Oracy and Writing: Why does your school need ‘chatta’?
It is widely known that ‘if children can’t say it, they can’t write it’
So, where do the words come from? Where do the words, phrases, idioms, metaphors, sentences and questions come from?
There has to be a context, a starting point. The language has to come from somewhere. One powerful starting point of course is experiences and another is listening to and reading books and stories.
So alongside activities our youngest children do, the words adults use can accompany the experience and lead to understanding and usage. Children use the words they hear. They use the words they hear in repetitive and traditional stories and they use the words they hear accompanying their learning activities and daily life.
As do young people and adults.
At the other end of the scale university students are exposed to academic language in texts and lectures and this becomes the language they apply and assimilate the appropriate level of language.
So, in school a teacher will expect to have more success developing language structure and vocabulary by presenting more spoken and written models and texts demonstrating their effective use.
So where does chatta fit in?
Schools using chatta create audio-visual resources for every text type/genre of writing/ subject etc. Quickly and easily.
Chatta brings together modelled language and provides opportunities for oral rehearsal, reflection and improvement.
Best of all, any content created using ‘chatta’ can be shared with parents/carers, shared online, shared on social media etc etc. In the same way schools have written models and example texts, schools have audio-visual models which can be accessed anywhere, any time.
With chatta children be and young people hear more language and practice using more language. The powerful ways chatta link memory and language quickly lead to articulate confident speakers able to engage an audience without notes or prompts, and in turn take their written work to a whole new level.
Imagine this scenario in your school: A text, topic or any subject content is shared in simple, swipable, digital format with parents and carers each week in chatta’s audio visual format. The parents’ role is to review the content with their children, and ask the children to explain it or retell it to them. That’s all. No written homework. Parents and students can also produce their own content and audio-visual content to share with school. Imagine this happening on a frequent and at least weekly basis. How much stronger with language, word choices and oral narrative can your pupils become?
With chatta there is never an issue of pupils not knowing what to write, how to begin, how to connect how to build the flow of their writing. It is effortless and becomes instinctive, entirely guided by the goals and expectations of the teacher.
To find out how ‘chatta’ is a perfect fit for the priorities of your school, please contact:
