The most powerful skill for teaching with Chatta is your own oral sentence composition and modelling. The pupils hearing and seeing you composing sentences in real time, for any purpose, any content and any audience is central to their own language development.
When you make a Chatta board with the class, it’s just like creating a model of writing, but with spoken words. It’s quick, adaptable, fluid and allows you to show the children where language comes from.
If you are teaching instructions, speak in the style of an instructor, if it’s a report, speak as if a reporter, if it’s a story, speak as a storyteller etc.
Practising this skill is quick and easy. You have it already! Accompanying your oral composition with a Chatta board unlocks new skills for your class. They will learn to do what you can do, both in their speaking and writing.
Here are some activities to help you practise, you’ll realise you do this already and you are already highly skilled. It’s basically turning thoughts into words for any audience and purpose.
(Practise alone, with a partner, with your class as an audience or even recording yourself and playing back with Chatta. Make the words up as you go, but be clear on style, purpose and audience. Try to include appropriate vocabulary and phrasing.)
1: Speaking as a news reporter: An elephant has escaped from the zoo and you are reporting live from the scene. 60 second newsflash! What’s happened? Where? When? Who? Why? 
2: Speaking as a TV chef: Instruct viewers on how to make your favourite sandwich. What do they need? What are the steps? What are the skills? Etc. 
3: Speaking as a disappointed customer: Complain to a restaurant manager about your poor dining experience. What went wrong? What had you expected? What do you want them to do about it? 
4: Speaking as a salesperson: Persuade a customer to buy your new invention. (make something up – a pen that writes in multiple colours, an everlasting gobstopper, a robot that polishes shoes – whatever !!). Explain the features benefits and seal the deal! 
5: Speaking as a CBeebies presenter: With 60 seconds to fill in the schedule, make up and tell a story about a lost teddy bear and its journey home. Where is the bear? How did it get lost? What happened to bring it home? Describe the happy reunion with its owner! 
6: Speaking as a biographer: Recount the life and achievements of your favourite celebrity, historical figure or even family member (or make someone up!). Describe their background, accomplishments and challenges in life.
7: Speaking as a teacher: Explain the rules and structures of your classroom. Be clear and concise and expand on the reasons these rules matter. 
8: Speaking as a sports commentator: Describe (as if watching live) a football goal, a champion swimmer’s win, even a horse race. What is happening? What skills are at play? What is the outcome? 
9: Speaking as a weather forecaster: Give a 60 second forecast for your local area. What is the temperature? Any wind or rain? Any unusual weather phenomenon occurring? Any advice for people driving or setting off to go outside? 
10: Speaking as a carpet fitter: Explain to your customer how you’d like them to prepare the room. What should they remove? Clean? Provide etc.
These are just practice activities. Have a go – however and wherever you choose! It will help you with your Chatta activities and support you as you sharpen the skill of composing sentences and sequences of sentences for any purpose/content/outcome or audience.
Take a look at this short video to see each of the examples above.
