Category Archives: Helping children understand

April coming up

Posted on 19/03/2018 by

New calendar and worksheet has been uploaded at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231 And, getting ahead, I have uploaded May as well…

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Home schooling, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , ,

Spring is coming – soon

Posted on 12/02/2018 by

And the March calendar and worksheet are ready for you to download. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231

Posted in Child language, Education at home, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged

February brings the rain… (I wonder)

Posted on 15/01/2018 by

The calendar and worksheet for February 2018 are available at http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231

Posted in Child language, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Home schooling, Promoting language development, Teaching

Christmas & New Year are coming

Posted on 16/12/2017 by

The calendar and worksheet for January 2018 are available at http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231

Posted in Child language, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Home schooling, Promoting language development, Teaching

Busy month ahead?

Posted on 13/11/2017 by

The calendar and worksheet for December are available at http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231 You can also see the Christmas items in the list on the right of the screen which may help if you have a primary mixed ability class.

Posted in Child language, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Home schooling, Promoting language development, Teaching

Run, run

Posted on 07/11/2017 by

Today I was out early, as rain is promised for later. I observed a father taking a ?3 year-old to nursery. They were crossing the road and the child had clearly been drilled to keep looking out for traffic. Suddenly … Continue reading →

Posted in ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Inference, Share stories

November is coming

Posted on 14/10/2017 by

and the new calendar and worksheet are available at http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231

Posted in Child language, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Home schooling, Promoting language development, Teaching

October calendar & worksheet

Posted on 19/09/2017 by

Is available from https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231 Using these calendars and worksheets with your students will really help to develop the concept of how we organise the months and years. The passing of the seasons and different special days provide an opportunity for … Continue reading →

Posted in ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged ,

Just in time…

Posted on 29/08/2017 by

The free September calendar and worksheet have just been uploaded to TES. See here as usual. It’s really worthwhile having a go at these activities with your new year group. Whichever age you teach, you will probably find a wide variety … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Teaching

Black Sheep Press

Posted on 09/08/2017 by

Black Sheep Press has a new website with lots of exciting changes and improved features. You can visit it here. Special offers are available until 20th August. I used many of the resources from Black Sheep Press while I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Association, Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

Here we go again…

Posted on 06/06/2017 by

My life ticks by, a TES month at a time! July calendar & worksheet uploaded today.

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling

May calendar & worksheet

Posted on 07/04/2017 by

Next month’s calendar and worksheet have been uploaded. https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources Enjoy the Easter weekend!

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

April calendar & worksheet

Posted on 10/03/2017 by

I have uploaded the calendar for next month. Find it here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231 Useful for practising the language of time, events, weather etc.  

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Grammar, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching

March calendar and worksheet is out

Posted on 17/02/2017 by

You should find it here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231 Seems Lent begins in March this year – Easter must be very late! Only Christmas is ‘reliable’!

Posted in Association, Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Grammar, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

19,488 downloads…

Posted on 13/12/2016 by

Will you be the next to download a calendar and worksheet? January’s has been posted on TES: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/calendars-and-worksheets-6145231 It’s free.

Posted in Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Home schooling, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching

More fairy tales with Language Levels questions

Posted on 30/08/2016 by

The tenth title in the Using Language Levels series is available at £2 from TES. Entitled Fairy tales – 3, it offers a text for each tale, an extra activity, the Language Levels questions, a cover note and a record … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Grammar, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Inference, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

New title for Language Levels work

Posted on 17/07/2016 by

The 8th in the series based on Dr Marion Blank’s work. Called Fairy tales 1 so you can infer there will be further tales to follow! This resource has texts, activities and Language Levels questions for: The Little Mermaid Beauty … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching

New Language Levels resource

Posted on 02/11/2015 by

The sixth title in the Using Language Levels series is available at £2 from TES. Entitled The Park, it offers the usual varied set of activities as well as providing a good basis for discussing a place which is familiar … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Grammar, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Inference, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Pronouns

Posted on 08/10/2015 by

Further to a query on a forum on TES, I have picked out some of my resources which are particularly aimed at working on pronouns. Hope you find this helpful. See the Pronouns listing in the sidebar. Have also made … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Grammar, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Inference, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

New Marion Blank Language Levels resource

Posted on 18/08/2015 by

To fit with the topic All About Me, it includes family, home, likes, activities and holidays. The focus of the Language Levels pages is 1-1 or small group work with children who need carefully graded questions. A small vocabulary set … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

How did you get on?

