August 04, 2015

Sammy was a little boy age three. His teacher visited him at home in the run up to starting nursery. He was clean, fed and loved. His mum spoke little English and neither did Sammy. He also spoke almost no words in his home language. Sammy lived on the seventh floor of a tower block and had no toys, books or games. His parents allowed him to watch a lot of TV in the belief that this would help him learn. He had few experiences that prepared him for school.

On his arrival in school Sammy did not speak. He quietly and happily explored the nursery setting but did not engage in role-play or conversations. Gradually Sammy learnt a small amount of English and eventually told a story. It was:

‘Is the dragon.’

Then Sammy was introduced to Tales Toolkit. At first he joined in by just watching and copying actions. He soon added sounds and words and copied language. He became extremely engaged during the sessions and quickly picked up the ‘technical’ language of character, setting, problem, solution. He loved it. Approximately six weeks after starting with Tales Toolkit Sammy told the following story which clearly contains the four key elements, character, setting, problem, solution:
‘Once upon a time there crocodile. In a sparly (sparkly) house. The problem was bear. The bear sad crocodile. The bear share the glasses and share friends.’