Wednesday 2 October 2013
Wednesday 18 September 2013
Tuesday 17 September 2013
Monday 16 September 2013
Thursday 12 September 2013
What Are The Best Ways Of Teaching Spelling?
What Are The Best Ways
It seems
that most studies of teaching spelling begin at the same place: a child’s
understanding of communication begins with sound. From infancy they are
surrounded by sounds, which become words. As they are exposed to printed text,
they learn to associate phonemes, the sounds they here with graphemes, the
visual representation of those words.
Toddlers
who are exposed to the alphabet are usually fascinated with the letters. Once
they have learned the names of the letters, they can begin to invent spellings.
Students
entering the first grade will have developed their invented spelling. At this
grade level when they begin to read, teaching spelling becomes a critical part
of the process. Reading
Teaching
spelling begins with lots of reading. If the student needs help, that’s just
encouragement to keep on reading. Hand in hand with this early process is
frequent writing assignments. Made up spellings are the precursor to correct
spellings, but the student has to be comfortable with the process.
Transitioning
to proper spelling is another critical point in the process of teaching
spelling. Reading helps, but it is not the complete answer since English is
only partially phonetic. Rote memory can help. If a student has a printed list
of the 100 or 200 most common words in his writing folder it will serve as a
reference source until the correctly spelled word can be visualized.
One of
the important components of teaching spelling is discussion of spelling
patterns. All of the lessons we learned about long A’s and short A’s still
apply. Showing a classroom that ea and ee both produce the long E sound will
help a student sound words out and also narrow the possibilities for spelling
an unfamiliar word.
Some of
us are born spellers; some born mis-spellers. It seems to be as simple as that,
although dyslexia seems to be much more common than originally thought when it
was first diagnosed. By the middle of the elementary grades, it will be clear
that spelling ability varies greatly among students and that often it has
little to do with native intelligence.
At this
juncture, the most important traits for teaching spelling are patience and
compassion. It is important to keep away or take away any stigma associated
with the problem.
Teaching
spelling to problem spellers may become a process of teaching the importance of
proofreading. That’s not a common process with elementary and secondary
students but it may become an important one for a student who struggles with
spelling.
Teaching young learners to read
What are the main issues?
• Different alphabet.
• Children are still learning to read their own language.
• English is not a straightforward language to learn to read.
• Teaching children to read English is only part of our job.
• We haven’t been properly trained to teach reading.
We need to devise a reading program for our students.
• Letter and sound recognition
• Whole word recognition & comprehension
• Learning to sing the alphabet
• Learning to use the letters of the alphabet
• Learning to say the alphabet
• Whole sentence recognition and comprehension
• Recognizing questions
• Reading silently for comprehension
• Reading aloud to others
• Reading with expression
Teaching the alphabet
Alphabet mosquitoes
• Write some of the letters of the alphabet on the board.
• Draw circles around them.
• Add ‘stings’ and wings to the circles to make them look like flying insects.
• Ask one child to come to the board and give him or her a fly swatter.
• Ask the child to find one of the letters and ‘swat’ it.
• While the child is searching for the letter, encourage the rest of the class to buzz like mosquitoes.
Alphabet fish
• Cut 26 simple fish shapes from thin card.
• Write a letter on each fish.
• Put a metal paper clip on each fish.
• Tie a piece of string to a small magnet.
• Tie the other end of the string to a stick or a ruler to make it look like a fishing rod.
• Give a child the ‘fishing rod’ and ask him or her to ‘fish’ for a certain letter.
Alphabet mats
• Write the letters of the alphabet in small case randomly over a piece of thin card, large enough for two children to share at a desk.
• Decorate the page to make it look colourful.
• Either have it laminated or stick transparent plastic on the back and front to make it into a durable mat.
• Give the children small cards with capital letters of with words beginning with each of the letters of the alphabet and let them play with their mats by covering the letters on it.
• You can make mats to match the seasons of festivals; for example you could have one shaped like a snowman, a flower, an ice cream.
Alphabet trees
• Draw a large tree on card. It could be a banana tree, an orange tree, a coconut tree etc.
• Cut it out and either have it laminated or cover it on both sides with transparent, sticky plastic.
• Cut out 26 pieces of card in the shape of the fruit of the tree ( for example coconuts).
• Write a letter of the alphabet on each piece of fruit. Again, it is best if this is laminated or covered.
• Let the children come and stick their fruit onto the tree as you teach each letter.
