Up and Away - National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

Class organisation
Whole class.
Individual. Pairs.
Theme
Use with any of the Units of
Work of the primary
curriculum.
Aims
Develop speaking skills.
Learn new vocabulary in
known contexts.
Develop literacy skills based on
pupils’ own language.
Materials/preparation
To focus on full sentences,
make multiple copies of page
234 to A3 size.
Make multiple copies of page
235 to focus on word sequence
in sentences.
Scissors.
Notes
It may be necessary to
reformulate what pupils say,
helping with structure and
supplying vocabulary.
Asking pupils to cut up the
sentences into individual words
encourages them to think
about spacing between words.
Time
The time taken will vary
according to:
The ability of the pupils.
The amount of language
that is put into writing.
The number of activities
undertaken.
Ideally spend 5-20 minutes on
any one activity.
Section 6 Literacy development for older pupils
Using pupils’ own language
Focus Time
See ‘Notes’ below.
Type of activity
Varied.
Method
1. Approaches for generating spoken language
Provide pupils with a focus for talking by:
Using photographs and clip art of places, people, objects,
situations, etc. that are familiar to the class.
Using pictures from textbooks.
Using a picture which pupils have drawn and invite them to
describe or tell a story about it.
Using a picture story.
Holding a session on ‘My news’.
2. Using oral language for practice activities
Write sentences produced by pupils on to strips of paper, one
sentence per strip – see page 234.
3. Developing reading and writing skills
After the pupils have read through the sentences a number of
times and are familiar with the content, use the following
activities. Pupils work together to manipulate the strips of paper.
A. Sequencing (whole text)
i. Mix up the strips of paper (i.e. the sentences).
ii. Pupils work together to put the sentences in order. Start with
two or three sentences and build up until the whole text is being
worked on.
N.B. Use this activity only if the pupils’ language has a logical
sequence, such as with a story.
B. Sequencing (sentences)
i. Take one of the strips of paper (i.e. one sentence) and cut it into
individual words.
ii. Pupils sequence the words to remake the sentence.
iii. Repeat with the other sentences.
C. Rewriting
i. Start with the first sentence of the text. Cut the strip into
individual words and place them in the wrong order.
ii. Pupils remake the correct sentence.
iii. They then write out the sentence (use Worksheet F on page
209). Repeat with the other sentences to complete the full text.
Continued on next page.
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