LanguageLift

improving oral language for literacy

LanguageLift addresses one of the biggest challenges faced by early primary teachers today, which is how to support the large number of children who start school with oral language difficulties. Good early oral language ability is a critical factor contributing to later literacy achievement.

Integrating the findings of high-quality research from speech pathology and education, this comprehensive intervention program explicitly teaches oral language skills to small groups of students.

Who is it for?

  • Students in Foundation to Year 2 who require intensive support to develop speaking and story comprehension abilities – skills important for reading and writing development
  • Students learning English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD) with 12 months or more exposure to English

Delivery

LanguageLift should be delivered four times per week, for 30 minutes per lesson, to groups of no more than four students. The program can be delivered by teachers, learning support teachers or well-trained and supported teacher aides.

Key benefits

  • Evidence-based Tier 2 small-group program to identify and address language difficulties
  • Multiple entry points for students across Early Stage 1 and Stage 1
  • Provides scripted lessons and resources to enable easy implementation
  • Australian-developed program, providing important vocabulary and background knowledge for Australian children

Program content

LanguageLift is delivered through scripted lessons built around 15 purpose-written picture books, targeting the key areas of vocabulary, spoken grammar and story comprehension and production.

Teachers are provided with 120 carefully structured lessons to help children expand their vocabularies, work on using complete and grammatically correct sentences when speaking, and to listen to, understand and retell stories in their own words. Over the course of the program, children develop their knowledge of story structure, to support telling a cohesive and coherent story.

A placement test determines which of the three Entry Points in the program is most appropriate for the student. Students will typically complete 60 lessons across approximately 20 weeks (or two terms) before exiting the program.

LanguageLift complements MiniLit Sage, which targets word recognition or decoding skills, to develop the second key strand of literacy development – language comprehension.

What's in the Kit?

The LanguageLift Kit contains teacher and student resources to run one LanguageLift group (additional consumables to run additional groups are available for purchase from MultiLit).

The LanguageLift Kit includes the following components:

    • Teacher Manual
    • Five Lesson Handbooks
    • 15 Storybooks and Storybook SPELL Bookmark
    • Assessment Presentation Book
    • Student Workbooks (consumables, 5 copies)
    • Student Assessment Books (consumables, 5 copies)
    • Lesson Records Book (consumable; also available as a downloadable via the Members’ Area)
    • Cards, posters, charts and boards
    • Bessie the bilby (soft toy)
    • Access to a range of online resources, such as storyboards, song samples and information for parents/carers, in the Members’ Area of the MultiLit website.

Bonus: Schools purchasing LanguageLift will receive a copy of the Wheldall Sentence Comprehension Screener (WSCS) Kit.

“We needed a program for students who were coming to school in the early years without sufficient oral language skills. LanguageLift fills that gap for us. Being a classroom teacher, the training we have in oral language isn’t specialised, so it is really comforting and reassuring to know that we are working with a program that is evidence-based. LanguageLift has had a very positive impact on our students. Their confidence and enthusiasm towards speaking have really grown. The students thoroughly enjoy the program and as a teacher I enjoy delivering it.”
Kristie Sadowski
Learning Support Coordinator, St Columba’s Catholic Primary School, WA

LanguageLift Professional Development Workshop

The two-day LanguageLift Professional Development workshop, available face-to-face or via videoconferencing, provides an essential introduction to current research highlighting why oral language is so important for literacy, a thorough understanding of the program and instructional techniques required to deliver it, and practical advice on how to set up LanguageLift in your school.

As an interactive and hands-on learning experience, the LanguageLift PD Workshop will prepare participants to confidently implement the program in their school to support students with language difficulties.

Training in LanguageLift program delivery is compulsory prior to implementation of the program to ensure quality of delivery.

What the workshop covers

Duration

2 Days (12 Hours)

  • Important components of oral language
  • The evidence base on how to build oral language skills that are critical for literacy development
  • Introduction to the program structure and materials
  • Teaching techniques for story skills, vocabulary and grammar
  • Placing students on the program and forming groups
  • Language facilitation strategies and prompting techniques
  • Assessment and monitoring progress
  • Practical implementation advice to ensure success in your school

Who should attend?

  • Literacy coordinators
  • Learning support teachers
  • Primary teachers
  • Teacher aides and assistants
  • Special educators

The LanguageLift Kit and LanguageLift PD are available only to accredited schools. Purchase of the LanguageLift Kit only is available to schools that have already purchased the LanguageLift Kit + PD.

Please note: The use of MultiLit publications and attendance at professional development workshops is for personal education use in schools with State/Territory accreditation (‘Accredited Schools’). Other commercial use, hiring or lending, or other use as part of any commercial, not-for-profit, or fee-paying program of instruction or tuition not carried out within an Accredited School is strictly prohibited.

Accreditation

NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)

Completing LanguageLift Professional Development Workshop will contribute 10 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing Standard Descriptor(s) 2.5.2, 5.1.2, 5.2.2 and 5.4.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.

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