Banter Speech & Language

Sydney speech pathologists helping adults and children speak for themselves.

Language

FANBOYS: Coordinating Conjunctions for Compound Sentence Making

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To express our thoughts and feelings properly, we need to link our ideas together. From around the age of 42 months, typically developing children start to join short sentences and phrases together with coordinating conjunctions, often starting with “and” and “or”.

Coordinating conjunctions give equal emphasis to two main clauses to create compound sentences. There are seven key coordinating conjunctions in English, often learned most easily with the FANBOYS acronym:

  • For (“I don’t eat peanuts for I’m allergic to nuts.”)
  • And (“The girl bought an ice-cream and a lemonade.”)
  • Nor (“Dad wanted neither the red nor the yellow shirt.”)
  • But (“John likes movies, but not scary ones”.)
  • Or (“Should Mum have the strawberry or the chocolate ice cream”)
  • Yet (“She was scared yet gave the speech anyway.”)
  • So (“It started to rain so I put up my umbrella.”)

Learning to use coordinating conjunctions can boost sentence variety and complexity; and improve verbal reasoning and the social use of language in several functional ways. For example, coordinating conjunctions can be used to add things together (“and”), contrast things (“but”, “yet”), show alternatives (“or”, “nor”), explain reasons (“for”), or express results or consequences (“so”).

FANBOYS: An online library of no-prep resources to work on “for”, “and”, “nor”, “but”, “or”, “yet” and “so”. Available now at our Teachable school:

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond.

Want to book an appointment?

Our 2020 assessment and therapy slots are filling up fast.

Call

Light Up Language with Similes and Metaphors

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Understanding similes and metaphors is an important higher level language skill for school, work and social success. It’s also something that many school-age children struggle with, including some children with language disorders, some children with Autism Spectrum disorder and some youngster children who are learning English as an additional language.  

In this video blog, David explains what metaphors and similes are, summarises the key language and cognitive skills that are needed to understand them, and outlines some practical ways to help children learn to understand them, based on some of the latest peer reviewed research. 

This 20-minute video blog, is part of a new series we’re producing on higher level language skills for school-aged children including idioms.

Related articles:

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond.

Worried about the HSC? 8 practical (and free) things you can do this week to get ready

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For young adults doing the HSC, 2020 might seem daunting. So much information to absorb, with so little time!

And spare a thought for students with language disorders, reading problems and other learning difficulties. Many overwhelmed students don’t know where to start.

Fear not!

To help our clients and readers, we’ve been talking to recent HSC graduates and their parents about useful tips to cope and thrive. Here are our top 8 to date: all free and easy to implement in a couple of hours!

1. Make up a single “HSC Master Folder”: Get a lever arch file and label it: “HSC Master Folder”. Put coloured tabs in it – one for each subject you are studying.

2. Assign a coloured tab to each subject: For example, you might assign blue to Advanced English and orange to Mathematics. Use the colours to sort out all your notes/materials. For instance, keep all your English notes in blue folders, and your Maths notes in orange folders.

3. To understand HSC assignment and exam questions so you can answer them properly, learn (and review) the key exam words that appear frequently in HSC exams across multiple subjects.

Need a list of words to learn? Here you go:

