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S P E A K I N G A N D L I S T E N I N G S K I L L S

Michael Jones reports on a project to help develop the speakingand listening skills of children through the use of audiotapes

Record and play

A ll school children need todevelop their speaking andlistening skills, and for most

children this usually occurs througheveryday classroom experiences.However there is growing concern aboutthe speaking and listening skills of manyyoung children. Teachers now frequentlytalk about ‘language impoverishment’,to describe children who have reducedexpressive language skills because of lackof experience. Children with generallearning needs, who also typically needsupport in speech and languagedevelopment, and those with specificlanguage learning difficulties areincreasingly being included inmainstream schools. When we also takeinto account the needs of children who

are learning English as an additionallanguage, we can see that there is a realneed for teachers to plan practicalapproaches to develop speaking andlistening skills.

Researchers and practitioners arebecoming increasingly aware of theimportance of children’s oral languageskills and the development of creativewriting. Children’s narrative abilities – theability to retell a story, or make up storiesof their own – are particularly important.These skills come about through regularlysharing books with adults. Children liketo hear the same story several times, andthis helps them learn the language neededfor storytelling and story writing.

Playing with miniature animals andfigures, or ‘small world play’ is

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particularly valuable for youngchildren’s language development,especially when they are able to playalongside or with other children.Children often need a stimulus for smallworld play, and those with learningneeds often need adult guidance tomaximise the potential that this type ofplay has for language development andsocial interaction. Although we knowthat these activities are important, it canbe a real challenge for class teachers tomake the crucial investment of qualitytime needed to share this type of activitywith children.

As an advisory teacher, supportingprimary schools to meet the needs ofchildren with speech and languagedifficulties, I am always looking forways to improve children’s languageskills. The best ideas are often those thatbuild on existing good practice, tobenefit all children in a class, includingthose with communication needs.Recently I explored using a resource thatis often seen in the classroom: the‘Coomber’ audiocassette recorder andheadphones.

In many classrooms, children use thecassette recorder to l isten tocommercially produced audio books.Without adult supervision, equipmentcan rapidly fall into disrepair. Mostaudio books don’t provide a cue for thechildren to turn the page, so theyquickly lose their place in the text.(There are a few notable exceptions likethose produced by Oxford Reading Treeor the Ladybird Read it Yourself series).Publishers assume that children canalready read the books, or the cassettesare designed for children to listen to thestory without the text. This limits thevalue of the tape as an educational toolfor learning, and they can be lesssatisfying for children who are at earlystages of reading.

I worked with teachers in Foundationand Key Stage 1 classes to set up‘listening corners’, with a cassetterecorder, headphones and ‘talking picturebooks’, as a focus for languagedevelopment and independent learning.The key question was whether we couldimprove children’s listening skills, and

their ability to retell stories. What wefound were big improvements inlistening and language skills anddevelopment in children’s play, as wellas improvements in reading and writing.

Recording the storiesI visited classes for four mornings, andplanned with the teachers which storiesto introduce. Initially I recorded thestories in advance. Twenty-minute andthirty-minute cassettes were availablefrom educational suppliers, but we alsoused standard C60 cassettes found inthe schools. We chose the length ofcassette that would fit an entire storyon one side. Experience has shown thatchildren become confused when theyhave to turn tapes over, reducing theirindependence.

I made the recordings in a quiet room,and initially used a musical instrument likea chime bar to indicate when to turn thepage. (On later tapes I dispensed with themusical instruments and just said, ‘Bing!’).I read slowly enough for the children tofollow the text, and left a large enough gapafter reading for children to look at the textand pictures. This took a bit of practice. Ididn’t need a microphone, as the internalmike on the ‘Coomber’ was strong enoughto pick up my voice, as long as I was fairlyclose to the cassette recorder.

I used the same language to introduceand finish each tape. I usually read thetitle of the book, with author andillustrator, followed by, “When you hearthis sound (‘bing!’), turn the page”. Olderand more experienced children knew tostart the story at the first page of text, butyounger children needed to be guided asto which page to start on. Putting apaperclip or small PostIt note on thestarting page helped to clear up any

Those with learningneeds often need adultguidance to maximisethe potential that thistype of play has forlanguage developmentand social interaction

confusion. At the end of the tape I alwayssay, “Now, press stop and rewind, andlisten to the story again”. Make sure youbreak off the two small plastic flanges onthe cassette. This prevents the tape frombeing recorded over by childrenaccidentally/on-purpose if they press thered ‘record’ button!

