Helen Barker

1. Helen Barker

2. Introduction 1. Daily routines and assembly 2. Teaching through topics 3. Literacy: phonics and stories 4. Resources

3. Daily routines Classes taught at different times of the day. • children become familiar with language. • acceptance of English. • sometimes helps topic development.

4. Daily routines • Snack time (Can you help me, please?) • Bathroom (bathroom, please; soap, please) (This is the way we wash are hands, wash our hands, wash our hands, this is the way we wash our hands all day long) • Going home (coats on, line up) • Classroom (tissue, please; criss-cross) (It’s time to pack up now, it’s time to pack up now, hi-ho just watch us go, it’s time to pack up now)

5. Assembly • Greetings • Group activities • (games, songs and working on phonological awareness) • Unit development work • Maths?

6. Assembly • Songs (good morning, tidying up, be quiet, goodbye etc.) • Weather (what’s the weather, what’s the weather, what’s the weather like?) • How are you feeling? • Calendar (days of the week, months) • Number line • Memory game

7. Teaching through topics Topics give an ideal context from which to work as they merge different curricular areas providing children with an opportunity to: • develop their knowledge and understanding of the world. • understand new concepts in a meaningful context. • develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively through the teaching of all curricular areas. • acquire language in a natural way.

8. Teaching through topics Should the same topic be taught in Spanish and English at the same time? Should teachers use translation?

10. Teaching through topics Some topics are easier to teach in English than others. Typical topics worked on in Infants include: Myself School Homes and families Community helpers Shopping Seasons Festivals Lifecycles Space Toys

11. Teaching through topics Many topics can be easily combined to create integrated topic webs. Topics should not be taught in isolation. Links ought to be made when and where appropriate. • Community helpers • Transport: Learn about different modes of transport in they city. • My town: different places in my town. Reasons for going to those places. • School: look at how people help us at school. • Myself: learn about how doctors, nurses and dentists help us stay healthy.

12. Teaching through topics Join in with the reading and retelling of the book. Phonics Literacy Match numbers to different quantities. Recognise the impact of the behaviour of the animals in the book. The Little Red Hen Social skills Numeracy Understand and respond to ‘how many’ questions. Show an awareness of the importance of a balanced diet KUW Identify domestic and farm animals Understand the basic needs of plants Show an awareness of some community helpers (baker) Understand some basic characteristics of certain animals

13. Literacy What is it? It is much more than just teaching the mechanics of reading and writing. Enables access to stories and other materials that shape and develop thinking and help children to develop concepts. Gives access to different and varied social and cultural worlds.

14. Literacy The five elements of Literacy Phonemic awareness Decoding Vocabulary Fluency Comprehension Students need to master all these skills in order to become proficient readers.

15. Phonological Awareness It is the ability to identify that spoken language is made up of smaller parts. It is the ability to detect and manipulate the sound structure of words independent of their meaning. • It refers to the sensitivity to any size unit of sound. • Indications of phonological awareness include: • generate and recognise rhyming words • count syllables • separate the beginning of a word from its ending • identify each of the phonemes in a word

16. Phonemic Awareness It is the understanding that words are made up of phonemes or individual units of sound that influence the meaning of words. It is the ability to discriminate and manipulate individual speech sounds. It is an essential skill in order to be able to read in an alphabetic system because letters represent sounds of spoken language.

17. Decoding The ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words. How would a Spanish child pronounce the following words? Van Hot Big Two-letter blending CVC blending through word families Introduce tricky words Build up word length

18. Vocabulary Vocabulary development is an ongoing process. Readers connect their oral vocabularies (words they know when they are spoken) to their reading vocabularies (the words they know when they are used in print.) Readers also strengthen both areas by adding new words to their repertoires. Focus on oral. Whole word approach (Dolch words – high-frequency words)

19. Fluency and Comprehension Fluency is a reader’s ability to read with speed, accuracy and expression. Reading comprehension is understanding what a text is all about. It is more than just understanding words in isolation. It is putting them together and using prior knowledge to develop meaning.

20. Synthetic Phonics What is it? A systematic, synthetic method of instruction that teaches children the relationship between the sounds in spoken words, and their associated symbols in print. Children are taught the letter sounds, how to blend them to read words, and how to cope with some tricky keywords. There are five main elements: Learning the letter sounds Learning letter formation Blending Segmenting Tricky words

21. Synthetic Phonics Starting phonics in Infants • Upper and lower case • Teach concepts of big and small • Teach sound with an action • Do not use ‘snake’ for S • Make a phonics box. • Use objects that begin with the target sound. • Use plasticine/ skipping rope to make the letter. • Play when the music stops, do the action for... • Flashcards: if you have got ..., stand up or clap your hands. Do not teach the letter names!

22. Synthetic Phonics Starting blending in Infants • Blend two sounds • Patience needed! • Magic finger • Useful later on when tricky words are introduced. • Let’s go fishing – fish two sounds and blend them • Blending bowl – pick out two sounds and blend them • Splat! • Blending train

23. Criteria for selecting a storybook Appropriate language level: vocabulary, structures, notions/ functions. Content: Interesting, fun, motivating, memorable, encourages participation. Visuals: Attractive, potential to work with, size. Pronunciation: Intonation, rhythm, repetition. Motivation: vocabulary, structures, notions/ functions. Language learning potential: Language practice, recycling, prediction, cross curricular, culture.

24. Exploiting a storybook • Story Map • Title • Author • Characters • Main Idea • Beginning • Middle • End • Cross curricular connections: • Science • Geography • Maths • Art • P.E. • Music Vocabulary to be learnt Sight words from the story, for example ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘the’ and ‘to’.

25. Exploiting a storybook Include vocabulary from the pictures. • Story Map • Jasper’s Beanstalk • Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen • Jasper the cat • Growing a plant • He plants a bean. • He looks after it • It eventually grows into a plant. • Cross curricular connections: • Science: basic needs and parts of a plant. • Maths: counting beans • Art: wall display • P.E.: climbing activities • Music: the jelly bean song Vocabulary: Days of the week Bean Beanstalk Sight words: he

26. Games Snap Splat! Go fishing! Musical statues Guess the object (feely bag) One potato, two ... Move like a... Hot potato What’s the time, Mr Wolf? Please, Mr Crocodile Simon says Run to the... Bring me... The washing line If you’re holding... Descriptions Bingo Hot or cold Memory Games with a ball/dice What’s missing? Where’s Daddy? Phonics games Maths games

27. Useful resources • Websites • www.sparklebox.co.uk • www.tes.com resources • www.tpet.co.uk • www.starfall.com • www.readingrockets.org reading • www.toolsforeducators.com • www.letters-and-sounds.com • www.youtube.com – Super Simple Songs • www.teacherspayteachers.com

28. Resources Travelling Suitcase Stories Games

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