WordMeaning
AccountAccount for: state reasons for, report on.
Give an account of: narrate a series of events or transactions
AnalyseIdentify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications
ApplyUse, utilise, employ in a particular situation
AppreciateMake a judgement about the value of
AssessMake a judgement of value, quality, outcomes, results or size
CalculateAscertain/determine from given facts, figures or information
ClarifyMake clear or plain
ClassifyArrange or include in classes/categories
CompareShow how things are similar or different
ConstructMake; build; put together items or arguments
ContrastShow how things are different or opposite
Critically (analyse/evaluate)Add a degree or level of accuracy depth, knowledge and understanding, logic, questioning, reflection and quality to (analyse/evaluate)
DeduceDraw conclusions
DefineState meaning and identify essential qualities
DemonstrateShow by example
DescribeProvide characteristics and features
DiscussIdentify issues and provide points for and/or against
DistinguishRecognise or note/indicate as being distinct or different from; to note differences between
EvaluateMake a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of
ExamineInquire into
ExplainRelate cause and effect; make the relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how
ExtractChoose relevant and/or appropriate details
ExtrapolateInfer from what is known
IdentifyRecognise and name
InterpretDraw meaning from
InvestigatePlan, inquire into and draw conclusions about
JustifySupport an argument or conclusion
OutlineSketch in general terms; indicate the main features of
PredictSuggest what may happen based on available information
ProposePut forward (for example a point of view, idea, argument, suggestion) for consideration or action
RecallPresent remembered ideas, facts or experiences
RecommendProvide reasons in favour
RecountRetell a series of events
SummariseExpress, concisely, the relevant details
SynthesisePutting together various elements to make a whole

Source: NSW Education Standards Authority, A Glossary of Key Words

Most of these words are verbs and so-called “Tier-2” academic words – words that crop up across different subjects. Knowing these words is a huge help when reading school texts and answering essay and exam questions for most subjects.

4. Spend an hour (or two) learning about effective study techniques so you don’t waste time learning inefficiently:

(a) Read our article about free effective study techniques.

(b) Watch this short (8 minutes) YouTube video for 6 research-backed ways to study better.

(c)  Go to the terrific Learning Scientists website for more details on each of these 6 strategies (including free downloads).

(d) Read HSC study guides, such as the ones available from The Sydney Morning Herald and the NSW Education Standard Authority (NESA).

5. Download a copy of the syllabus for each subject you are studying. For students in New South Wales, you can download each syllabus from NESA here.

6. For each syllabus you’ve downloaded, print the content and objectives/outcomes sections and put them in your HSC Master Folder. These tell you what you are expected to know for assignments and the exam.

7. Download and print the most recent available past exam papers for each subject you are studying, then put them behind the syllabus in your HSC Master Folder. (As we note here, doing practice exam papers is one of the best, evidence-based ways to improve your learning (and exam results)). It’s also a great way for you to practice remembering things under time constraints. You can access past NSW HSC exam papers from NESA here.

8. Most importantly, stay healthy – exercise, sleep and eat well, and keep things in perspective.

We hope you find these tips useful. As 2020 rolls on, we plan to add more tips.

Good luck!

Related resources:

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Image: https://tinyurl.com/qat2qrz

Banter Speech & Language Banter Speech & Language
Banter Speech & Language is an independent firm of speech pathologists for adults and children. We help clients in our local area, including Concord, Concord West, North Strathfield, Rhodes, Strathfield and all other suburbs of Sydney’s Inner West.

Banter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the PreLit early literacy preparation program by MultiLit, the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.

David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP). David is a part-time Associate Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney’s Graduate School of Health. David sits on Speech Pathology Australia’s Ethics Board and Professional Standards Advisory Committee, and is a Board Member of SPELD NSW.

Light Up Language With Idioms

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In this video blog, we discuss idioms: why they are important for primary and high school students (including children with developmental language disorders), which idioms to learn, and how to teach them.

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond.

Want to book an appointment?

Our 2020 assessment and therapy slots are filling up fast.

Call

The High-Frequency Verb Library

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Parents, teachers, speech pathologists, lend me your ears! I have come to PRACTICE verbs, not to guess at them.

Introducing our High-Frequency Verb Library. 28 no-preparation, verb-based workouts at the sentence level. More than 650 pages: bit.ly/verblibrary

Come. See. Conquer! 

Access The High-Frequency Verb Library

Banter Speech & Language Banter Speech & Language
Banter Speech & Language is an independent firm of speech pathologists for adults and children. We help clients in our local area, including Concord, Concord West, North Strathfield, Rhodes, and Strathfield, and all other suburbs of Sydney.

