Talking Matters - Korerotia mai

The Talking Matters Summit was a day of multiple opportunities to be reminded about the importance of Oral Language.


 Alison Sutton the Founder of Talking Matters set the scene for the day with - Why does talk matter? 
I loved this expression she used "Reading and Writing floats on a sea of talk" She highlighted, like many others the importance of those  connections between the brain and oral language and that it provides the platform for learning in life, it's importance in relationships and health and wellbeing.

Oral Language for Pre schoolers is an equity issue. We need to ensure all of our children are flourishing as thinkers - talkers and readers. 

One of the big take outs or reminders from the day was that not all talk is equal ...

We have an important role as educators to ensure that we are gifting our children a rich diet on a daily basis. We must ensure that our talk is varied and that our kids have multiple opportunities to serve and respond, to contribute.
Along with this children need positive talk, they need to be affirmed and encouraged and learn the language around this.
The richness of language in books was highlighted and reminded me once again of the importance of 'Reading To' our kids as this language is rich and varied and often much more complex than our every day speech. The example used was the language in Hairy Maclary, certainly not regular everyday language but language that is deliciously rich and most certainly complex.