MINISTRY OF EDUCATION English Language Teacher’s Guide GRADE 8 September 2003 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Ministry of Education is grateful to the following persons whose dedication and expertise has produced this Grade 8 Teacher’s English Language Guide for secondary schools. Original Contributors Ingrid Barker NCERD Donna Chapman Ministry of Education Wendella Jarvis Mackenzie High Evadney Holder President’s College Hazel Moses NCERD Claudith Thompson University of Guyana Grace Trotman Alleyne’s High Reviewers Elizabeth Duncan Subject Specialist SSRP Vilma Lynch Subject Specialist SSRP Evadney Williams Snr. Subject Specialist SSRP Editor Hazel Moses NCERD FOREWORD It is acknowledged that thorough planning is essential for effective teaching and learning. Such planning is even more critical today when one considers the limited resources, both human and material which are available. The Ministry of Education, through the Secondary School Reform Project (SSRP), has developed curriculum materials that have been designed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of secondary education. The curriculum materials include Grades 7-9 Curriculum Guides and Teachers Guides for Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Reading and Practical Activities Guides for Science. These materials have been tested in all secondary-age schools nationwide and are considered useful in providing teachers with a common curriculum framework for planning, monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and learning. The curriculum materials also provide a basis for continuous assessment leading to the National Third Form Examination (NTFE). The initial draft curriculum materials have been subjected to evaluation, by Heads of Departments, from all ten Administration Regions and Georgetown and they have been subsequently revised to reflect the views expressed by teachers. The revised curriculum materials are now published as National Curriculum documents to provide consistency and support for teachers in the process of planning for an effective delivery of the curriculum. All secondary teachers must ensure that they make good use of these curriculum materials so that the quality of teaching and learning can be improved in all schools. Ed Caesar Chief Education Officer. PREFACE This Grade 8 Teacher’s English Language Guide for secondary schools is designed to help teachers acquire the necessary skills in teaching this subject. A team of Subject Specialists has produced this guide to meet the needs of our Guyanese teachers. The methodology suggested in the lessons will definitely enhance students’ understanding of how they could improve and enhance their language skills. New and technical approaches are treated with ample illustrations, content and concepts that are located within the students’ experiential background. A wide range of enrichment activities is included to infuse enjoyment into the learning process, as enjoyment should be the corner stone of any learning. In addition, teachers are helped in assessing students’ learning. I wish every teacher all the best for a successful implementation of the Grade 8 English Language Guide. Good luck !!! Ingrid Barker Head, Curriculum Development and Implementation Unit. National Centre for Educational Resource Development. CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………. 1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION…………………………………………….. 3 What is Language……………………………………………………………… 3 Language Across the Curriculum…………………………………………….. 3 Skills……………………………………………………………………………… 4 Basic Language Skills…………………………………………………………. 5 The Learning Process…………………………………………………………. 8 Environmental Education (EE)………………………………………………... 13 EE Integration…………………………………………………………………… 14 Preparing to Teach…………………………………………………………….. 17 Teaching Methods……………………………………………………………… 21 Teaching Strategies……………………………………………………………. 23 Cooperative Learning………………………………………………………….. 26 Assessment……………………………………………………………………… 28 Lesson Plans……………………………………………………………………. 30 UNIT 1 WRITTEN COMPOSITION……………………………………………………. 33 The Writing Process……………………………………………………………. 34 Narrative Writing Composing the Narrative…………………………………………. 44 Graphic Organisers……………………………………………….. 45 Aspects of the Narrative………………………………………….. 48 Beginnings and Endings………………………………………….. 54 Making stories Interesting………………………………………… 55 Expository Writing Definition and Purpose……………………………………………. 59 Characteristics……………………………………………………… 60 Paragraphs that Explain………………………………………………………... 61 Paragraph that Answers a Question………………………………………….. 64 Paragraph that Persuades……………………………………………………... 66 Letter Writing Friendly Letters…………………………………………………….. 68 Business Letters…………………………………………………… 70 UNIT 2 COMPREHENSION…………………………………………………………….. 75 Listening …………………………………………………………………………. 75 Speaking…………………………………………………………………………. 78 CONTENTS Page Reading Methods……………………………………………………………... 81 The SQ3R Study Method…………………………………………………….. 84 Evaluating what is Read……………………………………………………… 85 Reading………………………………………………………………………… 88 Reading Comprehension…………………………………………………….. 95 Vocabulary Building……………………………………………. 100 Functional Reading…………………………………………………………… 103 Creative Reading……………………………………………………………… 104 The Narrative Text……………………………………………... 104 Figurative Language…………………………………………… 107 Proverbs and Idiomatic Sayings……………………………… 108 Summary……………………………………………………………………….. 109 Learning from Graphics………………………………………………………. 111 UNIT 3 GRAMMAR What is Grammar……………………………………………………………... 115 Teaching Grammar in Context………………………………………………. 117 Text Study……………………………………………………………………… 122 Evaluation……………………………………………………………………… 127 Types of Tests………………………………………………….. 128 UNIT 4 VOCABULARY………………………………………………………………… 130 Sample Lessons………………………………………………………………. Written Expression I - VI Comprehension VII -IX Grammar X - XII Glossary………………………………………………………………………… 141 References……………………………………………………………………… 144 INTRODUCTION Language and communication are basic aspects of human behaviour and can be communicated through oral and written means. A person uses words to articulate in oral and in written forms, to manipulate ideas, to shape thoughts and to understand that these key concepts are necessary in all forms of communication. The effective use of language has deteriorated over recent years, and today there is renewed emphasis on the acquisition of language skills. In the Guyanese context the English language is an indispensable tool, it is not only a subject but also a medium to instruct in all disciplines. Good language achieves the purpose for which it is intended, therefore, as language teachers you have a crucial role to play in the language development of your students. Your aim as teachers of English is to ensure that young people who graduate are both confident and competent in dealing with the many challenges they would face in the use of language, whether in school, in the workplace or in their personal lives. When students enter secondary school, they would have been exposed to the language skills and aspects of language structures and use, required at the primary level. These students would have achieved varying levels of language proficiency. It is now your task as the teacher at the secondary level to continue to provide opportunities for further language development in these students, so that they gradually increase their competence in language use to at least the recommended standard. The Grade 8 Language Arts Curriculum Guide describes the basic language experiences that students can be involved in at this grade. The language components: Written Expression, Comprehension and Grammar are presented separately; however, the English curriculum is also about literature and about experiences. The components are inherently 1 integrated and are building blocks for each other. Though listening and speaking are two of the skills that interlace the language curriculum, they are treated separately so as to target and develop competence in oratory, which is a skill needed for specialised communication at specific forums and occasions. The Grade 8 Teacher’s Guide aims to assist teachers to implement the curriculum in such a way that students acquire the more advanced skills needed. The Guide provides teachers with background information for topics and sub–topics; suggestions for practical classroom activities; a repertoire of teaching skills and strategies; and ways to introduce, conduct, conclude and evaluate lessons among other considerations. Also included in the Guide are relevant aspects of education principles and theories that can be used by the Head of Department to train young teachers and upgrade others on the job. 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION What is Language? As teachers, you have the unique responsibility to assist your students in their growth towards language maturity. To perform this task, you need to have a clear view of what language is and ways in which children acquire its skills. • Language is a means through which people, who share a common culture, communicate with each other. It is clearly linked to our identity and personal development. • Language is a social tool by which we share feelings, ideas, opinions, and knowledge. We use language to represent and make sense of the world around us. • Language is rule governed and has to be taught. It can be learned through methods that employ imitation, association, differentiation and categorisation. • Vocal sounds which verbalise words, and written symbols which visualise words, comprise language. Language across the Curriculum The student who is articulate in oral and written language, who can use words to manipulate ideas to shape thoughts and to understand key concepts, has an indispensable tool for all school learning, because the ability to communicate through language is a necessary skill in all subject areas. But what do we mean by ‘language across all curriculum areas’? It certainly does not mean that a teacher of science or social studies must take responsibility for teaching sentence structure, grammar and composition skills in their subject areas. Rather, language across the 3 curriculum would ensure that the student is cognisant of the fact that the use of good language structures gives clear meaning to what they want to convey. A. This involves students • Using correct grammatical structures in writing. • Presenting thoughts in an ordered and classified manner. • Learning the terms appropriate to the subject. • Using with increasing precision the vocabulary of their subject. B. This involves teachers • Modelling the standard language as the lesson is delivered. • Attending to the conventions of written language when marking scripts. SKILLS • Skills enable a person to respond appropriately to situations, or to initiate change. • Skills are developed through deliberate or unplanned practice. • Skills are not merely physical acts, in fact, the only physical act involves speaking. Types of Skills (a). Practical or Productive Skills This skill is related to procedures or methods and the outcomes are important e.g. the ability to construct a paragraph, write an essay etc. (b). Social or Affective Skills Types of behaviour are related to these skills but there are no fixed procedure or methods to use to achieve this skill. It is concerned 4 with process rather than product e.g. the ability to work as a member of a team or to convey understanding and appreciation. The practical and social skills cover any skill that can be examined. (c). Basic Skills The basic skills are literacy, oracy and numeracy. These skills open the way or enhance other skill acquisition. The other skills that are enhanced and acquired are problem solving, manipulative ability, everyday coping and relationships. (d). Transferable Skills These skills can be applied to a number of different tasks e.g. reading, decision-making, drawing etc. Teaching for ‘transfer’ requires the teacher to use approaches in which the wider application of skills is made apparent. Students’ attention must be drawn to the adaptability of what they are learning e. g. The teacher in a skill-focused programme is a facilitator for experiences which give students the chance to practise the skills Basic Language Skills Speaking, listening, reading and writing are the basic skills that are found across the curriculum, and these skills are complementary processes. Students should at all times be given opportunities to engage in experiences that facilitate and exercise them during the lesson for a more formidable development of English. As children talk together and share what they read, and respond to each other’s written work, they grow towards full language maturity, and also achieve a major role of instruction which is to be better thinking students. 5 Teachers are therefore challenged to help students think critically and imaginatively and speak, listen, read and write capably and effectively. Goals Speaking To develop students’ ability to speak (a). formally, semi-formally and informally with confidence, clarity, and fluency (b). in a variety of situations for a variety of audiences (c). for a range of purposes of increasing complexity Listening To develop students’ ability to listen (a). with an increased span of concentration in order to ask and to respond to questions and express opinions (b). attentively to readings to appreciate stories, poems, drama and other literary material (c). to respond appropriately, so as to give, receive and follow precise instructions when pursuing a task individually or as a group member Reading To develop students’ ability to (a). read with fluency and confidence, a range of different kinds of material using reading methods appropriate to the material (b). read meaningfully to understand and interpret written text (c). read for information, for interest, for entertainment and for the extension of experience and insight that poetry and fiction afford Writing To develop students’ ability to (a). write confidently for a range of purposes and to a variety of audiences (b). organise the content of what is written in ways appropriate to the purpose (c). use the mechanics of writing, so as to convey intended meaning 6 Thinking is often considered to be the fifth language art. It serves as the foundation for and is the thread that weaves together the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. All the levels of thinking in the process of learning is classified in Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. The levels of thinking are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF EDUCATION Knowledge involves recall of facts and events. Comprehension involves not only the recalling of bits of information, but also the understanding of information in order to interpret or draw inferences. Application the students should already have knowledge of rules and generalisations that will help in finding the solutions to new problems. Analysis the student has to identify elements and their relationship with each other. This is a movement towards abstraction. Analysis is a necessary step towards synthesising. Evaluation is the highest category of the cognitive domain. All the lower levels are involved in this category. Thus it must be said that each category is not separate or distinct, but includes behaviours found in the previous categories. 7 THE LEARNING PROCESS Learning is a process by which knowledge, skills, and attitudes are acquired. Students learn best through: ♦ Making connections - connecting new knowledge to what is already learned ♦ Meaningful experience - experiences to encourage enquiry and discovery ♦ Talking things through - discussion with others ♦ Writing things down - expressing ideas and experiences ♦ Creative expression – exploring through art, dance, drama, music and craft ♦ Praise and recognition – for success, effort and progress ♦ Challenge and expectation – acquirable standard of achievement ♦ Responsibility and self assessment – evaluating their own learning The process is of maximum value to the student when the learning context is structured, when learning styles are taken into account and when the teaching style is professional. The Learning Context Students need to be able to make sense of their learning environment and should be confident with what they are about to learn, be told what is expected of them and what the learning outcome will be. Teachers will therefore need to provide learning guidelines in the introduction of the lesson. Learning guidelines are to a student what a road map is to a motorist. They map out for the students what is to be learnt, how it is to be learnt and the steps to follow in order to achieve the intended learning. 8 What they need to know: What is to be taught and its benefit to them What the teacher expects of them in relation to the lesson What they may/may not use When they may/may not do certain things. How they can succeed in tasks How the lesson will be evaluated Telling students how they will be evaluated helps them to know what kind of learning will be acquired from the lesson. Students may prepare differently for different types of evaluation. To specify evaluation procedures the teacher can tell the students what kinds of tests will be given, what kinds of questions will be asked and what kind of knowledge or skills will be evaluated. Learning Styles There are four learning styles that are utilised by students in and out of the classroom. Students learn through seeing, talking, doing and touching. In other words, the human senses are the avenues for learning. Students respond in two ways to learning. There is the cognitive response that comprises the learning styles and there is the social response that indicates how they interact with the learning. A. Cognitive Response LOOKERS –Visual learners They like to see what they learn. Method to use • Demonstrations and illustrations • Visual aids, charts, and pictures that focus attention on the lesson • Written examples on the chalkboard 9 TALKERS - Auditory learners They like to listen and talk about what they learn. Method to use • Give verbal instruction and affirm students verbally. • Use sound in the environment e.g. recordings, audio-visuals. • Allow student to lead in discussion. DOERS and TOUCHERS – Kinaesthetic learners They like to be physically involved in what they learn. Methods to use Tasks • Manipulation and construction of models e.g. drama, games etc. • Create an action–oriented environment • Encourage peer-teaching so that they can do things for others Basically students learn to some extent through all these styles, but each student learns best through one style that is dominant and is his/her main channel of learning. B. Social Response (1). Attention seekers (3). Intermittent workers (2). Solitary workers (4). Quiet collaborators Teachers, you need to get to know your students’ cognitive and social responses as individual learners, so that you would be able to match and accommodate your teaching to most of their learning styles. Principles of Effective Teaching 1. Have clear goals for instruction 10 2. Ensure the relevance of classroom activities to real-world context and student’s lives 3. Exhibit adaptation to diversity by selecting instructional strategies and materials appropriate to age, background, culture, and special needs of individual students. 4. Create a classroom climate that promotes learning, intrinsic motivation, and achievement. 5. Encourage social interaction related to classroom subject matter. 6. Provide a structure that guides students’ learning and behaviour. 7. Facilitate effective information processing. 8. Support mastery of fundamentals, including proficiency in the basic knowledge and skills that provide the foundation for advanced learning. 9. Provide the challenge essential for cognitive development. 10. Promote higher-level thinking skills. 11. Communicate realistic high expectations for students’ performance. 12. Engage in regular monitoring of students’ behaviour and progress toward classroom goals. A. Elements of teaching style Professional Skills (a). Interpersonal skills, relating/motivating/communicating etc. (b). Classroom management (c). Planning and preparation (d). Matching tasks to children (e). Assessment and record keeping Professional Knowledge (a). How children learn and develop (b). Awareness of curriculum developments (c) Current educational debate (d). Recent classroom research (e). New materials for teaching and learning 11 Professional Attitudes (a). Personal qualities, enthusiasm/energy/confidence/flexibility etc. (b). Personal values and beliefs (c). Personal relationships with colleagues etc (d). Professional and life goals (e). Self awareness and self appraisal B. Characteristics of progressive and traditional teachers The teacher’s professional skill is characterised in the way he/she delivers the curriculum. The characteristics displayed should show him/her to be a progressive or traditional teacher according to two schools of thought. However, the characteristics reveal in both cases extremities in the role of both the teacher and student. The table below blends the characteristics of the progressive with the characteristics of the traditional teacher to produce the desired characteristics for a teacher in the Guyanese context. Characteristics 1. Integrates subject matter 2. Teacher as guide to educational experiences 3. Encourages active student role 4. Handles learning by discovery techniques, practice and memory learning 5. Aids intrinsic and extrinsic motivation 6. Gives equal priority to academic, social and emotional development 7. Does adequate testing 8. Places accent on cooperative group work mixed with healthy competition 9. Does teaching in and outside the classroom base 10. Encourages accent on creative expression 12 Environmental Education The Environment is not merely the physical, the biotic and the cultural, but also refers to the immediate environs of the home, the school and the community. It is therefore important to foster environmental responsibilities in students, teachers and support staff. ♦ Environmental Education (EE) is about teach the student about the environment, in the environment and most important, for the environment. ♦ EE enables interaction to exist between people and the environment. ♦ EE aims to develop in students the skills, knowledge, understanding and values that will enable them to make informed decisions and take action for the environment. The Learning Context for EE The ethos of the school is an important and powerful dimension in developing in young people values, attitudes and behaviour. “The quality of the relationships between people in the classroom and school, as well as the quality of the surroundings inside and around the school, are key factors in creating a stimulating learning atmosphere for students and teachers.” For effective EE, schools should practise what they teach. Curriculum Content The environmental content of science and geography and to a lesser extent history and social studies are explicitly identified within the programme of study. The other subjects could develop knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to EE by using environmental contexts and issues. 