Introduction
Philosophy
Getting started:
Traditionally, children talk only in response to teachers’ questions by putting
their hands up and waiting to be chosen. This can often result in:
- the same children answering questions each time;
- children waiting so long that they forget what they want to say;
- shy children not contributing;
- all interaction being between the child and the teacher;
- the teacher dominating the talk time.
The time taken up with ‘hands-up’ sessions could be devoted to paired
talking! This will result in:
- greater involvement by all;
- less time spent waiting;
- more opportunities for language development;
- reluctant or shy children being involved;
- more focused learning;
- increased interaction between children;
- more interaction between all children and teacher;
- more opportunities for creative and exciting discussion.
Organisation:
Introducing talk-partners requires careful preparation and planning. To
engage in meaningful and purposeful dialogue children need guidance on:
- the courtesies of speaking and listening;
- the skills of speaking and listening;
- topic appropriate language;
- how to elaborate upon the partner’s contributions;
- how to report clearly and succinctly the points discussed;
- how to stay on task.
Steps to introducing talk partners:
Teachers find that the use of talk-partners is most effective when they:
- identify opportunities for talk partners at the planning stage;
- consider the dynamics of the class and think how to pair the children –
same ability; mixed ability; friendship; gender; same first language.
(Research has shown that frequently changed, random pairings work
best. This system is considered to be fair by the children).
- establish speaking and listening ground rules with the children;
- build up the talk-partners skills in small steps;
- be prepared for unexpected avenues that may enhance the quality of
the talk;
- model speaking courtesies;
- model the vocabulary to be used;
- model questioning;
- model responding.
Opportunities:
Across the curriculum, whenever the children would normally be asked to
respond to questions with ‘hands-up’!
Introduce talk-partners in literacy with a topic such as a character profile or a
recount using who? what? where? when? why? as the scaffold questions.
When children are confident with the techniques and rules, use talk-partners
across the curriculum.
See Speaking and Listening materials and Excellence and Enjoyment
resources for cross-curricular ideas for Speaking and Listening.
(NEW SECTION)
Questions to enhance talk
Skilled questioning can maximise the potential of the learning opportunity and
generate high-level thinking and discussion. It also provides an excellent
model for pupils who need to adopt self-questioning strategies. The best
questions are open-ended and give pupils scope for a variety of answers.
There is no right or wrong answer, merely different interpretations of the
issues. This raises confidence as children feel that what they have to say has
value. It is useful and illuminating to ask children how they arrive at their
answers and to justify their conclusions.
Skilful questioning demands a range of responses.
 Questions prompt pupils to inspect their existing knowledge and
experiences to create new understandings.
 Questions focus pupils on the key issues.
 Questioning model for pupils how experienced learners seek meaning.
 Questioning is a key method of differentiation.
See question squares Appendix ?
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What is your opinion? What evidence
do you have o support your view?
Using all the evidence available, can
you tell me what you feel about…?
Given what you know about…what do
you think?
How would the views put across in
these texts affect your views on…?
What would this character think
about…? (Possibly a present day
issue)
5. Questions requiring synthesis:
2. Simple Comprehension Questions:
What do you think is happening here?
What happened in the story?
What might this mean?
Through whose eyes is the story told?
Which part of the story best describes
the setting?
 Which words and/or phrases do this?
 What part of the story do you like the
best?
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4. Analytical questions:
What makes you think that?
What words give you that impression? 
How do you feel about…?
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Can you explain why…?
Do you agree with ---‘s opinion?
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I wonder what the writer intended?
I wonder why the writer has decided
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to…?
What was in the author’s mind?
What do these words mean and why do 
you think the writer chose them?
How has the author used adjectives to
make this character funny?
Why did the author choose this setting?
Can you support your view with
evidence?
Are there any familiar patterns you
notice e.g. familiar story structure,
images?
1. Recall Questions:
Where does the story take place?
When did the story take place?
What did s/he/it look like?
Who was s/he/it?
Where did s/he/it live?
Who are the key characters in the
book?
 Where in the book would you find….?
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 What makes this a successful story?
What evidence do you have to justify
your opinion?
 Does it work?
 Could it be better? Is it as good as…?
 Which is better and why?
6. Evaluation Questions:
3. Application Questions:
 Can you think of another story that has
a similar theme e.g. good over evil,
weak over strong, wise over foolish?
 Do you know another story that deals
with the same issues e.g. social,
cultural, or moral issues?
 Which other author handles time in this
way? E.g. flashbacks, dreams.
 Which other stories have openings like
this?
Prompt Sheets for Guided Reading Sessions
Appendix ?
These can be photocopied onto coloured card, cut into squares and collated with a split pin in
the top left corner. They are useful prompts for teachers, teaching assistants and children.
A range of questions to develop different types of thinking and
responding.
The following is a list of different types of questions with useful prompts/
response stems that children can use during talk-partner time or responding
whole-class. Some teachers find that enlarging and displaying the response
speech bubbles provides a useful addition to the working wall. The teacher
can indicate the most appropriate stem with which to start a response.
Questions to develop: Classifying
 Which of these go together? Why?
 Can any of these be put together?
 How are these things alike/similar/
different?
 What could you call these groups?
 What are the characteristics of all
the things in this group?
 What criteria have been used to
classify these?
 How could you rearrange . . .?
 How could you compare . . .
and . . .?
 Can you find another way to . ?
Response stems for Classifying
These go
together
because . . .
These can be
put together
because . . .
These things are
alike/similar/different
because . . .
All of the
things in this
group have . . .
You could
rearrange
these by . . .
Questions to develop: Describing
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


What is . . . like?
What can you see?
What did you notice about . . .?
