Suggested Grade/Age Range: Grades 1-3 (ages 6-9)

Activity Objective: The goal of this activity is to teach children skills to promote clear communication.

Learning Goals
Big Messages to Kids

Link to Ontario Curriculum

Materials Required:

Scenarios (one teacher set)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Print off scenarios to discuss with children

Task Time: 30-40 minutes

• Explore scenarios with children
• Give children time to practice language introduced

Activity Description:

Opening Discussion:

1.       If this activity does not follow right after the Read Aloud and discussion around the theme of communication, review over the Communication Big Messages.

2.       Tell children that sometimes what we try to say or what others try to say to us is not clear. When this happens, it is important to ask for clarification. We can ask for clarification using different verbal cues

 Provide children with an example of an instance when communication is unclear and clarification is needed (e.g., if the teacher gives unclear instructions for an activity, what can you say to ask for clarification?)

Allow children to offer examples of verbal cues that they can use to ask for clarification. Write some of these down on chart paper or on the board for reference for later (e.g., I don’t understand what you mean, can you say that again? What do you mean by that? Can you say that in another way to help me understand?, etc.)

Review over verbal cues that are helpful when we want to check if someone understands what we are saying (e.g., do you understand what I am saying? Does this make sense?, etc.). Write down these verbal cues on chart paper or on the board

Activity:

3.       Tell the children that you will read some scenarios to them. In each one, communication is not clear in some way and as a class, we are going to help the characters communicate better by asking for clarification

4.       Read each scenario to the children and complete the discussion questions that follow

Refer to the verbal cues that the class brainstormed earlier to help them think of ways to ask for clarification in each scenario. Write down specific answers for each scenario on a new piece of chart paper to use as consolidation/review at the end

Wrap-up Discussion:

5.       Consolidate understanding by reviewing over the importance of asking for clarification when communication is unclear. Review over the verbal cues you came up with as a class and the specific cues for each scenario

6.       Emphasize to the children that when they are trying to communicate something important, it is essential to make sure the other person is listening and to check if they understand

7.       On the other hand, remind the class  that when they do not understand what is being said to them, they can ask for clarification using the verbal cues covered in this activity

Activity Extensions:

 Children can draw pictures about scenarios where they may need to ask for clarification or they can write about such a scenario in their journals (as developmentally appropriate)

Additional Comments:

Asking for clarification is important for checking understanding in the learning context and for building classroom community. This activity can be used early in the year for these purposes and reinforced throughout the year to help children communicate effectively with their teacher and peers

Additional Resources:

You may also choose to review the Communication Literature Review before implementing this activity. It can be found here.