Building understanding

Reading and writing: The Leader Says...

Primary

Communication and language

﻿Hello, everybody it's good to see you all. My name is Ray, today we are going to play a game together. Now, parents and carers, this is an opportunity really for me to share with you a way of playing a game that will draw out some language skills for your students. Not really a video this for the children, but more an instructional guide on how to draw out this understanding and this learning. So today we're focusing on putting two words together and we're going to do a name or an object and an action. Putting those two things together is quite tricky. If your child is already using those two words together, it might be an object and a descriptor like blue car, the action and the noun together, or the name and the verb is a little bit trickier. So let's see how we do. The game is called the leader says. So somebody is going to be in charge and bossing us all around. Let's take a look at what we might need for this lesson. We'll set up the room and then let's get started. Okay, what might you need for this lesson? So recommended and not required. If you have a symbol user working with you. If the child is a symbol user, or uses an eye gaze, please do make sure that those symbols, even if they're just drawn on pieces of paper are available, make sure that the child is familiar with them as well. Here, I've suggested run, jump, spin, lie down, stamp, clap, nod your head, et cetera. Things that would be familiar to the child already. Very useful in playing this game, some enthusiastic people. But those are hard to get hold of sometimes. So if you don't have a crowd of enthusiastic people to come and play the leader game, then have a look for some stuffed toys, cuddly toys, or the little characters that might want to join in. It may be motivating for your child to select for themselves who is going to play this game with us. And then they can go and get their favourite toys, favourite characters. A crown or a silly hat is a nice idea for the leader to wear so that they feel important. Can be quite daunting for anybody to give instructions, especially to a grownup. So sometimes the fun is in the donning the hats, donning that character almost so that they then have the confidence to speak and to give out these instructions and to combine these two words together. So press pause while you go and get your things ready. And next, we'll have a look at how to prepare the room ready for learning,. Getting the room ready for learning. I would recommend reducing distractions within the room. That might mean closing the curtains so that we can't see the streets outside, it may mean turning off a fan, it may mean turning off an overhead lights or the television. But as well as repairing the room, we must prepare the children to be ready for learning as well. Some children will require a run around outside first to exercise their hands maybe to begin, perhaps a snack, perhaps an opportunity to change position, to take splints off, whatever is the best position for them to be learning, you will know that best. Really important to create some interest, that curiosity and anticipation for the child, by sharing the resources that you've gathered together. Talking about what might happen, show the excitement. If you model how excited you are to begin, then that will be infectious. And the child will be really interested in the lesson coming up. So press pause while you get the room ready, make sure that you take the opportunity to prepare yourself as well, and we'll begin very shortly. It's time to begin. So let's get ready. Look, listen, and let's learn together, here we go. Okay, let's play our game. First, we need to choose who is going to be the leader. The job of the leader is to order other people around. You will have to say the name of the person, and then the instruction such as, jump or spin. And then the person you've named will jump or spin and they will not stop until a different instruction is given. So grownups, it would be great if you could take the first turn so that you can demonstrate to your child how this works. Somebody will say the leader says, and then the leader will say the name of the person and the instruction. I'll demonstrate, but I'm going to have to do both bits. Here's my companion Bear, he's going to join us. And here's my other companion Walrus. He's also playing the game with us. So somebody would say the leader says, and I would say, Bear, spin. The leader says, Walrus jump, The leader says, Bear, stop. The leader says, Walrus stop. It will be chaotic, but hopefully lots of fun. Pause the video now and make sure that the child knows everybody's name, but also an instruction to give. If you need the symbol to go alongside that, make sure that it's ready. And one action is enough. Keep it simple, pause now. Okay, so you should have checked that the leader knows everybody's name and at least one action. I'll remind you about the order of play. Somebody says the leader says, and then the leader says somebody's name and an action. The person that's named will continue the action until instructed to do something else or to stop. And yes, it will be very busy in that room. If you are helping out with the cuddly toys, it will be even more chaotic,. But of course, fun, drama engagement, you'll get what you want out of the learner. So if you wish to make this slightly more challenging, if it seems like it may be too easy for your child, there is an option here as well to have a list of names and then a list of actions that may be in symbol form. Maybe an eye gaze, maybe on a choice board, it may be that you're choosing between two or from four, whatever you think might create an appropriate challenge for your child. So this is where I'm going to pause because you, as the adult are going to demonstrate with round one. Are you ready? Pause the video, it's your turn to show us how it's done. I hope you have fun with that one. Now, for round two, it's the child's turn. Remember, somebody has to say a leader says use ready, steady, go, if that's easier and more familiar. And don't forget that that person will follow instructions and keep repeating the action until they're instructed otherwise. Or in a variation, as I suggested here, you can follow instructions and repeat the action until somebody else's name is said. That might make it a little easier. So now it's the child's turn. You're going to have another opportunity to pause the video and play. Thank you. Okay, now let's add an extra challenge. So grown-ups, this is where you get to do something wrong and we're looking for your child to correct you. So if the leader says John, spin and instead John lies down, we're hoping that the child can then notice that the action given, the instruction given is not actually what happened. And so check for understanding, add an extra level of challenge, but also heighten the drama and hopefully the engagement so that you can also extend the game a little longer. So identifying mistakes is the next challenge. Let's see if the child can do that. Okay, so what else can we do with this lesson? The aim is about combining the person, action words, we've got two word phrases. Hopefully this has been engaging and the child is very eager to instruct everybody else. If it isn't the case that you're getting the two words or the two symbols that would be together, repetition, repetition, repetition. Continue to model the language. Perhaps it's just you being the leader for quite a while, until the child is ready to take over. If it is tricky, stick with one action and maybe even gesture for the person so the child would point at somebody and say jump. And that would be the way that you would begin with this game. It's possible as well to make it harder. If a combination of actions and people, again, choice boards and lists of things. Perhaps we can provide support for the child to then pair those together. Maybe they're going to put them onto a velcro board, make mistakes for the child to correct. That's the challenge that I mentioned up above. And if you are confident that your child has got these two word phrases, it could be that they use the two word phrase, Julie, lie down and then add a qualifier, Julie, lie down slow. So that we're adding a further description onto the action. So more ideas, why not? join in with all of these other action games as well that children love to play. Simon says, of course, this is a derivation of Simon says things like grandmother's footsteps, what time is it, Mr. Wolf, et cetera. Anything where the child can be in charge and instruct and could potentially get the adults to do things with two word phrases. So thank you so much for joining me, and I hope that you take the opportunity to further develop this particular lesson. And I look forward to seeing you again. Thank you all for joining me for this reading and writing lesson about combining two words, it's been a joy to have you. I really hope that you enjoy playing this game and that you can find some enthusiastic participants to run around the room and spin in circles for you. 'Cause that's what it's really all about. I hope to see you again in another lesson, and I hope that you enjoy the extra elements and the challenges that I've detailed as well, or will detail about how to make it easier, how to make it harder or where to take the learning next. Thank you again. And for me for now, goodbye. If you would like to share photos and videos of your child's work with us, then please share them via Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, and tag us @OakNational and #learnwithOak.

Reading and writing: The Leader Says...

Reading and writing: The Leader Says...

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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