Teaching with Chatta allows you to explicitly teach vocabulary, phrasing, and language structures that fit seamlessly with every subject, purpose, and outcome.
The key to planning an impactful Chatta activity is to start with the intended outcome in mind. What do you want your pupils to understand? What’s the style and purpose of the language they’ll use?
Once you’re clear on this, you can break the content into manageable chunks and select images to create your Chatta board – a visual scaffold that guides and prompts.
Choosing the right words is straightforward, and it’s often best to compose sentences with your class during the session. Start by planning around the key words you’ll use – whether it’s vocabulary, sentence starters, fronted adverbials, or specific phrases. Jot them on the whiteboard and weave them into your Chatta board as you go.
Verbs are a great place to start. Imagine your class is preparing a first-person recount of the Great Fire of London. You might focus on describing the sights, sounds, and actions:
- The flames roared.
- The smoke billowed.
- The people fled.
- The fire rampaged.
- The animals scattered.
- The water splashed.
By writing these verbs on the board and using them in context, you’ll expose your class to rich, relevant language. Encourage and celebrate their use of these words as they build their own sentences.
You could also use sentence starters to scaffold their thinking:
- As the flames…
- Quickly, the…
- In fear and terror…
- Without warning…
- Despite the danger…
In no time, your class will be using new words and phrases confidently and correctly – whether they’re speaking or writing.
For more ideas, explore the Chatta Community templates, or let us prepare an activity plan tailored to your needs. If you’d like help planning a session, we’re just a call away.
Once you’ve tried it and seen the impact, you’ll wonder how you ever taught without it.
