An insight into English... Aims of the session: To give you an idea of how English is taught and assessed at Oakwood.

By the end of this session... You will have some practical ideas on how to support your child’s learning at home.

What do we teach? The National Curriculum for English is split into THREE strands: Reading Writing Speaking and Listening.

Writing...what do we do? Stories Newspaper articles. Blogs Leaflets Posters Reviews Essays

How you can help with writing... Link reading and writing. The better a child is at reading the better they will be at writing. Try to find out what your child finds difficult about writing. A blank page is scary! Try to give them a piece of paper with a picture border or a title to spark your child’s interests.

How you can help with writing... Support your child with ideas for writing, play language games or tell stories. Oral activities help children develop vocabulary. Talk through ideas before writing. Give them permission to make mistakes. Get them to write shopping lists. Make birthday/Christmas cards together. Write messages on the fridge with magnets. Discourage “text” speak.

How you can help with writing... Make it manageable: they write one line, you write one line. Make simple books together using family photos using pictures and write captions for the pictures you use. Crossings out DON’T matter, remember you are trying to build confidence allow for mistakes to be made and crossed out neatly. This will help with the learning process.

Some writing ideas you could use... VCOP: vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation. V C O P

You can use VCOP to... Write thank you letters or birthday cards. Write stories. Write letters of complaint.

Story consequences... Each person takes a turn choosing a word or phrase for one of eleven questions, in this order. Adjective (describing word) for man Man's name Adjective (describing word) for woman Woman's name Where they met He wore She wore He said to her She said to him The consequence was… (a description of what happened after) What the world said You can now read the story out.

For example... Boring Joe met loud Kim at the bowling alley. Joe wore a green track suit. Kim wore a sandwich board. Joe said to Kim “During the last storm, we had a little party in the mud.” Kim said “I am really hungry.” As a consequence, the band got back together. And the world said “Somehow, I think I saw this coming.”

Other writing ideas... Phone number game Flip flap sentences Simile alphabets Boggle Scrabble To improve handwriting use a highlighter to draw lines and encourage writing along that line. Examples of these ideas can be found in your pack.

What do we teach? Reading A range of text both fiction and non- fiction are taught at Oakwood Academy. In year 9 we have read non-fiction media texts such as newspapers, leaflets, biographies and internet based texts.

Fiction texts that have been studied have included novels and short stories. Pig Heart Boy Malorie Blackman Two weeks with the Queen Morris Gletizman

What do we do? In English the texts are explored in a variety of ways... A range of newspapers are looked at common themes can be found. Pupils will read a range of newspaper articles from a variety of newspapers, Questions can be asked, answered and discussed. Pupils can write their own newspaper articles on a topic they choose or one chosen for them.

What we do... Fiction texts are often read as a class and pupils take turns to read aloud to the class or in small groups. This builds confidence. Tasks include: Hot seating a character, Writing letters or essays using the novel as a starting point, Drama activities such as news conferences or news reports based on the novel, Writing a book review for the novel.

How you can help with reading at home... Research shows reading with your children is a major factor in helping your child’s education. Five finger rule. Read aloud to them. Share the reading (you read one line, they read one line) Read a range of books to develop vocabulary and language. Pointing out words they may not know and explain the meaning beforehand.

How you can help with reading at home... Talk about books Discuss characters and story. Questions you could ask: What do you think will happen next? Which part of the story did you like best? Why? Who is your favourite character? Why? Who is the most important character in the story? Where does the story take place? What would you change about the story?

How you can help with reading at home... If it’s a non-fiction text... Ask what new facts they have found out. Get them to ask you a question about what they have read and YOU can find the information. Ask why the text has been written PURPOSE? Why would you read it?

How you can help with reading at home... It is important they read a RANGE of texts both fiction and non-fiction either in print or online. Magazines Stories Newspapers Comics Joke books Facts and figures.

How you can help with reading... POP! GAME Looking for clues in pictures. Find something that interests them. Use the Internet. Use the local library Examples and ideas can be found in your pack.

Speaking and Listening...what we do... Individual speeches. Group work activities Discussions Role plays Talk WITH others Talk TO others.

How you can help with speaking and listening at home... Talk is the basis for developing reading and writing. A wide oral vocabulary will help your child to develop confidence and will also develop writing skills. Play word games in the car or at home eg. I went to the shop and I bought....use the alphabet to choose items in order. Lets play....

How you can help with speaking and listening at home... You might have “word of the week” this could be a word you came across while reading or while watching TV. At the end of the week discuss how many times each of you has used the word during the week.

How you can help with speaking and listening at home... Develop talk around strange or interesting items you may have seen or everyday objects where has it come from? Why is it here? For example... Use money to try and create a story as to where it might have been, who might have had it before you?

How you can help with speaking and listening at home... While in the car try to make up conversations other drivers might be having. What are they talking about? Where are they going? What will they do when they get there? Try to develop their imaginations and encourage creativity.

Word games to play with S and L... Barrier game – lego Get them to repeat back what has been said. Ask them to describe characters from books or TV in their own words. 5 word weather/topic 1 minute talk – talk about a topic for 1 minute.

To summarise... Encourage your child and try to build their confidence. Verbally reward them for trying. All three strands of English are linked so it is important to try and build confidence in all three areas.

Finally... Thank you For coming