Talk with Tales for Children (TWiTCH) teaches practitioners how to use story time as a daily opportunity for complex language interactions between children and adults. It also supports the use of teacher/child talk through language games to develop children’s thinking and reasoning skills and gives them the language to express complicated thoughts and ideas. TWiTCH draws on the principles of dialogic pedagogy by using dilemmas and moral concepts in stories as the basis for discussion and activity.
What does the training involve?
During TWiTCH you will learn practical strategies for helping ALL children in the classroom to build language and reasoning skills. The strategies can be easily woven into your Storytime slot. Each strategy is designed to engage and maintain the interest of the child, making language and literacy-learning a fun and natural part of their day. The programme is based on 9 story cycles, with each cycle lasting for 3 weeks.
Week 1: focuses on developing knowledge and understanding of the story through dialogic reading prompts.
Week 2: focus is on language reasoning games that are based on the story and is intended to develop children’s language to express complex ideas.
Week 3: focus on children who may need additional input - set up continuous provision, retelling of the story etc. to consolidate learning and develop language.
The programme will provide you with ample opportunities to practice each strategy with the children. Peer reflections will be facilitated by the setting’s TWiTCH champion and supported by your designated TWITCH coach.
The TWiTCH Programme
The training will start from September 2023 running until July 2024 and will be delivered by early years specialists from Sheffield Hallam University. A minimum of 3 practitioners will access 2 in house training workshops (2x3 hours), interspersed with 3 face-to-face and 3 virtual coaching visits where practitioners use videos of their interactions or are observed by the coach to review and plan for the next stages. TWiTCH Champions will attend two half day online training sessions and 3 online 1-hour network events. In between the coaching visit, the TWiTCH Champion will support practitioners to undertake collaborative reflections about their ongoing engagement with TWiTCH.
To express your interest in this free fully-funded programme, please visit: https://forms.gle/DFanpQqUUh9WrGRB9