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Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

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Page 1: Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

Page 2: Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

Acknowledgements Lead writers Stella Emberson Camilla Karaivanoff Additional writers Gloria Capolongo Wendy Paddick Reference group Rosie Antenucci Velma Beaglehole Marie Davis Stuart Kenny Erika Von Aspern Bev White Project leader Ross Hamilton

The Department for Education and Child Development requests attribution as: South Australian Department for Education and Child Development.

Page 3: Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

Introduction

The explicit teaching strategies described within are primarily a guide for teachers of EALD students. The strategies were designed with the Language and Literacy Levels (Levels) professional learning modules in mind. These modules, available at https://myintranet.learnlink.sa.edu.au/teaching/english-as-an-additional-language-or-dialect-eald/teaching-and-learning-support/language-and-literacy-levels-professional-learning, introduce the Levels, build teacher grammar capacity and support teachers to assign accurate Levels, use Levels data and identify language learning goals and targets for students within their ability to learn with support from a teacher or capable peer (Zone of Proximal Development). The final module, Setting Goals and Targets, enables teachers to answer the Learning Design question “What do we want them to learn?” Teachers can then use the teaching strategies contained in this resource to intentionally teach students’ identified language needs thereby answering the Learning Design question “What will we do to get there?”

Separate teaching strategies to develop strong foundations in groupings of Language and Literacy Levels (e.g. Levels 1-4) have been written for:

• Thematic progression and foregrounding • Sentences: simple, compound, complex and lexically dense • Verbs and verb groups • Circumstances – using adverbs, adverbial phrases and prepositional phrases • Nouns and noun groups • Evaluative language • Vocabulary • Spelling

The strategies could also be used by other teachers to meet the needs of other students and without having first completed the professional learning modules, but teachers should be aware that some of the strategies have been designed for older students who are operating at a Language and Literacy level that is relatively low. Teachers will have to modify these strategies so they can be used with native English speakers who are operating at or near the language and Literacy level for their year level. The following table shows the alignment between year levels and Language and Literacy Levels. Year Level R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10-12 Language & Literacy Level

1-4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

It is strongly recommended that the teaching strategies are not taught in isolation but as part of a teaching and learning pedagogy that includes a gradual release of teacher responsibility. It is anticipated that:

• Highly Accomplished EALD teachers may only need to refer to the strategies to have their current good practice confirmed and model this for colleagues

• Proficient EALD teachers may be able to initially borrow from the strategies before developing their own to suit their own context

• Graduate EALD teachers will be more reliant upon the strategies while they begin to modify them for their own contexts.

Regardless of their level of expertise, all teachers should consider the learning strategies that accompany each teaching strategy. This assists them to answer the Learning Design question “How will we know they got it?” They should expect to observe and hear their engaged students doing certain things such as:

• Talking a lot about the text • Comparing texts

Page 4: Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

• Exploring particular patterns generated in texts • Asking and answering higher order questions • Using the language in authentic dialogues about the topic.

If teachers do not see the learning strategies they anticipated, then they should revise the teaching strategy or use their own.

Page 5: Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

Foregrounding - Developing thematic progression through cohesive and coherent texts This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around cohesion and coherence for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document. Good text organisation depends on

• Organisational structures. These are words used to structure the text. 1. Rhetorical language features are used to begin paragraphs. Common examples are Firstly, A further point to make, In addition. These are common in exposition texts at each stages that function to organise the text where an author is setting out their arguments and viewpoints. These have been accepted in the cultural and social context of both written and spoken texts. 2. Cohesive conjunctions are used to link paragraphs and sentences in logical relationships eg In fact; Yet; Therefore;

• Foregrounding. The introductory paragraph, the topic sentence in paragraphs and the beginnings of sentences in the paragraphs and the connection between these three elements at whole text level, at paragraph level and at sentence level (including clause level) are what makes the text flow and gives the thematic progression or coherence to a text.

• Reference. The use of reference items and synonyms are the language items that make the text hang together and give cohesion to the text.

The following resource suggests strategies and activities to move the learners towards higher language Level achievement in both their spoken and written texts. Examples are taken from Language and Literacy levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students – Text Knowledge (Organisational features; foregrounding; reference)

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Reception

Most often the first texts that learners see are story/picture books and at the earliest stages of learning about texts children are recognising the sequence of pictures to tell a story. They will expect the main character to be repeated in each picture. Often the main character appears in every picture and this is the simplest form of foregrounding.

Engage Reception students and year 1 students in paired or group work activities that require them to put pictures of a familiar story into sequence. If possible have a student report back on how they arrived at their final consensus of the sequence.

Model the beginning words on each ‘page’ or segment of the story. Point out repetition which at this stage is a cohesive language device.

Show the learners the words representing the main character and then point out the reference items (pronouns to start with). If possible, use the text with a smart board, circle the reference item and link it to the participant.

The repetition of the main characters is typical at this level eg ‘Billy Goats Gruff’. Available at http://www.kizclub.com/storytime/billygoat/goat13.html Reference items and cohesive conjunction. The three billy goats gruff were very hungry. They wanted to eat the green grass across the river. But an ugly monster lived under the bridge. So they were afraid to cross the bridge.

NB ‘So’ is acting as a cohesive conjunction. ‘So’ can also be used as a linking conjunction eg. It was hot so we went swimming.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Reception

Use stories (Narratives) that have circumstances of time or place in foreground position. Introduce simple Recounts and Information Reports next.

Using familiar written stories or fables on-line or in books focus on circumstances of place and time and ask students consider if the circumstance relates to the picture eg But an ugly monster lived under the bridge. “Is there a bridge in the picture? Is there an ugly monster under it?” If no circumstances are foregrounded take sentences like the example just given and rewrite: Under the bridge lived an ugly monster. Model and Teach how sentences of a familiar topic can begin with

• repetitive sentence openers • a pronoun or other reference item • a circumstance • a cohesive conjunction • a time conjunction

and call these the starting points of the sentence. Engage students in group activities and games that require them to put cards with sentence parts together to make full sentences. Focussing on the changes made by foregrounding different language elements, discuss with students which completed sentences they like the best. Have students copy out the sentences. Introduce demonstrative pronouns – This, These, (for close proximity) That, Those (for distance) and have students make up sentences using demonstrative pronouns in spoken and written contexts. When they understand the meaning of the proximity /distance and plurality/singularity of these words in spoken language model for students how to use them in foreground position in spoken and written texts. Model and Teach simple sub-headings for information reports: Appearance/Description (what it looks like); Habitat (where they live); Diet (Food); Reproduction (How they have babies). Use the nominalisations as headings particularly with older students, otherwise use the words in brackets. Use familiar information about an animal and have students copy appropriate sentences into a proforma/table or under headings. Description/Appearance; Habitat; Food; Reproduction.

Bees are insects. Bees make honey. Bees are insects. They live in hives. Last weekend I saw bees in the garden. Also, I saw bees at school. Then I saw bees at school. Another example: The Wolf is like a dog. The Wolf lives in Canada. Last weekend I saw a wolf in the zoo. The Wolf is like a dog. It lives in Canada. Also I saw a Canadian wolf at the Adelaide zoo. In answer to questions such as “Which toy(s) do you like best?” Have students answer: I like this/that one. I like these/those. Then model foregrounding of reference item This/That is the one I like. These/Those are the ones I like. Also, for older students use similar proforma for note taking and explain to students that this will help them ORGANISE their texts.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Year 3.

Continue use of Information Reports. It is crucial that students work with texts other than Narratives. Procedures including protocols eg how to behave at Sports Day, are appropriate text types to develop at this stage. Foregrounded Elements (theme) in procedural type texts eg Process Place the mixture in the oven after five minutes. Time After five minutes, place the mixture in the oven. Human (in a procedural recount) We placed the mixture in the oven after five minutes. Non-human using passive voice The mixture was placed in the oven after five minutes. Students need to begin to develop language to express their own voice and opinions. Introduce simple Expositions.

Model and Teach simple procedures foregrounding the processes:-

• Directions – How to get to somewhere (simple directions can be done in the playground with a blindfolded student walking a number of steps forward, sideways, reverse, while being supported by another student, in order to reach a chalk mark on a netball rectangle)

• How to make a – paper kite; pancakes; cup of tea • How to use a – pencil sharpener; ruler • How to behave in school assembly.

Model and Teach other theme elements of procedural texts eg time; human and non-human participants. Introduce and model passive voice in learning area procedures. Model and Teach foregrounding of cohesive conjunctions eg ‘Next’, ‘Then’. Also Teach and model foregrounding of Manner circumstances in procedures eg ‘Carefully’; ‘Quickly’; ‘Immediately’. Encourage students to take a position on an issue such as bullying (or name calling) and encourage them to respond orally foregrounding a sensing verb eg I believe…; I think…; I would like…; Introduce the structure of a formal argument Exposition by modelling an introductory paragraph with three main points or reasons. Model how these three points become the topic sentences of the three following paragraphs.

Teach the metalanguage of ‘Introductory paragraph’ and ‘Topic sentence’ and ‘theme’ and show how they create thematic connection, highlighting and drawing arrows as appropriate.

Use simple maps and have pairs of students tell each other how to go from point A to point B.

Have students explain to each other how to play a game from their culture.

eg. Have a student operate a simple machine/tool and orally explain what they are doing. Write the sentences on a smart board. Read them through in order to recall then hide the sentences and ask the class : “After …… what did XXXX do?” “So after (action) what is the next instruction?” “How did we do it?” I think some children call other children names to be funny but I believe it hurts them.

I would like the students to tell each other when they say something wrong. I would like the students to listen to each other and to do the right thing.

Appendix 1 shows introductory paragraph (consisting of one sentence) and topic sentences re smoking.

Page 8: Language and Literacy Levels Teaching Strategies

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 3.

Foregrounding Suggest a metaphor to students that a text is like a journey on which the writer must take reader.

The Introductory paragraph sets out the journey like the big signpost at the beginning of a journey from one capital city to another. The topic sentences at the beginning of the paragraphs are like the signposts that indicate main junction points in the journey. The beginnings of sentences are like signposts between the smaller towns on the journey.

Sequential Explanations are introduced. Natural phenomena, production processes can be explained with sequential Explanations.

Introduce a simple science investigation: eg Use a toy vehicle and a one metre plank of wood with sides to prevent the toy from falling. Put one end of the plank of wood on the ground and the other end raised to different heights, 10 centimetres, 20 centimetres, 30 centimetres etc . Record the speed of the toy at different heights. Repeat with different surfaces and different ty cars. Teach students how to write an explanation paragraph: First Model for students how to write up the science investigation as a Procedure and to record results in a table. Highlight the language that is foregrounded in the Investigation purpose eg We wanted to know…; We thought that……; A toy vehicle was used…..; a plank was put…..; Then we rolled the car…etc Then write up the results as an Explanation and again highlight foregrounding elements eg A slope of one metre and 50cms elevation causes the toy car to go faster. When the elevation is reduced …….. etc. Bring attention to the grammatical shift in language. Introduce Creative Responses and Reviews and focus on foregrounding when modelling texts. Model - Creative Response in the form of a letter to a character in a familiar story. Model and jointly construct - Book Review; Performance Review. Introduce the use of topic sentences. First write topic sentences on cards. Do this with Reports (also using the learnt sub headings) and Recounts. Have students work in pairs to put topic sentences with matching paragraphs (also on cards). Have the pairs then place the paragraphs in order for the whole text.

Model and show sequential Explanations such as milk production; chocolate production, digestion, respiration etc.

Demonstrate the connection between the last parts of sentences and the beginning parts of the following sentences (rheme and theme See Appendix 2 for example. The theme is like a signpost orienting the reader to the topic. The rheme is new information about the theme)

Explain how this gives coherence (flow) to the text. Pronouns, substitutions, rhetorical and cohesive conjunctions are language elements creating cohesion of a text.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 6

At this stage students should be able to independently construct simple Sequential Explanations. Some of these can be turned into Causal Explanations and new Causal Explanations can be introduced.

Continue development of Information Reports and develop Classifying Reports

Recounts need to be further extended as Biographical and Historical Recounts.

Exposition writing also needs to be extended and may include more evaluative language (as do Personal Reflection texts)

The use of passive voice also determines what is foregrounded.