How would you describe . . .?
Questions to develop: Evaluating
 Do you think this is a good/bad
thing? Why?
 Do you agree with this? Why?
 How do you feel about this? Why?
 Is there anything you would have
done differently? Why?
 Why was this done? Do you think it
was a good idea?
These
groups could
be called . . .
The criteria
used to
classify these
are . . .
You could
compare
these by . . .
Another way
to . . .
Response stems for Describing
This is
like . .
.
We can see
...
We would
describe this
as . . .
We
notice
that . . .
Response stems for Evaluating
We think this
is a good/bad
thing because .
..
This makes us
feel . . .
because . . .
We agree/disagree
with this because . . .
If we had done
this we would
have . . .
This was done because . . .
We think it was a good/bad
idea because . . .
Questions to develop: Explaining
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Why does . . .?
How do you . . .?
Why did this happen . . .?
Why do you think that . . .?
What caused this?
What might be the result of . . .?
Why do you think so?
 Can anyone think of another reason/
explanation ?
 Can you explain. .?
Response stems for Explaining
This
happened
because . .
.
The result
of this could
be . . .
because . . .
Questions to develop: Generalising
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What is true about all of these?
What can you tell us about . . .?
What have you found out about . . .?
What seems to be generally true
about . . .?
 What have you learned about . .?
 What conclusions can you draw
now?
 What does this tell you about . . .?
Questions to develop: Predicting and
Hypothesising
 What are we going to see at . . .?
 What would/might happen if . . .?
 If . . . , what do you think will be the
result?
 What would it be like if . . .?
 What would you do if . . .?
Another reason
or explanation
could be that . . .
What is true
about all of
these is . . .
We have
found out
this about . .
.
It’s
possible
that . . .
What is
generally true
about this is . . .
We have
learned that . .
.
This tells
us that . . .
We have
concluded
that . . .
Response stems for Inferring
This could
explain
that . . .
We think that
what is
happening here
is . . . because . .
.
We think they
did this
because . . .
We don’t
agree . . . we
think . . .
What might
have caused
this is . . .
We think they must
be feeling . . .
because . . .
Response stems for Predicting and Hypothesising
We think
that we will
see . . .
If this
happens we
would . . .
If this
happens, we
think that . . .
Questions to develop:
Recalling information
 How many . . .?
 Where is . . .?
 In which year did..?
 Why did . . .?
This was
caused by . . .
Response stems for Generalising
Questions to develop: Inference
 Can you explain from this how . .
.?/why?
 What do you think might be
happening here? Why?
 What do think might cause this?
 Why do you think they did this?
 How do you imagine they are
feeling?
 Can anyone think of a different
idea?
We think
that this . . .
This would
happen if . . .
Stems for Recalling information
There
are . . .
. . . did this
because . . .
From Pauline Gibbons ‘Learning to Learn in a Second Language’.
. . . is
This happened
in . . .
Guided Talk
Guided talk is a structured session, led by an adult with a clear focus to
develop spoken language. It provides an ideal opportunity to develop talkpartners and teach the skills of speaking and listening.
Guided sessions in Literacy are part of the teaching sequence for writing and
should be positioned in the sequence in the same way, and with the same
status, as guided writing – after shared writing and before independent work.
The talk will be ‘presentation talk’ - oral rehearsal for writing.
Guided sessions in mathematics will focus on the language of problem solving
including word problems and ‘finding all possibilities’. The aspect of speaking
and listening will be group interaction and the talk ‘process talk’.
Steps for carrying out a guided talk session:
 Introduce the topic to the children and the learning objective.
 Briefly go over ground rules for good speaking and listening.
 Give children a question or prompt for them to discuss and brainstorm
ideas, in order to activate prior knowledge and build upon previous
experience;
 Use a Talk planner as a guide to scaffold the language which children
should aim to use in their responses, e.g. I think that…… If we did this
then…..etc
 Model correct language structures using the children’s ideas.
 Summarise points made and discuss how they will be used to look at
the written piece
Guided talk should:
- be lead by a TA or teacher with a group of about six children
- last approximately 20 minutes
- initially be conducted as part of the daily literacy or maths lesson but can
be used across the curriculum
- can be used for learners who require additional language support or any
other group you wish to target
- involve the use of speaking frames/talk planners for scaffolding talk.
The characteristics of well-planned opportunities for talk as a process
are:
- Clear learning intentions and outcome;
- Opportunities to activate prior knowledge;
- Modelling (activity, roles and language);
- Explicit teaching of speaking and listening courtesies;
- Explicit teaching of how to collaborate;
- A real purpose for collaboration and for talk;
- Active engagement;
- Attention to groupings;
- A role for everyone;
- Time limited, well paced, stages;
- Opportunities for reflecting (plenary or mini-plenary).
See the Lancashire Literacy Website for lots
more Speaking and Listening prompts. These
can be laminated and used to remind children
about the courtesies and skills of Speaking
and Listening.
www.lancsngfl.ac.uk - Primary National
Strategy – Literacy – Speaking and Listening
Talking is for two people – listen
to your partner
Talk-Partners’ Agreement
I will try to:
 listen carefully to my partner;
 look at my partner when they are talking to me;
 take an interest in what they are saying;
 use encouraging body language and facial expressions;
 let my partner say what they wish to say;
 listen to, and think about my talk-partner’s ideas;
 be patient;
 not to interrupt;
 give reasons for my opinions, ideas or arguments;
 accept that my partner might not agree with me;
 respond to what my partner says;
 share and explain my ideas and what I already know;
 compromise if our opinions differ;
 accept responsibility for decisions;
 not claim credit for all the good ideas;
 blame my partner for any mistakes.