After reading the text, discuss what students noticed about the speech marks (eg. that they appear at the start and end of someone talking, there are always two lines close together to create a speech mark, a new line is started when someone new starts speaking, etc).

Show the class a selection of sentences that haven’t got speech marks and ask them to decide where the speech marks should go.

In small groups or pairs, give students a selection of sentences that have not been punctuated with speech marks. Together, students will read the sentence/s and identify who is talking and where the speech marks should go.

Ask students to use macaroni pasta pieces to represent the speech marks and place them at the start and end of the person’s speech, thus placing the correct punctuation into the sentence.

In pairs, students can practise reading the macaroni sentences. One student should take on the role of the narrator and the other student should be the character. As students are reading, they can self-monitor and self-correct their punctuation marks by listening to themselves as they read out loud. The character for example, should never say ‘…said Sam.’ If students notice their macaroni speech marks are in the wrong place, they can move them into the correct position.

Provide students with a selection of picture books that include a lot of conversations within them. Students can read their favourite picture books to a peer, favourite toy or the teacher and practice identifying the speech marks on each page. If you would like to extend students further, they can practise using character voices when they come across speech marks.