Posted on 15/08/2015 by

I hope you were able to join in the Kids’ Art Week fun. My posts (see links below) include my own efforts at each activity plus a mini language lesson based on the videos etc.   The art sessions are still … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

Modigliani portraits

Posted on 01/08/2015 by

Here are my examples from lesson 6. Good vocabulary possibilities: Yesterday the page was divided down the middle. Today the background space is divided by lines drawn down and then across. The rectangles are fairly random. A coloured line is … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

Oil pastel and paint people

Posted on 31/07/2015 by

Here are my examples from lesson 5. I didn’t have enough black paper to make the expected size and I made them much too small so could not add the suggested extra decorations. I also had to use Cray-Pas as … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , ,

Nature faces

Posted on 31/07/2015 by

Here are my faces made from a few things I picked up in the garden or saw on my table. It was fun to see how spacing the eyes differently changed the face a lot. Vocabulary about the faces: naming … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Leaf printing

Posted on 29/07/2015 by

  Here are my tags decorated with leaf prints in lesson 3. I made some prints into birds and others into bugs as suggested. Good vocabulary possibilities: Birds: talk again about how we know they are birds – refer back … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

Night sky

Posted on 29/07/2015 by

Here are my night sky pictures from lesson 2. Good vocabulary possibilities: Adjectives: you may have a copy of The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark which is often read in school. It contains many ‘wow words’ which are … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , ,

Picasso dog

Posted on 28/07/2015 by

Here is my Picasso dog. Did you make some? Good vocabulary possibilities: Eye, nose, ear, tongue, paw, tail, (learning to name the parts of things is really important for clarity – see http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Naming-of-parts-6224211/ ) Talk about what’s missing from this … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , ,

Crazy birds

Posted on 28/07/2015 by

Here are my crazy birds. Did you make some? Good vocabulary possibilities: bird   beak   tail   claws   wings   feathers   two legs (learning to name the parts of things is really important for clarity – see http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Naming-of-parts-6224211/ ) colour names and … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , ,

Using Language Levels: Story 4 Friends

Posted on 18/05/2015 by

The story pictures are presented in three formats to increase the usefulness of the resources: with questions for each page at all the Levels (I-IV) in a smaller size for you to make additional activities in a story text – … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Using Language Levels: new resources

Posted on 14/04/2015 by

I see searches for information about Dr. Marion Blank’s Language Levels just about every day. So I have been working on some new resources which feature graded questions of the sort included in Language Levels I-IV. Each set of story … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Education at home, ESL / EFL / EAL, Helping children understand, Helping language skills at home, Home schooling, Inference, Language Levels, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Speech and Language Pathology, Speech and Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Dr. Marion Blank

Posted on 26/02/2015 by

The language style used by adults to children in the preschool and early school years is critical. (Post reissued)

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Marion Blank, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

Time and Index Update

Posted on 10/01/2015 by

1. I’ve decided to make a new special section in the list of resources called Time. These time resources are not new but I haven’t collected them together before. Anyone working with children with delayed or impaired language development will … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Helping children understand, Index of Resources, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching, Uncategorized

The Lady and the Lion

Posted on 25/11/2014 by

I am proud to announce (with sound of trumpets) that Pip Harrison and I have got to the end of The Year of the Fairy Tale. The last set of resources based on two similar stories by the Brothers Grimm … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy | Tagged , , , , ,

The Magic Horse

Posted on 20/10/2014 by

Read Aloud version contributed by NZ writer/teacher ©Pip Harrison …“Guards! Seize this man!” ordered the King. “Take him to prison until my son comes safely home. Fancy bringing me such a dangerous thing!” … Early Reading version  …“Look at that!” … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching

Cinderella

Posted on 07/09/2014 by

Pip Harrison, New Zealand writer, has rewritten the well-known tale from the Fairy Godmother’s point of view. The RA is approx. 11y for older children, or to be read aloud. ‘…Amidst it all, the prince and Cinderella gazed at each … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, PSHE / Virtues Programme, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy | Tagged , , ,

If you’re a good girl…

Posted on 22/08/2014 by

Today I chuckled to hear a small child promise from her buggy, ‘If you’re a good girl, you can have an ice cream.’ It was a shame her mother didn’t clarify things even by the joke response, ‘I’m always a … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy

The Twelve Brothers

Posted on 13/08/2014 by

“…As the young men pushed open the gate, she picked the twelve flowers. With each snip one young man after the other rose up from the garden, arms turning to great black wings, noses to beaks, legs to claws – … Continue reading →