(passive voice is formed by ‘to be’ + past participle)

Referencing in texts moves beyond pronouns, and demonstratives refer to complex participants or large segments of texts

Teach structure of genres relevant to Learning Areas and topic by deconstructing, modelling, and jointly constructing. Identify and highlight (revise) language for staging and structuring the text. Identify (revise) other foregrounding language: the participants (the noun groups and nominalisation) and the circumstances. Model and jointly construct texts where, in complex sentence, the subordinate clause is foregrounded eg in Historical Recounts/Narratives - When they arrived at the Cove, now known as Anzac Cove,……..; Before the first wharf was built,…….. in Explanations and Arguments – If the surface is smooth,……; If young people don’t control their spending, …. in Historical Reports and other genres, using passive voice to change the focus of the sentence and text eg Penicillin was discovered…..; Penicillin had been discovered prior to….. in Explanations and Arguments using a passive voice verb and subordinate clause – If penicillin had not been discovered,…. Deconstruct texts by circling demonstratives and connecting to the relevant pieces of text.

Repeat activity (mentioned in Levels 5 – 7) topic sentences on cards, at a higher language level. Particularly use Argument texts. Have students work in pairs to put topic sentences with matching paragraphs (also on cards). Have the student pairs then place the paragraphs in order.

For Teacher Reference see example on Page 22 and 23 of the DTLA cycle Year 9 Science which gives some ideas for activities for older students working at these Language Levels. It can be accessed at this URL. https://myintranet.learnlink.sa.edu.au/teaching/english-as-an-additional-language-or-dialect-eald/professional-learning/designing,-teaching-and-learning-and-assessment-cycle some examples of ‘Demonstratives’ that refer to complex participants or large segments of texts The woodchips are mixed with water to make pulp. This pulp is …..; In the middle of 1852 gold mining licences were introduced. These licences were….; Canteens also have a traffic lights method: green light are…, orange light foods are…., and red light foods …… This method of food identification is…….

See Appendix 3 as an example.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 6

A paragraph has a topic sentence usually at the beginning. A paragraph contains one idea that relates to the main topic and is supported by the information and evidence in that paragraph.

The following sentences should elaborate (expand, extend or give examples), of the main idea in the topic sentence.

expand the main idea by giving more information about it.

extend the main idea by giving points that are relevant and closely related to the main idea.

give examples in a paragraph to support the main idea.

Introduce/Revise with students how to develop a paragraph idea by expanding (saying the same thing in more detail); extending (give further detail that relates to main idea); exemplifying (give examples of the main idea).

Show how topic sentences can be elaborated upon: eg Explain /Define The Industrial Revolution was the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. (Topic sentence) The term refers to the transition from earlier technology to new manufacturing processes. Expand/Explain Another advantage of early technology in farming was that very little pollution was produced. (Topic sentence) The following sentence expands or elaborates the idea There were no fuel-powered machines to pollute the atmosphere because the power came from human hard work. Extend However a disadvantage of this stage of farming development may have meant that not everyone was employed. (Topic sentence)

The following two sentences extend the idea because they introduce other possible issues caused by the point made in the topic sentence Some people may not have been able to feed and clothe themselves properly. This may have led to more crime and more social problems. Exemplify/Give examples/evidence The view that Aboriginal people came from Asia is widely accepted. (Topic sentence)

There is considerable evidence for this. (These words introduce the example)

There are, for example, groups of people in Asia today who have physical resemblances to some Aborigines and who may be part of the same original racial group. See Level 11 -12 for further development.

Students in this range of Language Levels confidently use circumstances of time and place in foreground position. At Level 10 they can also use Dependent clauses in foreground position. This requires a comma at the end of the Dependent clause. Dependent clauses at Level 10 can be non-finite clauses, again requiring a comma at the end of the clause. NB. At level 8 students tend to use spoken-like non-finite clauses but do not foreground them in theme position. Appendix 3. Text Deconstruction How to write a good Research Report. This appendix highlights the topic sentences in the first three paragraphs. The second paragraph shows how the topic sentence is expanded with questions. The last sentence extends the topic sentence giving the reason for ‘understanding’. More deconstruction can be done on this text but the main point is to organise the paragraphs by working in pairs and using the headings.

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Language Level

Language Level Activities Expansion and examples from Levels

Level 11 – 12 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Year 8

Simple Investigation: At these levels students can independently compose mathematical and scientific investigations, based on provided headings for each stage, eg introduction, aim, hypothesis, method, results, analysis of results and conclusion.

Statistics and quotes also exemplify topic or earlier sentences. Refer back to Levels 8 to 10 re Exemplify/Give examples/Evidence Teach paragraph elaboration with more complex sentences eg: The current status of the health of Aboriginal people is a direct result of colonisation. Europeans introduced life-threatening diseases into Australia such as whooping cough, colds, flu, measles and sexually transmitted disease. As the indigenous people had no immunity to such diseases, many died. (Topic sentence and elaborating sentences)

The underlined words then introduce the example A prime example of this was the small pox epidemic of 1790’s that killed a high percentage of Aboriginal people living along the River Murray (McCorquodale 1997).

Model and jointly construct more complex introduction and topic sentences appropriately to clearly predict the content of the whole text and the paragraph respectively

Show, model and jointly construct paragraphs using text connective phrases to structure and stage a text eg One reason; The first event; The next instance; The last event

Show, model and jointly construct use of text connectives to make logical connections between paragraphs and sentences: eg In addition; Overall; Indeed

Model the use of rhetorical questions to structure and stage an exposition (persuasive argument), particularly oral debates. eg But is a total ban on mobile phones necessary?

Model use of abstract noun groups and nominalisations in factual genres: The loss of habitats……; The safety of workers……

Also model passive voice to foreground issues and abstractions:- The damage to these habitats needs to be investigated rather than The Conservation Foundation needs to investigate ……

Create more paired activities around matching topic sentences with appropriate paragraphs.

At this stage teacher consciously models and jointly constructs a range of sentence starting points that orientate the reader and organise the flow of information o time:- During a scene that is focused on

a good character….; After changing the two fractions into twelfths and then twenty-fourths….; When adding heat energy to a chemical reaction ….

o place: In a physical change, materials may change colour

o means: By using eco-tourism and raising awareness about the reef’s protection…..;

o comparison: In contrast to the lengthy ship and mast ……;

o cause: Due to mining..; Because we had some difficulties….; Because of this….

o contingency: (concession) Even though this is true….; If I was a peasant;

o angle:- As a modern day person reading about Viking raiders ….;

Refer to Appendix 4 section on citing sources

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 13 – 14 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 10

Explanation: confidently constructs longer, more detailed causal, factorial and consequential explanations with effective use of paragraphing; begins to compose theoretical explanations using models and diagrams.

Response/Review/Source Analysis: synthesises information from multiple sources to create own interpretation and insight; makes reference to and draws comparisons with other relevant texts; analyses accuracy of interpretations, identifies bias and prejudice and offers alternative readings to a text It is important at this level to encourage writers to reflect on the organisation of their text and the thematic flow of ideas. At this level delicate choices are needed that reflect audience and purpose. Either of two statements (clauses): Children must be protected; We don’t want a nanny state, could be the independent clause when using a conjunction of concession – Although. The conceding dependent clause is foregrounded so that the independent clause concludes the statement with impact. To an audience of parents the sentence would be Although we don’t want a nanny state, children must be protected. To an audience of civil libertarians the sentence would be Although children must be protected, we don’t want a nanny state.

Model and jointly construct texts which use a full range of alternative sentence starters to organise the thematic links within the text eg The primary argument for an increase is …; One of the features of …; The most significant feature of …; The first step to determining …

Also refer to the Circumstances Teaching Strategies

Model and jointly construct a wider range of more complex foregrounded phrases and clauses:- o time: As your awareness widens; During the

experimental process o place: Against this background o means: By following The Law of Conservation of

Energy; o cause: Because of the law of conservation of energy o contingency: Without the inspiring leaders of the

World Cup campaign, such as …; Despite the fact that there is a lot of information……..

Model and jointly construct a wider range of foregrounded abstractions:- The evidence shown in both these examples… Foreground abstractions in reference to people: Cathy Freeman’s aspirations….

Model and jointly construct a range of reference items strategically to compact and carry forward previously mentioned ideas: The language used in this chapter …; A particularly apt example …; Such word usage …; We followed this procedure with every piece ….. where ‘this procedure’ refers back to 7 steps outlined in the previous sentences; These differences….. referring back to the previous paragraphs.

Teacher can create her own model texts to highlight structure and organisation; thematic progression (coherence); and cohesion through reference and substitution.

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Appendix 1 Argument: Linking EVIDENCE to REASONS (thematic patterns)

Suggestion: Teachers print the ‘Argument’ template below in A3 size for students to use with the following page of text which has been cut into boxes.

1.1 1. Smoking is really bad for the person’s

health. It can make them very, very sick.

1.2 1.3

Introductory paragraph Young people should not smoke.

2.1 Conclusion [last paragraph] Smoking is not only unwise it is really dangerous. Young people should NEVER smoke.

2. Smoking can badly affect people who

are not smoking.

2.2

2.3 3.1 3. Smoking creates a huge cost to the

Australian government and to all Australian people.

3.2 3.3

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Teachers - Print the ‘Argument’ outline above in A3 size. Students cut each of the following pieces of evidence and sort them according to which ‘reasons’ they support. They copy them onto the grid OR stick them onto the grid. This activity builds an understanding of the structure of ‘Argument’ and the notion of including evidence and/or elaboration in each paragraph to make each reason more persuasive. Sentence are:-

In a year, children of parents who smoke are likely to inhale about the same amount of nicotine as if they were actively smoking 60 to 150 cigarettes in that year.

Employees who smoke are costing Australian companies & businesses millions of dollars per year, as smoke breaks and days absent due to illness lead to decreased worker productivity.

The more time people spend in close company with smokers, the more they are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. In 1998, 128 people died of passive smoking and another 1,968 were hospitalised. Frequent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in homes and other enclosed public places, hotels, sporting fields and in some working environments is really dangerous.

Even before it is born, a developing baby can be affected by environmental tobacco smoke if the mother smokes. Many harmful substances can reach an unborn baby through its mother’s bloodstream Exposure of unborn children to tobacco smoke can increase the risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and sudden infant mortality.

The major tobacco-related diseases common in smokers are cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In one year, $7million of federal government money was spent on ‘Quit’ smoking campaigns and even more money was added by each state government.

The annual cost of smoking to the government health system in Australia is about $1.84billion a year, to treat smoking-related illness.

The amount of life expectancy lost for each pack of cigarettes smoked is 28 minutes, and the years of life expectancy a typical smoker loses is 25 years over a lifetime.

Smoking and smoke related disease in Australia, is killing 50 Australians daily, 350 each week, and around 19,000 every year.

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Appendix 2

Student Text Analysis of student text. Commentary People write lots of different texts and they are structured differently and they use different language. The language the writer decides to use depends on audience and purpose. Information texts, advertising posters and a personal letter are types of texts that are very different.

Student foregrounds people and the pronoun ‘they’. The verbs are mainly action verbs.

Improved Text Analysis of improved text. Commentary All texts, particularly written texts, follow predictable patterns of structure and language use. The language patterns and language choices made by writers of texts are determined by the purpose of the text, eg to persuade, entertain, instruct, inform etc and who the text is for, in other words the audience. Text types such as a personal letter, an advertising brochure and an information pamphlet are written for different people and for different purposes. Consequently the language patterns and choices in these texts show considerable variance.

In this text the topic ‘written texts’ is foregrounded. Two metaphorical relational verbs are used ‘follow’ and ‘show’ and also ‘is’. The other two verbs are in passive voice.

In the improved text the theme patterns are more complex and more passive voice verb form and metaphorical relational verbs are used.

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Appendix 3 This resource is relevant to examining text structure for secondary students. It is in big enough font to allow cutting up for use. Only the first three paragraphs have highlighted topic sentences. This allows the teacher to elicit answers from the students about the topic sentences in the other paragraphs. The labels are to help the students in pairs to think about the organisation of the text and thus its thematic progression.

How to write a good Research/Investigation Report

Research and Investigation are part of senior studies in any school. Sometimes students are given questions to investigate; sometimes they devise their own question, statement or hypothesis. They then need to collect information, analyse, evaluate and select relevant and appropriate information to write their report indicating clearly the sources of their information.

To begin with the student needs to understand the given question. Is it asking for a discussion of current ideas around the given topic? Is it asking for an explanation of a phenomena or situation? Is it asking for a report of the issues or problems, and strategies to address the problems? Understanding the demands of the question is essential to collecting the right information and framing the written report.

Collecting information from the Internet, books, newspapers or magazines requires careful note taking. Rather than cutting and pasting web material the student should have a word document open and type in key words and phrases making sure the website URL and other ‘author’ details are also recorded on the document. Recording the date the website was accessed is also important. Similarly when note taking from books and other print material the student needs to record author and date of publication followed by the relevant pages and succinct notes. By trying to write notes in their own words students paraphrase the author’s comments and so are not accused of copying.

