An approach to writing by Pie Corbett and Julia Strong Talk 4 Writing An approach to writing by Pie Corbett and Julia Strong

What is Talk For Writing? Talk for Writing, developed by Pie Corbett and supported by Julia Strong, is powerful because it is based on the principles of how children learn. Talk for Writing enables children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before they try reading and analysing it. Through fun activities that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need, followed by shared writing to show them how to craft their writing, children are helped to write in the same style.

The process: Information texts The “Cold” piece of writing On your paper, please write a short paragraph about lions.

Teacher assessment for differentiation The class teacher will look carefully at the pieces of writing and give the children ways forward. She may also group them according to Punctuation targets Vocabulary targets Connective targets

Features and purpose of the text type Children will now be given a wide variety of information texts in order to discover the main features of this type of text such as Sub titles Facts Questions Present tense Illustrations, Glossary

Rehearse specific spelling and language patterns Stage 1: Imitation The children will then Learn a text orally Draw a text map Rehearse specific spelling and language patterns Read and annotate the text

Tigers Tigers are huge, powerful animals that live only in Asia. Although most tigers live in warm places, they can find very hot weather uncomfortable. Some tigers live in cold areas of China. These tigers have longer fur to protect them. Tigers have striped fur that helps to camouflage them so they can hunt their prey. They are carnivores – this means they eat meat. Their sharp, front teeth can tear their prey. Hunting and cutting down forests have reduced the number of tigers in the wild and they are now very rare.

Stage 2: innovation- shared writing Title   Elephants What they are- definition/ description of habitat Elephants are… What they eat and how they hunt Elephants only eat… Final issue, important or amazing fact/ point. Due to….. This writing is self, peer and teacher assessed and ways forward given.

Stage 3: Independent application The children write their own text about an animal they have researched, paying particular attention to their targets. This is called the “Hot piece.” The genre can be revisited, where possible, throughout the curriculum to embed the language and features.