Show and Tell
Show and tell, a strategy teachers have used for years, involves children bringing
a favorite object, such as a teddy bear, to the class and telling the class about it.
The situation is context embedded because all the children can see the prized
possession, making it easier for the audience to understand the child’s words.
This is a beginning activity for young language learners that can be expanded to
more advanced, context-reduced oral language use by simply asking children to
place the favorite object in a paper bag so that it is not visible to classmates.
Then the owner of the object begins describing the object to the class. Because
the object is not visible, the speaker must be more specific about the object to
assist classmates in guessing what it is. Later in the year, students can work with
more difficult objects that are not in a bag but in their imagination, or they can
have pictures in front of them that they describe to others. The variations of
show and tell can scaffold children’s early speaking with objects on hand and
can induce more accurate descriptions when their comfort and language levels
are more advanced.