Posted in Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

Little Red Riding Hood

Posted on 04/05/2014 by

“Shall I walk with you?” said the wolf. “Oh, no, sir, thank you. I can quite well walk by myself and I expect you have wolf things to be getting on with.”  “Well, there is one wolf thing I could … Continue reading →

Posted in Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

The real princess AKA The princess and the pea

Posted on 16/04/2014 by

“Pea of destiny, pea of delight, We need your help, we seek insight. Is this princess the real deal? Will she sleep or will she feel Your bumpy presence in her bed, Making her toss and turn instead?…” Find the … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy | Tagged , , ,

Blondine, Bonne-Biche & Beau-Minon

Posted on 11/03/2014 by

Another Traditional Tale has been uploaded to TES. If you do not get your resources from TES, you can find the ‘long and short of it’ versions (as above) here. The original story – from a book of Old French … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, PSHE / Virtues Programme, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

Music to my ears

Posted on 25/02/2014 by

BBC Radio 4’s news this morning included a mention of British Education Minister Elizabeth Truss visiting Shanghai to see their maths teaching in action. I’m sure I heard the mention of the importance of verbalising maths concepts. The English language … Continue reading →

Posted in Association, Child language, Competence level, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching

The Frog Princess

Posted on 20/02/2014 by

The first TRADITIONAL TALE is complete! See the link in the sidebar on the right. I hope people find it fun. If you do not get your resources from TES, you can find the ‘long and short of it’ versions … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Share stories, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching

So…

Posted on 11/02/2014 by

Where did it come from – the ubiquitous empty ‘so’? Did it travel along with the dreaded upspeak (or uptalk)? I am getting to the point where I take no notice of the intended message someone is imparting but tally … Continue reading →

Posted in Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Share stories, Teaching

Go find (this wonderful book)

Posted on 21/01/2013 by

Just finished ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue (Picador, 2011), a book I found hard to put down but did not wish to finish. Even read some bits twice. Don’t look at a description of it or you may suspect it will … Continue reading →

Posted in Association, Child language, Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy

Can you see what I mean?

Posted on 06/11/2012 by

This post is to highlight a published resource I designed but cannot put on TES (although I have a section of free resources there which you can find described on the page Read for Meaning/Inference in the list on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

Citroen alert!

Posted on 12/09/2012 by

‘Don’t like Citroen!’ ‘You don’t like Citroens? Why’s that?’ ‘Citroen run me down.’ The grandfather’s chuckle as he replied led me to believe that Citroens have not shown an evil disposition to attack his grandson. Indeed, it seemed unlikely from … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , , ,

Choose your martyrdom

Posted on 30/04/2012 by

Would you rather be pressed like St. Margaret Clitherow or hanged like St. Anne Line? How does your school inform small children of their fate? Will the Head tell a 6 year old he is going to be put in … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Helping children understand, Inference | Tagged , , ,

Good listening?

Posted on 13/04/2012 by

Teachers constantly exhort children to do ‘good listening’. And of course it is an excellent idea. But those who work specifically with children who have problems with attention, language delay, learning difficulties or a combination of all of these also … Continue reading →

Posted in Association, Child language, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Teaching

A real there there

Posted on 19/01/2012 by

My grammar check immediately spots I have repeated a word, but never mind! As soon as I heard this wonderful new noun (a ‘there-there’), I found it captivating. How much more immediate than solace or consolation. Other recent activity has … Continue reading →

Posted in Grammar, Helping children understand, Inference, Promoting language development, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , ,

Let’s not add to confusion

Posted on 30/09/2011 by

English is very open to misunderstanding because of the number of homophones we have. Some are not spelt the same way – but when you hear examples there is scope for confusion – and of course non-readers cannot visualise both … Continue reading →

Posted in Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

Keeping text simple

Posted on 02/01/2011 by

It can’t be hard to make things simpler… can it? Well, actually, it can be quite tricky. Creating or adapting resources for children with language impairment can take a long time. Not only that. After using the resources it may … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Competence level, Grammar, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Speech & Language Pathology, Speech & Language Therapy, Teaching | Tagged , , ,

Are you listening to me?

Posted on 20/09/2010 by

This is normally said in exasperation when a child has not jumped into action at the first time of telling.  It is often swiftly followed by I won’t tell you again… which may mean either I will tell you again … Continue reading →

Posted in Child language, Helping children understand, Promoting language development, Teaching | Tagged , ,