Enabling Environments: Visits and Visitors, Part 3 - What do you do?

We ask children so many questions during the course of a day. We often do it to check their understanding of a new idea or concept, such as, what shape is this? Or, how many teddies are in your boat? Yet how many of us create opportunities for children to learn the complex skill required to formulate their own questions?

Planning a visit from a local vet provided us with a stark reminder of the importance of such learning.

LEARNING CONTEXT

Our current learning context is 'Community' and during this term we have been focusing on the people in our community who help us stay healthy, safe, happy and well. We have been thinking about the important people around us, and have invited a number of visitors into our setting to tell us about their roles. We recently invited our local vet, Richard Matthews, into school so we could find out all about his job - or at least that was the original intention of his visit.

OBSERVATIONS

Before the arrival of the vet we had read non-fiction books about 'People Who Help Us' and 'The Role of a Vet', and we had discussed the sorts of jobs a vet does. Our school is fortunate to have four resident hens, two guinea pigs and four goldfish in our Foundation Stage Unit, so we discussed how beneficial it would be for the vet to conduct an annual check-up on their health and well-being.

Given all this background discussion and literature, I imagined that the children would find it easy to generate some pertinent questions to ask our visitor. Armed with flipchart paper and a pen, I confidently gathered the group together, all prepared to write down the children's questions.

Tessa: 'So, what shall we ask Mr Matthews when he comes to visit us?'

But the response was not what I had expected.

Leo: 'Make animals better.'

Lucy: 'Feed the chickens.'

It quickly became apparent that asking a question required the children to first understand what a question was! Clearly, the group did not understand how to ask a relevant question.

I like to think of myself as the type of teacher who encourages children to make discoveries for themselves, with my role as facilitator. In this instance, however, with just an hour to go before our visitor's arrival, I found myself becoming a little exasperated and blurted out the following.

Tessa: 'But these are not questions! A question starts with the words such as why, what, when, where and how. Now let's try to think of questions that start with these words!'

This was not a highlight moment in my teaching career! Nevertheless, to my amazement and relief, having rather clumsily introduced these key command words, the children seemed to 'get it' and gradually started to construct simple questions.

Despite my less than encouraging reaction to their first efforts, I was pleased to see that, undeterred, Leo was the first to offer his question:

Leo: 'How do you look at animals' eyes?'

And other children quickly followed, each using appropriate command words. Soon we had a sheet of paper filled with great questions ready to ask our visitor.

Reuben: 'Where do you live?'

Katy: 'What do you do?'

Harry: 'When do you cut animals' hair?'

We displayed the sheet of questions throughout the visit to act as a prompt and referred to it regularly. The children were quick to remember their questions and confidently presented them to our visitor. By the end of the visit, children were beginning to generate their own questions.

EVALUATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

Much as I prefer children to make their own discoveries and learn from 'doing', it seems that it can sometimes be beneficial to include some direct instruction to children on how to develop a specific skill, such as asking questions. Perhaps we shy away from direct teaching as a strategy for learning because the EYFS framework places such emphasis on the importance of child-initiated learning. For me, finding the right balance is a constant internal struggle.

We have several more visitors ready to come and talk to us about their work, and we will be using each visit as another opportunity to continue to model appropriate vocabulary and develop the skill of asking questions.

Below I have outlined the learning outcomes our children derived from the visit. However, it was the staff on this occasion that derived one of the biggest learning outcomes. We learned that the art of asking a question is a complex combination of time, opportunity and adult support, if children are to master this skill.

RESOURCES BOX

'A Child's Eye View of People Who Help Us', one and two, are four short documentaries on DVD about people's jobs, designed for younger viewers (Child Eye's Media, £24.99 + VAT each).

The first features police, firefighters, postal workers, and refuse collectors and recylers. The second features health workers, dental workers, vets and car rescue workers.

DVDs looking at specific jobs, such as firefighters, are also available, priced £8.50 + VAT or £13.99 + VAT with a curriculum-linked handbook. For more information visit: www.childseyemedia.com.

People Who Help Us (Cherrytree Books, £10.99 each), by author Rebecca Hunter and photographer Chris Fairclough, tracks the typical working day of a real person. The series includes a vet, dentist, nurse, farmer, fireman, lifeboat crew member, teacher, librarian, Member of Parliament, paramedic, recycling officer, teacher, police officer, postman, doctor.

Some of the same cast of characters also feature in the 'Our Helpers' board book series (Evans Publishing, £5.99 each).

When I'm At Work series by Franklin Watts (£10.99 each) This also takes a first-person narrative approach, with details of the person's working life set out in a simple, child-friendly way. Special spreads highlight equipment and related health and safety tips.

Jobs featured in the series are: bus driver, dentist, doctor, firefighter, footballer, paramedic, police officer, recycling operative, refuse collector.

Also available from Franklin Watts is a People Who Help Us series (£5.99 each), with differentiated text to support a wide range of reading abilities. It comprises: Ambulance Crew, At the Dentist, At the Optician, Firefighters, The Police, Rescue at Sea, At the Hospital, At the Health Centre.

Packed with photographs is Dorling Kindersley's 'A Day In the Life Of' series by Linda Hayward (£2.49 each) Jobs include doctor, firefighter, builder, police officer, teacher and dancer.

Again with simple engaging text but using models rather than real people is Usborne's series 'Jobs People Do' (£9.99 each) by Felicity Brooks (author), Nickey Butler (designer) and Jo Litchfield (illustrator). It stars Daisy the Doctor, Fred the Firefighter, Sam the Chef, Vicky the Vet, Frank the Farmer and Tessa the Teacher.

Featherstone Education's series 'What ... if' looks at jobs through a book and CD-ROM with role-play activities, pictures, posters and music. Titles include What if we had a farm? (£26.99), What if we were pilots? (£26.99), What if we were builders? (£26.99). Picture books about particular jobs are also available, priced £14.39.

Box compiled by Ruth Thomson

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning social skills required to talk to visiting adults to the setting

Making connections between the vet visiting our setting and visits children have made to the vet with their own pets, or when a vet has visited their farm

Having the confidence to speak to the vet about their own pets

Initiating conversation about looking after animals and pets

Extending vocabulary with words such as gizzard, stethoscope, clippers

Looking at non-fiction books about the role of a vet, understanding that information is relayed through print

Describing and talking about what they see the vet doing when he checks the health of the animals

Asking appropriate questions about the work of the vet

Asking questions about why things happen and how things work

Showing an interest in the world in which they live

Showing an interest in different occupations and ways of life, such as the work of a vet or farmer