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When at least five relevant resources (experts’ ideas) have been studied students can group the ideas. Typing up a list of points and viewing them in ‘outline’ allows the learner to move and group ideas into appropriate paragraphs. It is then easy to see which points might be general statements and which group of ideas still need a topic sentence to be written.

The ‘outline’ view should be printed because it gives a good basis for the investigation outline. Teachers usually expect an outline of students’ investigations and will ask to see one before a student begins a research/investigation report especially if the report is expected to be over 800 words.

When writing the report it is important to have an introductory paragraph that clearly indicates to the writer what the text is about. The research/investigation question may be included or the question may be put into one or two sentences stating the nature of the research. The introduction may include definitions of issues, situations or behaviours. It may also have a preview statement about arguments in the following text.

In the body of the report each part of the argument or issue will have its own paragraph with a general topic sentence. The following sentences will give more specific details. They will expand the idea, or extend the idea with closely related points and or give examples.

The ideas that are presented in the body of the report text have to be those sourced from the ‘experts’ or relevant people interviewed. This is where in text referencing is important. Rather than quoting word for word what they ‘experts’ have said students can paraphrase the information prefacing it with words such as ‘According to Smith….’, Smith concludes that…..,’ ‘Smith predicts that …’, and ‘Smith argues that…’. Yet another way of referencing the writing is to use the Harvard in text referencing in brackets like this (Jones 2004 p65). It is also important to remember that any imported graphic, graphs or illustration also be properly referenced.

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Finally ‘Research Reports’ can sometimes be written as essays but more often than not they are structured with subheadings. Subheadings need to be in smaller print than the report heading but in bigger print than the body of the text. They should be left justified and can be underlined or in a different font. A contents page at the beginning of the report is helpful and a bibliography (list of books and resources) must be included at the end of the report text. A research report of 2000 plus words may require an abstract of 100 to 200 words to be written on a front page. An evaluation of the research process and the student’s opinions may also be required and these are included at the end of the report.

In conclusion Investigation and research are an essential part of students’ learning in senior school. They offer a chance for students to direct their own learning through personal interests that might not otherwise be covered in the school curriculum.

Introduction Structuring the report

Beginning the research Summing up

Writing the Report

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Appendix 4 Discussion

Reading to Learn (R2L) project Oratory rhetoric Primary and Secondary Sources

The Reading to Learn (R2L) project has an important point to make about leading learners into text deconstruction and reconstruction.

In the third generation of Accelerated Literacy (ie R2L) a text is deconstructed by looking at the focus (topic, purpose) and then identity (author and audience). To deconstruct a text the context is first examined. Then text paragraphs are examined, followed by sentences, word groups, words, syllables and finally letter patterns. The approach confirms the whole text inwards to deconstruction and reconstruction. 20 to 25% of lesson time is devoted to this type of work on texts. The students use a single slash between word groups and a double slash between clauses. There is Lexis deconstruction by linking members of grammatical categories such as nouns in hyponymy relationship. Knowing the context of the text gives an understanding of audience and purpose.

This approach contributes to understanding about cohesion and coherence of a text.

Another point to make about cohesion and coherence is the use of oratory rhetoric which leads an audience on a journey. A memorable recent speech is Obama’s victory speech where he used the tri-parallelism of ‘yes we can’ to such effect that the audience, so engaged, began to reiterate his potent phrase. Kevin Rudd also grounded his exposition – ‘Sorry’ speech in narrative and parallelism.

Citing Primary and Secondary Sources Besides grammatical reference there is another aspect of reference which is referencing to primary and secondary source materials. In the levels this is covered in Expressing opinion directly and indirectly. Students express their own opinions directly up to Language level 9. In language Level 10 students are expected to reference to others eg Research shows that…; Some parents think that….

Although not a grammatical feature of texts, correct referencing supports thematic development. Students need to be taught how to quote from experts and to reference indirectly and directly with the Harvard System of in-text referencing. However when texts clearly carry the opinions and views of others relevant questions help students to understand whose views are being represented by the author. Here are some suggestions for supporting students to interrogate ownership of views and beliefs in a text.

Line X: who is concerned?

Line XX: what has been suggested? Line XXX: who said? Line XXXX: according to whom? Line XXXXX: who has asked?

Line XXXXXX : who claims? etc

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Simple, Compound, Complex Sentences and lexically dense Simple Sentences This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around sentence structure for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document. Developing and improving sentence structure in student writing is supported by explaining to learners the function of different parts of the sentence. The meta language of clause, compound sentence, complex sentence, linking conjunction, binding conjunction, coordinating clause, subordinating clause, relative clause, non-finite clause, and lexically dense clause need to be introduced to learners gradually as they become appropriate. See Teaching Strategy resource on Text organisation, foregrounding and reference for ideas to build sentences into continuous text. Examples are taken from Language and Literacy levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students – Grammar Knowledge (Sentence Structures)

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of Reception

By Level 4 learners are able to complete simple sentences with a circumstance of • place • accompaniment • time.

Students need to be able to identify the different parts of sentences as early as possible. Punctuation At this level emphasise the use of Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and full stops at the end.

Begin early by identifying with students the participants, processes and circumstances that make up a simple sentence. Do this with the picture books and accompanying sentences. Have students colour the given sentences in the appropriate way: Red for Participants (who); Green for Processes (Verbs) and Blue for Circumstances. Circumstances refer to what is going on ie the action (verb) in the sentence.

eg The three billy goats gruff were very hungry. They wanted to eat the green grass across the river. But an ugly monster lived under the bridge.

Circumstance of place is under the bridge. NB ‘But’ is used here as a cohesive conjunction not as a conjunction to join two clauses.

Develop with the students a poster headed Circumstances of place using place prepositions and list common examples eg on the table; under the desk; in the cupboard; beside the chair; at my friend’s house

Develop with the students a poster headed Circumstances of accompaniment using the preposition with and list common examples eg with mummy and daddy; with my dog; with class 3G; with the Principal; with all the children under eight years old

This example offers some challenges so it is important to start with a more straightforward text.

In this text the quality of being hungry is acting as a participant. This can be understood if the quality is added to the noun group eg The three very hungry billy goats gruff…

The green grass is followed by a qualifier across the river which at first looks like a circumstance. However it is giving more information about the grass not about the action of eating.

There is a verbal group in this short text: wanted to eat. In such groups the first verb (process) modifies the second verb. Only the first verb is made finite by time and person. The second verb in the group stays in its infinitive form: wanted to eat.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of Reception

Develop with the students a poster headed Circumstances of time using at; on; (during is a higher Language Level) and list common examples eg at 3 ‘o’ clock; on the weekend; on Sunday; (during the holidays);

These activities about developing posters are also suggested in the Using adverbs, adverbial phrases and prepositional phrases to express circumstances resource.

Refer to using adverbs, adverbial phrases and prepositional phrases to express circumstances Teaching Strategies in this document

Circumstance of place. The little boy took his new toy out of the box. Circumstance of accompaniment The little boy walked along with his new toy Circumstance of time The little boy received his new toy on Saturday.

Children can begin to use the linking conjunction ‘and’.

However they often use this with run on sentences: I went to the show and I got on a ride and I had an ice cream.

So, introduce them to other linking conjunctions: but; so.

Punctuation Continue emphasising the use of Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and full stops at the end. Model capital letters for names.

Teach compound sentences Children are given relevant/appropriate simple sentences (clauses) on large strips of card and separate cards with the word ‘and’ (the activity can be repeated with ‘but’ and ‘so’). eg I am going to the show and my sister is coming too. It is 1 pm and I am eating my lunch. I went on holiday and I went in the pool. Examples can also be taken from current story books or from simple procedures eg Sit down and take out your books. I am going to the show but my sister can’t go. I want to go on another ride but I don’t have any money. I don’t have any money so I am going to borrow some. I’m going to get some money so I’m looking for my friend. Begin modelling complex sentences using the binding conjunction ‘because’. We will not go outside today because it is raining. We will go swimming because it is hot

When talking children will often use ‘because’ to answer questions in incomplete sentences eg Why were you late for class? Because he had my ball. Teach and model full sentences for writing: I was late because Sam had my ball. Expand the teaching of complex sentences with a similar activity, as the one above, using clauses on cards and separate binding conjunction cards.

Look for causal relationships in stories and simple explanations.

Teach and model the sentence construction to show these relationships.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of Year 3

It is important that children build simple sentences using noun groups and adverbs, adverbial phrases and prepositional phrases to express circumstance, so review the teaching strategies resources for these language items. Punctuation If learners understand capital letters at the beginning of sentences and full stops at the end, introduce commas in lists of more than two items. Also introduce the use of a comma after a dependent clause when that clause is foregrounded ie when dependent clause comes first in the sentence. Only the very basic of non-finite clauses are used at these levels and they are not foregrounded. Depending on the age of students draw their attention to shifts in language to make texts more ‘school-like’.

Complex sentences Continue the teaching activities that highlight the use of binding conjunctions because; if; when; after; Select complex sentences from a teaching text; Write the individual clauses on cards; make separate binding conjunction cards; ask students to make up sentences and write them into their books. Teach and model the use of commas when the dependent clause is foregrounded. eg When a volcano erupts, it spits out rock, gas and liquid called lava. Commas: the first comma shows the pause after the dependent clause; the second comma is used in a list. Draw learners attention to simple non-finite clauses in information reports:

The bilby has big ears// to hear. in science or maths investigations:

We used column charts// to compare our data .

One test for checking to see if an infinitive verb (ie to + verb ) is being used in a non-finite clause is to put the words ‘in order’ before it. If this makes sense then the verb is the beginning of a non-finite clause.

eg He strained // (in order) to listen. He practiced // (in order) to improve his skills. He climbed up // (in order) to get a better view.

However if using mental/thinking verbs, eg He wanted to listen to the concert, the first verb is modulating the second in the verbal group.

Non-finite clauses are also formed using the present participle of a verb eg Thinking about my parents’ predicament, I decided to investigate residential aged care.

Feeling cold and lonely, I headed north to my home and the sun.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year 6.

Students continue to use binding conjunction: because(cause); and binding conjunctions of time: after; while; when; until; as;

NB ‘During’ is a preposition and is followed by a participant (noun). See prepositional phrases in Circumstance resource. ‘While’ is a conjunction and is followed by a clause.

Students are able to understand clauses that concede a fact or possible context using binding conjunctions such as Although; Even if; Even though;

Punctuation: continue use of comma after dependent/subordinate clause in theme position ie foregrounded.

It is important for students to be able to change their spoken language into written language to write an academic essay.

Complex sentences: Build learners’ understanding of time conjunctions in Historical Narratives and Recounts. Teach the difference between while which requires a verb following and is therefore part of a dependent clause and during which refers to a noun or period of time and is therefore a preposition and part of a circumstance. Complex sentence with Dependent clause: While the performance was going on, thieves broke into the props room. But is a simple sentence with Time circumstance: During the performance thieves broke into the props room.

Select sentences relevant to the topic and learning area and model sentences. Point out the small reduction in the number of words when using a time circumstance instead of a clause. This is useful for précis and texts requiring a restricted number of words. Concession conjunctions: Although I’d really like a holiday, I need to save my money. Even if he apologises, I’m not inviting him to my party. Even though it is raining, I‘m not taking my umbrella. Show learners how to develop the participants in their texts with relative pronouns creating relative clauses: Captain James Cook who was born in Whitby Yorkshire …… There was a federal convention in Sydney where they drew up a draft constitution.

Focus students’ attention on shift in register as a result of using more technical verbs and nouns; more abstraction through nominalisation and more objectivity by removing human participants. See other Teaching Strategies resources for these language items.

Give students a simple clause on a piece of card eg THE PERFORMANCE CONTINUED and smaller cards each with one subordinate conjunction eg

WHEN the ringmaster returned. ALTHOUGH there were just six people in the audience. BECAUSE the trapeze artist was not seriously hurt AFTER everyone returned to their seats.

Ask students to complete the sentence/clause following the subordinate conjunction. Make this activity relevant to the topic learning. For further development of Complex sentences refer to Appendix 2 for joining two sentences with a relative pronoun. (see level 13 to 14 for interrupting clauses) PUNCTUATION Introduce quotation marks for direct speech. She said, “I’d like to go home please”. He famously said, “I have a dream”.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 11 – 12

Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year 8.

Continue to focus students’ attention on the shift in language/text register through increasing technicality, abstraction and objectivity. Written language typically has fewer verbs in it and actions are expressed as concepts, ideas and processes (not verbs) which are often foregrounded. For these things nouns/nominalisations are used and often the noun groups have other description words that could also be actions in spoken language.

eg “…the managed conservation practices.” managed is a verb that has become a describer in the noun group; conservation is a nominalisation that is now a classifier; practices is the head noun.

