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Language and Literacy



What is it?


question1.png English Language
  • Listening for enjoyment and information
  • Speaking with confidence to convey meaning and to communicate with others
  • Reading with enjoyment and understanding
  • Using symbols, letter-like shapes, letters and words with invented and conventional spelling to communicate ideas and information

Mother Tongue Language
  • Enjoying and showing an interest in learning MTL.
  • Developing foundational language and literacy skills in MTL
  • Developing an awareness of their local ethnic culture

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Why is it important?


question1.png Early bilingualism where children learn both the English Language and Mother Tongue Language:
  • Is crucial for the development of children’s thinking and learning
  • Helps children connect with friends and people around them
  • Builds confidence and contributes to personal growth
  • Has cognitive benefits for children and affirms children’s cultural identity

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Poetry for Young Children


Poetry is a fun and engaging way to develop children’s phonological awareness.  Phonological awareness is about understanding the sound structure of oral language at the word, syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels.

Learn how you can use poetry to help develop phonological awareness in your children!

Limericks Limericks
Limericks are short funny poems with a specific rhyme scheme. How can children identify rhyming words within the limerick?
Limericks Limericks
Once children are familiar with the structure of a limerick, they can try creating their own!
Acrostic poems Acrostic poems
In acrostic poems, the first, last or other letters in a line spell out a particular word. How do acrostic poems develop phonological awareness in children?
Acrostic poems Acrostic poems
Acrostic poems also help children become familiar with vocabulary related to the theme of the poem.
Dramatisation Dramatisation
Children can also dramatise their own poems! This provides opportunities for them to express their thoughts and ideas.
Reflection Reflection
Get children to reflect on what they have learnt about poetry to consolidate their learning. What questions and prompts can you use to guide them?
Family involvement Family involvement
Engage families in activities such as co-creating poems with their children. How else can you involve them in supporting their children’s development?

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Shared Writing


In order to spell and write words, children should be able to link letters to their sounds and understand that letters are used to write the sounds they hear in words. Teachers can help them achieve this understanding by using shared writing to model the writing process. Learn more about how shared writing can be used to develop children’s early literacy skills.
Getting started Getting started

Select a shared experience and encourage children to talk about it by asking them questions such as: How did you build your truck? What materials did you use?

Getting started Getting started

Provide an authentic context for shared writing based on the experience, e.g. through a class story about the experience, or the materials used for making the monster truck. 

The writing process The writing process

Have the children suggest words or sentences for the shared writing. Guide the children on their sentence structures before writing their suggestions down.  

The writing process The writing process

Segment words by sounding and stretching them. Get children to identify the corresponding letter for the sound they hear as you write them. 

The writing process The writing process

As the language patterns follow children’s own speech and the content is generated by their own experiences, children can see the connections between sounds and words. 

The editing process The editing process

Use the editing process to address common issues such as tenses and punctuation after the children have contributed the sentences, using different coloured markers. 

Reading the shared writing Reading the shared writing

Read the shared writing and reread it several times, modelling expression and phrasing. 

Follow-up activities Follow-up activities

Use the shared writing to discover letters and words through activities like Letter Hunt and Sight Word Hunt with your children. 

Follow-up activities Follow-up activities

Provide opportunities for children to draw and write on their own as a follow-up activity.

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