1. No Pens Day Wednesday Assembly
Use this assembly presentation in what ever way works best for you

2. Technology is great...and getting better all the time.
Talk about mobile phones, texting, facebook etc

3. We use it to communicate...with family, friends and teachers.
Ask who they text / phone, how? – one example is of parents who text their kids when dinner is ready? We know of teachers using facebook aps in the classroom to support learning (eg Talk Gym) and young people who text and face book to organise meeting up with friends, keep in touch, feel popular??

4. But imagine the human race in thousands of years time.?

5. Will we evolve to only communicate with technology?

6. Would we miss talking and listening to each other?

7. Maybe...Maybe not.
Ask what they think?

8. The truth is – talking and listening are vital.
Ask why they think its important – to make friends, in the workplace, talk to family, solve problems, listen and understand teachers, work out disagreements, talking and writing are linked – without language to talk and understand, you would struggle to have the words to read and write

9. Talking and listening are really important to help us learn
Scientists and researchers say talking and listening are really important to help us learn.
Talking and listening are really important to help us learn
Research around links between language and literacy
Importance of talk in the classroom for problem solving

10. Employers want people with good communication skills...
I ain’t talkin to no customers bruv
I is free
Lots of research to say employers want people who can talk, listen, understand, pick up on new terminology quickly, work as a team, negotiate, have good customer service skills, adapt their communication style to different people in different situations etc

11. ...and need them to be able to make friends and socialise with others.

12. It starts when we’re babies...
Gurgle

13. ...by age 4 or 5 we can do it pretty well...
Once upon a time...

14. ...and believe it or not – we carry on learning how to communicate in high school.
At 11 we get that words have double meanings
E.g. “What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?” Answer: “Frostbite”
At 13/14 we can use sarcasm as a way to interact with mates and adults we know well
E.g. “Cool dance dad!”
By 18 we use language much more imaginatively for social interaction
E.g. That’s so many colours of wrong

15. And although writing is important...

16. ...today, we’re going to put down our pens and learn just by talking and listening.

17. We’ll learn just as much with different activities.

18. Your job is to decide which activities and lessons work best..
Best lesson

19. ...when writing would have been useful and whether you think more or less of these activities would help you learn.
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