Welcome to ‘Big Chat’!

Our aim with Big Chat is to support schools to embed a culture which values conversations and to help create meaningful contexts for those conversations.

Exposure to rich conversations enables pupils to learn through talk; exposure to rich models of language promotes their ability to talk.

Using ‘Big Chat’ materials, schools are encouraged to run regular, structured sessions where a variety of topics and questions are discussed, enabling pupils to develop their spoken expression and articulate their ideas clearly. Each ‘Big Chat’ session involves ideas, thoughts and opinions being discussed and shared between the students.

Good thinkers ask good questions. To support pupils to become good thinkers, they must have lots of opportunities to talk and pose good questions. ‘Big Chat’ conversations provide an excellent means of facilitating this. Begin with the ‘Big Chat’ questions we pose and explore how many others you can ask along the way.

‘Big Chat’ discussions promote the development of cognitive agility as students must be able to think on their feet, holding information in their working memory while they wait for a turn to speak. They also provide an excellent means of facilitating critical thinking and reasoning by having learners analyse issues, evaluate evidence, distinguish between relevant / irrelevant information, consider the validity of information, question the credibility of sources, explore contradictions, identify missing viewpoints, and evaluate the interpretations of themselves and others.

In addition, ‘Big Chat’ discussions promote language and literacy development, boost comprehension, enhance social skills and build empathy, understanding, acceptance, tolerance and respect. Pupils develop questioning, speaking and listening skills, build confidence, maturity and self-awareness and strengthen positive relationships.

By facilitating receipt of peer and teacher feedback, discussions provide a good means for students to self-check their levels of understanding, insight and knowledge. Encouraging self-reflection in this was is an important skill with which to equip learners. Teachers can also gauge who has strong content knowledge around a topic and can articulate that knowledge clearly and can use this assessment information to plan accordingly.

In giving pupils a voice at school, we promote their sense of belonging. Research from the Education Endowment Foundation has shown all pupils, particularly younger children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, benefit from oral language interventions.

Big Chat conversation starters can be embedded across the curriuclum (as appropriate) and extended into further school activities involving drawing, writing, research skills, maths, science and so on.

Our banners are designed to be placed in prominent locations around the school (indoors or outdoors), signalling the school’s acknowledgement of the importance of talking and listening to one another and of learning from each other. They are designed to support schools in taking the first step towards building a culture of conversation and promoting oral language development.