Vanishing letters
• You can do this activity with a blackboard (but not with a whiteboard)
• Dip your finger in some water
• Draw a letter on the board
• The children call out the name of the letter before the ‘water writing’ dries.
• Let the children write letters with water.
• You can write whole words too.
Using songs as reading material.
• Write the words of the song you are going to play on the board.
• Read through it with the children.
• Rub out some of the words, saying them as you do so.
• Give the children cards with the missing words on them.
• See if they can remember where the words go before you play the song.
• Let them come out and stick the words in place.
• Play the song and check that the words are in the right place.
• Sing the song.
• Repeat, this time rubbing out different words.
• Write two versions of the song on the board. One should be the correct version and the other should be slightly different.
• Play the song and let the children decide which is the correct version.
• Photocopy the song from the book.
• Cut the song into lines.
• Play the song and let the children arrange the lines in the correct order.
Using stories
• Let the children enjoy looking at the pictures. Give them time to
• Ask them what they can see in the pictures and write the words on the board.
• Ask them if they can find any of those words in the story.
• Listen to the story on the CD. Let them listen as many times as they wish.
• Read the story to them, putting lots of expression in your voice.
• Let them read aloud.
• Let them read silently and complete the follow-up activity.
• Make black and white photocopies of the story pages in your course book
• Blank out the speech bubbles (or some of the words)
• Photocopy these pages again.
• Use these copies for children who finish activities early, or give them as homework. The children complete the speech bubbles, either from memory or by copying from the book.
• Encourage your students to do project work.
• Give each child a sheet of paper.
• Encourage the children to write one or two sentences about a picture they have found or drawn.
• Punch holes in the papers, make a thin card cover and decide on a title for the ‘book’ they have written. Tie together with ribbon and put it in the class bookcase.
• Prepare homework or extra work books which the children can complete at their leisure.
• On each page of the book write a simple sentence which they read and illustrate. For example; It’s a pirate. This is a star. It’s a red ball.
• Encourage the children to do something in their books whenever they have a spare moment. Children who learn quickly and finish activities ahead of other children can keep themselves occupied in this way and
they will be less disruptive.
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Wednesday 4 September 2013
Tuesday 3 September 2013
Fly High 1
Introduction
Fly High is a motivating and charismatic four-level course for young learners aged between 6 and 10. It is intended for children who are being taught at a faster pace, and aims to give them a sound base in English and to maximize their potential by providing the appropriate level of support and challenge.
While progressing through the Fly High course, young learners will build up a solid bank of useful vocabulary and the ability to apply grammatical structures appropriately. They will also develop and refine their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
Fly High is based on the principle that children learn best when they are using engaging materials that appeal to their imagination and build their confidence. The course provides a set of lovable characters, humourous stories and an element of fun. The wide variety of activities caters for children with different learning styles: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, musical and interpersonal.
Aims of Fly High 1
Fly High 1 is for children learning English at the start of the school system. At this early stage of learning, it is especially important that the English language classroom is enjoyable and non-threatening. A key aim of Fly High 1 is to develop a positive attitude to English through the use of motivating activities, including games, TPR activities, songs and chants, and plenty of personalisation.
Units 1-6 of Fly High 1 focus on listening and speaking skills. The children are not expected to read actively. Thus, they are not hampered by having to cope with the sounds as well as the written code of the new language simultaneously for at least a term. The alphabet is introduced after Unit 6, along with basic word recognition and an introduction to reading and literacy skills. The Activity Book provides activities to practise motor skills, handwriting, word and phrase recognition, tracing and finally, some simple copying and writing tasks.
Methodology
Fly High 1 contains 14 four-page units, each focusing on a topic. Each unit has a clear communicative aim: the children learn words and structures and then put them to use in games and personalisation activities.
In Lesson 1 of the unit, 4-5 new words are presented through simple pictures. The new words are recorded so that children can hear and repeat them. The new words and the target structures are then contextualised in a humourous, self-contained cartoon story featuring the Fly High 7 characters. The main characters are three friends, Trumpet, a young elephant, Cabu, a lion cub and Paco, a parrot. The stories are all set in the jungle, but in contexts that reflect the children's own world. Trumpet, Cabu and Paco play in the jungle, go to the jungle school, introduce their families, learn numbers, learn about pets, eat in the jungle restaurant and in general lead the kind of life that young children can easily relate to.
