Tomas has not spoken in fourteen weeks
Priya teaches English to 20 children aged six in their first year of school English. Lessons are 35 minutes, twice a week, in a room with a tiled floor and no carpet. Her director has asked her to 'show evidence of speaking progress' before parents' evening. In October she introduced a routine: hello song, flashcard drill of ten words, worksheet, goodbye song. By December, 14 children join the songs, 9 answer 'What's your name?' unprompted, and one child, Tomas, has not spoken in English at all in fourteen weeks, though he follows instructions and joins in the actions. A parent has complained that Tomas is 'not learning anything'.
1. How would you interpret Tomas's silence, and what would you tell the parent?
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The most likely reading is a silent period, not a failure to learn. The evidence for that is specific: he follows instructions and joins in the actions. Both require him to have processed English and matched it to meaning. Comprehension is developing; production has not started. For a six-year-old in a first year of an additional language, fourteen weeks of silence is within normal range, and forcing production is the intervention most likely to extend it.
But silence has other possible causes, and I would not skip them: hearing, processing or speech needs, an unsettled home situation, or something in the classroom. What would move it from 'likely normal' to 'check' is if he also did not respond non-verbally, did not follow instructions, or had stopped joining the actions.
What I would say to the parent: describe what he can do - follows instructions, joins actions, takes his turn - and explain that understanding comes before speaking, as it did in their first language. Agree a small, low-pressure target (responding with a nod, a point, a one-word answer) and a date to review it. Do not promise that he will be 'speaking by Easter'; do commit to specific evidence at the next meeting.
2. The director wants evidence of speaking progress. What would you collect, and what counting would mislead you?
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Collect samples of the same routine at two time points, not a single December snapshot.
- Record (audio or a written running record) a short, repeated interaction - greeting, taking a turn, naming, requesting - in October, December and February, with the same prompt each time.
- Record per child: which functions they perform, and how independent they are (unprompted / after a model / only chorally). That shows progress for a child who moves from choral to unprompted, which a word count cannot.
What would mislead:
- Counting utterances or words. A child who repeats 'red, blue, green' in a drill scores well and has produced no language of their own; Tomas would score zero and might be making steady receptive progress.
- Counting volunteers. That measures confidence, and it selects for the same 9 children every time.
- Comparing children to each other. The director's question is about progress, which is a within-child measure. A class mean tells you nothing about Tomas.
- A single lesson's sample. Six-year-olds' production varies with mood, hunger and who is sitting next to them.
3. Evaluate the October routine against what you know about how six-year-olds learn, and say what you would change first.
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What is sound: a predictable routine is right for this age. It gives security and lets children anticipate, which is how they begin to join in. That should be kept.
What is questionable:
- A ten-word flashcard drill is decontextualised. Six-year-olds attach language to action, objects and stories, not to isolated cards. Words learned this way are recalled in the drill and nowhere else.
- The worksheet is the weakest element. For children who are still developing handwriting, it is fine-motor practice with English decoration. It also sits badly in a 35-minute lesson in a hard-floored room where children have been asked to sit still.
- 35 minutes, twice a week, tiled floor - the constraint is physical movement, not attention. Children this age need to move, and the room allows it. Songs are the only element currently using the body.
- Missing: a story, and repetition of the same story with small variation, which is where six-year-olds get the massed exposure they need.
First change: replace the worksheet with a story plus a hands-on sorting or matching task with real objects or picture cards, done in pairs, with the children moving to a corner of the room. Keep the hello and goodbye songs and the routine frame exactly as they are. That is one change, testable, and it does not disturb the security the routine provides.