From Sounds to Stories

Nurturing Early Literacy in Children

The journey to literacy - join us for a face to face day "From Sounds to Stories: Nurturing Early Literacy in Children" with Neil Griffiths and Alice Sharp.
An adult reading to a baby, the book is "The Artist's Little Helper"
Wednesday, 4 June, 2025 - 09:00 to 15:30

Venue: 

The Village Hotel, Pendwyallt Road, Cardiff, CF14 7EF

Alice Sharp: Speaking, Hearing and Listening

  • Hearing is like a superpower that lets us listen to sounds around us. Hearing starts developing before we're even born!
  • Listening is when you use your ears to hear sounds and understand what they mean.
  • Speaking is how we use our mouth, tongue, and lips to make words and sounds.

Listening development is a gradual process that begins in babies and continues throughout life. As our little ones develop, they perceive, process and interpret sounds, language and communication cues.

You are the Cue Makers! If they don't hear anything they won't have anything to process or respond to.

During this session we will consider:
  • Auditory perception
  • Recognition of familiar sounds
  • Listening patterns
  • The development of attention
  • Selective, complex, social and critical listening
  • Listening for meaning
  • How we can improve discrimination of sounds

Speaking

Speaking development happens in stages as they grow. Children learn by hearing others speak, practicing their own speech, and getting feedback from everyone they interact with. Speaking development is closely tied to listening, understanding, and social interaction.

We will explore how we support, enrich and enable:
  • Listening opportunities
  • Cooing and babbling
  • Making, mimicking and responding to sounds
  • Learning, imitating and building vocabulary
  • Simple phrases to using sentences
  • Understanding meaning
  • Expressing feelings
  • Following rules
  • Asking questions

Neil Griffiths: The Power of Reading for Pleasure Developing a Love of Reading

This highly thought-provoking and practical keynote will explore the many ways that adults, both in settings/schools and at home, can play a crucial role in helping develop their children into life-long readers.

This session will address:
  • The latest statistics on reading trends and the requirements of the New Curriculum
  • The powerful ways adults can 'model' the pleasure of reading
  • The development of a reading culture
  • Ways of auditing and choosing suitable reading material
  • Approaches to celebrating and promoting books both in setting/school and at home
  • Inspirational ideas for sharing books
  • The importance of story time
  • 'Read aloud' techniques.
Book your place

Grant funded. Free for Early Years Wales Members. 

If you would like to join, please click on Register to secure your place. Please complete the form with the name and contact details for the person attending. 

One booking per form. If you would like to book more than one person at a time please complete a booking form for the first attendee, add to cart and then select "continue shopping" to complete a booking form for each individual. Once all booking forms are complete, continue to checkout.  

Terms and Conditions

By taking part in this event, you confirm that you have read and agree to the Early Years Wales Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Terms and Conditions

Language

This event will be delivered through the medium of English. If you require an English – Welsh interpretation service* please indicate your preferred language on the booking form.

*Please note, an interpretation service will only be available when at least 20% of attendees have indicated they require one.

Register