Binding conjunctions of concession continue to be used including while/whilst at these Language Levels.

The UN has estimated that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries with absolute water poverty and two thirds of the world’s population could be under water stress. As the driest inhabited continent on earth, Australia has decades of experience in managing water for scarcity and countries in our region are keen to access our expertise and technology in water management. Improving water resource management is essential to provide adequate water for drinking and sanitation, for agriculture, industry and for electricity generation as well as for protecting the environment and reducing water related disasters. Improved management of water for irrigation and domestic use can reduce labour inputs and increase productivity, particularly for women.

eg: Noun group How we say it. countries with absolute water poverty –

countries that have no access to any purified water supply. They may rely on rivers and rainfall.

Australia has decades of experience in managing water for scarcity –

Australia has managed its limited supply of water for many many years so has lots of experience.

Improved management of water for irrigation and domestic use can -

if water is managed well for watering the soil and for using in the home, then….

Verbs are becoming simplified and relational. One non-finite verb is used. Protecting and reducing could be considered at gerunds (verb- present participle, acting as a noun).

Create a table that has in the left hand column many of the noun groups taken from the web page text. Leave a blank column on the right and jointly construct with students the active language that develops understanding of the noun group/nominalisation.

Use a text such as this one from AusAid Water Resource management page. http://dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/investment-priorities/agriculture-fisheries-water/water-resource-management/Pages/water-resource-management.aspx

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion/explanations

Level 13 – 14 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year 10.

Students begin to build lexically dense simple sentences. Non-finite clauses of greater complexity are used Punctuation At this level consolidate the use of a comma for an interrupting clause.

Using the coloured highlighting create your own sentences and show students how sentences are grammatically simple: The rescued performing dogs gave a magnificent performance. The extraordinary performance of the dogs captivated everyone. The continued exploitation of performing animals for human entertainment is evidence of a debased society.

Although grammatically simple these three sentences are lexically dense. Gave and captivated which can be action verbs are used metaphorically here to describe a relationship between the participants. Subordinate non-finite clause:

Using his voice gently, the ringmaster controlled the animals’ movements. To get the best performance from the dogs, the ringmaster had some tasty treats in his pocket. Interrupting clauses: The performing dogs, who had been rescued from the pound, gave a magnificent performance. Here the interrupting clause gives some extra information but is not needed to identify the dogs. The extraordinary performance of the dogs who’d been rescued from the pound, outshone the other animals.

Refer to Appendix 3 for further nominalisations in Science Here the commas indicate a pause in the voice when the sentence is read. Here the clause is embedded as a post qualifier of the noun group and identifies the particular dogs. There is no pause in the voice as indicated by the contraction.

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Appendix 1 Texts showing the shift in theme and foregrounding using passive voice and nominalisation. Text deconstruction In a traditional community a number of people who are related paint together. It is more important for the people to paint together than for them to finish the painting. When they act together or paint together they regenerate the natural world. People cooperate and produce a painting that all can see and this holds the society together. (Active Voice) In a traditional community an art work is painted by a number of people who are related. It is more important for the painting to be done than for the painting to be finished. Acting together the natural world is regenerated and a painting is produced. The society is held together by this community activity. (Passive Voice) In a traditional community a painting is the work of a number of people who are related in a specific kinship way. The act of painting is more important than the final product since it is through the act that there is regeneration of the natural world. The essential cooperation needed between kin to produce visual art creates a subtle cohesion within the society. (Nominalised)

Verbs are related; paint; is; to paint; to finish; act; paint; regenerate; cooperate; produce; can see; holds. Nouns a traditional community; a number of people; it; the people; them; the painting; they; they; the natural world; people; a painting; all (people); this. NB. The subject nouns are underlined. The text is in active voice. The active subjects are ‘People’. They do all the actions. There are lots of verbs, and thus clauses so we can say this text is grammatically complex. Most of the verbs are action verbs. Verbs is painted; are related; is; to be done; to be finished; is regenerated; is produced; is held; ‘Acting together’ is a non-finite clause Nouns an art work; a number of people; it; the painting; the painting; the natural world; a painting; the society; this community activity NB. the objects in the previous text have become the subjects NB. Traditional community is part of circumstance clause – same in each text. Passive voice is used - The subjects are having ‘actions’ done to them. The subjects are:- ‘An art work’; ‘The painting’; ‘The natural world’; ‘A painting’; ‘The society’ Verbs is; are related; is; is; is; creates; (‘needed’ part of the noun group and ‘to produce’ non-finite clause) Nouns a painting; the work of a number of people; a specific kinship way; the act of painting; the final product; the act; regeneration of the natural world; the essential cooperation needed between kin; a subtle cohesion within society The verbs in this text are simple/every-day and the first and third sentences are simple sentences so we can say that the text is grammatically simple. Nominalisation:- However the nouns are much more complex and some of them are formed from the verbs in the first text eg regeneration; cooperation. This text is lexically complex and lexically dense.

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Appendix 2:

RELATIVE PRONOUNS:- Sentences that can be paired are written on cards. Students then join the sentences using the correct relative pronoun. This creates complex sentences with dependent relative clauses. Refer to both ‘Sentence Structure’ resource and Foregrounding (cohesion and coherence) resource in this document. Students identify the

NB ‘whom’ is used when the relative clause has a subject eg Could the person whom I spoke to yesterday please come forward. Although this is correct English, it is very formal and the more common linking word used is ‘that’. Although ‘that’ is a demonstrative it can be used like a pronoun.

WHO

WHICH

WHOSE

WHERE

THAT

Sentence Relative pronoun acting as

conjunction

Sentence

At the wood mill, the wood is ground into a pulp.

WHICH

The pulp is then treated with steam and chemicals.

The MTV Award was presented to Taylor Swift.

WHOSE

Her response was humorous.

My sister sold her car to her friend.

WHO

She lives across the road.

The solution was removed from the fridge.

WHERE

It had been there for 90 minutes.

I like the new house.

WHICH/THAT

It is on the corner.

I met my new neighbour.

WHO She is called Harriet.

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Appendix 3

Discussion – creating lexically dense texts by nominalising science concepts.

What does this mean? Understanding the scientific concepts of inquiry

Nominalisation

Science teachers create and engage in a scientific world view through the language of concepts and ideas. To apprentice students into this world, questions that give them access to the actions of science must be asked. Once these actions are experienced and understood the teacher can hang the language of scientific concepts and ideas (nominalisations) onto students’ current understanding. This gives the students the language to discuss ideas and so partake in the powerful rhetoric of social and scientific decision making.

What questions can we ask? (this is How can we test that? (this is What do these results mean? Can we graph them? (this is what we do What does this mean for other similar situations? Can we make any predictions? How should we act/ continue? (this is what we do when we ask these questions

Meticulous Sustained Inquiry Experimental Observation Detailed Analysis and Evaluation Rigorous, Informed and strategic debate

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Using Verbs and Verb Groups or Phrases This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around verbs and verb groups and verb tense for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document. Not all languages use, define and qualify processes (verbs) in the same way as English. Giving learners a metalanguage to talk about the processes (actions, relatings, sensings and sayings) going on in sentences enables them better reflect on their language choices. Examples are taken from Language and Literacy levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students – Grammar Knowledge (Words and word groups –verbs and verb groups/phrases)

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of Reception

At this stage children express actions thoughts and sayings using ACTIVE voice in the following tenses (time) Present continuous tense Simple present(timeless present) Simple past tense Simple future tense When asking questions highlight that the verb is in the Interrogative mood and show how it is used in the Declarative answer.

In an activity lesson eg skipping, jumping, model for students the language of the actions eg “What are we doing?” “We are skipping; We are jumping”. On returning to the classroom ask the students “What did we do when we were outside?” Model for the students the past tense “we jumped; we skipped”.

Direct students’ attention to the change of words to indicate time (from present continuous to simple past tense).

Most stories are written in past tense. Read a short story in the past tense, twice if necessary using the visuals. Tell students you are going to repeat the story as if it is happening right now. Ask them to listen carefully and to see if they can tell you what is different eg Are there different words? Help students to focus on the shift in time by asking questions eg “How would we say that if the fox was doing that NOW?”

Using timeless present tense in preparation for information reports ask questions eg “Do all foxes chase chickens?”

Find a suitable point in a story and ask “What do you think will happen next?” The students may respond with the present tense but this is the opportunity to model the future tense using ‘will’. eg “The fox catches a chicken.” “Yes. I think the fox will catch a chicken.”

Model active language in present and past tense whenever possible eg We are playing…. We played……

Story example: The fox chased chickens. The fox is chasing the chickens/ The foxes are chasing the chickens. (Note the change when subject is plural - subject verb agreement) The fox chases the chickens. (This is simple present) “Yes all foxes chase chickens.” (This is using the simple present tense as timeless present)

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of Reception

Develop students’ vocabulary (refer to Teaching Strategies Resource: Vocabulary) by creating various collections of verbs on charts.

Verbal groups using modality and negative: can, can’t; don’t, doesn’t;

Verbal groups (multi-word groups) using mental processes: I like to play; I want to go; or behavioural processes: I tried to help.

Build an understanding of time and how it is expressed in English by creating a chart with three columns Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and writing the equivalent verb forms that have been learnt eg chased; is chasing (chases); will chase.

Encourage children to write using the examples that have been collected on the chart.

Read a children’s story to students and identify, ask for or give other verbs for saying process. See Appendix 1. Create a chart of saying processes relevant to Level 1 -4 for the classroom.

Teach and model other verbs of movement: eg walk, run, crawl, jump, skip, hop, fly, slide, leap; and relate to the movement of animals. Introduce more complex words such as waddle, slither as relevant. Create a chart of relevant movement verbs for display in the classroom.

Introduce ‘can’ to show ability: eg when doing measurement and student’s heights, do an activity where the students have to reach to a point on the wall. Measure the differing distances and create each individual student’s sentence: I can reach up to 120cm. Repeat activity using negative. I can’t reach up to 130cm.

Teach multi-word groups:- Fold and cut A4 sheets of paper to create a mini writing book for students. Put ‘I like to….’ on at least half of the pages and support the students to write what they like to do, using modelling and the charts you have created. Repeat with the verb ‘to try’. Ask students “What games/sports/things have you tried to do?”

Model active language in present and past tense whenever possible, particularly with irregular verbs eg We are swimming; Yesterday we swam.

Use pictures which correspond to activity.

Encourage students to say what they can do: I can swim; I can skip; I can run etc.

I like to play with…; I like to jump…; I like to eat…; I like to swim on hot days etc. This is an introduction to expressing opinion and persuasive writing. I tried to swim; I tried to skip; I tried to run etc.

Also check for subject/verb agreement when using do/does and when using auxiliaries (is, are) in present continuous.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to year 1 to 3 of schooling

There is a need to continue focus on control of simple past tense forms particularly for verbs that are more technical and precise in meaning and for irregular past tenses. At this stage older students can begin to categorise verbs into: doing; saying; sensing; relating

Elaborated tenses (ie using auxiliary) Past continuous – was running Present perfect –I’ve seen …; I have eaten;

Verbal groups using modality and negative: eg wasn’t; was not; didn’t; did not; might; should; shouldn’t; would; wouldn’t. Verbal groups with multi-word verbal groups, using mental verbs in other tense forms: I want to go; I wanted to go to the circus. And using verbs in multi-word verbal groups to indicate time/sequence: It starts to bubble; It started to bubble. NB. Language learners in this Level attempt to use a basic non-finite clause eg I went to the shop // to buy some lunch. Refer to resource on sentence building.

Choose a Learning Area text and categorise the verbs into doing; saying; sensing and relating.

Highlight text to show single word verbs; elaborated verbs and other verb groups. Ensure you sometimes use texts with negatives and modality.

Use Cloze activity to fill in missing verbs. This can be done using given list of more technical and precise verbs.

Use short movie clips pausing at regular intervals to ask and record “What is he/she doing?” “What is happening?” eg Mr Bean DVDs or sequences in Learning Areas eg science - seed germination; Aboriginal Studies – canoe making.

Teach obligation: should; shouldn’t; must; mustn’t through safety issues: Safety on the road, at the beach, in the science lab.

Teach conditional: would; wouldn’t in response to “If” questions eg What would happen if:

we put the seed upside down? all the insects in the world died? Harry Potter lost his glasses?

In Maths discuss mathematical problems using multi-word verbal groups eg want to do; want to find.

