• Listening and attention

• Understanding

• Speaking

This area of learning includes communication, speaking and listening in different situations and for different purposes. Children will share conversations, play with words and language through fun activities, role play and having access to stories, rhymes and poems. They will develop confidence to use a wider range of vocabularyin appropriate situations. Attention will be developed through a range of tasks where children are required tolisten and concentrate for appropriate periods. Children will then show understanding by completing tasks, answering questions or offering comments.

How you can help:

Share lots of stories and rhymes with your child (including some without pictures or props) and encourage them to listen attentively, talking about what has happened and what they think might happen next. Ask your child to follow simple instructions when baking, shopping, playing or tidying up, e.g. “put the blue ball and the red train in the basket”. Encourage your child to join in with conversations; speaking clearly and coherently and answer and ask questions about ‘how’ and ‘why’.