Planting Strawberries for Christmas

Gardening has provided wonderful opportunities for our young ESOL children to communicate and share opinions about a process. These children knew that strawberries were to be planted, but the question was, how were they going to work together to get the job done? These were some of the comments that were heard during the session.

a) The bag of soil is heavy, but I am strong.
b) Potting mix is a funny name.
c) The dirt is squishy.
d) Potting mix is not like that dirt. (pointed to the garden)
e) I see tree in the potting mix.
f)  The plants will be squishy in the pot.
g) There are lots of tiny strawberries.
h) The flowers are pretty. They are like daisies.
g) Plants need sun and water to grow.
h) I like icecream and strawberries.
i) We will all eat the strawberries.

Teacher: You will all have strawberries when they ripe.
               When they are red they will be ready to eat.

The students followed a set of instructions and helped each other to plant and water the strawberry plants. Here is a short slideshow that they wanted to share with you.

The Art of Telling a Story

Our senior ESOL students have been exploring the elements of narrative writing. A painting titled 'The Sad Clown' was shared with three students. The emotion expressed on the clown's face was used as a discussion point aimed at developing vocabulary that could be integrated into a character description.  

What did the students know about clowns? 

What did they know about this clown?

What role did a clown play in a circus? 

After sharing the short story 'The Circus is Coming to Town', and personal circus experiences, our students were asked to plan possible scenarios that would explain the clown's sadness. Following much discussion and planning, drafting began. Each step in the process provided wonderful opportunities for targeted teaching. 

Once the writing was completed and edited, a sound track was made using Garage Band. Sound effects were added by the students. Each student was asked to create a series of colourful pictures to visually reinforce the storyline. They were digitally recorded and stored in iPhoto. Finally the students uploaded the photos onto iMovie and dropped in the soundtrack stored in iTunes. They methodically timed their track, added credits and saved the movie for viewing.  

These movies are excellent examples of how a student can use technology to learn to speak a new language. During the lengthy teaching and learning process, many questions were asked and a great deal of information shared. The greatest incentive for writing was the opportunity to bring their own stories to life and to share them with a wider audience. Two of these students have been learning to speak, read and write English for less than a year. They hope you enjoy their movies. 

Dancing at the CBS

 Our Big Night at the CBS Arena

 

Swali

Hasini

Swali, Hasini, Seeya and Vianca

On the 26^th of October our Christchurch Indian population celebrated Diwali at the CBS Arena. This was a chance for Christchurch people to learn more about music, dance, yoga, fashion and food synonymous with Indian culture.  A number of girls from our school danced in front of a large crowd at the arena. Swali writes of their experience.

Seeya

 “It’s the evening!” I said. Now it’s night and we have to go to the CBS Arena. Our dance remember. “ “ Oh my goodness!” I said, “5000 people are here.

Our dance was called  Deepawali Airay and that’s a long name for Dwaliaray.  Seeya  was dancing with me along with Hasini, Vianca and Seeya’s friend who is my piano teacher’s son. His name is Adash.  Hasini danced with her shoes on and slipped a couple of times.  We usually dance bare feet and that gives us a good hold of the floor.  We wore our beautiful saris and mum did the makeup for us. I thought that we were all pretty.

Dwaliary is a dance that is supposed to make people happy.  Do watch my video. I have been dancing forever, well since I can remember. My mother taught me how to dance. This is the third time that I have danced in front of a lot of people. I always feel nervous, but it’s fun.

Written by Swali

A group of children have been learning to write about a shared experience.

There were two aims:

a) To teach the children to listen to instructions carefully and follow a process. 

b) To reflect on the process, discuss their findings and write a well sequenced recount. 

This recount demonstrates how ESOL children begin to develop simple sentence structure. An understanding of English plurals, pronouns, prepositions and past tense can take a long time for ESOL students to acquire. 

Growing Sweet Peas

Yesterday when we went to ESOL we planted sweet peas. First we got a pot and then we put the soil in the pot. Next we patted the soil. It was a lot of work to do. After that we made holes in the soil. Then we counted the seed. Then we dropped the seed into the hole. Then we covered the seed. Last we found a place to put the pot. 

Written by Vianca

Using Puppet Theatre To Promote Fluency in Spoken English

A group of middle and senior school students adapted a School Journal play to produce this puppet theatre. There was a great deal of relaxed conversation taking place throughout the process as the students decided on who would play which character and what these characters would look like.

The play is an adaption of 'Eggs, Eggs, Eggs.' and is called 'Eggs for Breakfast!'  The students created the puppets using coloured cardboard and chopsticks. They rehearsed their scripts until they felt confident to be recorded. 

The use of computer technology as a recording and assessment tool: 

Video footage of the puppets' actions was edited using iMovie. Voices were recorded using Garage Band and saved as an iTunes file. This file was then inserted into iMovie. We hope you enjoy the end result. 

 Here are some photographs taken prior to filming.

Balancing Basic Communication Skills with the Development of Academic Language

 It is critical for 'English Language Learners' to master basic communication skills when they first enter our school system,  The introduction of academic language in these early months provides students with vocabulary and knowledge that enables them to participate in areas that may be of interest to them.

This group of students had very limited English when they entered New Zealand. The Autumn season provided us with an opportunity to explore the school grounds and learn more about the trees that grew there. This became our inquiry for the latter part of the term. 

