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FOR TEACHERS
As a
teacher you are a very important part of our children's future.
Language is a skill for life and languages are the heart of all
communication. Classroom activities and reasons for using bilingual
material are detailed below. The books also make a great award for the
best language student.
Literacy
Assist the learner
Creating books in class
Bilingual materials
Fun = relaxed learning
Activities for "Can you do anything special?"
Activities for "Can I have a lamington please?"
Remember: Read and enjoy!
Literacy
: A
language is reading and writing, and this can be accomplished in the
second language at an early stage. After speaking and listening in the
second language students are keen to try and read a story in that
second language. Simple stories with picture or vocabulary guides, as
well as bilingual books, enable students to do this. The text in the
reader's main language can also be covered on each page of our books to
assess their second language skills. The section on Creating books in
class has many ideas that can be incorporated in your classroom.
Assist
the learner
: Just as
pictures help the young learner with their native tongue, the bilingual
text helps the language student understand new words and phrases. Let
the student use whatever tools and aids they may need to understand and
remember the second language as they prepare for their exams.
A teacher needs to provide support while the students are learning the
task. There are differing views of what that support should be. Support
can be visual material, bilingual material, dictionaries, or vocabulary
cards. Everyone learns in a different way!
Creating
books in class
: As a
teacher and a writer I am passionate about getting my students to act
out and read in the second language they are learning. Reading gives
the students a sense of achievement - and their confidence grows. If
students read aloud, they get used to hearing themselves speak in the
new language. Reading is fun and is a great way to reinforce
vocabulary. To revise themes or units of work I let my students create
their own book in the second language. The students are therefore
"reproducing" the task. The theme for a student book can be from a
story, a set task / outcome that has been taught in class, but also it
can be simply applying repetitive patterns learnt in one unit.
To make their own book students can use recall or I can give them
patterns or ideas for them to use repetition. As the students can ask
about what they plan to write, it gives the teacher many opportunities
to "repair" any incorrect language structures. By letting the student
make a book, it empowers them to be able to read in the second language
even if they have limited vocabulary. Creating something in the second
language is in fact learner-centred - students learn by what they are
doing. When the student is a beginner, to gain confidence I believe
they have to be able to write their own simplified version, as this is
the first building block in their individual way by which they are
acquiring this new second language.
Students can read their own book to others, even to parents. The
created book is a very visible sign of what the student can do. We as
teachers need to make the product of our language teaching more
visible. If parents and other teachers can see and hear what the
children are learning in the second language, then it builds more
support in the community for second language acquisition.
Consider the following possibilities for your class:
1. Books can be made individually, or separate pages can be made by
small groups and the "big" book is collated as a class project.
2. Book size - small, A5 through to art sheets. Folded A4 can be used
for simple activities.
3. Class books that have been made by students can be borrowed by other
students and be read for homework.
4. Y6 students can make books as a class activity/ project / homework
with basic vocabulary for Y1 students to read.
5. Students' hand made books to be displayed in their work folders.
6. Best book can be read at a school or year assembly.
7. Book making tasks can be work to be handed out to the class by a
relief teacher if the language teacher is away.
8. High school students can make books by using computer programs -
they are still writing vocabulary and sentences in the second language!
older students enjoy using clip art and even making the story into a
comic book.
Bilingual
materials
: Students
rarely know enough vocabulary in their second language in their first
or even second year and usually cannot understand a story. Bilingual
material provides the extra vocabulary in an easy-to-use format.
Bilingual format is just one aid that helps students learn and use new
vocabulary. Children easily absorb new vocabulary and language styles
as they read stories. It is like a hand helping them when they are
learning to walk. Students let go of the hand and do not use their
native language part when they are ready. Bookmarks can be used by
students to cover the text in their native language when reading the
story in the other language. Students also learn through this kind of
reading that sometimes you need whole chunks of one language to explain
what may be said by two or three words in their native tongue. I
believe the sooner children can see passages in both languages, then
they learn naturally that you do not translate one word at a time.
Fun
= relaxed learning
: We all
learn by doing things and children learn through playing. Fun needs to
be brought into the classroom for language learning for all age groups
- even adults. Students should be able to PLAY with the words on the
board or in the book. In fact we all learn better when we are relaxed
and enjoy what we are doing. Adults and teenagers love card games,
which are easy to create using the vocabulary from any unit. Creating
their own stories and books is also a fun way to revise vocabulary and
grammar. Several ideas for making books are covered in Creating books
in class.
Activities
for "Can you do anything special?"
1. The conversation parts in the story can be used by students in their
own play.
2. Students can describe an animal in the second language to revise
colour and body parts.
3. Students can revise the verbs by making statements about which
animal does or does not do that action.
4. Students can re-tell the story in the second language to their
classmates and learn to describe Australia's unique fauna in their
target language.
5. Crossing into the key learning area that covers the environment,
students can research the natural environment and habitat for each
animal.
6. The descriptions of the animals in the story can be topics for
emails to be sent to sister schools in the foreign country.
7. For the Asian, Arabic and Greek characters, the book enables
students to practise reading the new writing system even though they
have limited vocabulary.
8. In classes of mixed abilities small groups can read the book while
other students work on revision sheets.
9. The story can be simplified to the level of the students. A basic
level and intermediate level are available in English to assist the
teacher. The equivalent part in the second language can then be read to
students. Please send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Opal
Affinity Books, PO Box 275, Gladesville, NSW 1675 Australia, if you
would like a copy of the simplified English text.
Activities
for "Can I have a lamington please?"
1. The conversation parts in the story can be used by students in their
own play.
2. Students can tell their classmates in the second language which of
the foods in the story they like or dislike.
3. Students can write what different foods they eat each day of the
week.
4. Students can say the date of their birthday and say what food they
would like to eat that day.
5. Students can follow the recipes and make lamingtons or Anzac
biscuits while only speaking in the second language.
6. The different Australian foods in the story can be topics for emails
to be sent to sister schools in the foreign country.
7. For the Asian, Arabic and Greek characters, the book enables
students to practise reading the new writing system even though they
have limited vocabulary.
8. In classes of mixed abilities small groups can read the book while
other students work on revision sheets.
9. The story can be simplified to the level of the students. A basic
level and intermediate level are available in English to assist the
teacher. The equivalent part in the second language can then be read to
students. Please send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Opal
Affinity Books, PO Box 275, Gladesville, NSW 1675 Australia, if you
would like a copy of the simplified English text.
© Dana Skopal, OPAL AFFINITY BOOKS 2004 - 2007
Opal
Affinity Books - publishing bilingual books about Australia
A division of Japan Affinity Pty Limited
ACN 050 101 927 - AUSTRALIA
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