideas on the dry board, and let the children vote to choose a title for their story. Ask the children to tell about the fireman’s visit. Guide the children by asking what happened first, next, and so on. Record the sentences as the children dictate them. When the story is finished, read the story aloud with the children. Read it several times, then ask if anyone would like to read it by himself. Give everyone a chance to read. Later copy the story on chart paper and display it in the classroom.
A variation on the previous idea would be to ask children to plan a class party for Valentine’s Day or another upcoming holiday. Have them choose a title for their plan and make two columns on the dry board. One will have the words “Things We Will Need.” The other column will have the heading, “Things We Will Do.”. Will they have refreshments? Who will bring them? Will they play games? If so, which games? Who will serve refreshments?
Make a class cookbook containing children’s favorite recipes. Give each student an opportunity to tell about his or her favorite dish. Record the name of the recipe and then ask the child what ingredients the cook uses in the recipe. Make a list of the ingredients and then ask what the cook does first, next, and so on to make the dish.Record the child’s responses, then read the recipe together.
When every child has dictated his or her recipe, type and copy the recipes and ask children to illustrate them. Collate and staple the pages together to make recipe books. Don’t expect the recipes to be perfect. Instead, expect them to be interesting. One child’s recipe for biscuits said, “She puts them in the oven. She takes them out when she smells them burning.”
Fun Dictation Activity
While a few ingredients and a few steps may be left out of the recipe book, the project will accomplish several objectives:
- It will make a great gift for the child’s favorite cook.
- Your students will have added some words to their vocabulary.
- The children's speaking and reading skills will be strenghtened.
- It's a fun activity for the class and the teacher.
In their article Developing Oral Language in the Primary Classroom Lynn Kirkland and Janice Patterson offer other activities that primary teachers can use to help their students become fluent in their use of oral language. The authors insist that oral language development should be the focus of primary classrooms – not placed at the bottom of the list of objectives for teachers to teach and students to master.
The more skills that a child gains during the early years in speaking and listening, the better his or her chances of learning to read and write with ease. Oral language skills, like most other skills, are developed through practice. Activities like those outlined above will help young children develop the vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking skills they will need when they begin formal reading instruction.
Recipe Book
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Mom's Biscuit Recipe
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