Speaking and Listening Focus

July 2000 Lydiard Millicent CE Primary School

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For this issue of the Literacy Newsletter, we are celebrating the hard work and immense effort that went into producing and performing our whole school play "The Millennium Quest". In previous newsletters, we have celebrated the work of our children within reading and writing, but another important aspect of Literacy is Speaking and Listening. This skill influences a great deal of social interaction and learning, indeed, we use speaking and listening each day without even thinking about what makes a good communicator. Our celebration of the hard work which the children have put into the play has developed considerable skills within speaking and listening well beyond simply learning lines. Children have grown in confidence to address an adult audience of over 100 each night of the performance, they have had to listen to cues before entering the stage, they have spoken clearly, using expression, gauge the reaction of the audience and change the pace of their delivery accordingly and above all, make the audience believe that what is happening on stage is really happening, and that their portrayal of historical characters can be believed. These skills have been developed for the performance, prior to the complete play being performed the children have had to work together, listen to each other as they express their understanding of how a character should sound and feel confident that if anything should go wrong, be able to continue in a clear and professional way.

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