13 Teaching and Learning Styles of EE The development of students’ ability to express their own views, and listen to those of others, form reasoned opinions, work co-operatively, make decisions and take action for the environment is related to the adopted teaching and learning styles e. g. co-operative learning, enquiry-based approach, use of real life issues, use of secondary sources and first hand experience. Integration Integration is a teaching strategy that is used to link the subject matter in all disciplines. This strategy can be planned or it may be incidental. It is not merely the use of the content of one subject within another subject that constitutes integration, but it is through discussion and exploration of the issues in the content that facilitates integration. It is not necessary to integrate every lesson, for some lessons require students to focus on the language skill/s alone e.g. grammar lessons, while others are naturally integrated e.g. expository writing – process. Incidental integration A comprehension lesson is in progress – Unit 4, Adventures in English Bk1. A student asks a question or comments on the fact that Ramesh had so many poppies and did not even give one to Victor. • The teacher uses this to discuss the meaning of friendship and allows the students to share how they usually feel when they are the odd ones in a particular situation. • Through probing questions posited by the teacher and the voluntary participation of the students, these life skill issues are explored and a satisfactory compromise arrived at. • This diversion only takes a few minutes, but it has integrated the Language lesson with Life Skills. 14 Planned Integration The content of the lesson may lend itself to social, medical, health or other issues. The teacher explores the issue, and plans ways to present it to the class. It could be injected within the “introduction”. An environmental issue can be addressed concerning the mess that is left on the roadside after the garbage has been carted away. The students can: • Write their responses and then compare with their peers. • Brainstorm the issue. • Research the facts before the class. As the core of the lesson • Write letters to the relevant authorities requesting that garbage collectors handle the garbage with care. • Write narratives telling the misfortune of someone due to scraps of garbage being left on the parapet. For further research • List things the residents can do to help alleviate the situation. • State two safe ways of disposing of garbage. • Make one suggestion of what is to be done with non-biodegradable material. Lessons that are naturally integrated. Comprehension - Mathematics • Plotting graphs to summarise gathered information or data • Drawing conclusions from data on charts Expository - Home Economics/Science/Woodwork/Agricultural Science Steps in a process • How to design a tie-dye 15 • How to bake fish • How to sort and wash laundry • How to make a towel holder • How to test for the presence of starch in a leaf • How to prepare a seed bed Literature - Environmental Education • Setting - natural environment • Character - social environment • Poetry - aesthetics Within language itself the components are to be integrated for effective teaching and learning. Integration within components requires that the teacher tell students the overall purpose of the skill they will learn. It is usually recommended that the skill be used in the proposed context immediately after it is taught. Grammar is needed to put words together to express ideas. e. g . Past Tense Verbs Teacher - “You will need to use this tense when you write reports, for it marks past time - events in the immediate and distant past.” Comprehension passages Teacher - “You will need to give relevant and effective details to support the main point/s (topic sentence/s) in your writing.” “These are ways in which you can present your characters when you write your short stories.” 16 PREPARING TO TEACH The Language lesson like all other lessons aim to help students learn, apply and understand new concepts. In preparing the lesson, the teacher will: • Formulate the objectives. • Select the content. • Select the teaching methods. • Select the materials needed. • Select the method of evaluation. There should be congruence between the stated objectives, content and evaluation procedure. The thought process that is used in a lesson results in the outcome that is measured as the performance. The expected performance or outcome of any lesson is stated in the objective. A. Objectives (1). Learning Objectives A learning objective is a clear and unambiguous statement about what the learner should know, understand and be able to do as a result of some learning experience. Learning objectives must include the learners’ development of skills, knowledge, understanding and attitude. The learning objectives are given in the curriculum guides. Skills provide practical ways of doing things. Knowledge provides a framework of ideas with which to make sense of his / her learning experience. Understanding applies the skills and knowledge gained to solve problems in unfamiliar situations. Attitudes respond positively to new learning. 17 (2). Behavioural Objectives The learning objectives that you wish to achieve at the end of the lesson are stated in behavioural terms. Behavioural objectives specify what the learner will be doing when an evaluation is made to discover whether the intention has been achieved. These objectives must be clear, measurable and achievable. Stating Behavioural Objectives Performance Specifies the kind of behaviour the instruction attempts to produce and that will be accepted as evidence that the learner has achieved the objective. Condition Describes the important conditions under which the performance or behaviour is expected to occur. Criteria Specifies the criteria of performance which would determine how good the student’s performance must be for it to be acceptable. Terms such as ‘to identify’, ‘to state’ and ‘to describe’ indicate the form of behaviour the students are expected to demonstrate in terms of skills, knowledge and understanding. The attitudinal behaviour is not stated in the objective as it is not measured but mainly observed through enthusiasm and interest. 18 The table shows the categories with some behavioural terms for stating objectives and an example of a behavioural objective. Knowledge Knowledge Students will be able to To define identify and state the To describe parts of speech of all To identify the words used in To state given sentences. To list To recall To recognise To match To name To acquire To collect Comprehension Comprehension After listening to the To translate reading of a story, To give in own words To illustrate students will be able to To prepare re-write the entire story To read in their own words. To represent To change To convert To distinguish To estimate To explain Application Application Students will be able to To apply produce and dramatise To relate To develop a scene from a section To generalise of a story they have To transfer read. To prepare To produce To show To solve To use To manipulate To operate 19 Analysis Analysis Students will be able to To distinguish classify the types of all To classify the nouns taken from a To detect given paragraph. To deduce To categorise To break down To discriminate To analyse To identify To infer To outline To point out Synthesis Synthesis To write Students will be able to To tell write a short story from To relate a narrative poem after To produce discussing the plot of To transmit the poem. To modify To document To create To compose To re-write To revise To plan To design To derive To develop To combine Evaluation Evaluation Students will be able to To compare To conclude compare their To justify predictions with their To judge actual findings after To standardise reading the To appraise comprehension To summarise passage. To discriminate 20 A. Content In the Curriculum Guide, the English A content is segmented into its components being Written Expression, Comprehension and Grammar. The content is so structured to ensure that it is relevant and adequate to cover a one year programme and that it is progressive from Grade 7 - 9. It is expected that teachers would choose from the components, the topics that are interrelated and would be a unit of work e.g. An example of a unit of work Written Expression: Short story Comprehension: ‘The Challenge’ Unit three, ‘Adventures in English’ Bk. 1 Grammar: Past Tense and Past Participle Verbs Similes Synonyms A teaching unit could be taken directly from the English Language text or its parts can be selected from several texts. The teacher must ensure that the unit of work planned, meets the needs of the recipients. When planning a particular lesson from the unit, the teacher is required to include the content in the lesson plan. The content would include: The sentences or models to be used to teach the concept. The practice exercise/s. The evaluation exercise/s. B. Teaching Methods Introducing the lesson The introduction comes at the beginning of each lesson. 21 Purpose • To get the students interested in the topic • To motivate the students in preparation for the lesson • To establish the accuracy of previous knowledge • To introduce adequate background information about the topic • To give students learning guidelines. There are several things a teacher can do to achieve the purpose of the introduction. Ways to Introduce a Lesson (1). Tell a story: A story will easily capture students’ attention. The story must hold relevance to the topic for its use to be worthwhile. Use: Narrative Writing, Grammar (2). Use simulation or drama: Using simulation means having a ‘pretend’ situation that is similar to something in real life. Students enjoy being involved and will probably be eager to dramatise something related to the topic that is being taught. Use: Comprehension, Written Expression (3). Pose an interesting problem or question: This approach may motivate students to begin to search for answers. Problems and questions should be carefully selected to suit the students’ level of interest and ability. Use: Oral Expression, Written Expression - Narrative (4). Draw comparisons: Comparisons can be made between new topics and topics which are already familiar to the students This activity allows the child to be comfortable with the new learning as he/she senses progress in learning and feels challenged to achieve. Use: Grammar 22 (5). Offer incentives: Teachers could point out to the students the value of learning a particular topic. For instance, in a lesson the teacher might say, “It is important for you to write correct grammar, so that your intended meaning is clear, and you can gain better marks.” Another incentive that can be offered is the prospect of a longer recess. For the use of incentives to be effective, you must select things that are desired by your students. (6). Arouse controversy: This is an effective way to get students to express their opinions. For example, a teacher might say, “We should ban mini-buses and return to the use of government public transport.” This extreme position on the transportation issue may get students to give other opinions. Another method of arousing controversy is to present a topic about which the students can hold a debate. Use: Oral Expression, Written Expression – Points of View (7). Present interesting audio-visuals: It can open the door for lively discussion. An unusual object or an exciting picture can inspire many ideas from students. These techniques are not confined to introducing lessons but can be used effectively within the developmental stages of the lesson. When trying to motivate students, teachers should remember that each student is different; what motivates one student may not motivate another. Therefore teachers should be careful not to use the same strategy repeatedly over a short time, because the students will soon tire of it. Teaching Strategies It is important for teachers to use a variety of strategies to teach reason. The selection of one or more strategies will depend on these factors: 23 • The topic to be taught • The number of students for the particular lesson • The ability of the students • The number of activities planned • The demand of the learning task Types of Teaching Strategies • Expository • Discovery or Exploratory • Participatory • Evaluative A. Expository Method Expository methods are executed when the teacher provides new information by lecturing or demonstrating. Learning takes place as the students process new information and link it with relevant previous knowledge. It means therefore, that the expository methods are most effective when the students have the necessary background knowledge with which to make meaningful links with the new information being presented. (1). Lecture Method Lecture methods are particularly useful when dealing with a relatively large class. Some points to note It is important to keep in mind the points, facts and concepts being taught in the lesson and to take a break at strategic points to ask questions to ensure that students are ready for the next stage of the lesson. 24 Use teaching aids such as charts, diagrams and models to illustrate what is being said and also to hold students’ attention. Use the chalkboard to chart the subject matter as the lesson progresses. The chart or diagram shows links in the subject matter and this helps students to process information being presented. (2). Demonstration This method is particularly useful when students need to have a concrete experience to facilitate learning. The teacher should not select this method when there is insufficient material. Demonstrations usually arouse students’ interest and provide excitement in the class. Some points to note The teacher should ensure that all students are seeing what is taking place. Elicit from students what they are observing and point out any special features, if necessary. Depending on the activity, get some students involved by asking them to serve as volunteers. Prepare and rehearse the demonstration to ensure it works. B. Discovery Method Discovery methods include practical activities. These methods are useful especially for concept development. They require the students to process information by doing, observing and engaging in other process skills such as classifying, measuring and making inferences. In applying these process skills, the students abstract salient characteristics of a particular situation for concept development. 25 C. Participatory Method These methods include group discussion, debate, role-play, simulation and drama. They provide opportunities for the students to express how they feel and what they think in a non-threatening manner. They can also be entertaining and are appropriate activities that allow all students to participate in the learning experience. Some points to note The teacher should ensure that no student is put in an uncomfortable or embarrassing position. This can happen if the activity deals with a sensitive matter such as family relationship or socio-economic conditions. The teacher should let the students enjoy the process, but ensure, by asking questions and guiding them in a summary of the lesson, that the point of the lesson is not lost. Following are some things teachers can do in the classroom that would encourage students to participate during the lesson. Use pleasant facial expression that encourages. Use students’ contributions during the course of the lesson. Offer incentives. Praise students for answers and attempted answers to questions. Invite questions from students. After a response is given by a student, try to get feedback on whether or not the response was relevant to the question. Cooperative Learning Co-operative learning or collaborative learning is useful for whole class and small group activity and fosters an atmosphere for much student participation. Use group work frequently, as each group becomes a ‘mini class’. 26 Groups The best group size is four to five students. However, this can be increased or decreased depending on the purpose of the exercise and the physical arrangement in the classroom. Have a mixture of strong and weak students in each group; in this way the stronger ones help the weaker ones, and the weaker ones are forced to participate in the activity. Types of Groups Groups may be arranged in the following ways: • Large groups These are groups of six to eight students with group names such as Sparrows, Hawks etc. Such groups may be kept together, like teams, for an extended period of time. • Discussion committees These are temporary groups of four to six students sharing ideas and skills to achieve a specific outcome by the end of the session. • Buzz groups These are groups of two to four students working together for sporadic periods within the lesson to consult each other and report their conclusions. Conducting group activities (1). Select groups of four to six students. (2). Give clear instructions. (3). Try to get every one involved. (4). Guide the groups through difficulties. 27 Materials to Enhance the Learning Experience The textbook is usually the main resource for instruction. However in this video culture age, visual strategies are needed for instruction. Teaching presentations that effectively combine visual and audio elements are more compelling than text alone. More learning occurs when information is received simultaneously in two modalities – vision and hearing. The use of audiovisual presentations also provides greater access to concepts and skills for students of varied learning styles. For example, all students can benefit from using an appropriate diagram to represent the steps in a process or one that highlights similarities and differences. Students themselves are readily available as visual resources to be used in role-play, simulations or even to demonstrate an action. Materials Diagrams Pictures Models/Objects Tape Recorder- record stories, instructions, poems etc. and replay in class Television Presentations – show scenes of Guyana, historical buildings for description etc. Assessment Students can be assessed at each stage of the lesson to determine their readiness for the next stage. Then there is an assessment usually at the end of the lesson or unit for review and to evaluate whether or not the objectives of the lesson or unit were achieved. Assessment Methods There are five main methods: 1. Completion 28 Phrase or sentence – closed Extended response (100 – 200 words) Structured essay Essay 2. Objective tests • True/ False • Matching items • Multiple choice 3. Situational • Teacher interviews student • Exhibition of completed work • Observing student performance 4. Projects • Problem solving exercise Group Individual 5. Time-based • Portfolios of work • Records of previously assessed work 29 LESSON PLANS Successful teaching hinges mainly on the preparation of a good lesson plan. Mental planning is not adequate for delivery and cannot be used by another teacher when the class teacher is absent. A detailed plan instead of scanty notes is more valuable to the class teacher as well as the substitute teacher, for it offers greater guidance to execute the lesson and obtain the desired results. The lesson plans must present the main components. Lesson Plan Components The following headings should be included in lesson plans. Form/Grade This suggests • Students’ intellectual ability. • Their attention span. • The level of information that can be given. Class size The numbers would help to determine how the class would be organised. • Number of small or large groups • Number of students in each type of group Time Helps the teacher to allocate enough time to each stage of the lesson. Dictates the amount of content to be taught Objective Directs the teacher • To select the condition. • To determine the performance. • To establish criterion. 30 Previous Knowledge The knowledge that is already acquired and is the foundation for the new learning Content: Concepts to be learnt Examples to be given Exercises to be done Stages in the learning Methodology Introduction Stimulate interest and curiosity and set the tone for development. The strategy used must form a link between previous and new knowledge. Development Imparting new knowledge • Using background knowledge to teach new ideas and concepts • Using planned strategies and methodologies to promote interactive learning • Student participation • Organisation of class • Using materials to move learning from the concrete to the abstract • Giving students activities to practise applying the skills taught Summary Reinforcing what was taught • Repeating focal points in the lesson to further clarify and reinforce the concept. 31 Evaluation: Giving activities for assessment • Indicate to what extent objectives were achieved. • Determine how much learning has occurred. • Identify skills that need reinforcing. 32 UNIT 1 WRITTEN EXPRESSION Overview Since speech is the first means by which we communicate, then it may be purported that oral language is more important than written language. However, an in-depth analysis of the two means of communication would reveal that though one precedes the other, it is by no means suggestive of the importance of that communicative device over the other. Indeed it is that oral speech (oral expression) informs or influences our written expression; hence the inevitable marriage of the two. Written Expression Is permanent Is rigid in style Is a necessary tool for communicating Lends itself to various forms of expression. Can be referred to at any point in time for the purposes of clarification, comparison, guidance etc. Allows for greater understanding and interpretation of ideas, since one is able to read the information more than once in order to get the full meaning. Is a standard means by which competence in English Language is to be assessed. Styles of Writing Narrative Accounts and short stories Descriptive Objects, persons and places Expository Instructions, directions, letters, reports etc. 33 The Writing Process Writing is a way for students to explore the images that flash through his/her mind. It is also a way for them to discover more about themselves, about other people’s experiences and about the world around them. To write a good paragraph or essay takes planning and the stages in the writing process help the student to write in an organised way. Stages in the Writing Process • Prewriting • Drafting • Revising • Editing • Publishing Students at Grade 8 should by now be more competent writers and no longer need the props of controlled composition. These students can now go on to develop a better level of competence as they further develop their writing skills. Composing involves • Drafting • Re-drafting • Editing • Final draft. 34 Prewriting Activities These activities can be either or both oral and written. • Getting Started 1. Generate ideas - Brainstorming, - Discuss the issues - Free-writing 2. Explore ideas - Making lists starting with a key idea and listing the other ideas - Asking questions (who?, what?, where?, when?, why? and how?) Gathering Information Sources - The library - Collected resources - Conversations and discussions • Identifying Audience Finding the right level and the right language Questions: Who am I writing to? Answer: My teacher / a friend How much do they know about the topic? Answer: Not much What writing style to use? Answer; Humorous, formal, conversational style What vocabulary is appropriate? Answer: Words they understand, slang, clear grammatical structures 35 • Identifying Purpose Questions Do I want to narrate or tell a story? Do I want to describe someone or something? Do I want to inform about the topic or to explain something about it? Do I want to persuade them about something or to take some action? 