Quick Answer
Choose language exercises by the skill you want to strengthen. Sequencing needs ordered events; description needs precise attributes; explanation needs cause and process; inference needs clues plus reasoning; narrative needs coherent events; discussion needs claims, reasons and responses.
What This Page Owns
This page owns a practice set organised by language function. It is not another general activity list. Each exercise produces evidence about one skill.
| Skill | Exercise | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Sequence | Put four events in order and retell them | Uses temporal links accurately |
| Description | Describe an unseen object for a partner | Selects defining details |
| Explanation | Explain how something works | Uses cause and process language |
| Inference | Clue + what I know → conclusion | Justifies unstated meaning |
| Narrative | Goal → obstacle → response → outcome | Maintains a story thread |
| Discussion | Claim → reason → example → response | Engages with another viewpoint |
Six Core Exercises
- Sequence repair: mix up steps in a familiar process and ask the child to repair and explain the order.
- Precision description: ban vague words such as thing, nice and stuff; require observable detail.
- Why-because ladder: ask one why question, then deepen the answer with “What caused that?”
- Hidden feeling: infer emotion from actions without using a labelled facial expression.
- Story compression: retell a story in five sentences without losing the causal chain.
- Micro-debate: choose between two options and defend the choice with evidence.
Progress the Difficulty
Change one variable at a time: remove pictures, reduce sentence frames, use a less familiar topic, require more precise vocabulary or add a counterexample. Difficulty should come from the language job, not from confusing instructions.
Age Adjustments
Use objects, play and oral tasks for younger children; short texts and writing for Primary learners; abstract topics, register and evidence for Secondary learners. The underlying function remains the same.
Success Test
Repeat the same language function with a new topic one week later. Progress means less prompting and stronger structure, not memorisation of the original answer.
Research and Further Reading
Use the Vocabulary Hub when a language exercise reveals a word-knowledge gap, and the eduKate Vocabulary Learning System to repair it.