Through the stories, the children get to know and identify with the characters, and share their adventures. The children can act out the stories before moving on to practice activities. This helps to reinforce the new language in a fun and non-threatening way.
Lesson 2 of the unit normally begins with a song, which consolidates the language of Lesson 1. The tunes are easy to learn and sing. Songs are one of the best ways for children of this age to learn and remember language. Singing songs helps to build confidence in the language through repetition, and promotes musical skills and development of rhythm.
Many songs in Fly High 1 have accompanying actions, which also supports kinaesthetic learners.
The new language is practised through a variety of activities, including some pencil-to-paper tasks, e.g Draw and colour. Then say.
Every unit ends with a game or personalisation activity. Most units have two games. Games provide motivating and meaningful ways of practising the new language in a genuinely communicative context, and are very popular with children.
The Activity Book provides pencil-to-paper practice activities to consolidate the new language. These may be allocated for homework, but can often also provide the opportunity for quiet time in the classroom. The teacher's notes offer suggestions for when an activity may be used in class.
Review and evaluation
There are three Jungle Fun sections in Fly High 1. These revise the language which the children have learnt, in a different context. Jungle Fun 1 for example is a simple board game. These sections can be used at the end of a term. At the end of each Jungle Fun section in the Activity Book, there is a My English feature. This gives the teacher the opportunity to encourage the children to evaluate their own progress. The children can then decide if their work has been Very good. / Good. / OK and circle the appropriate picture.
Course components
Pupil's Book
The 96-page Pupil's Book presents, practises and revises the target language of the course. It comprises:
• a 'Hello' lesson introducing the characters to the children
• 14 topic-based, four-page units
• 9 'My Alphabet' spreads
• 3 Jungle Fun revision spreads
• a 'Goodbye' lesson
• two Festival lessons: Christmas and Easter
• a Picture Dictionary illustrating all the key words
• full colour stickers for use with the sticker listening tasks
Pupil's Audio CD
The Pupil's audio CD is packaged with the Pupil's Book and contains all the cartoon presentations and songs for children to listen to at home with their parents.
Activity Book
The Activity Book provides further practice and consolidation of the language presented in the Pupil's Book.
• For Units 1-6, there are two pages of follow-up practice in the Activity Book: comprising a language consolidation activity and an activity to develop motor skills, e.g. tracing shapes, following a maze, etc.
• For Units 7-14, there are four pages of follow-up practice including word recognition and reading development exercises, and tracing and writing development exercises.
• For each 'My Alphabet' section, handwriting practice is provided
• Further consolidation for the Jungle Fun lessons is also provided.
The lesson notes in this Teacher's Guide give guidance on how to use the Activity Book exercises. Answer keys are included where relevant. At the back of the Activity Book, there are a number of cutouts, including character masks for Cabu, Trumpet and Cabu, and cutouts for the Christmas and Easter lessons. Suggestions on how to use these cutouts are given in the relevant lessons.
Teachers Guide
The Teacher's Guide contains:
• this Introduction, which includes a list of additional ideas for games (see page v) and a list of flashcards (see page vi)
• detailed lesson-by-Iesson teaching notes for the Pupil's Book and Activity Book
• photocopiable word cards (see page 91-98)
The lesson-by-Iesson notes are presented together with a reduced black and white facsimile of the Pupil's Book spread, for easy reference. Lesson objectives, target language, recycled language and a list of materials required for the lesson are given at the beginning of each lesson spread.
The photocopiable word cards are provided for use in activities to develop word recognition. Detailed suggestions are given in the lesson notes from Unit 7 onwards.
Class Audio CDs
The Class audio CDs contain all the audio material in the Pupil's Book, including the cartoon stories, listening tasks and songs. Complete audioscripts for the recordings which are not included on the pages of the Pupil's Book can be found in the lesson notes.
Flashcards
There are 72 vocabulary flashcards for the key items presented in the Pupil's Book. A complete list of the flashcards is provided on page vi of this Introduction. The flashcards reproduce the vocabulary pictures from each unit of the Pupil's Book. For teachers who want to practise word recognition, there are 72 photocopiable word cards at the back of this Teacher's Guide. A separate pack of Alphabet flashcards is also available.