1. Drafting With the aid of the pre-writing notes: ♦ Students will make a statement that gives the main idea of the composition, they will then write sentences to back up the statement, followed by other supporting paragraphs, if needed. ♦ Students will write a paragraph that implies the main idea of the composition; then follow up with the other supporting paragraphs, if needed. (A) The Paragraph It is a group of sentences that develop a central theme. It can be: • A composition in miniature • A part of a larger piece of writing, which is called an essay. Paragraph Structure • A topic sentence, • Some supporting sentences • The concluding sentence. Main Idea or Theme ♦ Stated in a topic sentence 1. A clear statement of what the paragraph is about 36 2. Tells the reader what to focus on. The topic sentence is a statement or question that can be placed at the beginning, the middle or at the end of the paragraph. However, placing it at the beginning is usually most effective, since the reader is then able to follow the development of the topic. ♦ Stated indirectly or implied 1. More true of descriptive or narrative paragraphs 2. The supporting sentences are strongly linked to the main idea. Supporting Details The supporting sentences contain the supporting details that develop the main idea expressed in the topic sentence. The paragraph has unity when each supporting sentence is relevant to the theme or main idea. The supporting details can be: ♦ Facts. ♦ Examples or incidents. ♦ Reasons. ♦ Sensory details. ♦ Statistics. Ordering the supporting details in: ♦ Chronological order – narratives, explanations, relating incidents ♦ Spatial Order – describing scenes and inside of buildings ♦ Order of importance – presenting facts, writing persuasively ♦ Cause and effect order – explaining scientific findings, historic events and such 37 Concluding Details They are written in a concluding sentence that summarises or restates the main idea. This sentence is only used if it will help strengthen the paragraph and is not used in a very short paragraph. Coherence When all the sentences are clearly and logically connected the paragraph is coherent. This logical connection is achieved through the use of transitional words and phrases. Transitional devices link ideas within and between paragraphs. Transitional Words and Phrases KINDS EXAMPLES OF WORDS USED Time Second Eventually Afterwards Then Before Periodically Sometimes Presently Place Nearby Opposite to Besides Under Next The next stop To the side of Over Importance Particularly Primarily Mainly Of importance First Cause and Effect Resulting in So that Therefore Since The reason that Thus Somehow In contrast Comparison and On the other hand Conversely Not…but Contrast On the contrary Though However Examples On the whole In each case In any event Particularly Consider Likewise (B) The Essay A string of paragraphs comprises an essay. An essay can be a newspaper article, a research or it can be a book. Each paragraph in the essay discusses a smaller part of the main idea of the composition. The 38 composition itself is a complete discussion of a subject or idea. The essay has: • An introduction • A body • A conclusion Introduction It is usually one paragraph long, and in some cases functions as the topic paragraph of the essay. The paragraphs that follow, each develop the points introduced in the opening paragraph. Opening paragraph: • Catches the reader’s attention. • Outlines the main points of the main idea that will be developed in the body of the composition. Body It is at least two paragraphs or as many as are needed to: • Develop the main idea. • Explain and illustrate the points. • Define terms. Conclusion The last paragraph or two of the composition ties all the ideas together or sums up the issues. 2. Revising Reading over the work: (a). Checking for meaning ♦ Is the main idea clear? ♦ Has the purpose been achieved? 39 ♦ Have the needs of the audience been met? ♦ Is more information needed? (b). Checking for Unity ♦ Do the details support the main idea? ♦ Are the details organised in a logical way? ♦ Are sentences that restate a point included? ♦ Are the relationships between the ideas clear? (c). Checking for Coherence ♦ Appropriate word choices ♦ Use of specific nouns and active verbs ♦ Deletion of all unnecessary words 3. Editing The student would need to examine the choice of words and phrases used. Guidelines for Proofreading and Editing . When proofreading written work, do the following: • Draw a line through any misspelled word or any word that should be replaced, and write the correct word above it. Use the dictionary to help check the spelling of difficult words. • Put a slash (/) through a capital letter that should be a common letter, and through a common letter that should be a capitalised one. • Use a caret (^) to show where a word has been left out. Write the missing word above it. • Add missing periods, commas, apostrophes and other punctuation marks. 40 • Cross out any unnecessary punctuation marks. • Use a paragraph symbol (¶) to show that a sentence should be indented or that a new paragraph should be started. • Use periods to break up long run-on sentences. • Get rid of any sentence fragments by using complete sentences. 4. Publishing This is the final stage of the writing process that is most often overlooked. Publishing involves sharing the completed piece of writing with the audience, that is, the teacher and other students. Forms of Publishing • Reading aloud to a small group or entire class When the reader would have completed reading, the listeners are to react to the piece by asking the composer direct questions on the composition. • Individually prepared books • Prepared class books • A class literary newspaper • A display Suggestions for Guiding Students in their Composing ♦ Tell students the kind of essay they are creating and what is required. ♦ Give graphic organisers as a stimulus for them to organise the composition e.g. Cluster Diagram Another way to show relationships is through a cluster diagram. Students suggest a central idea or main topic. Teacher records it in the centre of the 41 chalkboard. During a brainstorming session students mention other ideas related to the main idea. Students connect the new ideas with the ones related to them. Students can use cluster diagrams to connect these ideas South America Medicines Natural resources Traits Benefits Food Native products Population Rain Forest Destruction Endangered species Ozone Increased depletion poverty ♦ Give topics that develop wider interests, encourage research and develop reading competence. ♦ When necessary control length of paragraphs by requesting a particular number of supporting sentences, so that the weaker student is challenged to express more ideas. ♦ Encourage students to write a first draft; then a second draft while making all the necessary corrections, after which they write a final draft. 42 ♦ Encourage students to publish the completed essay and give their opinions for improving each others composition. 43 NARRATIVE WRITING Narrative writing tells a story. It can be about real or imaginary characters and events, and can be written by anyone. It organises its details in chronological order, a time sequence. Good stories can be quite simple and can be about incidents at home, at school or in the community. Narratives • A fiction, • A non-fiction, • A news report, • A diary entry, • A play or skit These narratives all give details to the questions of: (a) Who are involved? (b) What happened? (c) Where did it happen? (d).Why did it happen? (e) How did it happen? Composing the Narrative Strategies to teach Narrative Writing Students should be exposed to good narrative writing. This may be done during the Literature classes when short stories are analysed to discover the theme and setting, identify and distinguish between real and imaginary characters, list the elements of the plot and appreciate the writer’s craft. During these lessons the story can be charted on a graphic organiser 44 Story Map TITLE OF STORY SETTING CHARACTER THEME PLOT Sequence of Events / Time Line - Text Pattern EVENTS TIME LINE 45 Rising Action / Turning Point / Falling Action Story Map t Raising Action Character Trait Web Example Trait Example Trait Turning PoinFallin g Action Example Trait Identify the character Trait Example 46 Sequence of Events Chart Title Setting Character Problem Events Solution 47 The mapping out of the story will give students a good idea of what a story should have and how it is organised and better prepare them to plot and write stories of their own. Examining the Short Story to view Aspects of the Narrative The Short Story A short story is a brief work of prose fiction. Usually, it is a short story that can be read in one sitting. Short as it is, the story can be about anything. For example, a short story can show events that remind the reader of incidents in their lives and introduce them to people and places that they recognise. On the other hand, a short story can take them to fantastic lands where people and events are like nothing they have ever known before. In either case, a short story always communicates ideas about everyday happenings in life and how the human nature responds in the environment. The plot, setting, characters, and themes can be examined and discussed in the short story. Plot The plot is the sequence of events in a story; each event causing or leading to the next. It has four stages: ♦ Introduction or Exposition ♦ Complication or problem ♦ Climax ♦ Resolution. In the introduction the writer introduces the people, the place and situations related in the story. 48 The complication or problem is revealed as the characters interact with one another and from this point on we are in suspense about what will happen next. The climax is the part of greatest emotional involvement. It is the most intense part of the story, where the problem can’t possibly be any worst. It is the turning point of the action when issues begin along the path to a resolution. The resolution ends the action of the story by telling or implying the final outcome. The plot of a good story proceeds according to the following pattern. An Example of the Exercise (a) The Story The lift off was routine, and Joan eased the ship orbit. The orbit itself was routine for a moon-bound ship. But there was nothing routine about the flashing lights on the console. The nuclear reactor was overheating. Joan directed more coolant into the reactor, but the temperature continued to climb. Joan told Orbital Traffic Control of the problem and received permission to leave orbit for deep space. She was calm. She had to get as far from earth as possible, but a rescue ship would follow. She was nearly 3000 kilometres away when the first temperature alarm sounded. Joan snapped open the red cover marked Blow Out and pushed the button beneath. Nothing happened. She pushed it again. Still nothing happened. Her calm dissolved. She wrenched open the console and began to probe the delicate circuitry. The second temperature alarm joined the howling of the first. Finally, she found a simple break in the wire leading to the button. She jammed her screwdriver into the connection. Sparks flew. She felt the ship lurch as explosive bolts blew the reactor out into space. Drifting away it would harmlessly bleed off 49 its heat and radiation. The alarms stopped. The lights flickered as emergency batteries took over. Joan sighed and put her head on her arms. (b) After reading discuss these aspects Introduction The ship lifts off. Joan eases the ship into orbit. Here the characters and situation are introduced. Problem/Complication Red lights flash on the console – temperature climbs. Joan tells Orbital Traffic Control about her second problem and was advised to get as far as possible from earth. Second flash sounds. Climax The reactor is thrown into space. Resolution The alarm stops and emergency batteries take over. Point to note It is important that after the character or situation is introduced, the author goes quickly to the problem/ complication (narrative hook) in order to keep interest alive. Theme The theme of a story is its message, subject or main idea. The theme of this story is “taking the initiative”. Setting Setting is the background against which a story takes place. It can be a place or a period of time. Setting should be relevant to the story. The place where the story occurs is in space or in orbit. 50 Character – Characterisation The characters in a short story can be people or animals. When we give a character a personality, then we are engaged in characterisation. The character in the story is Joan. Character is revealed by: ♦ What the writer has written about the character. ♦ What the writer has the character say about himself/herself. ♦ What the writer has each character say about the other. ♦ What the writer has the character do. When the elements that the story presents is discussed, the students are then asked to fill in the details in the story map or the sequence of events chart or any of the others depending on the particular skill of narrative writing you the teacher are focussing on. Students could be given short extracts and asked to give the main idea for example. Extract Angie walked quickly towards home, as she had done every day for weeks now. She glanced wistfully at her friends, standing in the usual place on the corner. It would be nice to be with them. One of them broke away and came over. “Hey listen, Angie, a bunch of us are going down to the park. Why don’t you come with us?” Angie hesitated. Then she shook her head. “Thanks, Bob, I’d really like to, but I’ve got work to do.” She left hastily afraid she’d change her mind and give in. Behind her, she heard low voices. Then someone called “Oh, come on, Angie, take a couple of hours off.” She didn’t dare look back. She wanted so much to go. But Angie wanted to be an artist too, and the show started in a week. She had to get that project done. She’d missed some good times because of it, but it’d be worth it. 51 The main idea in this extract is “setting a goal”. The students can also be asked to read books and submit portions of description. From these samples they can write their own descriptions of settings Sample that can be submitted “Blue mountains seemed to float above the plain. The rising sun behind them cast their long purple shadows across the grass and bushes. Here and there a treetop was spotlighted by a sunbeam streaming down through tinted pink and orange wispy clouds from the blue-grey canopy above”. Other Activities to Assist in the Writing of Narratives Students are given a topic. Ideas for topics can come from the students reading and actual experience. After students have identified their topic, they must engage themselves in some prewriting activities. • State the possible audience • Get students to talk about things related to the topic • Get them to think critically. Get them to ask the question like “What if …?” “Suppose…?” They can then create an Idea Chain. This activity is a form of brainstorming where each idea is recorded as it occurs to the students. On this chain students answer the questions Who, What, When, Why and How. They would then choose the details they would like to use in their stories. 52 Idea Chain WHERE? WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHY? Students will choose the ideas they feel can create the story they would like to present. They can then create a Story Contract. The contract can consist of brief statements of who the characters are, what will happen in the story and where the story will take place. A story contract may look like this. The story will take place in the interior. The characters will be a pork-knocker, an Amerindian and me (a policeman). The events are: 1. Jim, the pork-knocker was returning to camp when he noticed a cabin beneath some trees. 2. He decided to investigate. 3. On entering the cabin he noticed a spot on the floor was higher than the rest of the floor. 4. He dug up the section of the floor to see what was there. 5. He discovered a box filled with golden coins. 6. In the midst of his counting of the coins, an Amerindian Chief entered the cabin. 7. An argument broke out between the two of them. 8. I was on patrol duty, heard the noise and decided to investigate. 53 Students can then make a draft of their story. This is, putting their ideas into paragraph form. Each story should have an introduction, a body and an ending or conclusion. Beginning the Story Stories can begin in one of the following ways Describing the setting The oily sea heaved without a sparkle, and there was a queer white misty patch in the sky like a halo in the sun. There was no wind and the heat was stifling. Begin by describing the character. Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather, and on the summer days it seem she had a private breeze which swirled around cooling her. She was thin with the taunt look of wiry people,… Begin with a dialogue. “I wonder where that beastly smell comes from,” said Jack aloud. “Northeast,” grunted the captain. “There is some bad weather around.” Begin with action. The motion of the ship was extravagant. She pitched and rolled on her side headlong, and she would be righted by such a demolishing blow, that the captain felt her reeling as a clubbed man reels before he collapses. Ending the Story With a surprise. With a resolution. He swore that he would never tell a lie again. 54 With a conclusive statement. It was enough to prove that she liked me. With a moral. Therefore always remember to look before you leap. By hinting at the final outcome of the story. In the distance she could see the rescue ship approaching. They had seen her and the baby. Somehow she knew she would hang on. How to Make the Story Interesting A. Use good descriptions. A good description helps the reader see, hear, taste, touch and smell what is described. • Use exact adjectives to tell more about nouns. • Use exact nouns and verbs. Description is needed for • Characters • Setting • Action The following is a paragraph without any description. Two people were in an elevator. One was a woman in a jacket. She wore a hat. She held a dog. The other was a man. He wore a coat and a hat. Now here is the same paragraph with descriptive words added. Two elderly people were in an elevator. One was a tall, pale woman in a tweed jacket. She wore a brown straw hat. She clutched a black and white. poodle. The other was a short stocky man. He wore a long grey coat and a felt hat. 55 The second paragraph creates a more vivid picture because of the exact adjectives, nouns and verbs used. B. Use details that: Appeal to the senses Example: The girl wore a sweater over her dress. The frail girl wore a faded sweater over her crumpled dress. Ransom bit the mango. Ransom bit the ripe, juicy mango. Create a specific mood ♦ A calm, relaxed mood Filtered sunlight; leaves ruffled by a gentle breeze on the still pond. ♦ Noisy confusion Crack of thunder; raindrops pounding the zinc on the roof; wind beating saplings to the ground C. Create Suspense A writer has two basic techniques to use that would create suspense. • Foreshadowing. • Withholding Information Foreshadowing When a person is watching a movie the sudden change of the tempo and kind of music indicates to them that something about the present events is 56 about to change. In like manner, foreshadowing makes a reader aware and prepares them for a turn of events in a story. The anticipation of what is to come is signalled by clues which include details of setting, characters or plot. Examples After swimming for a few minutes Miguel felt the cold that had momentarily vanished coming over him again, and he speeded up his strokes because it was in his legs, especially in his calves, that the water had a greater effect, first making them insensitive, then stiffening them. The details given show that Migual was in conflict with forces beyond his control and it was possible that he would not make it, then yet again he could overcome his difficulties. You’re not alone. Norbert Casteret, the greatest cave explorer, was frightened the first time, and vowed he’d never go down again, and Professor Noulet says there’s hardly a farmer or labourer in the district who could be persuaded into the caves. The details in this second example tell of the fears the explorer has and justifies those fears with the fears and failure of a great cave explorer and the unwillingness of the locals to venture there. The reader begins to wonder whether the explorer would go ahead and if he does what would befall him. Withholding information This technique creates a puzzle with a few pieces missing. The reader would read to find out the solution to the mystery. Writers use this technique in mystery stories, withholding information until the last scene. 57 Technique to teach Suspense • Analyse stories with suspense Focus on the way in which the writer creates suspense Provide examples from the text to support choice. Questions to consider (1) What details in the description of the characters help build suspense? (2) Which events in the plot help build suspense? (3) What aspects of the setting build suspense? (4) What are the characters’ reactions as suspense builds? (5) What atmosphere or mood does the writer create? How does the mood change? (6) In what ways does the writer foreshadow events to come? (7) What information does the writer withhold from the character? D. Use Dialogue in the Short Story When dialogues are used in the short story, they must serve a purpose. Dialogues can serve the following purposes: Reveal characters’ personalities e.g. “Margaret is a lovely, lovely girl,” said the teacher. Further the plot. e. g. “Hey listen Angie, a bunch of us are going to the park. Why don’t you come with us?” Create atmosphere e. g. “S-h-h-h-h, it is coming. I am scared,” whispered Mary. 58 Expository Writing Definition and Purpose Exposition unveils much. It can Analyse the causes of World War 1 for the history teacher. It can Explain the operations of a company for potential clients or customers. It can Discuss your qualifications for a job opening for potential employees. It can Report the outcome of last night’s football game for the school newspaper. In short, it can share any information that anybody wants to know. The Exposition attempts to explain How, Why and What of anything. It is writing that does not only inform but persuades, reports and explains. Classification When expository writing is introduced, it is presented as a process that explains how something works or how to do something. The students are then set the task of explaining how to bake a cake, how to get from one place to another or how to ride a bicycle. However, there is more to expository writing than just that. Exposition as a process is a series of actions, a series of changes, a series of functions, a series of steps or operations that bring about a particular result. Process analysis as it is called is a form of exposition in which a step-by-step description of how some process takes place is presented. For example • A natural process • A scientific process • A historical process • A mechanical process • A social process • A creative process 59 Explanation of how something is organised (a) How a large corporation is divided (b) The departments in an educational institution (c) The different roles of bees in a beehive are examples of exercises that can be done. Characteristics of process exposition The vocabulary for a process exposition tends to emphasise change. It includes such words as alteration fluctuation occurrence conversion permutation mutation displacement modulation condition transformation metamorphosis state Some process words are very similar to those of narration. They are now then next later from thereafter to otherwise Others are similar to those of enumeration. They are First third another second one finally The verb tenses may be • Present – when giving directions. • Past – if explaining something that has already taken place. The voice may be ‘active’ or ‘passive’ • Generally used in scientific description The person may be • First – in an informal account. 