“What were we doing in Maths today?” “What did we want to do in maths today?”

“We were trying to find the area of a triangle”. “We wanted to find the area of a triangle.” See extension in Levels 8 – 10.

Examples of elaborated verbs:

The fox was chasing the chickens. The foxes have chased the chickens. In all activities check for subject verb agreement.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to year 1 to 3 of schooling

May use modality of Obligation: eg “must” eg “We must see the penguins.” “We mustn’t forget to pick up Sam.” [Phrasal verb (to pick up) in a multi-word verbal group (to forget to …) with negative and modality (mustn’t)] May use PASSIVE voice when modelled. “He got hit” Teacher models “He was hit”.

In Science focus on technical verbs that explain scientific processes eg evaporate; heat; measure; pour;

Begin to introduce more technical and precise verbs eg

‘to allow’ instead of ‘to let’ ‘to prevent’ instead of ‘to stop’ ‘consists of’ instead of ‘is made up of…’

Use multi-word verbal groups that support sequencing eg

starts to bubble…..; begins to turn….; continue to add….; continues to glow…..; check to see that……;

A Phrasal verb consists of a verb plus a preposition. The addition of a preposition shifts the meaning of the verb eg to back up means to support; to follow through means to complete (or take to the next stage). Highlight Phrasal verbs as appropriate.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to year 4 to 6 of schooling

Elaborated tenses Future conditional - following dependent clauses with binding conjunctions eg if we do not have fresh water, we would not survive. Past perfect: They had settled in the outback Present perfect continuous: They have been going to school for five years. Past perfected continuous: They had been going to school. Future continuous: They will be going to school. NB Future conditional tense: This tense uses modal auxiliary “would” and two clauses one beginning with “If” and one beginning with “then”.eg “If we move, then he would go to a new school”. Another conditional verb form is “if we were to move, then he would go to another school”

Passive voice needs to be highly scaffolded at Levels 8 and 9

Provide a text which contains both simple past and past perfect verbs. Work through the verbs with students, questioning why there are single word verbs and why some have two words. Explore with students the time relationship of events.

Repeat with other texts that include a variety of elaborated tenses including future tense.

To teach past perfect, provide students with sentences from a recount or other past tense texts such as

One student was crying. Ask “Why was he crying?” Model the answer “Because he had fallen over”

The science seedlings were dead. We had forgotten to water them. (past perfect multi word verb)

Create and model with students a Learning Area procedural text eg making a kite; solving a maths problem. Then highlight the command verbs and work with students to change verbs to past tense enabling the writing of a personal recount.

Begin to teach Passive Voice: After an excursion discuss and model responses to questions eg “What were you allowed to do? Were you allowed to buy an ice-cream; Were you allowed to wear T-shirts? Were you allowed to wear sandals? Where you allowed to play volleyball?

NB Draw students’ attention to the need to change auxiliary verb depending on singular or plural (was/were). Instruction for a task such as Appendix 2 Read the following procedure about making compost. Re-write this text as a personal recount: that is, write a recount of yourself making this compost. Remember to change all the command verbs to past tense. See first and second column of Appendix 2 Discuss with students the different audience and purpose for procedures and recounts.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to year 4 to 6 of schooling

At these Levels passive voice is used when foregrounding different theme/participant. Verbal groups with multi-word verbal groups, using mental verbs in other tense forms: I was supposed to go; I decided to go to the circus; He wanted to spread the word. Verbal groups using modality of obligation: eg. ought

Explain that when writing in most Learning Areas, self is not important. The focus is on the objects/ideas and the actions. This is achieved by using passive voice. Highlight verbs in past tense and work with students to change verbs to passive voice enabling the writing of a procedural recount.

Model the shift to passive voice when the actor participant is known eg: The teacher bought our tickets the day before. These were used to enter the zoo - instead of ‘We used the tickets to enter the zoo’.

In Maths discuss mathematical problems using the language of maths that uses non-finite clauses as well as multi-word groups eg “To find the area of………” “We wanted to find……….” And then following a maths activity ask students to share/report orally on what they did to solve the problem. The problem must be foregrounded with a non-finite or verbal group. This is then followed up with their written report.

NB multi-word groups in Maths (wanted to find) are introduced in this resource in Levels 5 – 7. The increasing technicality is found in the second word of the multi-word verbal group at this Level. eg wanted to calculate

Continue substitution of more technical and precise verbs eg

‘to initiate’ instead of ‘to begin’ ‘to resemble’ instead of ‘to look like’ ‘to till’ instead of ‘to dig over’.

See second and third column of Appendix 2 Verbal groups using passive voice - elaborated tenses. Passive voice – Past perfect Why did Chinese men come to Australia in the 1850s? Because gold had been found in Victoria.

Why had the Orang-utan been brought to the sanctuary? Because her habitat had been destroyed. Model obligation where appropriate.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 11 – 12 Across the Across the stages of schooling equivalent to year 7 to 8 of schooling

Action, saying and thinking verbs become more precise and nuances of meaning are made through ‘delicate’ choices

At higher Language Levels the more academic language is achieved through nominalisation and use of passive voice.

Begin to use other relational verbs from Appendix 3

Students demonstrate better subject-verb agreement but may make occasional errors with more complex agreement. eg: • after “there” where verb needs to agree

with a longer noun group that follows – There has (sic – have) been several dangerous events over the past years. • noun groups with qualifiers: All of the

weapons that the Spanish used was (sic – were) made of iron; their water for crops are (sic – is) becoming polluted.

Level 13 – 14 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to year 9 to 10 of schooling

Continue to achieve the more academic language through nominalisation and use of passive voice. In addition nouns/ nominalisations representing concepts, values, ideas and beliefs are juxtaposed using relational verbs.

Since academic language levels require nominalisation and simple but lexically dense sentences use a variety of relational verbs as in Appendix 3.

At this Level students demonstrate control of subject-verb agreement and errors are only in more complex agreements: when there is confusion as to which noun should be agreed with eg The number of assaults have increased over time. The above agrees with ‘assaults’ when it should agree with ‘number’ and read: The number of assaults has increased over time.

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Appendix 1 - adapted from Success for Boys. Catholic Education. There are many substitutes for the verb ‘to say’. Verbs in narratives help to create a picture for the audience. Here are some substitutes for ‘said’; some are metaphors like ‘barked’; some verbs are shifting from ‘saying’ processes to mental processes eg assumed, some are shifting to behavioural-like processes eg grinned, jeered, moaned and whimpered. You can add your own examples. accused acknowledged added admitted advised agreed announced answered apologized approved argued asked assumed babbled barked began begged bellowed blurted boasted boomed bragged

cackled challenged chattered cheered chuckled claimed comforted commanded commented complained concluded confessed confided continued contradicted cried croaked decided declared defended demanded denied described determined directed discussed

elaborated emphasized exaggerated exclaimed explained exploded faltered fumed greeted grinned groaned growled grumbled grunted guessed hesitated hinted hissed informed inquired insisted instructed insulted jeered

lamented laughed lied marveled mentioned moaned mumbled murmured mused muttered nagged objected observed offered ordered panted persisted persuaded pestered pleaded praised predicted proclaimed promised proposed protested

quarreled questioned quibbled raged recalled recommended refused replied reported retorted responded screamed screeched shouted shrieked teased thanked uttered ventured whimpered whined whispered

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Appendix 2 –This shows the change in verb form from Imperative in a procedure to past tense in a personal recount text and to passive voice in a procedural recount.

How to make Compost (How to do)

Making compost and using it in the garden is a great way to improve the soil. Good compost helps the plants and vegetables to grow better and also helps to keep moisture in the soil for longer. To make compost • Collect some animal manure such as chicken manure

or horse manure from local stables • Clear a patch of ground in your garden away from the

house • Build bricks to make three walls of a bay in which to

place kitchen scraps and lawn cuttings • Put down a first layer of newspaper as this will help to

stop weeds coming up through the compost • Make a second layer of animal manure • Add the kitchen scraps • Next add the lawn cuttings • Repeat the layers using shredded paper in place of the

newspaper. • When all the available materials have been used add a

little bit of soil to the top of the compost heap so that fruit rats are not attracted to the vegetables

• Water the top of the heap gently for 15 minutes • The heap will reduce in size quite rapidly over the next

week, then you can continue to add layers of mulched weeds, lawn cuttings and vegetable scraps from the kitchen

• After a few weeks dig over the compost heap with a garden fork so that air can get into the rotting material.

• This is a good time to clear a second patch of ground next to the first bay and to build a second bay for the turned compost

• After three months sift the oldest compost and put it on the garden.

How I made Compost (How I did)

Making compost and using it in the garden is a great way to improve the soil. Good compost helps the plants and vegetables to grow better and also helps to keep moisture in the soil for longer. I collected some animal manure such as chicken manure or horse manure from the local stables and then I cleared a patch of ground in our/my garden away from the house. I built bricks to make three walls of a bay in which I placed kitchen scraps and lawn cuttings. I put down a first layer of newspaper as this helps to stop weeds coming up through the compost and then I made a second layer of animal manure. After that I added the kitchen scraps. Next I added the lawn cuttings. I repeated the layers using shredded paper in place of the newspaper. When all the available materials had been used I added a little bit of soil to the top of the compost heap so that fruit rats were not attracted to the vegetables. I watered the top of the heap gently for 15 minutes. The heap reduced in size quite rapidly over the next week, then I continued to add layers of mulched weeds, lawn cuttings and vegetable scraps from the kitchen. After a few weeks I dug over the compost heap with a garden fork so that air could get / gets into the rotting material. This was a good time for me to clear a second patch of ground next to the first bay and to build a second bay for the turned compost. After three months I sifted the oldest compost and I put it on the garden.

How Compost is made (How it was done)

Making compost and using it in the garden is a great way to improve the soil. Good compost helps the plants and vegetables to grow better and also helps to keep moisture in the soil for longer. Some animal manure such as chicken manure or horse manure was collected from the local stables and then a patch of ground in the garden away from the house was cleared. Bricks were built to make three walls of a bay into which kitchen scraps and lawn cuttings were placed. An initial layer of newspaper was put down to help stop weeds coming up through the compost and then a second layer of animal manure was added. After kitchen scraps and lawn cuttings were added. The layers were repeated using shredded paper in place of the newspaper. When all the available materials had been used, a little bit of soil was put onto the top of the compost heap so that fruit rats were not attracted to the vegetables. The top of the heap was gently watered for 15 minutes. The heap reduced in size quite rapidly over the next week, then layers of mulched weeds, lawn cuttings and vegetable scraps from the kitchen were continually added. After a few weeks the compost heap was dug over with a garden fork so that air could get into the rotting material. This was a good time to clear a second patch of ground next to the first bay and to build a second bay for the turned compost After three months the oldest compost was sifted and was put on the garden.

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Appendix 3

Common Relational verbs are ‘to be’ (is, are, was, were) and ‘to have’ (has, have, had). There are many substitutes for ‘to be’. These substitutes and metaphors are grouped under relevant headings and are listed from low language level to higher language level.

form is changed composition naming context is changed interpretation cause and effect other metaphors

becomes makes grows into develops develops into forms produces results in shapes contributes to increases decreases resembles ensues from

is made up of is composed of contains consists of includes possesses comprises

is called is known as is referred to

causes results in leads to brings about produces allows creates gives rise to sparks fosters initiates inaugurates generates engenders

means signifies reflects represents mirrors symbolises

causes results in shows reveals indicates

gave a wonderful performance

captivated the audience

shows up as an anomaly in our data

form is modified appearance essential to substitutes equals expansion

makes resembles affects influences inspires renders manifests are realised (passive voice)

seems to be appears to be

needs depends on requires

represents is the same as equals

expresses exemplifies discloses

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Developing Sentences using adverbs, adverb groups and phrases, prepositional phrases to express circumstances

This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around Circumstance development, for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document.

Questions are a great way to interrogate a young person’s thinking around the context of an action, a thought/ idea, or a process (often as a gerund or nominalisation eg shopping, entertaining, filtration, productivity, analysis, activism). Circumstances of time, place, accompaniment and some of manner are generally well understood. Students can be challenged to use circumstances of cause, matter, role, angle and contingency according to the developing examples in the Language and Literacy levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students – Grammar Knowledge (Word groups)

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Reception.

This is generally the oral stage of language development and a learner’s understanding of context/ circumstance is developed with questions. Prepositional phrases are used for Place - Where did it happen? and Time - When did it happen? A prepositional phrase beginning with ‘on’ is used with a named day or the weekend; a prepositional phrase beginning with ‘in’ will give information about • the period of the day (eg in the

morning/afternoon) • the week or month (in the first

week; in May) • the period identified (eg in the

holidays; in the first weeks of school) • NB ‘at’ is used for other periods such

as: at night; at daybreak; at dawn; at sunset; and also for times of the clock).

