COL - Teaching Chunks Of Words

Articles, determiners and quantifies precede and modify nouns and pronouns replace nouns.  These are often used incorrectly or omitted in my Student's oral language which of course is then reflected in their writing.

What have I learned from the Pacific Early Literacy Project (PELP) and My Work With Dr Jannie Van Hees regarding the use of structural words?

• Instead of teaching bilingual learners individual words, teach words in meaningful chunks by teaching the words within the other words surrounding it. Bilingual students may understand lexical words but don't know the structural words that go with them such as pronouns and articles. Therefore, build these structural words into oracy programmes. Instead of using nouns in mind maps and think pair share activities build both the nouns and the articles that proceed them. Display the words within meaningful chunks for students to see and revisit.
• Insisting students use correct sentences through listening, thinking about what they are going to say, copying and repeating is a way of practising using the structural words surrounding new vocabulary e.g. say and do- "I am placing the tuatara on top of the log." "I am tieing an apron around his waist." 

What am I doing differently in my practice?

• I'm insisting on the correct use of pronouns and articles, I am doing this through modelling and gifting correct use and I give them multiple opportunities to practice. This can be done through hands-on 'say and do' activities like exploring floating and sinking I am picking up the stick and placing it on top of the water."  or "These objects float and those objects sink.
• Using mind maps that include the pronouns and articles that go with nouns.

How is it going?

It sure isn't easy for the students to use these words and this can seem laborious, but students amaze me with their perseverance working hard at correct speech. We talk a lot about how talking and listening are helping our brains grow.  One thing that I have noticed is the children finding it difficult to calm their bodies and minds down so that they are able to listen to others talking including me modelling the correct speech.  

What am I noticing?

The four students I'm tracking are all using correct sentence structure after repeating these correct structures a few times. They are using words such as they, that, these more often and when asked to think about what they are going to say are able to use a greater amount of words. However, they still all revert to short word-groups or one or two-word responses when they are talking naturally. I feel that significant changes to their everyday speech patterns may take time and that the hard work students are putting into their speech in the above learning situations will eventually transfer into their day to day speech. The challenge of students gaining the self-regulation needed to calm themselves down enough to listen during oral language work is something I need to look into further as I feel that this is a barrier at the moment.

Teaching chunks of words PELP

Articles and pronouns are used to describe nouns and have a variety of formats. Correct use is important in writing.  Articles and pronouns are often used incorrectly or amitted in our student's oral language which of course is then reflected in their writing.

What have I learned from the Pacific Early Literacy Project and My Work With Dr Jannie Van Hees regarding the use of structural words?

• Instead of teaching bilingual learners individual words, teach words in meaningful chunks by teaching the words within the other words surrounding it. Bilingual students may understand lexical words but don't know the structural words that go with them such as pronouns and articles. Therefore, build these structural words into oracy programmes. Instead of using nouns in mind maps and think pair share activities build both the nouns and the articles that proceed them. Display the words within meaningful chunks for students to see and revisit.
• Insisting students use correct sentences through listening, thinking about what they are going to say, copying and repeating is a way of practising using the structural words surrounding new vocabulary e.g. say and do- "I am placing the tuatara on top of the log." "I am tieing the apron around his waist." 

What am I doing differently in my practice?

• I'm insisting on the correct use of pronouns and articles, I am doing this through modelling and gifting correct use and I give them multiple opportunities to practice. This can be done through hands-on 'say and do' activities like exploring floating and sinking I am picking up the stick and placing it on top of the water."  or "These objects float and these objects sink.
• Using mind maps that include the pronouns and articles that go with nouns.

How is it going?

It sure isn't easy for the students to use these words and this can seem laborious, but students amaze me with their perseverance working hard at correct speech. We talk a lot about how talking and listening are helping our brains grow.  One thing that I have noticed is the children finding it difficult to calm their bodies and minds down so that they are able to listen to others talking including me modelling the correct speech.  

What am I noticing?

The four students I'm tracking are all using correct sentence structure after repeating these correct structures a few times. They are using words such as they, that, these more often and when asked to think about what they are going to say are able to use a greater amount of words. However, they still all revert to short word-groups or one or two-word responses when they are talking naturally. I feel that significant changes to their everyday speech patterns may take time and that the hard work students are putting into their speech in the above learning situations will transfer into their day to day speech.