60 • Third – in an objective description of a process. • Second – in giving directions. Kinds of Writing When writing one paragraph of exposition, the explanation must be a simple one, so that it could be developed in that limited space. The single paragraph could be a composition in itself or could be used with the narrative and descriptive to create a complete essay. When more explanation is needed or if the process is completed, a whole composition or books may be composed. Such composition will provide the teacher with a cross-section of reference and sample material for teaching of expository writing. • Scientific essays • Cookbooks • Instruction manuals • Geography texts • Craft books • Letters of complaint • History texts • Research manuals • Social studies texts • Science texts • Advertisements • Job applications • Medical journals Examples of Expository Writing A. Paragraphs that Explain Training of a Marathon Swimmer Before the Cuban swim, Diana kept to a very hard training schedule. Every day she ran ten miles in 62 minutes. Then she spent two hours 61 swimming in a pool. She skipped rope for half an hour each day. Twice a week she worked on weight machines to become stronger. Throughout this part of her training, she carefully regulated the amount of food she ate. As the day of the big swim grew closer, Diana trained even harder. She began running 12 miles and swimming seven hours each day. She worked on the weight machines three times a week, and she began eating more. A marathon swimmer must gain weight before a swim because she or he can lose up to 20 pounds during a long swim. Another part of her training was preparing for the danger of the swim. She knew many of the risks involved because of her previous swims. There was a time when she was training alone in Lake Ontario. The water was so cold that after a while she could hardly move. She had to be saved by a man who swam from the shore. Her body was so cold, that it was burned by the heat of the man’s hands. Painful experiences like this helped to prepare her for the long Cuba swim. Points to Discuss 1. What is the topic sentence in each paragraph? 2. What facts were given in the first paragraph? 3. What facts are given in the second paragraph? 4. What event is described in the third paragraph? The discussion focuses on specific aspects of the three-paragraph composition. 1. How details can be organised into three paragraphs. 62 2. The logical order of presenting each paragraph. 3. The positioning of the topic sentence in each paragraph. The second topic sentence differs in position. How a Train goes from Station to Station It is time for the train to leave the station. Its doors are closed. All the passengers are seated. In the front car, the conductor is waiting for a signal. The light besides the truck is red. The conductor must wait for it to change to green. When it does, the conductor pushes a lever forward. The train moves down the track to the next station. Points to Discuss 1. What do the paragraphs explain? 2. Are all the sentences about the same topic? 3. Are they in an order you can follow/ These aspects can be the focus of the discussion. 1. A unified paragraph 2. Relevant and appropriate details 3. The order is chronological although the time indicators are present. Time is indicated through the sequence of the actions which must occur before the train moves from one station to the next. Pre-Writing • Research the topic and gather information that would give a clear explanation of the topic. 63 • Extract from information gathered the important facts and details that would be needed. Writing • If possible, state the main point in a topic. • Use specific facts, examples or incidents to help explain the topic. • Write facts and details in a logical order so as to be clear and understandable. Paragraph that Answers a Question What do oceanographers study? Oceanographers are pioneers of the ocean frontier. They study fish and marine life. They explore ocean bottoms to discover how they were formed and what they were made of. They study ocean waves, currents, tides and the effects of ocean pollution. Many oceanographers work for surface vessels, but others dive to great depths in underwater vessels. Some live in special underwater quarters for days at a time. Still others use special wet suits, masks and air-breathing gear to do scuba diving and snorkelling. Through the work of oceanographers who study marine life, we are learning more about the conditions that affect fish life. We are discovering new sources of food in the sea and ways to “farm” the sea. Points to Discuss 1. What are the main ideas in the answer? 2. What supporting facts and details are included in the answer? 3. Was the question adequately answered? The focus of this discussion is: 1. To recognise that not only was the question answered, but the importance of the oceanographers was revealed. 64 2. To provide carefully chosen information, so that that viewpoint could surface. 3. To allow students to be individualistic in their opinion of composition written by another student. Evaluation The teacher has to consider the following questions: 1. Do the points given in the supporting sentences really support the view given in the topic sentence? 2. Are the reasons presented in a way that they are understood? 3. Are the reasons important ones/appropriate facts? 4. Are all the sentences about the same topic? Some Teaching Hints The stimulus exercise that follows could be used as an introductory lesson. It would enable the students to understand the organisation of a particular type of exposition. They would also be able to include things that are peculiar to that kind of paragraph. Learning Activities A The steps below would assist in writing a paragraph that explains “Why a person might want to become a mountain climber.” 1. First write the topic sentence. 2. Next write three (or more) reasons to support the idea in the topic sentence. Topic sentence ________________________________________ (Because)_____________________________________________ (Because)_____________________________________________ (Because)_____________________________________________ 3. Rewrite the sentences in paragraph format; remove the ‘invisible because’ and include all the necessary punctuation marks. 65 4. Check composition for errors. B This exercise would help to create a paragraph that gives instruction of a process. Directions are given about how to do something, but the steps are jumbled. The students are then instructed to do the following: 1. List the sentences in the correct order. 2. Add words to indicate chronological order. 3. Rewrite the instructions in paragraph form. 4. Check for errors. Paragraph that Persuades Notice how the writer supports the opinion stated in the first sentence. Marathon swimmers have a more difficult challenge to face than marathon runners. Marathon runners can slow down or stop for a few minutes to catch their breath and then start running again. But marathon swimmers cannot get out of the water to rest; they must stay in motion continually, or else drown. Runners can look at the landscape around them, but swimmers usually wear goggles and can hardly see anything at all. Long-distance swimmers sometimes must confront dangerous sea creatures such as sharks and jellyfish. Runners have only the open road to face. Although more and more people are now becoming long-distance runners, few take on the difficult challenge of marathon swimming. Points to Discuss 1. What opinion does the writer state in the topic sentence? 2. What reasons does the writer give to support the opinion? 3. Is the last sentence a good clincher? 4. Are you persuaded to accept the writer’s opinion? 66 The following is highlighted through the discussion: 1. The need to select specific facts from information given 2. The effectiveness of the clincher sentence Organisation Pre-Writing • Decide on an opinion on a particular topic. • Research and make a list of the reasons that support your opinion. Writing • State the opinion in the topic sentence. • Select the best reasons and write supporting sentences to make the opinion believable. • Organise reasons so that they are clear and understandable. • End paragraph with a clincher that emphasises the point made in the topic sentence. Evaluation This activity will help to produce a persuasive paragraph. 1. Use this topic sentence. “Winning is/is not the point of playing a game.” 2. Write three sentences (or more) to support your opinion. 3. Write a clincher sentence to end your paragraph. 4. Sentences must be written in correct paragraph form and in logical order. 5. Check for errors. The teacher needs to consider: • The effectiveness of the clincher sentence. • How convincing the supporting facts are. 67 Letter Writing Knowing how to write a letter is a very important skill that students must possess. When they have something to say to a friend they can write a friendly letter. This letter should sound natural, as if they are speaking to the person. They should write about things that are of interest to them and their friends. They can share stories and experiences. They can also ask questions and talk about their feelings. Whatever they choose to write about, they must use vivid details and strong words to make their description come alive. Parts of Friendly Letter A friendly letter has five parts. Each part has its own purpose and form. Part Form Purpose The heading is written in the The heading gives the address of the Heading upper right hand corner of the sender and the date the letter was paper. written. It states in a few lines: Lot number and street name Village, town or ward Month, day and year. • Punctuate all proper names Place a comma between the month and the year. This is written on the line It is the place where the greeting is Salutation/ below the heading and begins written. It can be casual, such as Greeting at the left margin Peggy dear, Dear Mom, Hi pal, Howdy, • Capitalise the first word and any other proper nouns in the salutation. Use a comma after the salutation. 68 The body begins on the line The news that is to be conveyed to Body below the salutation. the receiver is written in the body of the letter. This section is a friendly talk, giving interesting news. Each paragraph is indented. The closing is written under This is the place where complements Closing the last paragraph of the body are given. Some common of the letter and in line with the complements are: heading at the top. Your friend, Love always, The signature should be It identifies the sender of the letter. Signature written in the line under the Only your first name is needed, unless closing and in line with the first the sender is not closely related to the word in the closing. receiver. Example of a Friendly Letter (handwritten) 12 Brutus Street Agricola 6th January, 2000 Dear Mark, I had a very pleasant week at your home. It was great fun. I was glad to be back in Georgetown, but sad about leaving you. I wish I could be in both places at the same time. Thanks very much for such an interesting and exciting holiday. Although I felt a little homesick sometimes, your family made my stay so enjoyable, that the week went by very quickly. I hope I will be able to come again soon. Everybody is fine. All send their love. Your friend, Brian 69 Punctuation Heading: 1. Capitalise all proper names. 2. Place a comma between the month and the year. Salutation 3. Capitalise the first word and any proper nouns in the salutation. 4. Use a comma after the salutation. Closing: 5. Capitalise only the first word of the closing. 6. Use a comma after the closing. Activity Have students write a letter informing a friend about the current school improvement projects being undertaken by the Parent Teachers Association. In their letter let them tell about the location in the compound, cost and benefits to be derived on the completion of each one. Business Letter A business letter is written for a specific purpose. It can be used to request information, make a complaint or apply for a job. A business letter is more formal than a friendly letter. Some business letters are written or typed on an official letterhead. Parts of a Business Letter Heading This is the same as the heading for a friendly letter. Inside Address The inside address contains the name and address of the person or company to which you are writing. The inside address comes below the heading, but begins at the left margin. 70 Salutation The salutation of a business letter is more formal than that of a friendly letter. If you are writing to a specific person, use “Dear” followed by the person’s name. If you do not know the person to whom you are writing, use a general greeting such as the following: Dear Sir/Madam: The salutation begins below the inside address at the left margin. The salutation of a business letter ends with a colon (:). Body The body of a business letter should be short and courteous. It should clearly state your subject. Closing The closing is written on the second line below the heading. The most common ways for closing business letters are: Respectfully yours; Sincerely yours; Yours truly, Types of Business Letters Request (a) The letter of request should tell what specific information you need as well as why and when you need the information. Complaint (b) A letter of complaint should state politely the nature of the problem and ask /tell how the problem might be corrected. 71 Typewritten Letters The order or sequence in which the parts are positioned when typing is fixed in a logical pattern that is normally not altered to suit individual tastes. The topic and audience determine the use of the style, whether Block or Modified Block. A new paragraph is marked by double line space. Block Style This is the fastest to type because each line begins at the left margin. The sender’s address should be included in the letter (excluded in this sample) 2003 05 12 Ms. Joan Cleaver Singh’s Commercial School 102 Fort Street, Kingston Georgetown Dear Ms. Cleaver; Subject: Form of a Block Letter This letter style is fast becoming the most popular in use today. Efficiency is the main reason for its popularity. The typist can save time and eliminate the necessity for working out placement. Some organisations are even designing letterheads to accommodate this style. A few years ago, some people felt the block style looked odd. That complaint is seldom heard today, however. As more organisations use a block style, people have become accustomed to its appearance. The letter also illustrates the subject line. A subject line may be typed in initial capital or upper case letters or all in capitals. It should start at the left hand margin. It also always appears after the salutation and before the body of the letter. Sincerely Hand written signature here George P. Jones Manager, Customer Services nkm Enclosure ‘nkm’ are the initials of the typist. 72 ‘Enclosure’ indicates that some document/s is despatched in the same envelope. Modified-Block Style The typist usually starts the date line, the complimentary closing and the writer’s identification at the horizontal centre of the page. However, the date may be aligned to end at the right margin, and the subject line may be centred or indented five spaces. Include sender’s address when writing. May 12, 2003 Ms. Jane George Foreign Investments Ltd. 12 Deacon’s Road St. Michael BARBADOS Dear Ms. James: This modified- block style is still very popular for two reasons: 1. Many people feel comfortable with the traditional appearance. 2. The blocked paragraphs make it slightly more efficient to type than a letter with indented paragraphs. Lists, quotations and addresses may be indented on either side for clearer display. If it is necessary to use more than one paragraph for a quotation, a standard single blank line is left between paragraphs. When the letter is being sent to a foreign address, the country is typed in all capital letters on a separate line. Sincerely yours, Hand written signature V. M. Park Manager, Customer Services nkm Registered PS: We treat postscripts in the same way that we treat other paragraphs, except that we precede each postscript by PS: or PS. 73 Note that the mailing notation (Registered) is below the reference initials. Modified-Block Style with Indented Paragraphs The first line of each paragraph is indented – five spaces. May 12, 2003 Guyana Water, Inc. Shelter Belt Vlissengen Road Georgetown Attention: Training Director Ladies and Gentlemen: The modified-block letter with indented paragraphs is still popular because of its traditional appearance. The indented paragraphs give this style a distinctive look. This letter also shows an attention line. Like the subject line, the attention line is typed at the left margin, but above the salutation. It is usually typed with initial capital/upper case letters but may also be all in upper case letters. Cordially yours, Hand written signature Monica Thomas Manager, Customer Services nkm cc: Ms. B Barton Dr. M Scott 74 UNIT 2 COMPREHENSION Comprehension comprises both listening and reading skills – essential life skills. Therefore, it is necessary to provide opportunities for students at Grade 8 to engage in learning experiences that will assist in promoting listening and reading. Comprehension has a direct relationship with prior knowledge or as some writers say, the schema. It has been found that readers bring their experiences to the text, so as to gain meaning. In other words, the reader does not passively absorb what is printed; instead he/she interacts actively with the text and is able to make predictions, which finally lead to a full interpretation. To this end, the teacher’s role is to expose the students to wide and varied experiences through the content of the language and reading programmes. In order to have students achieve integrated learning, they should be encouraged to acquire comprehension skills across the curriculum. LISTENING COMPREHENSION Listening Comprehension has always been given little emphasis in the classroom, because teachers take it for granted that their students know how to listen. However, from responses given by students when they are given simple oral instructions, it may be concluded that students tend to pay very little attention to oral language in the classroom. Therefore, students should be made aware of the importance of listening as a good habit and as a skill that promotes effective learning. Teachers need to train students to listen attentively and purposefully. Effective listening requires active and conscious attention to what is heard, if the students are to gain meaning. 7 5 Listening should be encouraged not only to help students acquire comprehension skills, but also as a technique for integrating various aspects of language. For example, students may listen to a recorded bulletin to stimulate discussion and debate on past or current issues. In addition, speaking well is a natural outcome of effective listening, especially in oral reading where it is necessary to acknowledge punctuation marks and to use intonation to convey meaning: and in discussion where appropriate sentence structures should be used for effective communication. Listening comprehension should be brief and purposeful. The teacher may use the advance organisers to help students focus on specific information. Objectives Listen attentively in order to respond: Responsive listening is sometimes distinguished from attentive listening. In responsive listening the person is a participant in a discussion, debate or dialogue. Listen for enjoyment and appreciation: Appreciative or creative listening is done mainly for enjoyment or recreation. Here, one listens to a story or poem in order to share the characters’ experiences and empathise with them. Evaluation of the characters and situations should be encouraged. Listening Skills Activities that would help to promote listening skills include: 1 Giving a title to a short paragraph. 2. Stating the mood of songs and poems. 3. Writing a sentence or drawing a picture to predict the ending of a story: giving the ending orally. 7 6 4. Judging characters by listening to what they say and their tone of voice i.e. their mood and their qualities or by what others say about them. 5. Critically analysing the validity of each point and being prepared to ask relevant questions for clarification, so as to form an opinion. 6. Administer an aural comprehension so that students can listen for recall and inference. Steps Read the passage to students. Give them the questions that are to be answered. Read the passage again – once or twice. N.B. It is important to design questions that will require students to listen for the details. The key to listening is concentration. Thinking of why they are listening will help students to get more meaning from the listening experience. The speaker is usually influenced by how the audience listens. Attentive students can assist their colleagues to say clearly what they have in mind. Students would be able to pick up the more subtle messages conveyed by body language as they look at the speaker. Listening to Gain Information Students need stationery to record the main ideas. During the discourse e. g. a science lecture, they will write any questions that occur to them. They should review and transcribe their notes soon thereafter to clear up misunderstandings. Listening to Form an Opinion Students note the main ideas and consider the overall meaning of what is said by a guest speaker. They critically analyse the validity of each point – 7 7 is it fact or opinion; is it biased? They should be prepared to ask questions for clarification or express alternative views. Listening to Develop Closeness with a Friend Colleagues must try to understand their friends’ needs, personality and point of view; then relate them to their own past experiences. It’s advisable to show interest in and understanding of the speakers. SPEAKING Speakers cannot be divorced from listening for it expresses among other things what was heard. The speaker needs to decide on the purpose for speaking (so they know what to say) and the audience (so they know how to say it). Speakers must immediately get the attention of their audience and hold their attention throughout the presentation. Their voice and body language are important factors that influence the reaction of the audience. COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR AUDIENCE Audience Signals Speaker Responses 1. People are staring out the People are probably getting window or fidgeting in their bored. Try to use a more seats. emotional or exiting tone of voice. 2. People are frowning or asking People might be confused. Try to each other questions. review key points using new examples. 3. People are leaning forward in People may be unable to hear. their seats and appear to be Besides speaking more loudly, struggling to hear you. scan the room for other sources of noise. 4. People are attentive, smiling People are listening closely. Keep and nodding their heads in an doing just what you are doing affirmative manner. 