Active Teach CD-ROM for Interactive Whiteboard
Fly High Active Teach is designed for use with any Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). It can also be used with a computer and projector. It contains all the Pupil's Book lesson pages in digital form, together with the class audio material. In addition, it provides:
• an additional interactive activity for each of Units 1-14 and Jungle Fun 1-3
• interactive flashcards-for all the vocabulary in the Pupil's Book, accessible by topic or in alphabetical order
• printable/photocopiable Teacher's Resources
Teaching with Fly High 1
Unit and lesson structure
Each of the 14 units of the course consists of two spreads. Each spread is treated as a lesson. However, in teaching situations with fewer hours available, it is possible to extend the unit over four teaching periods. The Activity Book provides additional material that can be used in class for quiet time in the classroom.
The first spread (Lesson 1) presents new language through the cartoon story. The children act out the story and then further listening and speaking practice is provided. The second spread (Lesson 2) normally starts with a song. It consolidates the language from the first lesson in a new context, and as the book progresses it recycles more of the language taught in earlier lessons. Occasionally a new communicative structure is introduced. The second lesson always ends with a game and/or a personalisation activity allowing the children to activate the language and relate it to themselves.
Warm-up - getting started
It is a good idea to signal the beginning of the lesson clearly and start with a warm-up activity that is enjoyable and involves the whole class. The step-by-step teaching notes suggest a variety of warm-up activities.
Procedure for presenting vocabulary
The new words for each lesson are always presented in Picture Dictionary style at the top of the Pupil's Book page, and recorded on the audio CD.
• Use flashcards or classroom objects to present the new words and their meaning. (Relating the new words to tangible objects in t e classroom also helps to make the words more memorable for the children.)
• Tell the children to open their books and look at the pictures. Play the CD; the children point, listen and repeat.
• Hold up the flashcards again in random order and elicit the words.
You can also present the vocabulary on a Whiteboard, using the Flashcards on the Active Teach CD-ROM.
Procedure for cartoon stories
• Invite the children to look at the pictures. Use L1 to ask questions about the pictures and prompt discussion.
• Play the CD; the children listen and point to each character as they are speaking. Ask simple questions in L1/English to check understanding.
• Play the CD again, pausing after each line for the children to repeat.
• Divide the class into groups, and give each group the role of a character. Play the CD again; the children repeat their parts. Encourage them to copy the characters' voice and intonation and to mime some of the actions.
• Let the children practise in groups. Invite a group or groups to perform for the class.
Practice
The practice stage of the lesson involves a variety of different activities, including further listening activities, speaking activities and games. Simple heads-down, pen-to-paper activities are also included, such as drawing and colouring. There is an additional interactive practice activity on the Active Teach CD-ROM.
Procedure for games / role plays
• Ask the children to look at the photo in their Pupil's Book and describe in L 1 what is happening. Elicit what they think the children are saying.
• Demonstrate the game with a child or group, until everyone knows what to do.
• Let the children play the game in groups or pairs, if they are able to do so. If you feel that they are not ready for pair work, play the game as a team game, or with pairs/ groups in front of the class.
Procedure for teaching songs
• Invite the children to look at the picture(s) and talk about what they can see, saying who the characters are and what they are doing.
• Play the CD. The children listen and follow in their books. They can also clap the rhythm.
• Recite the lines of the song rhythmically like a chant Say each line and ask the children to repeat. Demonstrate the movements if the song lends itself to action.
• Play the CD. Ask the children to Sing along and make the movements.
• Some songs involve sticker activities. The stickers can be found at the end of the Pupil's Book. Help the children to find the stickers. Pause the CD to give them time to place their stickers in the right position on the picture.
• For some of the songs, you can divide the class into groups and give them a part to sing.
• Use the Unit flashcards and hold them up as the words are heard in the song.
Ending the lesson
Always end the lesson on a positive and cheerful note. The step-by-step teaching notes suggest a variety of round-up activities.
Procedure for 'My Alphabet' lessons
Each Alphabet spread presents three letters in initial position in three words, e.g. apple, ball. car. Before the children open their Pupil's Books, follow these stages to present the alphabet words and letters for the lesson.
• Word presentation. Use the Alphabet flashcards, picture side up, to present the alphabet words for the lesson.
• Letters and sounds presentation. Introduce the letters and their names and sounds using the board.
• Word recognition. Use the Alphabet flashcards, word side up, to practice whole word recognition.
Demonstrate each activity in the Pupil's Book using the board as necessary, until the children are used to the activity types. At the end of each lesson, the children sing the alphabet chant until finally they can chant the entire alphabet.
The corresponding spread in the Activity Book provides practice in forming lower-case and capital letters and developing handwriting skills. Again, demonstrate each activity first until children understand what they have to do.
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