Speech and listening, reading and writing, are all generalised skills, and children’s mastery over them becomes the key factor affecting success at school. In many situations, all of these skills need to be used together.
There was a girl named Valliammai who was called Valli for short. She was eight years old and very curious about things. Her favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house, watching what was happening in the street outside. There were no playmates of her own age on her street, and this was about all she had to do.