2. What are Language Arts?
• Four Skills, plus visual literacy.
• The language arts are not perceived as individual content
areas, but as one unified subject in which each of the five
areas supports the others and enhances thinking and learning.
• Language arts is the vehicle of communication by which we
live, work, share, and build ideas and understandings of the
present, reflect on the past, and imagine the future.
• Example, how often, during the day, do you fill-in-the-blank in
your native language? And how often are you required to
read a text or receive aural information and respond to it?
3. Of what does it consist?
• Reading – • Listening –
• Phonic awareness • Aural cues, such as
• Orthographic decoding intonation
• Inference • Body language
• Critical literacy • Inference
• Writing – • Critical literacy
• Process of production • Speaking –
• Orthographic encoding • Process of production
• Implication • Using correct intonation
• Organisation • Word choice
• Style and • Implication
appropriateness • Body language
• Word choice • organisation
4. And that other one…..
• Visual literacy (both viewing and representing) refers to the
ability to comprehend, evaluate, and compose visual
messages.
• Visually literate persons are able to read visual messages,
compose visual language statements, and translate from
visual to verbal and vice versa
5. Sooooo…….
• These are not discrete skills, and cannot be taught discretely.
• If a lessons do not accommodate all the dimensions in which
humans operate, students will consequently not operate
properly in the real sphere – e.g. college freshman who have
had English for 8 years and cannot answer me when I ask
them, “How are you?”
6. Tips for success….
• How many of you speak English to your students in the
hallways?
• Incorporate modern technologies – start a facebook group for
your class
• Do the same things over and over again
• Do the same things over and over again
• Assessment should reflect these skills too – consider dropping
traditional tests for portfolio systems, project based
assessment, etc.
• Do not focus on error, focus on task. If a kid misspells a word,
but I understood, he succeeded. Conventions come with
practice, like…….
• 10x rule and 10,000 hours.
8. Strategies
• Shared Reading • Word Sort
• Book terms • Student directed
• Oral/aural interaction • Critical thinking
• Repetition (10x) • Oral/aural interaction
• Physical • Classification vocab
communication *sigh* development
9. Sample – The Giving Tree
• Various methods would be appropriate to work with these
words.
• First, read them. Indicate various forms (plural/past, but
without metalanguage). Assign dictionary duties, if desired.
DO NOT TRANSLATE, it’s showtime.
• I suggest a word sort based on human/plant classes or
action/thing/feeling, pair work and finally sortedas a class on
a white board
10. Giving Tree cont’d
• Read Aloud
• Book terms
• Enunciate/exaggerate intonation
• With feeling
• Depending on time allowed, discussion options are available
• Like/dislike – why?
• Good/bad – why?
• Writing
• What do mom and dad give you?
• Thank you bird/letter