Place: Ask questions: Where is your bag? Where is the cat in the picture? Where did it happen?

Teach the prepositional phrases of Place that begin with: on (the couch); in (the basket); under (the chair); inside (the cupboard); above (the door); outside (the room); beside/next to (the TV); below (the picture), using the following activity Whole class or individual activity: Have a large picture (of a room, a farmyard scene, or a shopping precinct) that shows the position of numerous objects. Have cards with circumstance of Place (as above) written and ask the learners to come and place an appropriate card on the picture in response to the questions of place.

Whole class or individual activity: Ask one student to go outside of the room and place a toy in a specific position. Model the circumstance of Place with the remaining students eg The truck is on the shelf. Invite the student back into the classroom and ask them to find the toy and give the correct information. Correct answer leads to student hiding the object for the next student. Prompting may be needed to get the correct answer.

Sample questions and answers Place Where is your bag? - under the chair; on the table; outside the room. Where did you go on the weekend? - I went to the Circus. Where was the circus? - in the Park. In the picture, where is the woman with the dog? “outside the chemist”; “inside the barn”; “on the tractor” Reinforce this with “Who is on the tractor?” and model the written response “The woman with the dog is on the tractor.” Give some students cards which show an object in a position (eg a cat on a chair, a shoe under a table, etc) Create a game where other students have to ask questions about the ‘place’ of an object using “Where is…” or “Where are ….”.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to the end of Reception.

Accompaniment - Who did you go with? (Don’t worry about ‘dangling’ prepositions. With whom did you go? might be grammatically correct but no one speaks like this now days).

Time: Teacher uses the daily school routine to create questions, Ask questions: When do we go to library? Use timetable plan to elicit answer. Teach the prepositional phrases of Time that begin with: on (Saturday); in (the morning, the next week; the holidays, August); at (night) etc.

Accompaniment : Ask questions: Who did you go to the circus with? Model the answers: “I went with my sister”

Model how to write the sentences using prepositional phrases. Ask students to copy sentences in their books and then to underline the prepositional phrases. Use simple cloze procedure texts requiring students to fill in missing words of circumstance of Place, Time and Accompaniment. Alternatively have this on an interactive board. Ask students come to the board and ‘drag’ a preposition/prepositional phrase to the space. Develop with the students a poster headed Circumstances of place using place prepositions and list common examples eg on the table; under the desk; in the cupboard; beside the chair; at my friend’s house; etc Develop with the students a poster headed Circumstances of accompaniment using the preposition with and list common examples eg with mummy and daddy; with my dog; with class 3G; with the Principal; with all the children under eight years old; etc

Develop with the students a poster headed Circumstances of time using at; on; (during is a higher Language Level) and list common examples eg at 3 ‘o’ clock; on the weekend; on Sunday; (during the holidays); etc

Time When did you go to the circus? When did you go to your grandma’s? When will you go on holiday? Give some students cards which show time. Create a game where other students ask questions about time eg What time is it? What time do you have? What does your clock/watch say?

Accompaniment Model the other form of questioning to elicit the information eg Who went with you? Then model the full answers. I went …with my sister; …with my dog, …on my own. Engage students in asking and answering questions about time, place and accompaniment. Investigate free APPs that provide this activity.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to the end of Year 3

It is important to teach circumstances in context of the focus genre and topic matter. Time circumstances can be indicted without prepositions when using defined periods (eg today, yesterday, tomorrow; next week; next month; last holidays; every two years) At this Language Level learners can talk about the quality of how something happens or can describe the means by which something happens.’ Means’ and ‘Quality’ are subsets of circumstance of Manner. Adverbs are used for describing the quality of how something is done.

Teach and model - Time circumstances with defined periods (see words in discussion column). Today we will go to lunch together. (Time) (Accompaniment) Tomorrow you will go to lunch on your own. (Time) (Accompaniment) Teach - Time circumstances using a Clock and the preposition ‘at’. What time will we go to lunch? We will go to lunch at 12.30pm.

Show how the circumstance can move according to what is the focus or theme – ie at the beginning as theme, or at the end of the sentence. At 12.30pm we will go to lunch.

Demonstrate how circumstances of Quality can be used to describe attributes that each class member has eg Sophie dances gracefully; Mohammed paints beautifully; Jason cleverly works out his sums. Notice how we can foreground the adverb when we want it to reflect more on the subject than the action. This shifts the meaning slightly.

Introduce and model sentences with circumstance of means by asking questions such as “How does the nurse get your temperature?” With a thermometer; How does the cricket make that sound? With its wings. Introduce, model sentences with circumstance of cause. eg for Diwali; for assembly

Activity: students match sentence parts to full sentences eg We learned a new song \ for assembly. We had a big party \ for Diwali

Time What are we doing today? Today we are going to the circus. What did we do yesterday? Yesterday we went to the beach. Every two years we go on a school camp. What did you do in the holidays? In the holidays, I went to see my grandmother (The holidays are foregrounded). I went to see my grandmother in the holidays (The subject ‘I’ is foregrounded). Quality How does your car go? My car goes really fast. NB ‘really’ is an intensifier like ‘very’. How does Sally sing? She sings beautifully. I can fix that toy easily Means How did you come to school? I came by bus; by bike. Continue to engage students in question and answer around circumstances.

Repeat this activity in Levels 8 to 10 by using the circumstance as marked theme ie as a sentence starter. eg For assembly \we learnt a new song. For breakfast \ I ate eggs.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to the end of year 6

It is important to teach circumstances in context of the focus genre and topic matter.

At this Language Level students use a greater range of circumstances of Time and Manner and place them variously in sentences for effect and thematic progression.

Additional circumstances that students should use in their writing at this Level are:

Cause(reason) – because of; as a result of; for a reason or purpose

Teach - Time circumstances using higher level prepositions: during; after (NB. ‘after’ is also used as a binding conjunction and in prepositional phrases) Teach the prepositional phrases of Time that begin with: during the holidays/ the following term/Easter; after the holidays/ term 3/Easter; Again show the shift in thematic foregrounding in sentences relevant to the topic or subject learning area. Model procedures where it is imperative to foreground the circumstance of Manner eg Carefully remove the crucible; Slowly sift in the flour;

Teach and model causal relationships using both dependent clauses and Cause circumstances. Here are some examples:- in History when modelling how to record the information about causal relationships write a sentence using a) a causal process (verb) “The famine caused migration to the cities” (‘Famine’ is the idea/issue but what was the cause?) b) a dependent (causal) clause foregrounded “Because the people were starving//they moved to the cities” c) with the dependent clause changed to a circumstance phrase “Because of the famine, people migrated to the cities.” Cause (reason)continued In History / Literature “The wealthy colonial nabobs moved to the cooler hill stations for the monsoon.” “The bungalow was refurbished for the new Governor and his family” Continue modelling circumstances of Means. In Science highlight circumstances such as - with a thermometer….; with the tongs…; with a prepared solution…; In History highlight circumstances such as - through these discoveries, new lands were…;

What did you do during the holidays? During the holidays I went to see my grandmother. I went to see my grandmother during the holidays. Quality Foreground other examples relevant to subject area and topic.

or “Migration to the cities was the result of famine.” “As a result of famine, people migrated to the cities” (note use of nominalisation: famine; migration)

Means How are you going to fix that broken toy? I am going to fix it with some glue.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 continued Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to the end of year 6

Manner is articulated as Quality, Means and Comparison by Halliday. Terms that describe direction or relationship to space do not fit into these three categories of manner.

Circumstances of Comparison comes in at Level 9

Matter and Role are at Level 10

Teach – ‘Organisational’ Manner The bee moves diagonally across the surface. (NB across the surface is a circumstance of place) You must come up with a solution in your teams.

Teach by modelling Comparison - in Social Studies eg Children like these are more likely to …; The men behaved like overgrown babies. Matter - in Literature eg This part of the narrative about the impact on her life of the events in her early teens, …

Role – in History eg

As a young woman in early 20th century Russia, she was …….

Horizontally; diagonally - Clearly these are manner but to separate these words from quality, means or comparison we can say they are circumstances that give a spatial relationship to the physical environment or to other people. He danced in circles. The manner of his dancing is relational to the space in which the dancer performed. It does NOT mean He danced within a circle (circumstance of Place) However ‘He danced in a circle’ could be about place or about spatial relationship. The sentence has to be examined in context of the paragraph. We worked in teams.(could be means or manner) We discussed the project in relevant groups. (could be means or manner) The bees ran diagonally across the hive surface in a wiggly manner. Here there are three circumstances:- the first is organisation (spatial relationship to the environment), the last is quality with the middle circumstance being of place.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 11 – 12 Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to the end of Year 8

It is important to teach circumstances in context of the focus genre and topic matter. Greater extension of Role, Angle and Contingency become valuable when developing exposition writing. Through the use of these circumstance phrases students are able to show greater insight into the actions of the actors/ provocateurs within the argument.

Teach - Means that are of a higher level and relevant to the topic or Learning Area eg By careful interrogation the school counsellor was able to establish the order of events; Her attention to detail is shown through both her appearance and her personality; The ancient statue was surrounded by walls made of stone.

Teach Role, Angle, Contingency: Teach Contingency (condition) in a procedure: - With the isolating valve shut, remove the ….;

Challenge and Interrogate students thinking when reading listening and writing texts by asking questions such as “Whose view is this”; “What role does this person/group have in this issue”; “What conditions were/will be (or won’t be) in place for this to happen”; “What would happen if….?”; “What wouldn’t happen if …….?”

Further examples:

Means The dog communicates through barks and yelps; Comparison: in contrast to the tall ship and mast, . Cause: because of the pollution of the water; due to lack of fresh clean water; for extra protection against waves and sea spray, she wore … Role: as a world heritage site ….; as a teacher at the School….; as a modern day writer As the driest inhabited continent on earth, Australia has … Angle: from their point of view…; in their position…; Contingency: condition - with more tourists; without tourists; without touching the magnet ….

see further categories of Contingency in Level 13-14

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Language Level Discussion Activities Expansion and other examples from the Levels

Level 13 – 14 Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to the end of Year 10

It is important to teach circumstances in context of the focus genre and topic matter. Further extension of Role, Angle and Contingency At this level of written language students are expected to present views and arguments that explore possibilities. Thus the circumstances which give context are linguistically much more challenging. Students are expected to describe ideas and situations that exist ‘despite other circumstances’ ‘in spite of other circumstances. This is called Contingency of concession. Closely related is Contingency of condition. This states what could happen with or without a particular circumstance

Role – As a dispossessed young women with a disability her struggle was almost insurmountable. Further focus on Contingency using the same type of questions. Interrogate and challenge students ideas when modelling texts and/or when conferencing their writing by asking “What conditions were/will be (or won’t be) in place for this to happen”; “What would happen if….?”; “What wouldn’t happen if …….?” Have students write down the answers to these questions. eg In Issues Analysis, when speaking to students about an issue such as exploitation of garment out-workers, ask “What conditions would make this situation better for the women?” List ideas. Use each idea to model circumstance of contingency (condition) eg They need to have:- shorter working hours; better light; better equipment; comfortable chairs; regular breaks; increase in pay; fair bosses etc. Then model sentences with circumstance of contingency: condition eg “With better work conditions such as shorter working hours, the women would be healthier” NB make comparison by using a conditional clause eg “If there was better lighting // the women would be healthier.” This is more spoken-like.

Also model concession “Despite the difficult conditions, the women….”

Repeat questions to investigate cause: eg “Why do young women get trapped in this industry?” Possible student answer, “Because they are poor and desperate for income for their families; because they are unskilled.” Ask “what noun/s can you make from the adjective ‘poor’ and ‘desperate’?” Then model for students the circumstances of cause: Due to poverty and desperation; Because of poverty and desperation; due to lack of skills/job opportunities.

Comparison: like a leaf falls off a tree in the middle of autumn; as opposed to the more commonly used term.

Cause: for his efforts in promoting the sport; because of their personalities and where and how they were brought up; for guidance; out of fear and hunger …

Role: as small gas particles; as prisoners of war of the Japanese; under the banner of Australia

Angle: According to my results; in the eyes of Australians …

Contingency: Concession - Despite the bad weather, the boats set out from the harbor; Despite the urging of the event organisers, the circus management cancelled / didn’t cancel the performance.

Contingency: Condition – Without the deteriorating weather, the circus would not have been cancelled; With some urging on the part of the organisers, the performers decided to continue.

