Speaking and listening Teacher Notes
(Use this information after the 3 Card Speaking and Listening Activity to discuss
Appendix A-Speaking and Listening and the Anchor Standards for Speaking and
Listening.)
Ask, “What did you
notice about the roleplay of the cell phone
call verses what you
heard as you listened
to the excerpt from A
Family Apart?” (p. 4247)
Possible answer: When we read or listen to something
being read to us, we hear a form of Standard English that
differs from the language we hear in most conversations.
In book or literate language, we hear:
1. More stylistic formalities
2. Less repetition
3. Careful construction of words and sentences (no
words like “uh,” “like,” “you know,” etc.)
4. Vocabulary that tends to be precise, unusual,
descriptive, and topic-specific
5. Sentences that may be long and complex
6. Sentences that may be joined together by
conjunctions
7. Paragraphs that usually have main ideas, details,
and transition sentences
8. Meaning that is carefully expressed in the words
because there are no cues such as tone, gestures,
facial expressions, etc.
Have participants turn
1. Both oral and written language have a receptive and
to p. 27 in Appendix A.
an expressive component
Tab this page. Have
2. Listening to expressive language will help us speak
them notice the ties
more expressively and also write more expressively
between oral language
(mentor text)
and written language
3. Research supports that if we learn to comprehend
on the chart found on
what we listen to, then after we decode well enough
p. 27. (There are
to read for ourselves, comprehension will come
further explanations
easier
about this on page
4. There is an overall tie between speaking and
28.)
listening and reading and writing and both have an
expressive and receptive form
Discuss the Hart and
Important things to point out about listening:
Risley study on page
1. Early language competence accurately predicts the
27 of Appendix A.
language and reading comprehension in grade 3
students
2. Last sentence on p. 27-There is strong evidence
suggesting that children’s listening comprehension
outpaces reading comprehension until the middle
school years. Therefore, learning to comprehend
well while listening is still important in 4th and 5th
grade if we want them to comprehend what they
P. 28- Point out that
oral language is most
important for young
students and students
at risk because of
second language
learning or lack of
language exposure in
the home. However,
older students can
benefit from listening
to formal language as
long as it doesn’t take
the place of their own
reading.
Turn to the College
and Career Readiness
Anchor Standards for
Speaking and
Listening on p. 24 of
the core standards.
Tab and discuss how
students in the upper
grades benefit from
speaking and listening
instruction.
Working in small
groups, have
participants look at
the anchor standards
and their grade level
standards for
speaking and listening
and list the activities
read.
Possible benefits of older students listening to formal
language (in short segments):
1. To work on comprehension when text is new,
difficult, or very complex
2. To hear quality writing or expressive reading and
language
Benefits of older students listening to others:
1. Learning to listen attentively and build on what
others say
2. Listening intently enough to evaluate another
person’s point of view
Benefits of older students receiving instruction on
speaking:
1. As we mentioned before, speaking has a strong tie to
writing
2. Speaking to others or verbalizing information is
very helpful in:
a. Developing ideas
b. Arguing or stating an opinion
c. Getting information into memory
d. Learning to work with others
e. Learning to present information or to
persuade others
f. Preparing students to speak in formal
settings for a specific purpose and audience
1. Close Reading has a strong speaking and listening
component
2. Any of the group or paired activities
3. Photo Gallery Walk
4. Three Card Activity
5. (Other possibilities)
that we have done so
far this week that
would fit under these
standards.