/2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/ Supporting children's language, communication and learning Thu, 02 Oct 2014 08:44:46 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3 /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2382 Mon, 27 May 2013 11:43:12 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2382 Hi Elly!!
Yes, that is a very powerful book, and I can see why it might be so significant.
I have fun deciding what to take with me, and though Jane Eyre would be my all time favourite, for many years I have had Rosamund Lehmann’s The Ballad and the Source as my top book.
However recently I have been reading everything by Jonathan Coe, and maybe I would have ‘The Rain Before it Falls’ as my next best choice. I would love to write a book like that.
I imagine that I would spend all my time worrying that my shelter was going to fall down, so wouldn’t have much time for reading of writing!!
Love from Michael

]]> /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2380 Mon, 27 May 2013 11:15:32 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2380 Ok, I’m going to own up that I too imagine being on desert island discs. I struggle to reduce my favourite music to 8 recordings but the book: The Poisonwood Bible given to me by none other than Michael Jones himself. How well you know your friends, Michael! You are clearly a person observer, young and old, and we can all learn from that.

]]> /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2375 Mon, 27 May 2013 10:02:33 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2375 Hi Deborah
That’s an interesting concept. I think it helps when having conversations to know something about what interests the child. This can be simply by looking at what they are wearing: a Peppa Pig t-shirt of a pair of Thomas wellies is usually are usually very big clues about where to start.
What would you choose for your desert island?

]]> /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2374 Mon, 27 May 2013 09:55:37 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2374 I fully agree with the importance of not taking over and beng an equal partner. I like Marion Dowling’s idea of being a ” thinking companion”, something that I heard Chris Pascal pick up on once at a training event too. It suggests a very unpressured and relaxed environment – a key condition for promoting communication of any kind, not just verbal.

]]> /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2337 Sun, 26 May 2013 17:11:46 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2337 You do make me laugh, mr jones!

]]> /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2333 Sun, 26 May 2013 15:25:57 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2333 Hi Maggie
My other favourite programme is ‘Great Lives’ chaired by Matthew Parris. He and his guests were discussing Primo Levi. One of them described an incident in Levi’s life. Matthew Parris was so involved in the discussion that he said, ‘Good Lord!’ That genuine response led to his guests becoming even more voluble.
This type of style can have its down side: at least on live recordings for the radio.
On one programme his guests were Ruby Wax and A.N. Other, discussing Carl Jung. Ms Wax, who is no longer an actress/comedienne but works in private practice as a Jungian therapist went ballistic when Professor Other dared to suggest that Jung might have got a few things wrong. No amount of ‘Good Lording’ was going to make Ruby Wax calm down!
Michael

]]> /2013/05/my-castaway-this-week-is-or-having-a-real-conversation-with-help-from-kirsty-young-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-michael-rosen/#comment-2331 Sun, 26 May 2013 14:46:23 +0000 /?p=632#comment-2331 How funny – my daughter’s earliest memory is Road to Hell too! You’re so right Michael, with all the emphasis on language stimulation these days, we can get so bogged down with reframing and expanding children’s utterances, providing a running commentary – or should it be forced alternatives? – that we can completely lose sight of the fact that often the best thing to do is to follow Michael Rosen’s lead, show genuine interest and say as little as possible!
Research clearly indicates that correcting and questioning reduce the length of children’s responses, while a ‘phatic’ or affirmative style (Wow! You’re right! Hey, this is good!) dramatically increases sentence-length and encourages children to develop their own narratives.
Must dig out that Chris Rea tape…

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