Speech sounds
They can speak clearly and be understood easily, although their speech may still have a few immature or simple elements.
They can hear and identify the first sound in a word. For example: “map starts with an ‘m’ sound. Moon, milk and mug all start with ‘m’.”
They can break words into syllables. For example: “li-on” has 2 syllables, and “croc-o-dile” has 3 syllables.
They can notice words that rhyme or sound alike. For example: “tree and bee – they rhyme.”
Vocabulary
They know that words can belong to groups or categories and can give examples for each one, such as animals, transport or food.
They can identify an object, animal, or character from a description. For example: “It lives in the water, has fins, can swim fast, and has shiny scales.”
They can choose words carefully to tell someone what they mean. For example, “I don’t want my red boots, I want the stripy ones.”
Attention, listening and understanding
They understand that they should look at the person speaking to them and think about what that person is saying.
They can listen to and understand instructions about what they’re doing, even when they are already busy with something else.
They can follow longer instructions with 2 or 3 steps, for example, “Get your coat, find your shoes and wait by the door.”
Understand ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions, for example “How did the girl help her friend in the story?”
Sentence building and grammar
They can use words like ‘so’, and ‘because’ to join their sentences together. For example, ‘It’s my birthday so I’m staying up late’.
They can put the right endings on their words, for example ‘My teddy likes sitting on a bed because beds are softer’.
They can ask and answer what?, where?, when?, and what could we do next? questions. For example: “What is in the box?”, “Where did it go?”, “When are we leaving?”, and “What could we do after lunch?”
They can use longer sentences with more detail. For example: “I built a tall tower with red, blue and yellow blocks.”
They can use language to reason and persuade others. For example: “We should read this book because it’s my favourite.”
Storytelling and narrative
They can retell favourite stories, using some repeated lines and adding some parts in their own words.
They can use longer and more detailed sentences when telling stories. For example: “When she opened the door, she saw a tiny dragon sleeping on the chair, and the dragon roared at her.”
They can begin to include problems or things that go wrong in their stories. For example: “…but the little girl got lost and didn’t know what to do…..”
They can list events, sometimes in order, and include some details. For example: “We went to the park and I played on the swings and had a picnic with sandwiches and juice.”
Conversations and social interaction
They can start conversations with others and take part in group discussions.
They can join in with and help organise role play with their friends. They can play cooperatively and take on different roles, using detailed and imaginative play. For example: pretending to be a teacher and students, or pirates on a treasure hunt, working together to act out the story.
They can use language to communicate a wider range of ideas, such as asking, negotiating, giving opinions, and talking about feelings.
They can give important details that help the listener understand what happened. For example: “Max bumped into Ameena and she has hurt her knee.”