For eight weeks this past summer I worked as a day camp counsellor at a country club in Mt. Pleasant. I worked with children ages 4 to 10-- a big age range, I know! The majority of the kids were 5, 6, and 7 years old. I constantly used what Beverly Otto refers to as "child-directed speech" or CDS. I especially resorted to linguistic scaffolding when conversing with them. A typical conversation most days would go something like this:
In "Essential Linguistics", the author describes two views on how children learn reading and writing. While reading, I found myself recalling the work I've done as a reading tutor with first through fourth graders. The program (Reading Partners-- it's associated with several elementary schools in the Charleston and North Charleston area, as well as nation-wide, I believe...) mixes a bit of both the Word Recognition View and the Sociopsycholinguistic View. With younger students and those who are only at a beginner level in reading, the lesson plan always begins with a tutor read-aloud portion where the student could pick a book for me to read to them. The lesson also includes a section on breaking new words into parts to help with sounding them out. During the student read-aloud part of the lesson, any unfamiliar words the encountered would go in their vocabulary journals for us to discuss the meaning of at the end. This blending of both views on learning, I think, worked very well. I saw the majority of my students make improvements even in the short 3 months I had with them.
I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to recall specific instances from my own teaching experiences (few as they are...) while reading. The concepts feel less daunting and more tangible when I have something concrete to connect them to.
Child: I went down the water slide all by myself!
Me: You did? Wow!
Child: I went on my stomach.
Me: Ooh, was it scary?
Child: No, it was fun! I'm gonna go again!
Me: You're gonna go again?!
Child: Yeah! Watch me this time!
Me: Ok, I'll be down here cheering you on.
In "Essential Linguistics", the author describes two views on how children learn reading and writing. While reading, I found myself recalling the work I've done as a reading tutor with first through fourth graders. The program (Reading Partners-- it's associated with several elementary schools in the Charleston and North Charleston area, as well as nation-wide, I believe...) mixes a bit of both the Word Recognition View and the Sociopsycholinguistic View. With younger students and those who are only at a beginner level in reading, the lesson plan always begins with a tutor read-aloud portion where the student could pick a book for me to read to them. The lesson also includes a section on breaking new words into parts to help with sounding them out. During the student read-aloud part of the lesson, any unfamiliar words the encountered would go in their vocabulary journals for us to discuss the meaning of at the end. This blending of both views on learning, I think, worked very well. I saw the majority of my students make improvements even in the short 3 months I had with them.
I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to recall specific instances from my own teaching experiences (few as they are...) while reading. The concepts feel less daunting and more tangible when I have something concrete to connect them to.
