A fun, easy way to develop vocabulary, confidence, oracy and writing skills

Jane Cocliff is the Special Needs Co-ordinator at Kingsway Primary School. She recently watched a Year 2 whole class English lesson which was based on the Chatta approach, and was impressed with the impact on children’s vocabulary, confidence and writing.

This is what Jane said:

Confident and Engaged

The whole class were engaged from the first moment the activity started and remained so throughout the session. Children were confident and eager to share their ideas.

Children Choosing and Using Their Own Words

Children were very quickly adapting the language – using their own vocabulary choices/descriptions. They clearly understood what was required of them but were confident in expressing themselves their way – not just copying and repeating the modelled language.

 Fun and Easy

Chatta is a fun, easy to use approach that helps to build children’s vocabulary/confidence and writing skills. It models how sentences could be phrased but encourages children to try out their own ideas. It provides the scaffolding – a starting point to generate exciting sentences/descriptions/accounts etc. It also provides the opportunity for children to rehearse their ideas – try them out before even thinking about writing anything.

You don’t hear ‘I don’t know what to write!’

Chatta makes a difference because it encourages sharing of ideas, it builds confidence – it extends the children’s vocabulary – it gives them a way to move forward with their work (with Chatta, you don’t hear – “I don’t know what to write”) without them realising that this is actually work.

A Flexible Resource

Staff throughout school build Chatta into their weekly timetables – for different reasons and at different points in children’s learning. It is a flexible resource that can be used throughout the curriculum.

Our staff have commented on how the new system is so easy to use – the ability to insert pictures instantly is such a useful tool.

Chatta Gets Children Talking

We like how Chatta gets children talking – it encourages them to articulate their ideas and listen to other ideas too. We also like how Chatta helps to develop/broaden children’s vocabulary. They hear big/amazing words and then use them themselves. 

Magical and Amazing. Chatta Enables Children to Shine.

Observing Chatta in action can be quite magical – I have seen children who have very little confidence create amazing sentences and happily share them. Chatta enables them to shine.

Thank you Jane for sharing your helpful feedback.