Practical Pragmatics: Building Inferencing and Social skills through Linguistics (Year 4-6)

Workshop Summary:

Learning how to make inferences is a skill essential not only in reading comprehension, but also in daily communication and social interaction. While many acquire the skill naturally, other  individuals, including gifted and/or twice-exceptional students, may struggle with developing this important social, communication, and academic skill. 

This full-day workshop is designed to introduce and practise inference skills through a systematic approach based on linguistics and pragmatics. Students will be guided to understand what inference is, how it works, and thus develop the skill in how to understand people’s intention and communicate effectively and respectfully. 

Academic skills covered will include:

• Making inferences

• Understanding the relationship between context and literal meaning

• Understanding tone and mood

• Understanding the mechanics and effect of sarcasm and humour 

Besides inference skills, other soft social skills will also be nurtured in a respectful and accepting environment:

• Self-expression/advocacy 

• Self-awareness

• Building consensus

• Empathy 

• Tolerance of uncertainty 

This workshop is targeted towards students in grades 4-6. It is highly suitable for  twice-exceptional students, especially those with autistic traits, but is also suitable for all gifted students who are interested in linguistics, or those who enjoy learning and acquiring knowledge yet struggle with making inferences and understanding subtexts in reading comprehension.

NDIS participants:

If your child has a self-managed NDIS plan for autism, you may be able to claim the cost for this particular workshop, under Capacity Building - Improved Daily Living. Please contact us after you have enrolled online, at info@lyceumcentre.com with your child’s full name and NDIS reference number for issuance of invoice. 

The workshop will be led by Ms Wong:

Ms Wong was a high school English teacher and is a tutor and mentor for gifted students worldwide from countries including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and the UK. More than a quarter of her current students are twice-exceptional students with either ADHD/ autism, or both. Ms Wong achieved first-class honours in her studies of English literature and linguistics in her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hong Kong, and graduated with a Masters Degree in Gifted Education from UNSW with excellence, as well as a Masters of Education (Research). Her research interests include twice-exceptionality and socio-emotional development of gifted students and has published her research in the Australasian Journal of Gifted Education. Ms Wong is also a volunteer mentor for Aurora College and is mentoring a regional student in publishing his own fiction.