Literacy Symposium Workshops

On the first day on non contact time, I was fortunate enough to attend a literacy symposium. I learnt a lot of useful strategies for oral language and ESOL students. 

Workshop 1: Oral Rehearsal and Developing Authority in Writing 


  • Using talk to generate ideas
  • Using talk to support writing process (oral rehearsal) 
  • Practical ideas 


 Children are not given opportunities to write authentically

Resources: 


  • Effective Literacy Practice 
  • Learning through Talk 
  • Essential Oral Language Toolkit
  • ESOL online 

Differences between oral and written language: 

We are expecting students to write in a certain way and that is not the same as the way we are expecting them to speak 

Oral Rehearsal


 “Reading and writing float on a sea of talk” - James Britton, 1970 

Possible Difficulties 

Modeling as teachers is so important - if we want learners to be writing grammatically correct, they need to be hearing it in the classroom. 
Learners are not writing about authentic topics. 
We are disengaging our learners by not giving them authority over their writing

 Mentor text - a text that is going to support the learning (an exemplar) 

Generating ideas: 

Neighbourhood maps 

Example of a neighbourhood map:

Could you use a visual Pepeha as a neighbourhood map. Learners add to this map each day. 
If you wanted to get learners to write about a specific genre eg persuasive writing could you choose something to write about from your neighbourhood map eg how to catch a flounder..

 Could ESOL learners write in their own language?  

James Gulliver Hancock

James Gulliver Hancock is a well travelled illustrator known for his playful illustration style. His obsession with drawing everything in the world has seen him work for major projects around the globe, seeing his work appear on everything from billboards, to TV commercials, to ceramics, to books, to board games

Listening Grids

Purpose: To model grammatically correct sentences which include new vocab and knowledge To learn how to identify key information and make notes. 
This is a great way to give learners information that they need to WRITE!

Speaking/writing frame

This gives learners an opportunity to structure their information that has just been given to them. Allow learners to change/adapt if they choose. 

Using a mentor text: Eric Carle - Brown Bear 

I wonder if we could try and write like Eric Carle using the information we have gathered. “Lady bird,Lady bird, What do you see? I see a grasshopper looking at meWe can do to make our writing better? Let’s add in an interesting fact..”

Workshop 2: Oral Language - Its more than just sharing news!

Expectations: 

  • what should we expect? 
  • At what ages and stages? 
  • What are your current expectations based language based on? 
  • Characteristics of a Literate Environment
  • OL is a prerequisite 
  • OL needs to be addressed across the curriculum
  • Rich OL tasks - strategically designed to address OL needs
  • Having the ability to respond - teachable moments and knowing when to come back 
  • OL not always traditional question and answer type scenarios 
  • Active rather than passive 
  • Conversational rather than interrogative
  • Prompting as a deliberate act of teaching (modeling, prompting, explaining
  • Build rich and wide vocab knowledge 
  • Multiple opportunities to learn these words - model and practice 
  • Read to our learners every day! Make meaningful decisions about the books you are reading to them 

Some listening tasks: 

  • Running dictation (Chinese whispers)  - this task involves speaking, listening , reading and writing 
  • Listening for mistakes - provides opportunities for active and focused listening 
  • Show a photo with a running dialogue
It was a horrendously stormy day..
“Excuse Mrs Butler but you said… stormy and its actually sunny..

Speaking tasks: 

  • Speaking frames - supports learners to respond orally with grammatically correct, precise and complete chunks of language
I saw..I noticed..When I was observing the..
  • Using a great book eg My friend - Hello Harry then use speaking frame to set them up for success
New vocab - gentle, compassionate, honest, loyal, positive My friend is…She is…I like…Extend for learners: ---is a…. FriendHer ability to…Without a doubt I…
Suddenly these speaking frames become writing frames. If i’ve done some talk planning - I can then go away and write

Writing and Oral Language 

  • Disappearing definition 
Gives students multiple opportunities to orally practice new language structures or vocab. Create a sentence with them: 
We need to wear a hat with a brim, apply sunblock and stay in the shade..We need to wear a _____ with a _____ and stay in the shade....
  • Using a picture to generate vocab 
Get them to generate some vocabulary Extend that for them:L           TStars SpeckledMoon glowingNight evening Evening          shadows
Get them to write about this!