The listening cornerChildren needed to know that thelistening corner is a valued area of theclassroom. We found that the bestarrangement was placing the equipmenton a table large enough to take the cassetterecorder and headphones (possibly keptin a basket or tray), and sufficient spacefor two children to sit comfortably sharinga book. Two children sharing a book isthe ideal number, with a spare set ofheadphones for an adult to listen along.Placing the table facing a wall providedfewest distractions, and we could use thewall space for an attractive display, whichthe whole class contributed to. Thisincluded a ‘Who’s in the ListeningCorner?’ sign, and advice on how to usethe equipment.

We planned for an adult to sit with pairsof children for the first sessions, toestablish that allchildren knewhow to use theequipment. The

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children needed time to learn thevocabulary involved (cassette recorder,tape, fast forward, rewind, stop, etc). Theadult also modelled the behaviourexpected. This included how to put onheadphones, how to insert the cassette,how to share the book and how to leavethe listening corner tidy afterwards.

Initially we found it helpful to only haveone tape and book out for use at any time.As the collection of tapes grows, book-and-tape sets can be kept in plastic walletsin the listening corner, for children tochoose from.

Which picture books?There was a broad spread of readingability and interest in books within anyone class, and we needed to bear this inmind if we were going to keep the childreninterested. Choosing the type of book torecord was particularly important forchildren with learning needs. More ableand experienced children were able tofocus on picture books with extendednarrative and rhyme, like Room on theBroom by Julia Donaldson and AxelSchefler. Others preferred shorter bookswith one picture on each page and muchsimpler text; e.g. One bear, one dog by PaulStickland. We learned that it was best toprepare two books per week. The mainbook was often related to a topic that theclass were studying, or was a focus of theLiteracy Hour, for example GilesAndreae’s Rumble in the Jungle. Theshorter book had broad appeal, likeDinosaur Roar by Paul and HenriettaStickland. This was introduced midweek,and children could choose the book thatsuited their interests or reading ability.

Involving the childrenAt the beginning of each week I presentedthe story to the class, by reading the bookand using toys and artefacts to illustratethe story. Sometimes I would read outloud, or show the book while the wholeclass listened to the taped story. I tookpairs of children into the listening cornerthroughout the morning. Many childrenalready knew how to use the equipment,either from experience in previous classesor at home.

One of the most successful experiences

in Year 1 came when I lost the cassette thatI had recorded the previous week. OnMonday morning I was due to share theplanned text for that week’s literacy lessons:Supersonic Engine Juice by Roderick Huntand Alex Brychta. Luckily two of the moreable readers in the class were volunteeredto help. After a 45-minute recordingsession in the corridor outside the class, wehad produced the most popular talkingpicture book to date! Incidental noises,including children saying “Hello” as theypassed by, and the sound of the hand-dryerin the boys’ toilets added to theatmosphere, and actually improved thechildren’s concentration. Adding a smallquestion-and-answer session to the end ofsome pages increased interest, as did thechildren’s spontaneous interjections andsound effects.

Links to small world playWe collected as many toys and artefactsas we could to accompany the picturebooks, and used commercially producedStorysacks and sacks made by parents. Inone Foundation class, children helped theclass teacher set up a small worldenvironment on a builder’s tray on theFriday before we introduced our story.

(See Helen Bromley’s excellent book, 50exciting ways to use a builder’s tray for awide range of ideas). After the story wasintroduced, with the toys, the childrenwere able to use them to play withthroughout the week. During thefollowing week these toys were transferredto the water tray for further spontaneousextensions of the children’s play andlanguage. Handa’s Surprise, by EileenBrowne and Itchy Bear by Neil Griffithswere very popular Story Sacks with Year1, while Duck in the truck and It’s the bear!by Jez Alborough proved enduring hitswith Foundation.

Art, display and writingIn another school I visited I involved aYear 2 class in sharing the African folktale Greedy Zebra, by Mwenye Hadithiand Adrienne Kennaway. During theafternoon the children listened to thetalking picture book, and illustrated theirfavourite parts of the story. This led to awall display, and the class producing theirown version of the story. Throughout theweek children listened to the story,reinforcing their language and literacyskills. Toys and artefacts from theStorysacks can also be made into attractiveinteractive displays. By playing with thesedisplays children are able to develop theirvocabulary and rehearse the languageneeded for recounting stories.

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Children’s responses andteacher feedbackFeedback from teachers has been veryencouraging. A teacher who introducedthe listening corner in her Foundationclass found that children were more ableto retell stories, and used more detail.They began using ‘story language’ whensharing books with an adult, includingnon-fiction books! Some children whohad been at an early stage of readingbegan to recognise words in the textthey had been listening to in previousweeks, and could pick out the samewords in other books. Teachers alsonoted an improvement in the children’slistening behaviour, particularly whenlistening to stories as a whole class. Oneclass insisted on shouting out, “Bing”whenever it was time for the teacher toturn the page!