7 8 As an exercise you can present the students with the audience signals and have them suggest: The reasons for the signals What the speaker should do to alleviate the situation Presenting a science project This can be done in class by an individual student or by a group. The student describes the project plan, provides facts, gives findings and explains the conclusions. To do so, the student draws upon information known to the class as a whole. He/she must highlight any unfamiliar data. The student who is well organised, concise and relaxed gets the best response from his/her peers. Opening a meeting The speaker welcomes the group, mentions topics listed on the agenda and follows any club procedures. Being among friends, the main speaker to members of a photography club may be relaxed and casual. He/she knows the subject matter, but remembers it is an informal meeting; the group is there by choice and for recreation. Giving a viewpoint Given the topic “Husbands and wives should undertake an equal share of the housework and child care,” students work in groups to find reasons in support of or contrary to that view. They may use a graphic organiser like the one below as an outline to prepare the oral presentation that may be done by a spokesperson for each group. 7 9 The notion that taking care An equal relationship between of the home and children is parents presents a good model “women’s work” is sexist. for their children. Why should husbands and wives undertake an equal share of the housework and child care? Spending more time together benefits It is unfair to expect women both fathers and their children. employed outside the home to shoulder all of the domestic responsibilities as well. Individual group members may add more points. Students should be encouraged to comment on the presentations. Other Exercises In not more than five sentences give an oral summary of any experiment you have recently done in any Science lesson or in your Home Economics or any other practical class. In three minutes relate what happened during a recent visit to a dentist, doctor or ophthalmologist. Having listened to an important speech on the radio/television or read one in the newspapers, deliver a summary to your peers in class. In one minute give an account of an accident that you saw at home or on the street. 8 0 Tell the absentees what occurred at any of the following school activities: Prize Giving, a concert, a school play, a sports meeting. READING Reading is probably the most important way of learning information. There are three different styles of reading that can fit every purpose. Three Reading Methods Style Description Purpose Glancing over the text to - Previewing material before a Skimming identify main ideas by study session. reading chapter and - Reviewing before a test. lesson titles words in bold - Deciding whether a book and italic type and topic covers a subject you’re sentence. interesting in. Glancing over the text in - Reviewing key terms. Scanning search of specific - Looking for a detail to support information by looking for an opinion. key words. - Searching a book to see if it covers a particular topic. In-dept Reading over the text - Learning the material for the Reading carefully to absorb new first time. ideas and facts. - Evaluating the information presented. - Preparing to explain the information to someone else. Scanning These are activities that would enable students to develop the skill of scanning. A section of the Classified Ads: 8 1 PROPERTIES FOR SALE NEWLY RENOVATED 2- ELEGANT 1 bedroom, bedroom top flat, very bright, nice view. New washer/drier, large kitchen. kitchen, wall to wall carpet Fully furnished, garage. and curtains included. No $60 000 per month pets, Tel. 444 -2510 $40 000.per month Tel. 225 – 9871 BRIGHT, 2- bedroom bottom flat of house. Big BIG 1 bedroom, in bath. No pets or children. excellent condition. $35 000 per month Furnished, queen bed, Tel. 231 -5800 new carpet, tiled bath, new stove. No fee. COTTAGE in spacious yard $50 000 per month with various fruit trees. Fully Tel. 263 – 4001 furnished, in good condition. 5. WOMAN seeks $70 000. roommate. Own bedroom 337 -1256 in 2- bedroom apartment. No smoker or pet. $25 000 per month Tel. 223 - 7912 1. If the reader cannot pay more than $45 000, which advertisements will he/she ignore and why? 2. List some of the information given which may determine the reader’s choice. These advertisements may also be used for comprehension. The following questions can be given. 1. What is the rental for the house in Linden? 82 2. Which property should a would-be tenant, who loves agriculture and country life, choose? 3. How can further information be obtained about any of these properties? 4. What do you think determines the varied prices for the one-bedroom houses? A Passage 1. The first truly democratic President of the United States of America was Andrew Jackson. He came from Tennessee, which still didn’t have very many people and was not considered very civilised. Most of the old politicians were upset when he was elected, and even a little afraid. They considered him somewhat of a woodsman, a barbarian, which is how they saw most people from the “frontier” states like Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. How will students find out quickly where was Jackson’s home state? They know that names of people and places are written in capital letters. They should ignore the other capitalised words and let their eyes jump on Tennessee – the name of a state; then read a few words before and after that word. If it is correct, they don’t have to read the whole paragraph. 2. Cotton is a fibre. It is used world wide to make clothing and many other things that we use daily like towels, sheets and bags. A use has been found for every part of the cotton boll. The seeds are used to make oil. The meal that is left after the oil has been extracted can be used to feed livestock. Even the lint is gathered and used to make textiles. 8 3 Given this multiple choice question: Circle the best answer. Cotton seeds are used to make a. sheets b. oil c. lint d. fibre e. clothing Students should look for a short word with two ee’s in it, and skip over all the long ones. Then check for the answer to the question by reading some words before seed or some of the words after to find the information that matches one of the proposed answers. The SQ3R Study Method This is a five step method that can be used to increase efficiency when studying material for the first time. SQ3R means Survey, Question, Read, Record and Review. Survey Question Read Record Review Preview the Ask questions Read the Write answers Check your material by about the selection to your answers in the skimming. material. The carefully. questions text. Continue Read headings, questions may Identify the without looking to study the text highlighted begin with who, main idea of at the text. until you can terms, and the what, when, each section. Make brief answer all first sentence where, why, Take notes, notes about questions of each and how. and add additional main correctly. paragraph. questions to ideas or facts Look at all the list. pictures and graphs. 84 1. Survey This method may be used in reading a chapter of a book. It should help students to read faster and to remember the main points in a reading assignment. For a minute or two let students look over the headings in the chapter for the central points that will be developed. The summary paragraph (if there is one) will help students to organise the few main ideas. 2. Question Changing the first heading into a question will help students recall previous knowledge and note the information necessary for answering the question. 3 Read Let students read the section carefully so as to answer the question. 4. Record Students should close the book, and answer the question in their own words. They may jot down some key phrases in outline form. Let students repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 for each section of the chapter. 5. Review Students should glance over their notes to get an overview of the points and their relationship to one another. Students can check their memory of the content by covering their notes and recalling the points listed. EVALUATING WHAT IS READ The more students think about what they read, the better they will remember it. Hence they need to get in the habit of evaluating the material as they read it. 85 Identifying Facts, Opinion and Bias Most of what is read includes both fact and opinion. A fact is a statement that can be verified as true. Here are three ways a fact can be proven true. ♦ Direct experience ♦ A Reference book ♦ An Expert on the subject An opinion is a personal judgement, what a person thinks or believes about something, it cannot be proven true or false. Note that opinions can also be supported by evidence Facts can be agreed on while opinions often cause disagreement. Students, who can distinguish between fact and opinion, can better evaluate what they read. They can be given statements from a comprehension passage to determine whether which is fact or opinion. Statements 1. A KFC hamburger has 475 calories and gives you 50% of the protein you need in a day. 2. KFC serves the best-tasting Hamburger ever Which statement is a fact and which is the writer’s opinion? The first one can be proved – fact. Since different people like different things, the second statement cannot be proved – opinion. Some people prefer hamburgers from Royal Castle while others prefer those from Demico, hence the second statement gives a personal opinion. Students can also be given paragraphs on the same topic to determine the paragraph of fact or opinion. 86 Paragraphs Some countries have already passed laws that give non-smokers the right to have a smoke-free place to work. Why don’t we have a law like that? I think it’s awful that I have to breathe smoke all day. In my opinion, smoking should be prohibited in All public places. But until that happens, I should at least have a healthy place to work. More and more countries are now passing laws to create smoke-free areas in the workplace. These laws state that an employer must provide non-smokers with a work area where no smoking is allowed. There are some countries that are even considering banning smoking in ALL public places. The second paragraph gives the facts. Students can read those laws while the first one gives the writer’s opinion or feeling about them. In fact, some people think just the opposite i.e. a smoker has the right to smoke wherever he or she pleases. Some words and phrases tell the reader that the writer is expressing a personal opinion such as: I think, In my opinion’ ‘I feel’, ‘I believe’, ‘it seems’, ‘it appears’… In the absence of specific words, students need to ask: “Can this statement be proved?’ “Does everyone agree that this is true?” If the answer is “No,” it is probably an opinion. A bias is a strong feeling for or against something. 8 7 It is a technique used in advertisements. Speakers and writers are often biased. Consequently when they use facts, they choose words to make the listener or reader feel the same way. Examples The basketball player was tall and slim. Students may picture an athletic person of the right weight, even an attractive one. The basketball player was tall and thin. Students may imagine someone who is tall, but needs to gain a little weight. He’s probably too tall, and does not weigh enough. The basketball player was tall and skinny. Now the person definitely seems underweight, maybe even undernourished. Slim, thin and skinny mean nearly the same thing, but they portray different feelings. Students need to appreciate that by their choice of words writers can make them happy or sad, and also make them like or dislike something or someone. Reading The perception of what reading is has changed over the years. During the 1960’s and 1970’s reading comprehension was regarded as an end product of decoding or word recognition. However, many students, who can recognise the word of a printed page, still do not understand what they read. Later on it was felt that perhaps teachers were asking questions that allowed students to respond only to what is stated in the text, i.e. at the literal level. Thus students were not being challenged to use their 8 8 inferential and critical skills. This led to the focus on a greater variety of questions, through the use of taxonomy. However, it was still felt that the teaching of comprehension was not being done, since teachers asked questions mainly as a means of testing comprehension rather than teaching it, and continued to focus on the literal level. Current views stress reading comprehension as a thinking process. The ability to read will depend on the type of thinking the teacher’s questions demand. Comprehension is also regarded as a strategic process; that is, the reader’s approach is influenced by the purpose for reading and the type of text to be read. For example, someone who is reading for enjoyment will read in a different manner from someone who is reading to follow instructions for making a kite. It is expected that a balanced programme would provide opportunities for developmental reading, functional reading and recreational reading. Objectives Literal Comprehension Students will be able to: 1. Identify main ideas stated explicitly. 2. Recall significant details. 3. Follow the sequence of a series of events or direction. 4. Find answers to specific questions. Inferential Comprehension Students will be able to: 1. Identify ideas inferred from given facts (in print or pictorial). 2. Predict outcomes. 3. Grasp the writer’s plan and intent. 8 9 Pre-reading Activities Anticipation Guide Suppose students are invited to visit one of Guyana’s resorts. As they think about the trip, they will predict or anticipate what it is going to be like. Below are some possible statements that reflect their expectations. Travelling by jet boat is exciting. The scenery is exotic. The atmosphere is one of tranquillity. A trip to a riverain area is refreshing. People develop fear when travelling by boat. On their return from the trip they will think about whether their experience was consistent with their expectations. Similarly, an Anticipation Guide is a series of statements about a particular text that students are going to read. Students indicate whether they agree or disagree with the statements before and after reading. It helps to activate prior knowledge and give students a purpose for reading. It is effective when students have misconceptions related to the prior knowledge. Steps for the teacher to follow 1. Identify major concepts (main ideas) by reviewing the text. 2. Determine students’ prior knowledge in order to select statements. 3. Create statements using information that should reflect students’ prior knowledge. 4. Decide on the order of the statements and their mode of presentation. For example, decide whether the sequence in the text would be used. 5. Present the guide for students to respond. 9 0 6. Discuss each statement briefly. Encourage students to share opinions, and give reasons for them. Tally the total responses to each item. 7. Direct students to read the text and let them note that the text relates to their opinions. 8. Conduct follow-up discussion that focuses on what they have learnt and how their opinions have changed. An example of the use of the Anticipation Guide. Anticipation Guide Questions: Write A for Agree or D for Disagree after each statement below. BEFORE AFTER 1. The cells of your body look alike. 2. Protoplasm of all the cells in the tissue of your body comes from the food you eat. 3. The growth and repair of cells can take place even if you don’t eat. 4. Your mind as well as your body should be happy. 9 1 Food protects us from diseases and sickness. Reading Extract THE VALUE OF FOOD You are really many living cells. About 10, 12, 14 years ago, your life began as a tiny single cell. That cell divided, then the two became four, the four became eight, and so on, until you are now made of millions of cells. Your cells have different shapes and sizes and have different jobs to do in your body. You have skin cells, bone cells, blood cells and muscle cells. Groups of living cells form body tissues. Each cell is made up of the same transparent living substance called protoplasm. The protoplasm of all the cells in all the tissues of your body must come from the food you eat. Your body cells become worn out as you live, move and injure yourself. They must therefore be repaired. New cells must be added to carry on growth and make you become taller and heavier. Growth and repair cannot take place unless the cells are provided with the chemical substances they need. These substances must come from the food you eat and drink. Your body also needs to move about and keep warm. When some of the chemical substances from food are joined with oxygen in your cells, they provide warmth and energy for your body. To be healthy and full of vitality, your cells must find what they need from the kinds of food you eat. The control of all the activities that go on in your body and the maintenance of them, depend on the substances given to the cells by the food you eat. This is why food protects us from disease and sickness. 9 2 Food is most important to make you look good and feel well. But you also need other help. You need exercise, fresh air, rest, sleep, clean surroundings and a cheerful mind. The science of nutrition helps you to understand how your body uses the food you eat. For many years people have studied and experimented with foods. The result is that you can base your knowledge of food and what it does on facts rather than superstition and fads. Every person should know what food is needed and how much is needed. You may have money to buy food and yet you can choose food badly. Poor eating habits are often the cause of illnesses. Some of these illnesses are anaemia, dental decay, pneumonia and heart diseases. After reading, students would check in the Anticipation Guide to see their initial response, and follow up with discussions on what they have learnt, and how their opinions have changed. Preview and Predict The preview and predict process requires the students to look over the material to be read and then predict what will happen if it is a narrative text, or what they will learn if it is an expository text. It is a kind of inference. After completing the reading, students decide whether or not their predictions have been confirmed, verified or changed. A poster can be used to help students to focus. Procedure 1. Students read the title of the extract and look at the picture or illustration (if given) to get an idea of what is going to be covered. They also decide whether it is a story or an informational text. 9 3 2. Using their prior knowledge, students predict what will happen when they learn. Students can read the first few paragraphs of the text. 3. Students read to see if their predictions are verified. Predictions are not necessarily right or wrong. Poster for Preview and Predict Strategy Topic: Cigarette Smoking Before Reading What is this about? 1. Reasons why people smoke cigarettes 2. How cigarette smoking affects health I think that the text is going to tell us about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, and how they affect the main organs of the body. During Reading Am I confirming my predictions? The three most harmful substances are nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar. They affect the heart, the blood and the lungs. Do I need to change my predictions? There is no information on why people smoke. After Reading Were my predictions confirmed or changed? The extract discussed how each harmful substance affected each organ. It did not discuss reasons for smoking. 9 4 Students will then read the extract and verify their predictions Extract Cigarette Smoking What happens in the body each time a person smokes a cigarette? The heart beats faster, the blood pressure rises, and a harmful gas replaces oxygen in the blood. Cancer-causing chemicals travel to the lungs. The three most harmful substances inhaled in cigarette smoke are nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar. Nicotine causes the heart to beat faster and makes the blood vessels narrower. This puts more strain on the heart to pump blood and the flow of blood is reduced. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that replaces some of the oxygen, so that less oxygen is carried by the blood. Tar in cigarette smoke can harm lung tissue. Tar and smoke reduce the work of the cilia, which is responsible for sweeping dust and particles upward to the throat and mouth. The tar and other chemicals subsequently reach the lungs and stay there in the form of a sticky brown mass. Reading Comprehension Students will read the passage to find answers to specific questions. Teachers are required to teach their students to answer the different kinds of questions they give them. The following exercise tries to demonstrate how a comprehension session can be done. Students will read the text then answer the questions that follow. As the finished work is marked, the teacher can point out to the students how they can arrive at the answer. Students can be encouraged to participate. 9 5 Passage Volcanoes are holes in the ground through which hot, liquid rock and gases escape from the surface. Much of the Earth’s crust and many of its mountains originally came from volcanoes. Volcanoes are fiery clues to the great heat and pressures deep down in the Earth. They occur where the Earth’s crust is weakest, especially where two plates (section of the Earth’s crust) meet or separate. Here, pressure may force the melted rock and other substances up from the mantle and up to the surface of the Earth. There are three main types of volcanoes. Sudden, violent eruptions occur if the molten rock has many hot gases trapped in it that expand explosively in eruption. Others are much quieter, spilling molten rock, or lava to make a gently sloping volcano. The third type of volcano often explodes violently. 1. Volcanoes occur (A) Where there are holes in the ground. (B) Where the earth’s crust is weakest. Correct (C) Below the earth’s surface. (D) In mountainous regions. The answer is recalled from information presented in the passage (line 5). 2. Which of the following questions cannot be answered from information in the passage? (A) Where do volcanoes occur? (B) What comes out of volcanoes? (C) What causes volcanoes? (D) What are some of the dangers of volcanoes? Correct The writer states that volcanoes occur in the ground; molten rock and lava spill out; heat and pressure cause them. Nowhere in the passage does he mention the dangers of volcanoes to man, animals or plants; hence the 9 6 reader has to use the information given to derive more meaning from the written word. 3. From information in the passage we can infer that (A) Volcanoes are most dangerous when they erupt suddenly and violently. Correct (B) Much of the Earth’s crust and most mountains have been formed by volcanic action. (C) Many gases are trapped beneath the Earth’s surface. (D) Some volcanoes erupt more quietly than others. The other three statements are mentioned in the passage. The inference is drawn from information given in the passage, i. e., the reader uses the facts given to derive more meaning from the written word. 3. What is the best title for this passage? (A) Causes of Volcanoes Correct (B) The Cause and Effects of Volcanoes (C) Volcanoes of Long Ago (D) Types of Volcanoes The passage tells why volcanoes occur. It mentions only a few types of volcanoes and certainly does not inform the reader about volcanoes of long ago. 4. According to the passage, “clues” (L) means. (A) Hints. (B) Signs (C) Indications Correct (D) Stories Meanings of words/phrases change depending on the context in the passage. Students have to select the most appropriate meaning from the options given in the dictionary or thesaurus for the word as used in the passage. 