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.

March 2013

ESOL Meeting

There will be a meeting held for parents who have children involved in ESOL programmes within the school, on Thursday the 21st of March 2013.   

The purpose of the meeting is to provide parents with an opportunity to learn more about how St Albans School caters to the needs of ESOL students. The ESOL teacher will discuss what the Ministry of Education English Language Learning Progressions mean in terms of the learner.  

Where: The staffroom off the main office.
When:  To commence at 2:15pm.