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Developing Nouns and Noun Groups

This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around Noun and Noun Group for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document.

Students recognise and use nouns that represent people, places, things and ideas in the learning area and expand nouns to achieve greater precision. They can be challenged to use nouns and noun groups according to the developing examples in the Language and Literacy Levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students – Grammar Knowledge (Word groups).

Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 1 – 4

Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of reception

.

This is generally the oral stage of language development and a learner’s understanding of context is developed with questions. Information is usually given by students in one word or short phrases using everyday nouns. The students may also use objects, visuals and gestures

Use big books, picture books concrete and visual resources. Ask students to name given/nominated items. Explain/clarify what it is and what it is used for. Model the correct name and pronunciation of words and explain meaning if necessary. Explain the meaning of the word ‘noun’ as ‘the thing’. Whole class, small group or individual activity: use pictures of people, places and feelings/emotions, everyday objects, have a large picture (of a room, a farmyard scene, or a shopping precinct) that has lots of objects. Students name as many objects as they can. Teacher has students repeat words that are new.

Building Noun Groups Introduce and Explain the purpose of describing word and Use describing words including size, shape and colour to build noun groups about topic words eg. big pointed yellow beak; small shiny black feathers. Construct the sentence as follows to show the describing words: a beak a big beak a big yellow beak a big pointed yellow beak The bird had a big pointed yellow beak.

Introduce articles: ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘an’ and have students match with nouns.

Teach addition of ‘s’ and ‘es’ to regular plural form of nouns. Focus on irregular plural forms as they arise.

Introduce words about a topic eg. Birds: wings, beak, feathers, nest etc. include numbers eg. two (long legs), few, some, many.

Use such sentences/phrases as ideas for an art activity. Some Senior student examples from an art class are:- one disgustingly wild, fat, hairy cat with red eyes and sharp claws outside my house; The community’s very big chlorine pool next to the school; A couple of green nocturnal owls hiding in the tree among the leaves; These six quite loud year 2 students with big mouths.

Focus on vocabulary connected with the Learning Area / theme eg. The Beach: sand, sun, water, waves, lifesavers, rock pools, shells, seagulls, etc List all new words on display posters to highlight high frequency words and technical vocabulary. Use pictures and diagrams to support vocabulary extension.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of reception.

Nominalisations do not appear until Level 6 but students may use common examples such as ‘activity’ or ‘free time’

Introduce singular and plural pronouns eg. ‘it’, ‘they’ to substitute for nouns.

Use Appendix 1 ( modified for your students) to teach the correct order of describers ie number, size, colour, shape, sound

Whole class, small group or individual activity: Students choose a picture and name the item and how it is used if applicable. They then can choose two cards eg. an astronaut and a house. Students make a short sentence about the two pictures eg. “The astronaut lives in a house”. Ask for some words which describe and give more information about the noun groups ‘the house’ and ‘the astronaut’. The noun groups can be quirky/humorous/impossible. The aim is to encourage oral skills and the use of new vocabulary in noun groups eg The big green astronaut lives in a small mud house.

Use cloze exercises to fill in missing nouns as words and/or pictures (assist as necessary).

Whole class, small group or individual activity: Have a collection of pictures, ask students to group them in to similar categories. Ask questions: “Why did you group them like that?” This might introduce the idea of classification and hyponymy. Ask questions: “Who can think of some words that tell us more about the object?” Encourage noun group words: pointers eg a flower, the donkey, my bag; numbers eg 2 leaves, 4 legs; classifiers eg chocolate milk, birthday card. Refer to Noun Group chart. See Appendix 2.

Whole class or individual activity: introduce labelling and reinforce in context with certain genre eg. information report Ask questions: “What is this part called?” Model the answers: eg “This is called the wing”. Then write the sentences on a whiteboard. Have the noun groups eg the wing, the feet, the eye, the beak, on cards and ask a student to find and match a card to the noun group on the board.

Remember to highlight to students the importance of subject-verb agreement: eg. I am…We are… A car needs…Cars need… A fun activity is to use a Snap cards game with matching noun and picture. Write words of a sentence on cards or small whiteboards and students place in order. Consider reading level of the students. Cater for differentiation.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 3

It is important to teach nouns, noun groups and nominalisations in context of the focus genre and topic matter whenever possible. At this Level learners are constructing noun groups using a narrow range of vocabulary to add some detail to descriptions. These include possessive pronouns, numeratives, describers (what’s it like?), classifiers (what type?) and qualifiers (tell me more). Refer to the Language and Literacy Levels for more information.

Focus on correct order of adjectives refer to Appendix 1 and include commas as appropriate. Use noun group table Appendix 2.to deconstruct noun groups in a given text eg a Narrative, Information Report. Teacher models some of the deconstruction, students fill in noun group table. Develop further understanding by constructing sentences and reinforcing word order in noun groups. Use cloze exercises and have students fill in missing nouns and or describers. In an Information Report on fish, focus on nouns as key words in texts. Students can highlight nouns. Are these nouns generic eg. ‘fish’ or are they words that name specific fish eg. ‘snapper’. This is a development of hyponymy. Teach classifiers: define what they are and their purpose. Ask questions eg Are there any words that give us more information about the type of thing/noun? Guide students to pick out classifiers. Whole class, small group or individual activity: Teacher to select nouns eg animals. What words can we put in front to make groups of animals? eg. farm animals; native animals; wild animals; Australian animals; hairy-nosed wombat; eastern, grey kangaroo etc. Use cloze exercises as a paired activity: have describers and classifiers on a separate sheet or on the bottom of the page. Pairs of students build the noun groups Teach qualifiers using prepositional phrases: ie using prepositions. Emphasise that they come after the noun and explain that they add more information to further define the head noun. Whole class activity: use noun groups that they have already constructed in earlier lessons. Revise what the head noun is. Ask what other word/s could be added after the noun to give more information about the noun. eg “The big, black dog in the back yard barked loudly.” ‘dog’ is the head noun and ‘in the back yard’ is the qualifier.

NB Intensifiers are only included in noun groups because they modify the describer.

When reading texts identify the nouns and ask students if there are describing words in front of the nouns that give more information about that noun.

Triangular poems: cats

big cats big fluffy cats

big fluffy grey cats To develop qualifiers further:- Give noun groups on a worksheet and ask students to add a qualifier. eg The beautifully iced birthday cake …….. (on the table) A bright sunny day ……. (at the beach) The antique school hand-bell ……. (in the principal’s office) Support students by suggesting that what they need to add after the head noun starts with a preposition eg in, on, under

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 5 – 7 cont’d

Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 3

Introduce the concept of nominalisations as appropriate to topic. Make a list of common suffixes (eg ment, ivity, ence, tion), and show how nominalisations are formed and what their purpose is.

Use a non-fiction text, for example an information report about volcanoes, to show how nominalisations are used and the effect they have on the text. eg the verb ‘erupt’ is changed to the nominalised form ‘eruption’:-

When volcanoes erupt lava runs down the side. The violent volcanic eruption results in a dangerous flow of lava.

This shows the use of a higher order relational verb (results in) and packing of information into the two participant noun groups: violent volcanic eruption; dangerous flow of lava.

Whole class or partner activity for students needing development in this Language Level band, focus on one common ending such as tion. Students can look for words with this ending in dictionaries; non-fiction texts etc and list them. Discuss the meaning of the words found and how they would be used in sentences. Talk about how they change from being a verb (or adjective) to a noun.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 8 – 10

Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Year 6

It is important to teach nouns, noun groups and nominalisations in context of the focus genre and topic matter.

Extended noun groups add description to build a character and a setting in Narratives. Information Reports also contain extended noun groups which typically contain classifiers. Extended noun groups in Recounts add detail.

Adding a post qualifier to a noun adds/compacts more information into the noun group.

Teach the value of using nouns which are more specific in nature. They clearly define what students are writing about. Focus on noun groups in texts. Refer to Appendix 1 and 2. Explore how the noun groups add meaning to the text and what purpose they serve. Remove the words in the noun groups except the head noun. Compare with the original text paragraph. How are the two texts different? Which text gives you a better ‘mental picture’ of the noun participant?

Discuss how the noun groups in Narratives can • create a character • set the scene • build suspense

Activity: find noun groups in different genres. How similar are they? How different are they and why?

Revise qualifiers and explain that they add more information after the head noun. They can be made by using prepositional phrases or relative clauses: Teach relative pronouns (eg who, where) and relative clauses as qualifiers: eg ‘Captain James Cook who was born in Whitby Yorkshire ……’; ‘The federal convention in Sydney where they drew up a draft constitution …………’ Whole class activity: distribute a worksheet with noun groups and additional information and another with the relative pronouns. Students rewrite noun groups using the relative pronouns to form qualifiers. Refer to Appendix 3 as an example.

Model the use of longer prepositional phrases eg at the bottom of the pile as qualifiers by first identifying the preposition (at) and then noting that the rest of the phrase (the bottom of the pile) is another noun group and therefore can be built up in the same way as any other noun group:- eg the last sock at the very bottom of the great big pile of dirty socks

Provide students a selection of words (nouns, pointers, describers, classifiers etc) Ask students to use them to make sentences to create an atmosphere, to build a character or to create a setting.

Distribute pictures of people, places or a scene – ask students to write sentences that include noun groups based on the details in the pictures. Visualisation: A type of ‘dictogloss’ based on using visualisation and memory:- Read a poem, a description or an excerpt from an appropriate text; Encourage careful listening to enable students to create mental images of what they are hearing. In pairs students then describe in written form the images they have imagined.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Year 6

How do I know if a word is a nominalisation? Can my, a, the, be put in front of the word? Are the words abstract not concrete/physical? eg my respect; the cooperation; a definition; her courage. Nominalisations are concepts, ideas, beliefs, processes etc.

Introduce nominalisations as appropriate and in context. Teach how they are formed and why. Students to complete worksheet changing given words into nominalised form. Make a list of suffixes (eg ment, ivity, ence, tion). Direct students to walk around the classroom and school and make a list of the nominalisations they find eg pollution, environment (from topics being taught) Reception, administration. Look for nominalisations in texts. Distribute sentences. Ask students to nominalise given words. Rewrite the sentences.

Give students selected texts from a range of genre both fiction and non-fiction. Look for nominalisations and complete the table.

Look for nominalisations in advertisements on trucks, work vans and billboards eg excellence, expertise List them and discuss why they have been used.

Genre Nominalisation What is the meaning

Information report

Explanation

Narrative

Persuasive text

Historical Recount

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 11 – 12

Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of year 8.

It is important to teach nouns, noun groups and nominalisations in context of the focus genre and topic matter. Nouns and noun groups are used to express shades of meaning and more specialised knowledge. Students begin to use more complex noun groups built around a nominalisation using precise and technical vocabulary.

Use modelled texts to focus on the noun groups and nominalisations. What technical vocabulary is used? Introduce specific vocabulary relevant to new topics. Talk about why it is important to the text to help achieve its purpose and what specific meaning it brings to the text.

Clarify the information by looking at: classifiers eg. domestic animals, chemical reaction, primary industry, and qualifiers eg sand dunes which have been eroded; business practices that have reduced the number of workers.

Develop understanding of the purpose and benefits of using nominalisations

• ability to include a lot of information in less words • moving a focus of the text from concrete to

abstract concepts eg I feel happy My happiness Water dries up Dehydration occurs when ……..

• naming a complex phenomenon or process eg filtration; dehydration; evaporation; photosynthesis; logging.

• being able to show the relationship between things eg eruption and the flow of lava ie the eruption resulted in the flow of lava

• convey a particular image of a product eg as in made up words such as schweppervessence

Ask students to de-nominalise words within a sentence, paragraph or short text. Discuss how this changes the tenor of the text. For more examples refer to

For older learners refer to EALD Teaching and Learning under first tab DTLA cycle https://myintranet.learnlink.sa.edu.au/teaching/english-as-an-additional-language-or-dialect-eald/professional-learning/designing,-teaching-and-learning-and-assessment-cycle Year 9 Explanation: Appendix D: (work sheet 2 – moving lexically dense to more spoken-like) Appendix F (worksheet 3 moving from spoken to written language)

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Language Level

Discussion Activities and examples Expansion

Level 13 – 14 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of Year 10.

It is important to teach nouns, noun groups and nominalisations in context of the focus genre and topic matter. At this level of written language students are expected to compose texts which are more academic and formal showing a definite move to the right hand side of the register continuum

Nominalisations also hide the actor and action ie what is actually happening. eg “collateral damage” . We know what this means but it is implied or inferred.