97 Activities for grasping the Main Idea/s and Subordinate Detail/s In relation to narrative writing Have students give a one-sentence summary of the main incident. For informational material Students could be given a poem based on the topic in order to help them focus on the details that could be in the reading. Students may be given the title of the extract and be asked to predict the things or issues that would be mentioned in the reading. Students may suggest titles for each paragraph in a passage. Students set their own goals for reading. Semantic mapping may also be used to get students to use their prior knowledge in order to focus on given details. Here, the brainstorming technique will help students to contribute their ideas on the reading topic and then categorise these. Paragraph A new paragraph indicates that the writer is giving additional, but different information about the preceding subject or is changing the subject completely. A group of sentences only makes a paragraph if all the sentences are about the same idea. Which of these two passages is a paragraph and why? People need help retraining for jobs. New jobs are being created every day. But they require new skills; people often have to go back to school. But many people have neither the money nor the time to do this. The government should set up a job-training program that pays people to go to 9 8 school. When they finish their job training, the government should help these people find jobs. A rainbow is made up of seven colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. A pink room makes people calm; a red one makes them excited. Many animals can’t see colour. For example, dogs don’t see colours nearly as clearly as humans. Point out to the students that; The first group of sentences is limited to one main idea – retraining of people for jobs. The topic sentence is at the beginning, followed by all the supporting details that are related to the main idea in the topic sentence. The second group of sentences are four statements related to the theme Colour. There is no sentence that can be identified as the topic sentence, that is, the sentence that contains the main idea of the paragraph, and the others as supporting sentences; One sentence is about the colour in a rainbow. Another about how people feel about colour. Two sentences are about how animals see colour. These sentences do not constitute a paragraph instead they can each be a topic sentence if given relevant supporting sentences to form a paragraph. 99 Passage For years, when there was an automobile accident, the insurance company of the person who caused the accident had to pay all the bills. The other insurance company paid nothing. Therefore, it was very important to find out who caused an accident. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Now many states have no-fault automobile insurance. This means that it doesn’t matter who causes the accident. Each person’s insurance company pays his or her own bills. With no-fault insurance, it is not necessary to know who caused the accident. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ But even after receiving money from their insurance company, it is still possible for the victims to sue the driver of the other car. The victims do this if they have a severe personal injury, like a serious broken bone. Each paragraph has a different main idea. Paragraph 1 tells about automobile insurance years ago. The second explains no-fault insurance. The third tells when a driver can sue the other. Vocabulary Building in Comprehension Literary Devices In speech and in writing students with an adequate vocabulary and an eye to detail can use language that creates vivid sounds and images for the reader. On the other hand they should be on the look out for memorable pictures given in oral and written form. Denotation It is the basic or literate meaning of a word – its hardcore meaning. Any writer needs an adequate stock of words to draw from and accurate knowledge of what they mean. Words that refer to something concrete in time and space e.g. fire in its basic sense refers to the reader’s perception of burning and flame. It can be seen, felt and smelled, and heat is 10 0 inseparably connected with it as light. Whether it’s the flame of a match or glowing charcoal, the reader will not link fire with rain. Connotation The suggested or implied meanings of words convey feelings and attitudes and include emotional overtones. The dictionary defines a politician as one who actively engages in politics. However, if a student describes a peer as “a real politician,” he is not using the literal meaning.(its denotation) but its connotation. He means that the fellow student is one who can convince through the crafty use of words. Sensory Details appeal to one of the senses: sight, touch, taste, smell or hearing e.g. Slivers of frosty grass crunched underfoot. Sound Effects are patterns of sound used to help create an image e.g. The raspy snarl of a motorcycle awakened him in the still of the night. Figurative Language relates to words or phrases used in an imaginative way rather than in the literal sense. Writers employ them to make their texts more interesting and to express their ideas more clearly most often in novels, short stories, poems and advertising. Passage The dancers clad in silks of green and blue, took their positions as the curtain rose. The music floated softly upward from somewhere below the stage and gathered mist about their feet. As the melody swelled, their frozen forms melted into a celebration of movement. They swept across the floor, colourful rivers seeking their own paths along the barren landscape of the stage. 10 1 The writer did not say the dancers were so cold He chose to describe them as “frozen” – motionless as if they were frozen. The dancers would “melt” into “rivers” suggests the dancers’ graceful, fluid movements. The reader is led to imagine the contrast between the two actions of the dancers. Teacher or students can select a short passage from a novel or short story that uses figurative language. In groups students rewrite the passage, changing the figurative language to literal language. Teacher acts as facilitator for a class discussion about which style is more effective – the figurative or literal? Why? Sometimes students have heard strange and unfamiliar words used, but they do not recognise them in print. The context refers to the other words and phrases or sentences which come before or after the word. The context helps students to draw the meaning of the word or phrase. Give students the opportunity to study the content in which the word is used and look for clues. Help students to associate new words with previous knowledge. Allow students to construct oral and written sentences to illustrate the usage of new words. Give students a passage so that they can insert the new word appropriately in the blank spaces. Where possible, have students give ‘synonyms’ and ‘antonyms’ of the words. Where a word has multiple meanings, have students use a dictionary and select the meaning most appropriate to the context in which it is used. Give students practice in discovering meanings through the use of the root and affixes (prefix and suffix). 10 2 Functional Reading Students will be able to: 1. Locate the required reading material by using the relevant section of a book. 2. Use a dictionary to discover meanings of technical terms. 3. Identify the organisational structure of the encyclopaedia and use the knowledge to locate material. 4. Gain information from content by identifying cause and effect problem and solution. Students, who know how to use the contents page efficiently, can find and read the appropriate chapter, section or paragraph to answer given questions; thus saving valuable study time. If they need information on a particular word or topic, the index may direct them to the relevant page. The Contents Page of a Geography Textbook. CONTENTS UNIT 1 WATER RESOURCES Water: The Basic Resources…………… 1 Using the River Nile……………………... 3 Using the Amazon River………………… 5 Using the River Demerara…………….... 7 UNIT 2 CROP RESOURCES Soil, Climate and Crop………………….. 9 Sugar-cane: Cultivation and Harvesting. 11 Cocoa: A Plantation Crop………………. 13 Rice: Cultivation and Harvesting……….. 15 Banana: A Plantation Crop……………... 17 Citrus: Cultivation and Harvesting…….. 19 Questions Water Resources 1. On what page would you first find information on the River Nile? 2. Which unit deals with the growing and reaping of citrus? 10 3 3. On what page does the data on rice growing end? 4. How many pages are there in Unit 1? 5. On what page does Unit 2 begin? 6. In which Unit will you find the information about soils? 7. How many more topics are treated in Unit 2 than in Unit 1? 8. Which is the shortest chapter? Creative Reading Students will be able to: 1. Associate personal experiences with what has been said. 2. Appreciate the writer’s craft. 3. Evaluate characters and situations. The Narrative Text The narrative text tells a story and is organised according to the following pattern: Beginning Middle End Its Components are: The theme – the basic idea stated or not stated The plot – the way in which the story is organised; it is made up of episodes The setting – the place where and the time at which the story occurs The characters – the people or animals who carry out the action in a story The problem – the situation that initiates or leads to other events in the story The action – that is, what happens as a result of the problem; comprises events The climax – the highest point of the story – the rising action 10 4 The resolution – the solution or final outcome Theme The basic elements of any piece of narrative writing are character, setting and plot. These determine the theme of the story or play. The characters’ physical descriptions, thoughts, actions, words and relationships with other characters support the theme. Let’s consider Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in which love triumphs over hate. We note Romeo’s impulsive behaviour at the masked ball, where he falls in love with Juliet, the daughter of his sworn enemies, the Capulets. Despite her family, he vows to pursue her. Setting The writer’s choice of setting – time of day, place, mood and other details - convey his/her message. In the play, Romeo and Juliet first meet at a masked ball. Perhaps in choosing this setting, Shakespeare is saying something about the senselessness of a feud based only on appearances and one’s last name. Plot The plot – the sequence of events in the story being told –can also reveal the theme. Generally the plot begins with a central conflict and develops it to its climax and resolution. Romeo and Juliet’s meeting at the ball triggers the central conflict - that is, the conflict between their love and the hatred between their families. The components along with the details of a narrative text can be plotted on a story map. An example is given using the story, “A Change of Heart.” 10 5 A CHANGE OF HEART Plot Episode 1 Episode 2 Ronette’s The street Ronette Ronette Hospital Ronette Mother Ms. is angry Ms Jackson accompanies Ms. Ms’Jackson Jackson’s about Sandy Jackson to the house giving Friends hospital her clothes to Sandy whose Friends arrive house with gifts for was Sandy and her burnt. sadness changes to happiness . She kicks a stone Ronette steps viciously forward and kisses as she Sandy walks. A feeling of She warmth fills hands Ronette. over the clothing with a lump in her throat She agrees to accompa ny Ms. Jackson to the hospital. 10 6 Encourage students to read novels of their choice and create a story map from its components, then share it with their peers. Students can prepare their own maps prior to telling or writing original stories. Figurative Language in the Text Simile Examine these two sentences . The centre-forward charged wildly down the field. The centre-forward charged down the field like some mad elephant hurtling through a clump of bamboo. The picture created in the reader’s mind by sentence 2 is more effective than that visualised by the word wildly .The player is not an elephant or as big as one. His impetuous rush is likened to the rush of a mad elephant in the jungle. This picture helps the reader to visualise the scene on the court during the game. Metaphor The comparison is taken a stage further by saying that a person is something that he/she is not or that he/she is doing something that, in fact he is not doing. The statement ‘People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’ does not imply that these persons actually live in glass houses. It means that people in a vulnerable position should not attack others. In other words a man who has been convicted of fraud is hardly in a position to criticise anyone who travels on a minibus without paying the fare. Personification Writers/ speakers often give human qualities to objects, animals or things. e.g. Flowers saluted the morning sun. 10 7 Flowers have no eyes or arms with which to give a salute of any type – military or otherwise. Hyperbole It is fairly common and is used to heighten the effect of whatever the speaker/writer wishes to say by gross exaggeration. e.g. ‘Come and look at the orchids. There are thousands of new shoots on them. In fact, there are only eighteen new shoots on the plants. Euphemism It consists of using a mild or inoffensive expression in place of one that might be objectionable in some way, e.g. He gave me some advice concerning my conduct. This is far more than advice; in fact, he scolded me. He is not quite himself. This is a milder way of saying he is insane. Metonymy The writer uses the name of one thing for that of another that it suggests. e.g. The pen (literature/written word) is mightier than the sword (war/physical force). Proverbs and Idiomatic Sayings These are used more in speech rather than in formal writing. However students need to understand the sayings when a speaker uses them in conversation. They, too, may use them in their conversations. Sometimes examiners ask questions that test the students’ knowledge of these expressions. It must be noted that most of these figurative expressions should not be used in the literal sense. Examples • He who rides on a tiger can never get off. 10 8 Meaning: If you start on a dangerous job, you may be unable to stop. • There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip. Meaning: Nothing is certain until it is achieved. Examples ♦ By hook or crook Meaning: By any method – legal or illegal ♦ To put up with something Meaning: To tolerate it ♦ To put off a game Meaning: To postpone it SUMMARY Making a summary is a task that nobody can avoid in life. When students pass on news at home, at school or at play, they don’t count the words; they grasp the main points and pass them on to the listener. In Grade 8 students may be asked to summarise a single paragraph or a few paragraphs from a longer passage. Method ♦ Understand the passage and find the theme/central idea that dominates the whole paragraph or passage. ♦ Make rough notes in your own words as far as reasonable on each section. ♦ Arrange the notes in the right order and join them, so that they read smoothly. Students may use words and short expressions 10 9 from the passage when necessary, but they should never copy sentences or longer expressions. ♦ If necessary, check for length; shorten or lengthen as required, taking care to maintain the continuity. Omissions from Rough Notes ♦ Unnecessary detail or illustrative examples ♦ Negative statements which do not convey any useful information ♦ Repetitive statements ♦ Irrelevant topics or comments (especially in the opening sentences of a passage) Extract The national parks of Africa are an important economic asset of the territories in which they lie, for they attract tourists (our tiresome word for modern pilgrims and travellers); and tourists bring in substantial revenue, not merely through disbursements in the national parks themselves, but chiefly through what they spend in the country at large on transport, accommodation, equipment, photography and souvenirs. The national parks and wild-life reserves are now the main reasons why they come to East Africa, and one of the main reasons why they come to South Africa and Mozambique; and the same could soon hold for Central Africa. Tourism is increasing in volume throughout Africa’s wild-life area, and Kenya, for instance, has already become the second largest source of national revenue, to the tune of $20 million. What is more, it is capable of a large further increase in the near future (of course, always provided that there is no World War, and no major political trouble in eastern Africa). So long as Western prosperity continues, with populations increasing and industrialisation being intensified, more and more people will want to escape 11 0 farther and farther from its results, in the shape of over-large and over-crowded cities, smoke, noise, boring routine, and the over-mechanisation of life. Air travel will certainly become cheaper and more popular, and will take more people farther a field. The teacher may ask students to summarize, in their own words as far as possible paragraphs 1 & 2. Final Summary National parks and wild-life reserves play an important part in the economic life of some African countries, particularly in East and South Africa. They attract tourists and thus bring substantial direct and indirect revenue. In Kenya, for example, tourists are the second largest source of revenue, and there are potentialities in Central Africa. From time to time teachers or students can read textual or literary passages of their choice for students to get practice in listening. Thereafter individual students relate in summary form what was heard. Their colleagues assess the summaries in accordance with the guidelines given in the method. Learning from Graphics Visual Thinking Text and graphics work together to convey enough information about a topic. Each type can be used as an illustration in expository writing. It is important that teachers teach students how to extract information from these types of graphics. Graphics are of four main types. ♦ Tables Tables separate information into categories so readers can compare the 11 1 data easily. The rows and columns show how a subject changes under different conditions, such as time or location. Example Percentage of Women in the Work Force, 1990 16 – 24 25 – 54 55 – 64 65+ Years Old Years Old Years Old Years Old United States 63 74 45 8 Canada 66 76 36 4 France 34 73 31 2 Italy 41 49 10 2 Japan 45 64 47 16 Sweden 68 91 66 5 United Kingdom 73 73 37 3 To present numbers and facts that are difficult to communicate clearly in sentences, students can use charts, tables and bar graphs. To find out what percentage of Japanese women aged 25 – 54 were in the work force in 1990, students will: ♦ First read down the left-hand column in the table to find Japan. ♦ Then read across the top of the table until they reach the age group “25 – 54.” ♦ Moving down the column of numbers to the row even with Japan, they will see that 64 percent of Japanese women between the ages of 25 and 54 were in the workforce. 11 2 ♦ Bar Graph In bar graphs each quantity is shown as a bar. The length reflects the amount. Because bars are separate and distinct, writers often use bar graphs to compare quantities. In many bar graphs the bars run horizontally. Daily Consumption of Vegetable Protein 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 North American Latin America East Asia Africa Middle Esat Here the vertical axis indicates the categories being compared, and the height of the bar represents the amount of vegetable protein consumed. The horizontal axis indicates the quantities being compared, and each bar represents a different region. In this bar graph, the consumption of vegetable protein in five world regions (horizontal axis) is compared using the measurement of grams per head per day (vertical axis). The bars provide a quick way to see who consumes the most and the least vegetable protein. 11 3 Grams per person Chart ♦ FlowThis diagram shows the steps in a process. Arrows connect the steps to show how one flows into the next. For example a flow chart may show how a motion is tabled. The flow chart must identify where the process begins. At some stages more than one result may occur. Motion is approved A member proposes Motion is Discussion the motion seconded follows Motion is rejected 11 4 UNIT 3 GRAMMAR What is Grammar? The word ‘Grammar’ over the years has been used to mean many things. It is used to mean everything speakers know about their language: the sound system, the system of meanings, the rules of word formation, the rules of sentence formation and the vocabulary of words. According to Dale (1976), grammar consists of basic patterns or rules of a language. It is a theory which, when applied, explains the natural knowledge of a language that is possessed by every native speaker of the language. The rules of grammar dictate whether a group of words constitutes a viable sentence or is merely a collection of words. Over the years it has been the tradition of teachers to focus on the rules of forming sentences and rules of word formation to the exclusion of everything else. However, the term Grammar is more generally accepted as being the systematic relationships that exist between the different features of the English Language. This would include punctuation and the use of standardised marks in writing to clarify meaning. Children use Grammar which is an integral part of language without knowing or understanding the rules that accompany it, just as they run, breathe, or toss a ball without understanding the process that makes such a function possible. By gaining familiarity with grammar, a child discovers how to speak and write more efficiently and precisely. Such knowledge results in the child becoming a more confident speaker and writer. However, to understand the rules of grammar, a child must be able to think in abstract terms. Most children fail to possess this cognitive skill until age eleven, twelve or even later. As Mc Craig (1977) points out, “A child who may appear to have mastered sentence sense in the fourth grade may 11 5 suddenly begin making what adults call sentence errors all over again as he attempts to accommodate his knowledge of sentences to more complicated constructions.” Research findings also point out that grammar should not be taught in the artificial world of English grammar exercises, but in the content of speaking and writing which are daily activities in the classroom. In the Grade 7 Teacher’s Guide, it was suggested that teachers integrate the teaching of grammar with the process of reading and writing. The teaching of grammar can also be integrated into the teaching of literature. Since literature displays a rich use of language, students can be encouraged to find and share passages that show how an author has woven sentences together to express a certain mood. Students can then examine these words and use them to make their stories more effective. The first convention of grammar that children understand is punctuation. This is because it is noticeable in both oral and written language. For instance, in revising a piece of writing children are able to determine where to put a full stop by noting where a pause occurs when the piece is read aloud. The full stop (period), question mark, exclamation mark, apostrophe, comma. and quotation marks are essential punctuation marks with which Grade 8 students need to have mastered. In order to ensure that students’ grammar and punctuation are enhanced, the teacher should ensure that the students: • Understand that grammar and punctuation conventions are the means to the end of effective writing. • Are immersed in an environment rich in language conventions. 