Once you have shown and taught what makes good talk you must teach and scaffold good talk. Teaching the correct language to use in a variety of situations is crucial. Don’t assume the children will know the correct way to persuade or to explain! Scaffolding gives the children the structure to practice the language for a given purpose. You should also give plenty of opportunities for these structures to be seen in your classroom. Display them as you use them on your display boards linked to all subjects. Give the sentence stems to the children so they are in front of them in the lesson you are teaching. The more exposure you can give the better!
Here’s a scaffold I prepared for my class…