Banter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the PreLit early literacy preparation program by MultiLit, the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification.

David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP). David is a part-time Associate Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney’s Graduate School of Health. David sits on Speech Pathology Australia’s Ethics Board and Professional Standards Advisory Committee.

Early Prepositions: A FREE audio-visual resource for anyone who wants it!

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From around 18-24 months of age, typically developing children start to understand and to use words like “on”, “off”, “up”, “down”, “in”, and “out”. As their language improves, children start to understand and use other words like “over”, “under”, “between”, “in front”, “behind”, “beside”, “next to” and “through”.

All these words are “prepositions”. Early “prepositions” are all about the positions of things in space, or relative to other things. This makes sense: the word “preposition” comes from the Latin praepositio(n- ), from the verb praeponere, which in turn is made up of:

  •  prae ‘before’ + 
  • ponere ‘to place’.

Many children – including some children with developmental language disorders, and some children learning English as an additional language – have difficulties understanding and using early prepositions.

As any experienced speech pathologist will tell you, lots of children struggle to pick up prepositions from passively looking at worksheets or books. It’s much better to show children what the words mean, for example, in natural play activities.  

Many children with preposition difficulties needs lots (and I means LOTS) of repetition. And some children struggle to learn words in play activities – for example, children who have difficulties with joint attention and/or play.

To make things easier for families, preschool teachers, child carers, speech pathologists, students, assistants, and others working with young children, we have put together a library of short early preposition videos. For each preposition, we provide ten examples of the preposition in action using familiar objects. We then invite children to “show us” the preposition in question by having a go at showing it.

Go to the Early Prepositions Video Library

Important thanks and credits

The videos in this free resource were made by:

  • our wonderful first year speech pathology Masters students from the University of Technology, Susannah and Joe;
  • Cherie – our hard-working, multi-tasking administrative assistant and fourth year University of Sydney speech pathology undergraduate student. (Cherie made some of the trickier videos, and helped me oversee the project – all in between answering phone calls); and  
  • some of our busy Banter clinicians between therapy sessions.

Now, none of us will be challenging for Best Director at this year’s Oscars. Different speech pathologists and students used slightly different ways of modelling the prepositions, and our editing is a little rough and ready in places. However, this project was not about slick perfection; it’s about giving children multiple exposures to each preposition in as little time as possible while showing what it means. 

These videos can be used within our learning platform, or downloaded to your preferred storage spot. They are designed to be watched during everyday activities, e.g. at the start of mealtimes, in the car, or while waiting in lines.

Bonus

We’ve added in some evidence-based tips you can use to help children to understand and learn prepositions. These include overviews of techniques like following the child’s lead, focused stimulation, modelling and recasting.

Thank you!

We’ve had great feedback on the videos from clients and their families, and wanted to share them with others as a free resource.* 

We hope you find these videos as useful as we do!

*Licence details: These resources are published under a standard Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) License. You can read more about this kind of license here. 

Related articles:

Banter Speech & Language Banter Speech & Language
Banter Speech & Language is an independent firm of speech pathologists for adults and children. We help clients in our local area, including Concord, Concord West, North Strathfield, Rhodes, and Strathfield, and all other suburbs of Sydney.
Banter Speech & Language is owned and managed by David Kinnane, a Hanen- and LSVT LOUD-certified speech-language pathologist with post-graduate training in the PreLit early literacy preparation program by MultiLit, the Spalding Method for literacy, the Lidcombe and Camperdown Programs for stuttering, and Voicecraft for voice disorders. David is also a Certified PESL Instructor for accent modification. David holds a Master of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Sydney, where he was a Dean’s Scholar. David is a Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP). David is a part-time Associate Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney’s Graduate School of Health. David sits on Speech Pathology Australia’s Ethics Board and Professional Standards Advisory Committee.