Talking in Sentences

Use this book to help those students who'd rather nod or shrug their shoulders, use single words, or wait for you to talk for them instead of Talking in Sentences !

It’s easy for you, fun for your students and absolutely foolproof!

This hands-on manual is intended for speech/language pathologists or teachers working with young children in preschool, kindergarten or primary grades who are helping students to learn to talk in sentences.

Over 50 syntax elements are presented on two pages, a picture page for the student and a guide page for teachers. Students become familiar with the same 14 characters who are shown throughout the book and named in the sentence targets. Teachers become comfortable using the same basic format for each lesson. Best of all, lessons result in students generating their own correctly formulated sentences!

Students will construct sentences using:

• subject/verb
• subject/verb/object
• descriptive phrases
• adverb phrases
• contractions
• various verb tenses
• conditional clauses
• indirect objects
• and much, much more

Here’s how it works - each lesson:

• Introduce target in conversational sentences
• Model the target in receptive language tasks
• Prompt a student by giving a starting point of and the content within each sentence
• Reinforce a student's use of targets in less structured, conversational sentences talking about their own experiences

Teachers and students are comfortable using this familiar format as they work toward more and more complex sentences.

It’s easy to demonstrate this method to parents and classroom teachers who are also trying to encourage students to use sentences.

Table of Contents

Introduction

This is (name, female)

This is (name,male)

This is (item)

Name/she is (action)

Name/he is (action)

Name and name (they) are (action)

Person (noun/pronoun) can/can't (action)

Name has(item) his (item)

Name has (item) her (item)

Name and name have (item) their (item)

Animal has (feature)

Animals have (feature)

Name pronoun likes/doesn't like (item)

Name pronoun likes/doesn't like to (action)

Person is (action) and (action)

Item is (phrase; location: in, on)

Person is (phrase; location: in front, between, behind, next to)

Animal (descriptive phrase) is (location

Person (descriptive phrase) is (action)

Animal (descriptive phrase) is (phrase including modifier, location)

Person (descriptive phrase) is (specific worker)

I know where to put (item)

Person knows where to find (item)

Person doesn't know where to find/can't find item)

Person knows when to (action or verb phrase)

Person knows how to (action or verb phrase)

Person is looking at (item)

Person (is talking/thinking about or wants to talkabout) (item)

Person (verb phrase) (time phrase; morning/afternoon)

Event happens (time phrase; day/night)

Someone (verb phrase) (under certain conditions)

Someone knows how/doesn't know how to(verb phrase)

Teacher teaches someone how to (verb phrase)

Teacher teaches someone about (item)

Parents show children how to/tell children not to (verb phrase)

Person and person like to (action) and (action) (phrase; location)

Person and person (past action) and (past action) (phrase; location) (day)

Person/animal needs (item) so she can (action or verb phrase)

People should(verb phrase)

People are supposed to (verb phrase)

Person knows where he is supposed to (verb phrase)

Someone,no one is (action)

Anyone, everyone, no one; various positions in sentences

Comparative sentences

Person/people (past action) himself/herself/themselves

Person would like to (verb phrase)

Person/people would (action) if (condition)

Person (action); (indirect object) (item)

Person (action) (object or compliment) but (unexpected outcome)

Simple stories; simple sentence formulation activities