building oral language skills all day long oral language skills all day long lesley maxwell hanson...

Hanson Initiative for Language & Literacy (HILL)

“America’s future walks through the doors of our schools everyday.” Mary Jean LeTendre

Building Oral LanguageSkills All Day Long

Lesley MaxwellHanson Initiative for Language & Literacy (HILL) [email protected]; http://www.mghihp.edu/hill

MADOE Reading FirstRegional MeetingsTracey Martineau and Emily Russin

mailto:[email protected]


Expected Outcomes1. Teachers will understand

how strong oral language skills are related to academic success in reading, writing, and critical thinking.

3. Teachers will learn how to use simple strategies to build-up oral language skills all day long.


Materials Materials Packet:

Participants should have : PowerPoint Slide Handout Core Program TE Toy or Small Object

PhonologyMorphologySyntax

Semantics

Pragmatics

Model of Language

Bloom & Lahey


Spoken & Written Language Relationships

Receptive Expressive

Auditory

Visual

Listening Speaking

WritingReading

Modified from Doris Johnson


Why are strong oral language skills so important to success in school and in life?

Strong Oral Language Skills


Oral Language Provides the Foundation for Literacy

Phonology =

Vocabulary =

Syntax =

Pragmatics =

Alphabetic Principle

Word RecognitionReading Comprehension

Reading FluencyReading ComprehensionWritten Expression

Reading ComprehensionReading FluencyWriting Composition

Source: Neuman, Susan B. and Dickinson, David K., “Handbook of Early Literacy Research”


Language Helps Us to Think, Imagine, Learn

Current research literature on critical thinking and cognitive development indicates that the development of language has a close relationship to the development of thinking abilities. This is especially true for elementary-level students.Throughout life, oral language skills remain essential for engagement in intellectual dialogue, and for the communication of ideas.


Language is a Powerful Tool “This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” Martin Luther King Jr., Excerpted from: “I Have a Dream”, 8/28/63

“It is the teacher more than the method or the type of materials that determines the success or failure of a reading program.”

(Bond and Dykstra, 1967)

Title I Teacher3rd Grade

Small GroupBowe Elementary

Chicopee


Building Up Language: A True Story

Entering a Kindergarten classroom at Circle Time, you see an open Big Book of planets propped up in front. The words constellation and nebula are spelled out in plastic magnetic letters on the wipe board.

The teacher asks:”Who did their homework last night? Who saw a constellation?” You stand open mouthed and wait for answers…


The Quality of Language in the Classroom Matters!

Children’s language growth is significantly associated with the amount of time that they spend listening and talking to adults rather than other children.

The most beneficial type of talk communicates information and is not used to control children’s behavior (McCartney, 1984)


What is your Language Stylein the classroom?

How does a teacher’s oral language style

influence the language

development of the children in his or her

classroom? (Adapted from The Hanen Program:

Learning Language and Loving It , 2002)


Common Teacher Language Styles

The Director The Questioner The Passive Teacher The Negative Teacher The Entertainer


The Responsive Teacher Is tuned into the child’s interests, needs

and abilities Builds Up and Breaks Down Language all

day long, across curricular topics in response to the children’s needs

Pauses to allow children to think and to speak

Encourages children to be active language learners and users all day long


How ?

Building Up &

Breaking Down

Language


What are Build-Ups & Break-Downs?

Build-up Language:Use complex language to help children

grow their language skills

Break-down Language:Simplify language to help children enter into conversations and understand


Build-Ups & Break-Downs

Build-Ups and Break-Downs allow the teacher to modify a classroom activity to address different levels of language learners.


How?

Building up Vocabulary


Let’s Practice: Build Up These Words

BigSnowMove

Car


A Few Ways Words Can Be Built Up

Synonyms: huge, enormous, gigantic Related words: slush, drift, accumulate Words in the same group: (whole body

actions): run, leap, dance, crawl, stroll, wiggle…

Categorical Relations: vehicle, car, Ford


How is Vocabulary Related to Reading Acquisition?

Decoding Fluency Comprehension

Vocabulary


How are Words and Concepts Organized in the Brain?

When I say the word “Knife” what word comes to your mind?


A Semantic Network of Words Lights Up in the Brain!


Break-Down these Words/Concepts

Pleasurable

Nuisance


Building Up Vocabulary by Teaching Explicitly

Good vocabulary instruction is explicit and has measurable outcomes.

Choose to build up to new vocabulary in an intentional manner.


Explicit Vocabulary Teaching

Compulsory: mandatory, enforced


Four Square Vocabulary

Non-Example:My Definition:

Example:

“Compulsory”


Example

Non-Example:

Spa VisitMy Definition: You have to do it

Example:

Taxes “Compulsory”


Let’s Do a New One Together

Non-Example:My Definition:

Example:Word:


The Most Important Words to Build-Up to with Explicit and

Intentional Oral Language Instruction

Tier Two Words – important for comprehension of the

topic novel for the children but not

extremely rare in the language higher frequency in the language

than Tier Three Words


Identifying Tier Two Words

• Importance and utility: Words characteristic of mature language users; appear often –variety of domains.

• Instructional potential: Words that can be worked with in a variety of ways; students can build rich representations of them and can easily connect to other words and concepts.


What Words From this Read-Aloud Passage Would You Choose to

Teach Explicitly?