Maths and OL 

  • Picture dictation
Dictate instructions - eg shapes, size, position etc
  • Cline
Time cline 
  • Positional language - class photo 
Recreate the class photo - I was in front of… I was in between…Can I integrate OL and literacy into maths? 

Reading and OL 

  • Critical thinking - Prompts throughout reading, model the speaking opportunity first..
Eg T - I helped my friend to pick up books L- oh yea i helped my friend when they fell overSpeaking opportunities that go beyond the text.
  • Provide speaking frames!!
  • Three level guide 
These statements are divided into three levels:Level One: Literal Statements (at the surface level of the text) where students simply search for the information within the text.Level Two: Inferential/Interpretive Statements (at a “between-the-lines” level) where students use the literal information and combine it with other information, either from the text or from their previous knowledge and experience, to find whether a statement is true or false.Level Three: Applied Statements (at a “beyond-the-text” level) where students use the literal and inferential information and combine it with other information from their previous knowledge and experience in making generalisations, hypothesising, being creative and discussing points of view. Information from the text is extended beyond the limits of the text to find whether a statement is true or false.Passive OL becomes active!
  • Anticipatory guide 
An Anticipation Guide is a strategy that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading a selection, students respond to several statements that challenge or support their preconceived ideas about key concepts in the text.Don’t forget to read to your children everyday!

What else can we do?

  • Word families
  • Singing
  • Echoing back
  • Puppets
  • Hot seating
  • Whispers
  • What’s wrong with it?
  • Picture Sequencing
  • Opinions

My reflection:

Could I implement a lot of these strategies into my Big Book activities? Could I use Three level guide and anticipation guide when i’m planning my guided reading sessions. Make sure I use speaking frames for writing, reading and maths.

Workshop 3: Scaffolding English Language Learners in a Literacy Programme

Teaching content and language concurrentlyWe can't wait until they fluent in English before we start teaching them concepts. 7 Langauge Learning Principles

How can we support? 

  • Know thy learners
  • Identify the learning outcomes - including language demands
  • Help students to achieve the same learning outcomes using differentiated levels of support
  • Begin with context embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete 
  • Provide multiple opportunities for authentic language use with focus on students using academic language
  • Ensure a balance of receptive and productive language
  • Include opportunities for monitoring and self evaluation
Can take 5 - 7 years for ESOL learners to become proficient in their English. Depending on when they started school here and what type of learner they are eg shy learners. 
Help students to achieve the same learning outcomes using differentiated levels of support

Reading a book in another language:

What strategies do we use? Choosing texts: What aspects need to be considered? Colloquial languageVocabTopicLayoutLength of textIllustrations - lots Sentence lengths - simple sentence structuresTexts that contain repetitive, predictable phrasesHigh frequency vocab and useful words What things might be challenging for our learners?

Making the most of a text: 

  • Build on learners experiences and prior knowledge 
  • Engage in meaningful conversations about concepts of the text, enabling learners to build understanding of new structures and vocab
  • Draw specific attention to text features in a deliberate, explicite way
  • Pre reading instructions and activities are important to activate prior knowledge 

What to do when students are stuck!

  • Prompt: 
  • What would make sense? 
  • What would sound right? 
  • What would look right? 
  • Go back and read that sentence again and when you get to the hard word, get your mouth ready to sound it out

Prior Knowledge

Prior knowledge can help us to make meaning of texts. It is our job to make sure learners can access and understand that prior knowledge. As teachers, we all assumed that this cloze was about children, not chickens.

Sequencing:

In groups, students have pictures of the text about to be readArrange pictures in logical order, talk about a possible storyline - make predictionsCould be talked about in first languages - taken home as part f home learning.
  • We need to really nurture that bilingualism!
  • Encouraging Bilingualism
  • Put words into their home language or draw pictures
  • Be careful with Google translate
  • Word wheel - talk about the vocab before you even read the text


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