Talk Through Stories
Talk Through Stories
Grow children’s vocabulary and comprehension
Ruth Miskin designed Talk Through Stories for all children, but especially those who do not come from ‘read a lot’ families.
The programme helps children love stories, bringing them to life through talk. It specifically and systematically builds their vocabulary and comprehension so they understand – and love – the books that they will go on to read for themselves.
How does Talk Through Stories grow children’s vocabulary and comprehension?
- Talk Through Stories grows children’s vocabulary through partner talk. Children need to talk, if we are to develop their language.
- In Story week, children get to know – and love – the story through talk: they understand the plot, the characters, and their actions and motives.
- In Vocabulary week, the talk focuses on eight words from the story. These are words that children are unlikely to hear in everyday conversation but are likely to come across in stories. For example, in I’m in Charge by Jeanne Willis, we chose bellowed, startled, barged, sneaked, grinned, dreadful, stomped, refused.
- Children develop their understanding of each word by using the words in the context of their everyday lives.
Time required for teaching
All you need is:
- your usual 20 minutes for storytime
- a further, separate ten minutes for vocabulary time.
And a bit of time for you to practise before each lesson.
The stories
We chose stories that we believe are worth reading and re-reading – stories that children will love. We began with old favourites that many teachers are likely to know, such as Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? by Martin Waddell and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
We then moved on to more recent literature, such as Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival and I am Nefertiti by Annemarie Anang and Natelle Quek.
Watch one of our online training films.
Training and resources
Talk Through Stories includes:
- detailed lesson plans for over 70 picture books
- full online training through on-demand, bitesize films
- films of stories read aloud by our in-house actor Nick Cannon.
For schools with a Read Write Inc. Phonics Training Package
All Talk Through Stories training films and lesson plans are on the School Portal and are included in your Phonics Training Package so you can get going straight away.
For schools without the Read Write Inc. Phonics Training Package
A standalone one-year subscription to the Talk Through Stories online training films and lesson plans is available:
£300 + VAT
Discounted cost for schools with 112 pupils or fewer
£200 + VAT
Access to your subscription will be through the Talk Through Stories website.