11 6 • Are exposed to positive models of use of conventions in both oral and written language. • Monitor their understanding and use of conventions in writing. The teaching of grammar and punctuation can be divided into two groups. 1. Using strategies that are integral parts of the writing process 2. Using activities removed from the writing process e. g. cloze activities. Here, teachers and students focus on a specific convention of interest, and then before returning to the writing, apply the understanding developed. Teaching Grammar in Context There are many strategies that teachers can use to teach grammar and punctuation in context. Environmental Print This is print that is part of the students’ everyday life. It can be in the form of • Advertisements, • Signs, • Street names, • Maps, • Calendars, • Road signs, etc. It can also include print sources within the classroom, such as • Charts, • Labels • Word banks. 11 7 (a) Environmental print can be used to teach conventions, by presenting students with a text and getting them to find out for example, how commas are used. They can develop a chart to show the use of commas. Their chart may look something like this. USE OF COMMAS EXAMPLE Separate items in a list The boy went to the market and bought meat, bread, eggs and butter for his mother. Separate a word or words used for His dog , a mongrel, is very playful. further explanation Separate the person spoken to from Steve, I think you have a willing helper. the rest of the sentence When students formulate the rules for themselves, they are more likely to remember them better than if the teacher gives it to them. (B) Ensure that environmental print in the classroom has a meaningful context. For example, any label that the teacher uses should be used with a message. Thus if there is a label, it would better serve the purpose if there was a message such as: PLEASE CLOSE THE DOOR Rather than: DOOR (C) Use environmental print as a stimulus for discussion. A sign such as the one below can be used to stimulate a discussion on the use of capital (upper case) letters and common (lower case) letters. 11 8 The meat to please you (D) Use the technique of spoken replies when responding to incorrect conventions used by the not so confident speaker. Student: I seen the animals yesterday Teacher: I saw them too, Mark. Did you see anything else? When the teacher responds in this manner he/she is modelling the correct use of conventions. The question that follows the remark is intended to have the student use the correct tense in his/her attempted response. (E). Sentence Manipulation Shared literature, individual writing, and exercises from texts provide authentic context for these activities, that can be done with the whole class, small group or individual students. Sentence Makers • Basic sentence making Allow students to construct sentences at will Kyle lost his tooth. 11 9 • Sentence Expansion Use the sentence maker to extend existing sentence by additional adjectives, adverbs, phrases and clauses. Kyle lost his front tooth Today Kyle lost his front tooth In attempting to bit the bone, Kyle lost his front tooth During dinner as Kyle sat at the table, he lost his front tooth • Sentence Transformation Use the sentence maker to transform a sentence, taking turns to change a word at a time. An adjective may be changed for an adjective, a noun for a noun. Most boys are good swimmers Most boys are poor swimmers Most boys are poor losers Presentation Exercises Presentation is the stage at which students are introduced to the form, meaning and use of the new language A good presentation should be clear, efficient and interesting, appropriate and productive. 12 0 Examples • Modelling Teacher gives a clear spoken model of the language. This should be done at normal speed, stress and intonation. Teacher gives the model a number of times and then asks students to repeat it, both in chorus and individually. The modelling gives students a chance to hear what the sentence should sound like. • Isolation Isolate parts of a sentence you are modelling, so that you can give it special emphasis e.g. Teacher: If it rains, she’ll get wet … listen she’ll … she will … she’ll … she’ll get wet. If it rains, she’ll get wet. In this example “she’ll” was isolated and an explanation was given, before it was put back in the model that was given. By doing this, students are given a lot of grammatical information without any stated rules. • Visual Discrimination Writing Write a sentence on the chalkboard and underline the critical point. Relationships between questions and answers can be shown with bold type like this: Question: He watches television every morning. Answer: Does he watch television every morning? Time Lines This technique can be used with a diagrammatic representation to teach tense. 12 1 Past I walked to school this morning Present (Now) I walk to school every day Future I will walk to school again tomorrow Text Study The past simple Give students a task e. g. What are the three past tense endings for regular verbs. Get students to read a text and then have them select the verb endings and put them in the right columns according to their endings. You, the teacher will have to write the text that the students will use. For instance Mary watched the old man as he dodged through the busy traffic. He stopped, chatted with Ms. Castle at No. 12, and lent her his black pen. She did as requested, signed his voucher and returned the two items to him. Let students put all the verbs in one of the three columns. ed/d t id watched lent did dodged stopped chatted requested signed returned Punctuation Marks Use of the: Period- • at the ends of sentences that make a statement or express a command; 12 2 • after initials in proper names. Question Mark • at the end of sentences that ask questions. For the reader, a question mark signifies that the voice is to be raised for the last word. Exclamation Mark • at the end of a sentence for emphasis Apostrophe • to indicate possession when used with an ‘s’ e. g. The boy’s bag… • to indicate missing letters in contractions e. g. He doesn’t want to…. • to indicate the omission of a number as in a date e. g. The ’92 Olympics… Comma When to use the comma is sometimes confusing. However, students should be taught to use the comma in the following situations. • after the salutation of a letter Dear Joy, • after the close of a letter Your friend, David • to separate the name of a section of a town from the name of the town. Campbellville, Georgetown • to separate the day from the year in a letter February 2, 1999 • to separate words in a series 12 3 He planted bora, ochro, eddo and calaloo. • between parts of a compound sentence that are joined by a conjunction The car was repaired, and they continued on the trip. • after an introductory clause. While the car was being fixed, they drank a cup of coffee. Quotation Marks These are used to encompass directly spoken words, around the title of a poem. ♦ “Reflections on Wrecked Kites” is a good poem to be taught at Easter time. ♦ “I tried to chase you, but you were too fast,” she says as soon as I got out of the car. In addition to punctuation marks, Grade 8 students would also have to be familiar with the use of the eight parts of speech. These are the noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Because grammar is most effective when students are required to use inductive reasoning to discover what works, through experimentation with language, grammatical knowledge is advanced and skills are enhanced. A strategy: Teaching Parts of Speech 1. Collect pictures of famous individuals with whom students are familiar. 2. Select four of the pictures to be used for the lesson and paste them in a single column on the left hand side of a sheet of paper. 3. Make and label other vertical columns one for each part of speech you intend to teach. 4. Make horizontal columns, separating the pictures. 12 4 5. On a cardboard write the definition and an example of each of the parts of speech. 6. Select one of the pictures to be used as a model exercise for the class for example, a picture of Ramnaresh Sarwan 7. After reviewing the definition of the part of speech, e. g. noun, have students give examples of nouns that relate to Ramnaresh Sarwan e. g. cricketer, bowler, son, brother, sportsman. 8. After completely filling the box with nouns, follow the same procedure for the other parts of speech. 9 After the class has completed the row on the first picture, divide the students into pairs and have them select one of the remaining personalities and give examples of each of the parts of speech that characterise the individual. 10. After finishing the exercise, the students should write a short story using as many of the words as possible from the list they created. Additional Activities Whole-part-whole strategies Cloze This teaching strategy helps students to understand grammar, as they come to understand that certain words are acceptable within the structure of the sentence, while others may sound and look awkward. Example Incorrect: The mangoes is ripe when they turn a bright yellow. Correct: The mangoes are ripe when they turn a bright yellow. Such exercises can be constructed to focus on a specific form. For example, students can be encouraged to maintain a point of view and tense when speaking and writing. 12 5 Crazy Cloze Delete all of one particular part of speech from a piece of writing and ask students to replace the words without seeing the text; a humorous, if not nonsensical text may result. Here is a passage that has the adjectives deleted. What a _____sight it was! Directly below me at the edge of the hill stretched a beach of _____ sand with _____ shells. The _____ water of the sea sparkled in the sunshine as it _____ lapped the shores. Far out on its surface people drifted back and forth in _____ boats which danced on the water, their _____ sail gleaming in the sun on the _____ shore, were ____ _____cottages with _____ gardens. It was a pleasure to gaze on this _____ scene. Insert the adjectives and let students read. Although the result will be hilarious, the students will quickly sense any mismatch in the sentence structure. This is the time to redefine the term ‘adjective’ and clarify any misunderstandings. The extension to this exercise is to allow the students to develop sensible alternatives to the cloze adjectives. Punctuation Cloze Provide dashes or boxes to indicate where punctuation should be. Why are we moving house Gerry asked his mother The expression on her face was answer enough He placed his new computer game baseball glove and chess set carefully into the packing box and walked outside 12 6 12 7 Evaluation How to write tests Writing a test is a very important task, and calls for skill and patience. A good test will show both the teacher and the students how well both of them are doing. A test should not be written with the intention of failing anyone, but to give everyone a chance to show what they have learnt. Sometimes a test can go wrong. This may not be as a result of the students’ lack of knowledge, but because of problems in the construction of the test. When writing a test therefore, teachers should bear in mind the following: 1. Don’t test what you have not taught. The purpose of a test is to find out how well students have mastered what they have been studying. Consequently, the test should not include things they have not been exposed to. 2. Don’t test general knowledge. Teachers should always remember that they are testing the students’ knowledge of the subject, and not their knowledge of the world. 3. Don’t introduce new techniques in tests. Students can become confused if in the test they are presented with unfamiliar types of items and techniques. For example, whatever activity students are presented with in the test, they should have been exposed to in class. If they are presented with an activity that is completely new to them, they may have difficulty understanding how to do the question. 4. Don’t just test accuracy.An achievement test should examine the students’ ability to use language, and not just their knowledge of 12 8 grammatical accuracy. For while students may be given items that test only one thing (e. g. a verb from a question word) there should also be items that test the students’ whole knowledge of language – like essay writing. 5. Don’t forget to test the test. It is never wise to prepare a test and give it immediately to the students. This is because problems sometimes arise. For example, instructions may not be clear, or there are mistakes. The test might also be too difficult or too easy for the students. Therefore after writing a test You should show it to your colleagues. They will often see problems that you have not thought of, and may be able to suggest improvements. If possible, try out the test with a class similar to your own. Sometimes the best way to do this is to get a class of a slightly higher level than yours and try it out. If they can do it fairly comfortably, then you’ve probably got the level about right. NB: Even if you can’t try out the test, you must get other people to read it to spot any obvious mistakes or problems. Types of Tests Multiple Choice In multiple choice items, students have to choose the correct answer from a number of alternatives. Multiple choice questions can be used to test students’ knowledge of grammar. Example Choose the correct answer to complete the sentence. 1. I want to buy _____ new furniture. 12 9 (a) some (b) a (c) two (d) everything Gap filling In gap filling students are required to choose words that make sense. Complete the sentences so that they make sense. 1. A: Are you sure you’ll be all right? B: Don’t worry _____ _____. I’m _____ looking after myself. 2. Both teams were exhausted. They _____ for three hours. 3. The old lady, who _____ _____, suddenly sat up and asked for some tea. 4. He was born between 1980 and 2000, so he must be in _____ _____. Sentence Re-ordering Put the words in order to make correct sentences. 1. lives / John / and /in Berbice. / is a student 2. and a housewife / is / His sister / secretary. A 3. at home now, / in Essequibo. /She is 4. Thursday. / Georgetown /She was / on /in Transformation Here students have to rewrite sentences so that they have the same meaning but different grammatical structure. Example 1. Tom is older that Betty. Betty isn’t _________________ 2. She wasn’t strong enough to lift the bag. The bag ___________________ 13 0 UNIT 4 VOCABULARY Students need to acquire vocabulary along with experience and concepts. In order to increase vocabulary the teacher needs to provide more experiences to talk and write about. In addition to developing vocabulary through direct or vicarious experiences, words can be added to the students’ vocabulary through reading and discussion, locating words in a dictionary and through wide thoughtful reading. It should be noted that it is not worthwhile to know the meanings of isolated words. Words should be used within sentences because when they are used in this way, they are known or understood in context. Vocabulary enhances comprehension and is thus an important part of literacy learning. In many instances the students’ knowledge of newly acquired words is incomplete or lacking in rich meaning. Vocabulary instruction is expected to increase the students’ awareness of word meaning and usage. Watt (1995) described six characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction: • Students are provided with multiple exposures to words in a variety of contexts over time. For example, in Unit 1 the word disaster has been used. Disaster had struck at the Bobb’s house that was burnt to the ground. The teacher can expose students to other contexts. I. Disaster accompanied the heavy rains as many crops were damaged by the floods. 13 1 II. Disaster clouded Joan’s wedding as the bridegroom was injured in a car accident. III. My fund raising venture was a disaster because only a few of the tickets had been sold. Words are taught in the context of a story, theme or content area unit. The students can focus on the word insolence in the following extract: Timmy made it obvious that he cared nothing about the economic stress and emotional pain his family was enduring. He continued to make demands for an increased allowance and laughed mockingly at his brother, who had to give up his basketball sessions and other activities. In addition, he was dishonest and disrespectful to his parents. His unwillingness and insolence were evident even when he was silent. This discussion may follow thus: 1. Do you know anyone whom you can consider insolent? 2. What are some of the things the person does? 3. What are some of the things Timmy did? 4. What do you do when you are insolent? 5. What effects would Timmy’s insolence have on others? From the above discussion it is evident that vocabulary instruction also needs to be as learner-centred as possible. • Teacher helps students activate prior knowledge when learning new words. In Unit 1 the following extract may be used to help students understand the meaning of the word viciously. Ronette was angry. She couldn’t understand why she had to give some of her clothes to Sandy Bobb. She felt that her mother was being quite 13 2 unfair. In anger she kicked a stone viciously as she made her way quite sulkily to her music teacher’s house. Teacher encourages student/teacher discussion based on the paragraph. They are asked to associate the word ’viciously’ with different kinds of emotions; they identify behaviours which persons display when acting viciously; they discuss whether only human beings act viciously. • Relationships are drawn between new words and known words and concepts. In Unit 13 the character is portrayed as showing pride and confidence. “I don’t care about the names you call me,” he said with quiet determination and stern dignity. “You’ve just helped me to be stronger.” Here the teacher can get students to focus on the concept of dignity, that is, what words they think of as they hear dignity. They may give words such as pride and self-respect and relate these to dignity. • Students are taught to use context clues and dictionaries to enhance their word knowledge. In Unit 2 the students may use the context as well as check the word ordeal in the dictionary. The following is given: She had to keep that job to ensure that she and her family survived, even though getting home after work was a nightly ordeal. Every night at eleven when her shift ended, this lonely woman, fearful of being attacked by either vicious dogs or robbers, trudged down the dark and desolate stretch of road to her home. Students may be encouraged to use their dictionaries to check the meanings of the word. Some of the meanings would include: 13 3 pain agony distress anxiety Students are asked to examine the context in which the word is used and decide on the most appropriate one. • Students are encouraged to interact with the words, so they are able to process them in depth. However, it should be noted that not all words can be learnt in the same way. For example, the word medication in Unit 2 is concrete so its meaning can be quickly discussed, listing kinds of medicines or discussing a picture depicting a pharmacy with potent medicines on the shelves. On the other hand, the word arrogance may take more time and discussion. It may also involve role-playing. In other instances the word may not be relevant to the students’ everyday lives. For example, in Unit 3 the word shilling will not be so easy to conceptualise. Similarly, the word sovereign in the story the “Hustlers,” will entail some amount of historical development of the kind of monetary system used in the country. Teaching vocabulary through direct instruction is applicable especially to content subjects such as Science and Social Studies. 1. Give both the context and the definition. Read the excerpt below. Usually after reading for about half an hour, my eyes burned me, so my mother took me to an ophthalmologist, a doctor who treats diseases of the eye. 2. Generate new sentences that make the meaning of the word clear 13 4 Original Sentence Everything we know about dinosaurs comes from fossils. New Sentences I. A fossil is usually dug up out of the earth. It may be the remains of an animal or plant, a bone, a claw, a tooth. II. Fossils are like clues to a puzzle. Scientists use them to figure out what the world of dinosaurs was like. In order to teach context clues prior to assigned reading, you may follow these steps. I. List the words on the board with the page numbers next to them. II. Find the word and discover its meaning by reading the words around it. III. When the student gets the meaning correct, let him/her identify the clues or explain the process. IV. The teacher can teach the method for getting meaning. These include: Syntactic Clue This deals with the position (word order) and function of the word in a sentence. e. g. The ferocious dog barked at the thief. The word comes before the noun in the sentence. (position) It gives more information about the noun. (function) Its suffix ‘ious’ is used to derive an adjective. Memory Clue This deals with what the student remembers as he/she reflects on the word. 13 5 Read the following: Important landmarks are found all over Guyana. Some of them are found in villages; others are found in towns; while others are overgrown with bushes. What does the word landmarks remind you of? Can you think of a landmark in the area in which you live? Mood Clue This deals with emotions that are demonstrated. Read the following: The man was standing with his back straight as he waited impatiently for the store to open. He had been waiting there since seven o’clock. Based on some of the characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction some of the following strategies are also applicable. Word Wall This is used to display words in context. The words are arranged in categories according to a specific letter pattern, concept or story. Semantic Map A semantic map or word web is used to display new words and show their relationship to other words. Wide Reading This may be done every day as sustained silent reading. It exposes students to more words, increases word recognition and reading fluency; facilitates word learning; and helps in the expansion of the students’ knowledge base. 13 6 Journal Students identify interesting words found in a story or text. A reading journal or learning log can be used for recording the words in their context. Students are also given the opportunity to discover other words or phrases that might be substituted for the original word. Teacher Language The teacher should model the use of new words and precise language during instruction. He/She should be conscious of bringing new words into the classroom vocabulary. A new word should be linked with a known synonym and used in different contexts. Interesting Word Recognise an interesting word usage encountered in text. Help students become aware of the effective use of these words to create feelings, communicate an idea, or describe an event. Graves (1986) has described two strategies to help with clarifying and enriching the meanings of known words, moving words into students’ productive vocabularies, and learning new meanings for known words. Below is an example of the uses of classification. Objective: Shift new words into productive vocabulary. Input 1. Intolerable (a) Timmy was disobedient, disrespectful and unwilling. His intolerable behaviour persisted until the day of the championship. ♦ Students volunteer ideas on what they think ‘intolerable’ means. Intolerable means unbearable or unacceptable. 