Book excerpt: Teaching Children to Listen in Primary Schools contains a wealth of interventions to improve listening skills across the school. It is perfect for classrooms where poor listening is an increasing barrier to teaching as the resultant distractible behaviour can make it difficult for the rest of the class to pay attention. Specialist speech and language therapists Liz Spooner and Jacqui Woodcock present activities to develop children's key listening skills, as well as a rating scale to assess pupils on each of the four rules of good listening - looking at the person who is talking; sitting still; staying quiet; and listening to all the words. They offer advice on using these findings to inform individual education plans. Liz and Jacqui also look at why listening is important and offer 40 games to encourage children to become good listeners. This practical guide not only contains photocopiable resources, assessment and teaching suggestions with clear and concise explanations from professionals who directly work with children on a daily basis, but it also pinpoints the behaviours that children need to learn in order to be good listeners. Teaching Children to Listen in Primary Schools is an invaluable resource for practically developing children's listening skills.For activities aimed specifically at Early Years children, check out Teaching Children to Listen in the Early Years.