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Ernesford Grange Community School hosts 'Get Talking'
[ 23 Oct 2008]
During October Ernesford Grange Community School in Coventry hosted a 4 hour pilot programme to introduce young people to the importance of helping all young children to become confident communicators. A group of Year 10 students who are working towards a GCSE in Health and Social Care took part in activities which ranged from learning about the stages of children`s language development by watching and discussing video clips and taking part in quizzes, to making puppets and playdough and sharing stories and rhymes.
The programme was put together by a team which included a Speech and Language Therapist, a Speech and Language Assistant, a Language Consultant and a Family Learning Teacher who all work for Coventry City Council. The aim is to develop a programme which can be offered to secondary schools across the city and contribute to the Coventry Talk Now agenda.
As part of the programme the students explored the Coventry Talk Now website and used the Contact page to record their views. The team would like to thank them all for taking part and say 'We had a really great time and we hope the students did to. Reading their comments will help us to know whether this programme is something that young people across the city would enjoy and find helpful.'.
Here is what the students had to say…..
Justine
I have learnt a lot to do with child development and how to communicate with someone a lot better. I have also figured out that if you just sit a baby in front of the television it doesn`t learn as much as the baby is meant to as it doesn`t develop properly. I now also feel like I have much more confidence in myself and I would like to say thank you for what you did to help me on my course work. Also I learnt how to praise a child if it does something right or it has been good. I thought that was a really good idea. When we made playdough that was really fun.
Hannah
People have come down to our school and have taught us about child development. I have leant more about communicating with children and how to help children talk more. The last few weeks have made a difference because I now know a lot more on how to speak to children and that you have to keep repeating the words even if your child gets it wrong and that you have to praise your child. I now feel a lot more confident about haw to communicate with your child. Thanks for your help.
Mary-Jane
I like the website and I think what you are doing is great. I learnt that you do not need to be an expert in speech and languange to help a child to speak.
Colette
I have learnt about children`s rhymes and the words and actions to them and what age range the rhymes are for. I have enjoyed making the play dough and learning different things about a child`s development.
I have enjoyed the sessions that a group of people have been teaching us.
I hope I learn some other stuff too!
Sophie
From the past few weeks I have learnt that is important to speak to babies even when they are small and sing along with them.
Michaella
I have learnt various stuff about child development like knowing how children develop and what ages they develop different things like hearing and how to speak to the babies.
Colette
In the past few weeks I have learnt that babies need to be spoken to when they are born and how their brain develops over time when you do different activities with them. I have enjoyed in the past few weeks making playdough and doing some quizzes and games with children and doing fun stuff I can build up to when I have a child of my own or if I ever look after a child. I have also learnt that at different ages of a baby`s life its language skills are getting better as their minds are getting them to speak more and more.
Paige
It was really, really, really good.
Kasey-Leigh
I found the session helpful and learnt a lot about communication with young children.
Megan-Kay
I found the session helpful and learnt a lot about communication with young children.
Chelsey
I found the session helpful and it is useful for my coursework. I have learnt about how to communicate with young children.
Natalie
I thought the sessions were good and very useful. It helped me a lot.
Dannie
Its been a good time getting involved in all the activities.
There are a lot of strategies for communication, like when talking to a few months or year old baby be close up to their face and to talk in small sentences.
Danielle
I have learnt a lot about child development and how to communicate with a child far more easily. I find it much easier to build my confidence when I am around a chid and how to talk to them. I also find it much easier to respond to a child and understand what he or she is saying to me. I would like to say thank you for helping me with my coursework. Child development will help me with a child in the future.
Elisha
What I have learnt is how to communicate to a child from a few months to around 5 years. Also I have enjoyed playing with children`s toys and making playdough. Thank you for reading my comment.
Alex
I liked to learn about children and how to look after them.
Tamzin
I liked to learn how children learn to talk.
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