13 7 ♦ What are some things that come to your mind when you hear the word intolerable? ♦ Brainstorm and list ideas on the board. ♦ Give a second word to be treated in the same way. Activity 1. In a large group or small group give students synonyms for the new word written on a small card. They must decide which category the word goes into and the reason for the choice. 2. Let students look at the list of associations for both words and describe a situation (real or imaginary) using some of the words on the board. 3. Bonus points can be given for realistic ideas; imaginative ideas; the shortest paragraph that makes sense; the most interesting idea related to a particular subject, or the most unusual idea. Word Box Intolerable mediocre, unacceptable, unendurable, poor, relentless, obstinate, unbelievable Superiority dominance, privilege, advantage, arrogance, self- importance, honour, respectability, distinction, glory Super Word Web This is the technique designed to increase vocabulary development by expanding the breadth and depth of the students’ word knowledge. It can be implemented as a pre-reading exercise, an advanced organiser or a separate vocabulary lesson. It can be constructed by groups of students. 13 8 Procedure Step 1. See the word in the context. Step 2. List three or four synonyms or defining phrases. Step 3. List or draw three or four associations. For expository texts, it may be done as a pre-reading activity, so that new words and concepts can facilitate comprehension. For narrative texts, it is recommended as a post-reading activity, so that students can use the context of the story to enrich their word knowledge. Model Word SYNONYMS associations associations associations Example: She tried very hard to conceal the slight tremor in her voice as she handed over the big bag which contained so many lovely things … her things. 13 9 WORD Tremor nervousness examination hesitancy apprehension being alone in the dark wavering uneasiness anger toward someone unwillingness to comply with a request The Verbal-Visual Word Association Strategy The verbal-visual word association is used to help students learn content words like photosynthesis in science. This may be done through the use of a science vocabulary square. Vocabulary Square Photo – light Photosynthesis Synthesis – combine The process of combining carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight to produce glucose 14 0 The same model is used to teach root words and prefixes. Root Word Vocabulary Square ROOT choreograph Graph designing or composing a dance Writer/design Amber’s Prefix Vocabulary Square EX EXTINCT No longer alive or in the environment 14 1 ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 1 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESUORCE EVALUATION 80 min Narrative Use the The functions Students 1. Asks leading 1. Respond to A Story Map Write the Writing graphic of the Story know that questions to help the questions details organiser to Map. stories tell students recall the giving the story A short story needed in the map out the the events of elements of a story. line. that is being Story Map Elements of elements of a The elements the life of studied in the Short short story. of the story: persons or 2. Introduces the 2. Listen and class. Story - Characters animals that Story Map and ask questions - Setting live in a explains its for clarification if - Theme particular function. necessary. - Plot place. 3. Asks for chosen 3. Identify the characters and setting and Assessment setting and inserts characters. - Can them in the map. students N.B. 4. Guides in 4. Work along make setting Similar identifying the with teacher to geographically lessons can theme and listing list the events of realistic? be done to the events in the the plot and use graphic plot. identify the - Can their organizers to: theme. plot achieve - sequence their theme? events 5. Asks for a title 5. Contribute - establish and conducts a ideas as rising action, brainstorm session. directed. turning point, falling action. 6. Form groups 6. Allocates and execute the students to groups exercise given. to plan a story from the title, and map the story elements. I ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 2 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80 Narrative Use a The role of Students can 1. Asks a student 1. Respond to A Character Identify the min Writing graphic the main asses the to describe the the request and Trait Map main organiser to character character of characteristics give the character and plan the in a story. their friends to (with evidence) of reasons. map out Characterisation character some extent. a friend. A story under his/her traits of the Character study character main traits 2. Establishes 2. Provide more traits. Also character in some ways in information to put in the the story. Traits which character help establish incidents that revealed: traits are revealed. the concept. are to reveal - By what these traits. the 3. Reads a story 3. Respond and character and asks for the observe what is says and kind of person the done on the N.B. does. character seems chalkboard. The teacher can - By what to be, and records Assessment create an easily understood other it on the Character - Can diagram. characters Trait Web. students say about make their the 4. Elicits 4. Give the leading character. supporting incident(s). character’s - By what incidents that traits coincide the writer reveal the trait and with his/her says about includes them too. vocation? him/her. (Example) 5. Sit in their groups and plot - Can their 5. Directs students how the incidents fit or to construct a character’s traits blend into the Character Trait and the intended sequence of Web for their incidents will be events story. revealed. already planned? II ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 3 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80 Narrative Include Punctuation Students 1. Introduces the 1. Listen and Three short Insert dialogue min Writing dialogue in of spoken have read topic and tells of respond when stories, two into written already words. and analysed its importance in required. copies each. stories to written stories in stories. enhance Dialogue in stories to add Examination which the characterisation. Narrative more realism of stories writer had the 2. Distributes the 2. Examine the The written to characters that have characters stories to the six story and after first draft of and scenes direct speech express groups and discussion state students’ themselves instructs the what they stories directly. students to conclude. Position of observe, discuss Assessment dialogue and state how the - Can students N.B. within the dialogue is set insert dialogue In this first composition into the narration. at appropriate lesson 3. The leaders of points in the ensure that 3. Moderates the rising action? the dialogue session as the groups share is structured students share findings with the class. - Can they correctly their conclusions. punctuate and is also 4. Writes the 4. Participate in dialogue functional. consensus of the the activity. correctly? findings on the In future chalkboard. - Can they place lessons dialogue focus on the 5. Asks students 5. Indicate the correctly in the dialect and to look at their places and structure of the the register stories and discuss how the composition? being indicate the changes are to reflected in places that are be made from the suitable for narration to dialogue. dialogue dialogue. III ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 4 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80 min Expository Research a Details are They can 1. Introduces 1. Listen. A sample of a Write a Writing given topic organised into write the lesson and paragraph composition and write a paragraphs. structured gives students that explains that is an composition paragraphs learning explanation. A that explains. guidelines. Learning Composition The logical They can link activities A (p that order of paragraphs. 2. Directs 2. Read the 64) Explains presenting the students to composition. paragraphs read a short Assessment expository - Can The topic composition students sentence has that explains. present its position in (pp 60, 61) 3. Share on paragraphs in each what they a logical paragraph. 3. Uses observe order? questioning to concerning the stimulate a organisation of - Are their discussion on the paragraph, details in aspects of the the positioning each expository of the topic paragraph composition. sentences and properly the sequencing sequenced? of details in paragraphs. - Is their composition 4 Use the 4. Assigns to Learning an explanation? them a topic to Activity A to research and produce the - Does each write the expository paragraph required composition. have a topic explanation sentence? IV ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 5 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80 min Expository Write a The details Students ask 1. Poses a 1. Answer the Write an Writing paragraph that given must and answer question to the question. expository answers a answer the questions daily. class for an paragraph question question answer and with all the A writes the agreed necessary paragraph Supporting answer on the conventions. that details chalkboard. answers a must Assessment question support the 2. Asks for facts 2. Contribute to - Can view of the and other details the discussion. students’ topic to support the supporting sentence. answer and sentences records them on really support Facts must the chalkboard the view of be their topic expressed 3. Monitors an 3. Assist in the sentence? clearly examination of all creation of the that is recorded paragraph. - Are their and creates a reasons paragraph that written with answers the clarity? question. - Are their 4. Introduces 4. Discuss the reasons another question topic in pairs then appropriate and instructs proceed to write and important students to the paragraph. facts? discuss it and write a paragraph -Are all their that answers it sentences supportive? V ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 6 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80 min Expository Respond to a The business Students can 1. Asks for and 1. State the A diagram Type a Writing situation with letter can be: set out the records the headings in the with the business a business - formal; headings of a headings of a format. headings of a letter using letter typed in - hand-written formal formal business block style the block Business block style. or typed; or business letter on business style. Letters - sent on an letter. chalkboard. letter. official 2. Compare the letterhead. 2. Displays the formats, stating A sample of a headings of a their observations. typed formal The topic and block-styled typed business audience business letter and letter Assessment determine the asks students to - Can the style. compare the two. students use 3. Listen and ask the Format: 3. Uses a sample questions for appropriate -Address to illustrate the clarification. business - Date conventions of the letter format? -Inside typed letter. address - Does double - Salutation 4. Sets up a 4. Follow the line spacing - Subject business scenario illustration to separate their - Body to stimulate understand what paragraphs? - Closure with students to respond is required for written with a formal them to do. - Does the signature business letter that body contain is typed on a relevant A double computer. information space 5. Respond with a properly between 5. Gives additional typed formal couched? paragraphs. help where needed. business letter. VI ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 7 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE(S) CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 40 min Comprehen- Listen to the In reading for Students can 1. Writes 1. State their An Listen to a sion reading of a listening, pay listen to each statements opinion and Anticipation poem in order poem to attention to of their friends’ which concern have it slotted in Guide to argue or Listening discuss or punctuation good readings social issues in the Anticipation discuss the debate the marks and and respond the poem and Guide issue issues appropriate well to them. asks students A poem presented. presented. intonation to whether they addressing a convey support each or social issue meaning. not. Effective 2. Prepares 2. Listen for listening students to what is required Assessment: requires listen by telling of them. - Can active and them what they students do a conscious have to do with discussion attention. the poem. following upon a Note the 3. Reads the 3. Listen in previous main idea poem twice. order to discuss comment? and consider the viewpoint the overall the poem - Can their meaning of presents on the viewpoints what is said. issue. logically support their 4. Monitors the 4. Discuss the claim? discussion issues as conducted by directed by the the students teacher. VII ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 8 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTION/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80 Comprehension Make the Speak with a Students know 1. Asks for the 1. They present Present a min appropriate purpose to how to adapt views that assignment. viewpoint, response to an audience to the students and maintain Speaking audience necessary prepared in a interest feedback An audience deportment for previous lesson among the when giving would give public on a particular class a viewpoint. certain kinds speaking. topic for a audience. of feedback. particular audience. Responses 2. Listen to the can be 2. Informs information made to students of the given. feedback kinds of Assessment from the feedback an - Can each audience. audience is speaker deal liable to give. effectively 3. Respond with with audience 3. Asks for the their suggestions feedback? problem that and state what initiates a the speakers’ particular response should feedback and be. what the speaker can do to remedy the situation. 4. Present viewpoints and 4. Selects deal with speakers to audience present their feedback. views. VIII ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 9 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 80/40 Comprehension Interpret a Tables Students can 1. Introduces 1. Listen to A table with Answer min table of separate create simple the lesson and know what is to statistical questions information. information tables with gives learning be done data based on The Visual- into given or guidelines. data from a Thinking categories acquired data, 2. Listen to gain table in order Table so that the and tell about 2. Tells of the new knowledge to show data is what they have purpose of about tabulated proper under- compared created. tables and how information. standing and easily they are used. interpretation of Tables are 3. Coordinates 3. Listen and information. used within the categories in respond to compositions the first column questions. as and the first row. condensed 4. Ask questions Assessment: information. 4. Demonstrates for clarification 1. Can how to interpret students ask information from appropriate the table. questions to 5. Follow show that 5. Guides information on they are students in a examples. really few more interacting examples - with the letting them tabulated state the trends. information? 6. Sets an 6. Complete the exercise to be assignment. done. IX ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lessons 10 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 40/80 Grammar Insert the The use and Students use 1. Outlines the 1. Listen. A short Insert the min question purpose of the marks lesson for the day. passage appropriate mark, the punctuation stated under punctuation Punctuation period and marks in CONTENT to 2. Asks students to 2. Follow A punctuation mark where the comma to writing punctuate write sentences instructions. passage indicated in complete an sentences. that end in the un- Punctuation particular punctuation punctuated marks: punctuation marks. cloze cloze - Period passage. passage. - Comma 3. Writes the 3. Contribute - Question students sentences mark sentences on the when asked chalkboard as and listen to the Assessment examples. teacher. Can students read a 4. Asks them to 4. Read, punctuation read a short observing cloze passage and say punctuation passage and what is the marks and then fill in the purpose for the respond to appropriate marks question. marks? 5. Gives them a 5. Read the punctuation cloze passage passage and have them read it. 6 Asks students to 6. Complete the write the passage assignment as and insert the stated. needed punctuation marks X ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 11 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 40/80 Grammar Insert the Define Students use 1. Gives learning 1. Listen. A crazy cloze Insert min indicated kind adjectives different guidelines for the passage with appropriate of adjective kinds of lesson adjectives kinds of Part of to complete a Define the adjectives in deleted. adjectives in Speech crazy cloze kinds of speech and 2. Conducts 2. Participate in a crazy cloze passage adjectives writing activities to the activities. passage. Adjectives review the kinds of adjectives and their uses in sentences. 3. Presents to 3. Read the cloze students a crazy passage, listen to cloze in which the the teacher and adjectives have make comments been deleted and where needed. asks them to read it. 4. Respond 4. Asks them to identify the kind of adjective that can be inserted 5. Follow 5. Instructs them instructions. to insert the word 6. Read the 6. Asks students finished work and to read their comment on the passage and work of their allow the others peers. to comment. XI ENGLISH LANGUAGE Sample Lesson 12 Grade 8 TOPIC SPECIFIC PREVIOUS TEACHER STUDENTS’ TIME SUB-TOPIC OBJECTIVE/S CONTENT KNOWLEDGE ACTIVITY ACTIVITY RESOURCE EVALUATION 40/80 Vocabulary Give the Reading a Students have 1. Gives 1. Listen. Word list Construct min synonyms for a comprehension done exercises learning sentences selected word passage to with synonyms. guidelines. that include Synonym from a reading understand the synonym passage and information. 2. Asks 2. Read and one of its write the things students to passage and associations. the synonyms Finding the read the participate in are associated synonym for passage and the exercise with. selected words conduct a from the comprehension Assessment reading exercise. Can students passage. find 3. Selects a 3. Respond. appropriate word from the synonyms for passage and a given asks for its passage? synonym. 4. Writes the 4. Observe words given to what the begin to create teacher does. the Super Word Web. 5. Asks for 5. Respond by events or things supplying the associated with synonyms. the synonyms and adds to Web XII GLOSSARY Acronym word formed from initial letters or syllables of words in a phrase: Awol - (Absent without leave), Mu – (Medically unfit) Alliteration repetition of initial sounds of words to create a musical effect: “sunless sea”, “the weary, war-worn wanderer,” “the hunter home from the hill,” “dusty death” Audience the anticipated reader or readers of the composition Chronological order actions in composition arranged to the same time sequence in which they occurred, do occur or should occur Cloze passage a passage from which words are omitted at regular intervals (e. g. every tenth word) in all except the first and last sentences Conflict involves a clash of forces. The usual force pits the main character against an opposing force – another character or characters, society, nature or some persistent trait Controlled composition a composition in which students are required to insert given words in blanks Discussion committee a groups of four to six students with a leader and scribe. Each group discusses the topic, and reports to the class before the lesson ends. Figures of speech communicate through comparisons and associations. Common figures of speech are the simile, metaphor, alliteration. Metaphor conveys information in a non-literal way stating or implying that two things are similar – The book is a passport into exotic, unknown lands. 14 1 Onamatopoeia hiss, bang buzz are onamatopoeic e.g. A Tennyson wrote “The moan of doves in innumerable coves And murmuring of innumerable bees” Note the many m-sounds, o and es (z). Plot sequence of events that occur in a work of literature Prefix syllable that attaches to the beginning of a root to add or alter meaning: pre – in preview means “before”; de – devalue means “reduce”, mal – malfunction means “badly”. Root the root of a word provides its base or primary meaning. For example, the root of telegraphy is graph which means “write”; the root of amorphous is morph, which means “shape”. Setting the time and place in which a story occurs Simile two dissimilar things are said to be alike. The words ‘like’ or ‘as’ distinguish a simile from a metaphor: problems sprouting like weeds; a plot as complicated as an acrostic puzzle Spatial order descriptive details are arranged so that readers can follow the eye’s path. Suffix a syllable or sound that attaches to the end of a word to alter the word’s meaning, to change the word from one class to another or change the word’s form. The suffix –itis (“inflamed”) added to the root appendix creates the new word appendicitis, The suffix –ly changes the adjective sad to the adverb sadly. The suffix –ed changes the present tense verb call to the past tense called. 14 2 Theme the central idea or topic of discourse of a work, primarily a work of literature Topic sentence the topic sentence of a paragraph is the main idea developed. If a paragraph has no stated topic sentence, one should be clearly implied. 14 3 REFERENCES Benjamin Errol Integrated English for Secondary Schools Bk. 1 Caribbean Educational Publishers, Trinidad, 1991. Carter Bonnie The Rinehart Guide to Grammar and Usage 3rd ed. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1993. Carr George A. Reading for Meaning Bk.4 University of London Press Ltd. Collins Gem English Dictionary Harper Collins Publishers; London, 1994. Dale Edgar Vocabulary Building Zaner-Bloser, Inc: 1986. Dawson Mildred A. Language for Daily Use Harcourt, Brace and World Inc: New York, 1965. Green Judith A. Strategies for Success Reading Steck-Vaughn Company, Texas,1987. Harmer Jeremy Teaching and Learning Grammar Longman: London, 1987. Mercer and Mercer Teaching Students with Learning Problems 3rd ed. Macmillan, New York, 1993. Narinesingh Roy Improving Comprehension Royards Educational Books, 1989. Peters Margaret The Teaching of Spelling in: Teaching Literacy and Balancing Perspectives 14 4 Stroughton, London,1993. Sesnan Barry How to Teach English Oxford University Press, New York, 1997. Williams D J. English Teaching in the Primary School Evan Brothers Limited, London, 1991. Exploring Lyric Poetry Scholastic Inc. Writer’s Choice Teacher’s Wraparound Edition 14 5