 Key vocabulary was developed first. The students drew trees and labelled each part. They visited specific areas of the grounds, took photographs and discussed what they saw. Then it was back to the classroom to learn about the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees in more depth. Reading books, thematically linked to their study were used to expand topic related vocabulary and provide the students with opportunities to ask questions. The students learned to write short sentences based on their observations. This video footage captures parts of the learning process.   

Seasons

Learning About the Seasons of the Year

Over a number of sessions in ESOL class, these students have been exploring the vocabulary associated with the different seasons of the year. Our focus was Autumn as this is the current season in New Zealand. Text was selected to support language development.

Each student created a booklet, personalising experiences that they associated with a particular season.  Pictures were linked with key vocabulary. While the students speak in simple sentences the pronunciation of words is clear. 

This video demonstrates the language used to answer questions about a given season. 

What Does it Mean to be a Friend?

Shiako tying knots

Avi threading beads

Johnny concentrating on the task

Swali and Hasini admiring their work 

Healthy Friendships

After reading the story ‘A Friend for Jamie’ a group of Year 2 ESOL students discussed the concept of friendship. In the story a young student befriends a blind boy who wants to play softball. The children talked about the importance of inclusion and the how it would feel to be excluded because of a disability. They wrote about the qualities that they look for in their own friends. These included: trusting, caring, a playmate and someone who would always listen to you and help you out.  

Following the oral language, reading and writing component, the children each made a friendship bracelet. They helped each other to make the loops and tie the knots.  

Making Pumpkin Soup

A group of Year 3 students read the book 'Growing Pumpkins.' After discussing how a pumpkin could be used as an autumn vegetable,  it was decided that making pumpkin soup would provide a fun way to learn about instructional writing (recipes) and the ingredients used to make this particular soup.
Before the ingredients were prepared, the children drew pictures of the ingredients and wrote the quantity of each item to be included in the recipe, beside the picture.  The recipe, with instructions for making, were then written into their writing books.

Here is a video of the process: 

These are the children’s reflections of the process:

Sithum: We made pumpkin soup. It tasted like chicken soup except it was hotter and yummier because we put in lots of delicious ingredients. I liked its flavour.

Nabin: We made pumpkin soup and this is what I thought of it.  I liked the flavour and the taste made my mouth water.

Aayush:  I liked it because it was hot and it was yummy.

Manav: The soup was creamy and mushy.  I liked the flavour. It was hot and tasty. I was excited. 

Time for a Group Photo

Students receiving ESOL support came together for a group photograph.  

Drawings are Used to Clarify Understanding of Key Ideas in a Text

After reading 'Ah Liang's Gift', a group of Year 2 students were asked to draw pictures to show how the story was introduced, what the problem was and how it was solved. 

After responding to questions about the story the students wrote a short

sentence to describe what was happening in each picture. While sentences

are often simple, they may contain errors that are common when students

are learning to speak and write in English. The correct use of tense

develops over time with explicit teaching. 

These are some of the pictures they drew. 

      The Emperor is sad.  

       He is sick. 

       He need sunshine and fresh air.

Ah Liang sing the Emperor a song. 

Ah Liang love the song. 

The song is a good gift. 

  He is happy.

   He goes outside again. 

Enabling students to capture ideas through artwork is an effective way to develop English vocabulary needed to describe key events in a story. While a student may appear to have understood the content of text, it is only through discussion that comprehension of more challenging vocabulary can be confirmed. 

Pictures provide a wonderful opportunity for students to discuss the key ideas contained in the introduction of a story, the body and the conclusion.

  

Using Tactile Experiences to Develop Foundation English

Baking Cupcakes 

The aim of the learning process was:

1)    To teach the names of ingredients that are commonly found in the home (e.g. butter, sugar, flour, milk, oranges and lemons).

2)    To explore plural endings (e.g. how many oranges do we need? How many cups of flour are in the mixture?)

3)    To explore present particple verbs (e.g. cutting, pouring, cracking, beating, mixing, cooking and icing).

4)    To digitally reord the experience for oral discussion and writing.

Prior to baking: Simple sentences

I can make cupcakes.

I will bake the cupcakes in the oven.

The oven will be very hot.

The cupcakes will cook in the oven.

These are the actions and sentences that were used to discuss the process:

1)    We are getting the ingredients ready.

(Pointing and naming of individual ingredients was used to demonstrate what the word ingredients meant). The students repeated the names of each ingredient.

2) We are squeezing the orange juice into the bowl.

(The term ‘squeezing’ was demonstrated by the teacher and then a student was selected to squeeze orange juice into the cup)

2)    I am cutting the butter into the bowl.

The teacher discussed the butter cutting process. The measurements were shown on the side of the packet. (e.g. 25 grm marks on the butter wrapping).

3)    Ryota is beating the eggs and sugar together.

Each student was given an opportunity to mix the ingredients together while the other students repeated the sentence.

   

4)    We are adding chocolate chips to the mixture.

The use of ‘is ‘ and ‘are’ are explained.

    

5)    Sakshi is happy and thinks the mixture is ready.

6)    We are putting the mixture in the patty pans.

7)    Yuki is putting the cupcakes in the hot oven.

8)    We are icing the cupcakes.

9)    We are putting our animals on the top of the cupcakes.

10) We like eating our cupcakes.