* Half of teachers saychildren start school unable to speak audibly, be understood by others or respond to simple instructions
* The national primary strategy includes a framework for speaking and listening, a feature missing from its forerunner, the national literacy strategy
* Many schools now apply it across the curriculum.One authority is developing speaking and listening primary maths
* ‘Jigsaw’ is one of the most popular teaching methods. It uses groups of ‘expert’ children to whom the teacher explains the lesson. They then report back to their home groups
