Part 1

LANGUAGE

At Eastwards Consortium, our focus is primarily on educating and developing the next generation of our society. This section showcases off our ‘Wellcomm Primary’ activity set, and below you will find a set of tabs which depict these tasks further. If you find children are struggling with a task or, on the other hand, passing with flying colours, indications and suggestions are proposed in each section to ensure you keep all children challenged and on-task as much as possible.
To view the various parts of each activity, simply click on the respective tab and watch it magically appear!

ACTIVITY 1

INFERRING MEANING FROM A SPOKEN SITUATION

MAIN ACTIVITY

1. Read out the following section from ‘How To Train Your Dragon’:

“NEVER … in FOURTEEN YEARS… have I come across such a load of HOPELESS BARNACLES as you lot. WHICH OF YOU USELESS MOLLUSKS WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WAKING UP THE DRAGONS????” “I was,” said Hiccup. Which wasn’t strictly true.” Oh, that’s BRILLIANT,” bellowed Gobber, “just BRILLIANT.  Our Future Leader shows off his magnificent Leadership Skills. At the tender age of ten and a half he does his best to annihilate himself and the rest of you in A SIMPLE MILITARY EXERCISE!”  Snotlout sniggered.  “You find something amusing about that, Snotlout?” asked Gobber, with dangerous softness. “EVERYBODY IS ON LIMPET RATIONS FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS.” The boys groaned. “Smart work, Hiccup,” sneered Snotlout. “I can’t wait to see you in action on the battlefield.” “SILENCE!” yelled Gobber. “THIS IS YOUR INITIATION, NOT A DAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY! SILENCE, OR YOU’LL BE LUNCHING ON LUGWORMS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES!”

2. Ask the child to draw out what had happened by using speech bubbles and thought bubbles.  Here is an example:

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?

– Discuss different ways of saying a phrase to change the meaning.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?

– Provide the child with choices as to what the characters might be saying or thinking.

ACTIVITY 2

INFERRING AND MAKING PREDICTIONS ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN NEXT

MAIN ACTIVITY

1. Read out the following short story to the child:

2. After the story has finished, discuss what the plot of the story was.

3. Ask the children to think of a prediction about what might happen next in the story.

4. Create a comic-strip style picture about the next events of the story.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?

– Use more complex stories and ask the pupil to justify their opinion.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?

– Use picture books to provide visual clues to the child.

– Support the child with the predictions that they could make.

ACTIVITY 3

SELECTING INFORMATION FROM A COMPLEX SPOKEN PARAGRAPH

MAIN ACTIVITY

  1. Watch the following video with the child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjT2hVlHPi0
  2. Tell the child that you want them to answer the following questions: How has football changed for women in the last 5-10 years? What is the feeling like when a trophy is raised in the air? How do you continue to get girls into the sport of football?
  3. Ask the child to tell you the answers to the questions.
  4. If the child struggles with what they need to answer, say the questions again to the child.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?

  • Use a long piece of text or paragraph of information.
  • Increase the number of questions that the child needs to answer.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?

  • Keep repeating what the child has to listen out for.
  • Give the child one thing to listen for.

ACTIVITY 4

JUSTIFYING AN OPINION AND SOMEONES ELSE'S CHOICES

MAIN ACTIVITY

  1. Watch the following video with the child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rY7A22_3m4
  2. Tell the child that you like Superman that you are happy that he is number one in the video.
  3. Tell the child that you want the child to debate why Spiderman should be number one instead of Superman.
  4. The child must make valid points in the debate.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY MORE CHALLENGING?

  • Use debates related to topics that are covered in the classroom.

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS ACTIVITY EASIER?

  • Provide the child with a choice about what they would like to debate about.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY

Choose a subject that you can discuss e.g. ‘Where to go for a day out?’ Encourage your child to give reasons for their opinions, for example, ‘I think we should visit because…’ Give your own opinions too. Following the discussion, ask your child to summarise the main points and come to an agreed decision.