One Step at a Time

This book is specially designed to support the wider school curriculum and combine with other teaching programmes, making high quality spoken language teaching manageable within existing resources - without specialist training. It uses a mixture of whole-class teaching, small-group work and individual interaction. It serves as a tried and tested, structured programme. It provides a complete set of photocopiable planning materials. Competency in spoken language is perhaps the most important skill that children need for school, not just for literacy but also learning in all subjects, for social and emotional development, and for the development of thinking skills. Poor ability in this area is recognised as a significant problem in early years education, and a major factor in underachievement. "One Step at a Time": identifies the spoken language skills that are crucial for children's educational progress; introduces these skills one at a time, week by week, term by term, year by year; includes realistic teaching objectives and classroom procedures; and provides simple methods for monitoring individual development.