The Language Experience Approach (LEA) is a method for teaching literacy based on a child's existing experience of language. Some of the components of the LEA were used in the 1920s, and this approach to initial literacy has been more widely used for the past thirty years. Especially in the context of open learning, teachers use the students' existing language and prior experiences to develop reading, writing and listening skills. What I can say, I can write What I can write, I can read I can read what I write and what other people can write for me to read.