“Hilda Hippo loved to dance, and so each day she practiced hard. She’d twist and turn and whirl and twirl, dressed in her favorite leotard. She’d spin a pretty pirouette, then leap and land on tippy-toe. She tangoed oh so gracefully and square danced with a do si do.”


Choices “Hilda Hippo loved to dance, and so

each day she practiced hard. She’d twist and turn and whirl and twirl, dressed in her favorite leotard. She’d spin a pretty pirouette, then leap and land on tippy-toe. She tangoed oh so gracefully and square danced with a do si do.”


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

The Sanitation Department of ChewandSwallow had a rather unusual job for a sanitation department. It had to remove all of the food that fell on houses and sidewalks and lawns. The workers cleaned up things after every meal and fed all of the dogs and cats. Then they emptied some of it into the surrounding oceans for the fish and turtles and whales to eat.


Two Strategies for Building-Up and Breaking Down Language

Thinking Aloud: Self-Talk/Modeling

Language Expansions: Extending What Kids Say


Thinking Aloud/Self-Talk Talk about your own actions and

thoughts Thinking aloud models vocabulary and

syntax for children much better than questions and directions

Use Think Aloud Build-Ups to increase comprehension skills

Use Think Aloud Break-Downs to encourage kids to enter into conversations with you.


Thinking Aloud: Practice Activity with Objects

Talk about what you see Talk about what you feel and hear Talk about actions Talk about emotions Talk about the future Talk about the past


Think Aloud and Model: (Analyze, Reflect on Main Ideas, Understand

Underlying Themes,Learn New Concepts)

How you Wonder Why How you Understand New Ideas How sometimes you Don’t

Understand How you Summarize How you make Predictions How you Link New Concepts to

Past Learning and Events


Expansions Expansions add meaning (semantic) or

syntactic complexity to the things children say.

Children learn more complex language quickly when adults expand the things that children say.


Expand these Sentences Syntactically

I want a turn.

I don’t get it.

He hit him ‘cause he was mad.


Why Build Up Syntax? Poor reading comprehenders who have

good word recognition skills have underlying problems in the area of oral language comprehension. Poor comprehenders may have deficits in receptive vocabulary and semantic processing and they may also have trouble with the grammatical understanding of sentences.

(Nation et al.,2004)


Why are Some Sentences Difficult to Understand?

If we had gone straight home after school, we would not have missed our ride.

Because it was difficult, he didn’t finish his homework.

The boy who was hit by the ball was hurt.

Sam, who pushed John, yelled for help.


Complex Sentences Kids Need for Reading and Writing

Conjoined Sentences: when, since, so, as a result, if, until, however, before, after, while, because, therefore, although

Passive Sentences: “The dog was chased by the cat.”

Embedding: “The dog that was chased by the cat is angry.”


Modeling Cohesive Ties I need a break because… I need a break although… I need a break since… I need a break after… I need a break therefore… I need a break, however…


Identifying Difficult Sentences Harcourt Trophies: 2-2: “The Treasure”

When the dream came back a third time, he said, “Maybe it is true,” and so he set out on his journey. Now and then, someone gave him a ride, but most of the way he walked. He walked through forests. He crossed over mountains. Finally he reached the capital city.


Identifying Difficult Sentences Harcourt Trophies: 2-2: “The Treasure”

When the dream came back a third time, he said, “Maybe it is true, “ and so he set out on his journey.

Now and then, someone gave him a ride, but most of the way he walked. He walked through forests. He crossed over mountains. Finally he reached the capital city.


Identifying Difficult Sentences:Activity

Look in your core program and find a story you will be teaching soon. Read the story and find some

sentences that have complex syntax that may be difficult for some of your children.

Briefly discuss with your partner.


Teaching Syntax Skills Give many examples of the

sentence type over and over

Have children repeat the sentence or form many times


Higher Order Thinking and Reading Comprehension

The development of higher order thinking skills is linked to strong language and reading comprehension

Higher order thinking is linked to language through the semantic system


Questions that Facilitate Higher Order Thinking

Questions that ask children to analyze, reflect, and think about main ideas and concepts help children develop vocabulary and language

Questions that test whether children remember names and facts are are not powerful facilitators of language development


Using Questions to Facilitate Language Growth Choose the best questions: “A Hat for

Minerva Louise” Who had a hat in this story? What kind of animal is Minerva? Why would she think a hose is a scarf? What did she find next? A flower pot does not make a good hat.

Why not?


Building Up Language: Activity Think of a time of day other

than Language Arts when you could Build-Up oral language.

Choose a common phrase or routine.

How might you Build-up the vocabulary and the syntax that you typically use?


Building Up Language: Example

Transitions “Line up at the door” Build-Up Vocabulary:

Line up next to the classroom entrance. Line up next to the classroom portal. Line up beside the door. Line up adjacent to the door.


Building Up Language: Example

Circle Time/Morning Meeting “Weather discussion” Build-Up Syntax:

I wore my warm coat because it is cold today. Since it is cold, I wore my warm coat today. It is cold today, therefore, I wore my warm coat. It is cold today, as a result, I wore my warm coat.


Remember… Sometimes the most

important higher order thinking concepts/themes and language that you should Build-Up to are not right there in the words in the text but are deeper in the core and must be ‘discovered’ by explicit teaching.

“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.”

Isak Dinesen

building oral language skills all day long oral language skills all day long lesley maxwell hanson...

Documents