A child arrived from another countrywhile I was working in a Year 1 class. Hehad no English, but quickly learned howto use the cassette recorder. He enjoyedthe stories, and after a few sessions Inoticed him mouthing the words to thestory as it was being read. This was avaluable experience for him, and addedto his confidence as an English speaker.

Children who had previously used therole-play area to act out simple domesticroutines had progressed to making upsmall dramas with roles for differentchildren. Small world play was also morefocused and extended. Children used thelistening corner as part of free choice, andthe area was properly cared for. Moreconfident children helped those who werenot able to master the equipmentindependently, e.g. checking the cassettewas put in properly and rewound to thebeginning.

Children were enthusiastic aboutmaking recordings of their own, andenjoyed listening to their voices on tape.When they made their own recordings, itwas gratifying to hear them use the samephrases that they heard on my tapes atthe beginning and end of recordings. Nowthat the listening corners have been setup, teachers have continued to make theirown tapes, and are involving children inthe process. One teacher hasexperimented with recording non-fiction

books, and found children to beenthusiastic about them.

By participating in this project thechildren had not only developed theirspeaking and listening skills, but had alsocovered aspects of the ICT curriculum forthe Foundation Stage: finding out aboutand identifying the uses of everydaytechnology and using information andcommunication technology to aid theirown learning.

Some final observationsSome children may not be ready to puton headphones, or listen to stories, butthe cassette recorder can still be avaluable tool for learning. Listeninggames, such as sound lotto, or Crashbang wallop from Orchard Toys, can beused to familiarise children withlistening to tapes, and develop theirlanguage and listening. Children benefitfrom making their own sound games,e.g. recording sounds around the schooland seeing if other children can identifythem, or recording children’s and adults’voices and matching them to theirphotographs.

This approach need not be confinedto mainstream schools. I recentlyworked with a class in a special school,where most children had significantcommunication needs. We acted outthe story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff,and followed it up by making bridgesin the playground with large woodenblocks. Later the children were involvedwith small world play, reading andwriting. The cassette and book from theLadybird Read it yourself series wasideal, as children could listen to thestory and follow the text, then listen tothe story again and repeat each phraseafter they had heard it. On side B theyanswered simple questions about thestory. Level One of the series is aimedat children who are ready to take theirfirst steps in reading, and they cancontinue through to Level Four, with

By participating in thisproject the children hadnot only developed theirspeaking and listeningskills, but had alsocovered aspects of ICT

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Useful further reading

Bromley, H (2002) 50 exciting ways to usea builder’s tray, Lawrence EducationalPublicationsBromley, H (2002) 50 exciting ideas forstory boxes, Lawrence EducationalPublicationsBromley, H (2004) 50 exciting ideas forsmall world play, Lawrence EducationalPublicationsBurrell, A and Riley, J (2004) ‘Youngchildren should be seen and heard’, ThePrimary English MagazineGibbons, P (2002) Scaffolding language,scaffolding learning: teaching secondlanguage learners in the classroom,HeinemannJones, M (2004) ‘Here’s one you’ve heardbefore’, Special Children (November/December)

Resources

Story Sacks are available from Storysack Ltd, Resource House, Kay Street, Bury BL9 6BUOrchard Toys, Debdale Lane, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5HN, and from leadingtoyshops.Audio Tapes are available from Hertfordshire Supplies, Mount Pleasant Lane, Hatfield,Herts AL9 5NRCassette recorders and other equipment: Coomber Electronic Equipment, Croft Walk,Worcester, WR1 3NZ.

longer stories for more fluent readers.I was fortunate enough to be able to

give my time to set up the listeningcorner, record the stories and share therecordings with the children. Teachersmay be able to work with a TeachingAssistant, volunteers or parents toprepare the tapes and support thechildren. This investment of time willreap dividends as the children’s languagedevelops and their play skills improve.This approach can also be included onIndividual Education Plans (IEPs) as astrategy for developing the language andlistening of children with generallearning difficulties or specific languagelearning needs. Teachers and supportstaff can make tapes on a regular basis,and this can be included in planning todevelop language and literacy. Oncechildren reach the point where they areable to participate in recording tapes withan adult, this becomes a valuable activityin itself, and provides the class with verypopular resources.

At a time when the music industry isphasing out cassettes in favour of CDs,

there is still an important place in schoolsfor the humble cassette recorder!

Michael Jones has worked as aSpeech and Language Therapistand teacher. He supportsschools and pre-school settingsin Luton to meet the needs ofchildren with speech, languageand communication difficulties.

With thanks to Abbie Rainbow-Diasand Vicki Thompson, and the childrenof St Matthews Infants, TennysonRoad Primary, Cheynes Infants, PirtonHill Infants and Richmond Hill Schoolin Luton.