I spent some time examining the Second Level Experiences and Outcomes for Language. Teachers have the responsibility of enforcing correct language and literacy across all areas of the Curriculum. Within this topic, there are three areas that need to be covered and passed through assessment and examination, these are: listening and talking, reading, and writing.

I recall from own personal experience, that the teacher would ask the class note any facts that the learned from the documentaries she would play for us. After the documentary ended, we would share our facts and collate them in groups, and then share these collated facts with the rest of the class. This allowed for individual thought, groupwork and classwork. It invites the opportunity to communicate by listening and talking to peers.

The most memorable reading experience for me at primary school was when the class was split into groups, each group was given a different book to read, discuss, analyse and summarise. My group was given ‘Greyfriars Bobby’ by Eleanor Atkinson. I remember not taking an interest in this book as I found the Scottish dialect too difficult to understand and I did not push myself to read it. I understand now that the teacher was trying to challenge the group, however, this text was too advanced for our age group. I will learn from this and ensure that pupils I work with are challenged but not so much that they lose interest and therefore learning time.

I was given many writing opportunities at school. Regularly we were instructed to write short stories, redraft them and share them with our peers. This was one of my favourite lessons as it allowed for creativeness as well as testing our writing abilities and literacy skills. I will allow time for this when I teach as I believe it is the best way to allow children to express themselves and build on their skills, as well as allowing the teacher to assess their abilities.

Listening and talking, reading, and writing skills are essential for development and success in a child’s future learning experiences. Therefore, it is crucial that I, as an educator, enforce correct literacy across all lessons within the classroom.