Use a variety of genre and texts from different subject areas including scientific or medical articles. Look for: • complex and expanded noun groups with

nominalisations eg the industrial construction process

• multiple classifiers and qualifiers that carry a lot of information before and after the head noun eg the continual mass destruction (of the world’s forests).

• nominalisations that express o cause eg impact, outcome o thinking and saying verbs eg debate, notion o abstraction and technicality eg evidence,

approach Activity: look at examples of

• critical book and film reviews, • applications for grants, for permission to do

something , • advertisements, • political statements.

Engage students in critical literacy, focussing on use of nominalisations. How effectively are the messages conveyed? (Refer to Evaluative language resource in this document for further critical literacy focus ideas) Would the messages be different without the nominalised words? How easy is it to read the text? How easy is it to understand the text and its message? Refer to example of two texts in the next column.

Nominalise a sentence or paragraph. De-nominalise a text on the same topic. Compare both texts. When and why would you use one or the other text? How does it change the tenor of the text? What affect could/would it have on the intended purpose of the text or a particular audience? Texts with a lot of nominalisation may appear to be challenging (eg dense, difficult to read) when:

• noun groups are complex • “actors” are removed • abstract concepts are used • metaphorical relating verbs are used (e.g.

contains, comprises, indicates). See Verbs resource in this document.

The taking of evasive measures resulting in the avoidance of predatory actions by the offending party was a result of the meeting of the previously mentioned little pigs and their awareness of the premeditation of the wolf in terms of harmful deceptions and his cleverness in the execution of his criminal intentions. The little pigs evaded the attempt of the sneaky wolf to kill them because they had met before and knew that he planned to deceive and to kill them. NB overuse of nominalisation should be avoided.

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Appendix 1: Adjectives - Word Order

An adjective can be a describer or a classifier that describes (eg old hat) or classifies (eg sports car) a noun (person, place or thing).

Although not fixed there is a common order (culturally accepted order) of these describers and classifiers:-

Describers these can have an intensifier added to them Classifiers Opinion Size Shape/

Weight / Length

Condition Age Colour Pattern Origin Material Purpose or use

beautiful, boring, stupid, delicious, useful, lovely, comfortable

big, small, tall, huge, tiny

round, square, circular, skinny, fat, heavy, straight, long, short

broken, cold, hot, wet, hungry, rich, dirty

old, young, new, ancient, antique

white, blue, greenish –blue, reddish -purple

striped, spotted, checked, flowery

American, British, Italian, eastern, Australian, Chilean

gold, wooden, silk, paper, synthetic, cotton, woollen

sleeping (bag), gardening (gloves), shopping (bag), wedding (dress)

Questions that can help determine classifiers.

What sort/type of gloves are they? (gardening; skiing) What are they made of? (rubber; cotton; leather)

What sort/type of bag is it? (shopping; shoulder)

Where does it come from? (Spain - Spanish; PNG - Dilly) NB commas are used when describers/adjectives are interchangeable ie to separate describers use from within the same category.

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NUMERATIVE/

QUANTIFIER

To quantify the noun

How many or how much?

Appendix 2

EXPANDING THE NOUN GROUP

POINTER

a, an, the

this, that, these, those my, your, his, her, its, our, their, mum’s, Gloria’s

COUNTER

one , two, second, most, few, a lot of, a little, another, enough, a bit of, several, much, plenty of, numerous, various, more, less, many, some

INTENSIFIER

really, very, absolutely, extremely, somewhat, slightly, incredibly

DESCRIBER/S

red, black, big, old , round, long, hairy, long-necked, sharp

lovely, pretty, wonderful

horrible, scary, boring

CLASSIFIER/S

Male, female, teenage girl, mountain bike, Holden car, Tiger shark,

living room

KEY NOUN

QUALIFIER/S

in the corner, under the table, over the bridge

due to the rain, with the curly hair, for dinner on Thursday, who lived with her grandmother

NB intensifiers do not add to the head noun but are used to vary the effect of the describers.

DETERMINER

Points to the noun.

Which one/s are you referring to?

Who/ what does it belong to?

Which or Whose?

INTENSIFIER

Increases the intensity or level of the describer.

To what degree?

DESCRIBER

Describes the noun.

What is it like?

Adjectives

Describers:

CLASSIFIER

Classifies the noun. What kind is it?

PARTICIPANT

(THING/ PERSON/ PLACE)

What or who we are talking about?

QUALIFIER Phrases/clauses that tell more about the noun: Where? With whom/ what? What like? About what? What for? Which one in particular? Includes circumstances of: place, time,

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Appendix 3 RELATIVE PRONOUNS:- the noun group and the additional can be written on cards. Students then rewrite the noun group with the correct relative pronoun so making a noun group with a qualifier. Refer to ‘Sentence Structure’ resource in this document for complex sentences with dependent relative clauses. NB ‘whom’ is used when the relative clause has a subject eg Could the person whom I spoke to yesterday please come forward. Although this is correct English, it is very formal and the more common linking word used is ‘that’. Although ‘that’ is a demonstrative it can be used like a pronoun.

WHO WHICH WHOSE WHERE THAT

Noun Group Answers: Relative pronoun used to join qualifier to noun group

Additional information to turn into a qualifier

The loggers WHO The loggers harvest trees from the forest plantations

The wood mill WHICH The wood mill is on the edge of town

The wood mill WHERE The wood is ground into a pulp

The ground up pulp. WHICH The ground up pulp is treated with steam and chemicals

The mill owner WHO The mill owner employs children

The children WHO The children are too young

The children WHOSE The mothers are very worried

The mill cat THAT The mill cat chases the mice

NEXT RESOURCE FOLLOWS

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Developing Evaluative Language and modality This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around Evaluative language and modality for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document. Developing appropriate tenor for a text depends on a writer’s ability to use modality, to open up to other viewpoints and to use relevant language of Appraisal (feelings, judgement, and appreciation of things or processes). There are also skills in expressing opinions directly and indirectly. The following resource suggests strategies and activities to move the learners towards higher language level achievement in both their spoken and written texts. Many of the examples are taken from Language and Literacy levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD Students – Grammar Knowledge (Expressing Opinion and point of view; Evaluative Language and Modality).

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of reception

Attitude is an aspect of Appraisal language. The first category in Attitude is AFFECT – that is words about feelings. JUDGEMENT of others and APPRECIATION of ‘things’ are the other categories. Attitude is expressed in language that shows feelings, makes judgements of people and their behaviour or appreciates things. It is further categorised: • Affect is language about ourselves and

our feelings and emotions • Judgement is language about other

people’s character and behaviour • Appreciation is language about things,

ideas, programs, performances, art work etc.

It is only at the end of level 4 (end of Reception) that learners are expected to express attitude with I like…; and to use common evaluative language: My best toy; He’s not nice; She’s happy; Evaluative language is most appropriate in non-factual texts such as Narratives, Personal Recounts and Expositions.

Ask students how characters, from books being read, might be feeling. Accept all answers but expand on students’ answers by offering alternative synonyms and phrases. Write these up on an ‘Electronic board’ so that the words can be moved around and grouped under positive feelings and negative feelings. Similarly use images conveying a range of feelings to build word banks. When building vocab about physical characteristics of family members, book characters and other people, take the opportunity to ask students how these family/friends feel in certain situations. Create scenarios that draw on student experiences of issues such as: • Canteen runs out of ice-cream on a hot day. • Being bullied • Going to a party • Being asked to stand up in front of the class • Being told off by the teacher • Learning how to swim • Singing/dancing in front of friends and they clap a lot.

Ask how they feel about these situations Build a word bank/word wall of feeling words

Introduce students to mental process to express attitude: like; want; think; eg I like dogs best; and use in • verbal groups eg I like going to the footy; I want to go to the zoo; • projecting clauses eg I think I will get a bicycle for my birthday.

Appendices 2-4 are examples to support teachers’ own text deconstruction. Read the attached example of Tangaroa’s gift (Appendix 2) to inform yourself about affect language. The highlighted words in blue indicate Paua’s feelings. Use this to support you to deconstruct the texts that you have chosen for your students to identify a character’s feelings.

NB At a higher level, students can be asked to make a Judgement of people or places in these scenarios.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year3

Appraisal is about the tenor of a text. When a text is very subjective without the possibility of other viewpoints its Engagement language is monoglossic eg People will become sick. When this viewpoint is expressed as: I believe people will become sick or People may become sick, there is opportunity for other viewpoints and this opens up the text. The text is said to be diglossic.

Attitude is expressed in language that shows feelings, makes judgements of people and their behaviour or appreciates things. • Affect is language about ourselves and

our feelings and emotions • Judgement is language about other

people’s character and behaviour • Appreciation is language about things,

ideas, programs, performances, art work etc.

Both Attitude and Engagement are subjected to words that increase or decrease the intensity. This is the language of Graduation. Modality is used in expositions to both soften and strengthen arguments and open up to other points of view. Learners at level 6 can express levels of modality.

To follow up with Affect from Levels 1 – 4 use following synonyms and graduation (intensity) to vary happiness in a chosen text. Happy: glad, pleased, delighted, overjoyed. Intensifiers: so, very, extremely Repeat for sadness Sad: upset, depressed, miserable Intensifiers: slightly, a bit, really, rather, so very etc.

Highlight in a suitable text the words that reveal judgement and appreciation. For older students some feature articles in newspapers may be suitable.

Use similar texts to highlight for modality – modal adjuncts: can; will; might; should modal adjective/adverbs: possible; possibly; frequently See Appendix 1. The use of quantifiers such as a few, some, most; and mental processes or modality, open the text up to other points of view. This is called diglossia. eg Some people think ice-cream is delicious; Most students do their homework; It might rain tomorrow.

Provide students with short monoglossic statements eg Ice cream is delicious; students do their homework; It will rain tomorrow; Young people love parties; Men are hopeless at cooking Ask students, to work in pairs and change a monoglossic text using the language items to open it up to other viewpoints. Provide texts from your Teaching Learning Cycle and use this learning about diglossia to highlight this language in other texts.

Read the attached text of Tangaroa’s gift (Appendix 3) to inform yourself about judgement and appreciation language. The highlighted words in red indicate Paua’s judgement of other characters and words in light blue indicate appreciation of his surroundings and the things he is given. Use this to support you to deconstruct the texts that you have chosen for your students.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year 6

To use language that expresses feelings, judgements of people and appreciation of things can be developed into a fun activity.

Modality becomes increasingly important when the author needs to persuade the audience to agree or to take action.

Modality can soften the ‘attack’ to make it sound reasonable and open to discussion. Whereas the language of obligation (modal auxiliary verbs) should; must, can exhort the reader to action. eg Human beings must save the rainforests. This is an example of language expressing obligation.

Human beings need to be stop rainforest destruction. – Here a modal process softens the ‘attack’.

Use an advertising pamphlet and jointly with your students highlight all the evaluative language in the text.

Students create their own promotional texts using positive language eg. Promoting the school camp to younger students.

Concentrate on modal verbs and modal adverbs. Then ask students working in groups to change all positive evaluative language into negative evaluative language. Share responses. Show students how negative language from a previously prepared text can be changed into neutral language with little subjectivity. Create another scenario such as a day at the beach, a school sports day, a visit to the Museum/Art Gallery/ Botanic gardens. Organise students into three groups. Have one group write a recount that is neutral, one group write a recount that is positive and one group write a recount that is negative. Compare answers and list new vocabulary as well as teaching new vocabulary.

See level 11 to 12 for further development of this idea.

Use texts that show modality, using language items from chart - Appendix 1. modal adjuncts(auxiliary verbs): can; will; might; should modal adjective/adverbs: possible; possibly; frequently and particularly modal nouns: possibility; frequency; probability;

Model increasing Evaluative Language using a text similar to ‘Convict Ships’ Appendix 5.

ACTIVITY Show shift to objective writing as per the Level 10. Appendix 6.

Use the following text example to inform your understanding about feeling, judgement and appreciation words. Deconstruct your own text with positive words and having built a bank of negative words have students work in pairs to change your chosen text to a negative meaning.

Example. I love cooking so I was thrilled to be asked to attend a very important culinary experience where a well-known chef demonstrated some amazing cooking skills.

All the attendees were so excited and you could see their mouths watering in expectation of the delights we would be shown. The smells in that beautiful kitchen were sublime and we couldn’t believe that the time went so quickly. At last it was time to try the tasty morsels and while we waited our turn it was hard to be patient. The sounds of people enjoying the samples were soon filling the kitchen. There was lip-smacking and ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from everyone

Expand and extend evaluative language by changing as many as possible of the positive evaluative words (in Bold) into negative words.

Refer to sample Evaluative Language Convict Ships Appendix 5.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 11 – 12 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year 8

At this level students are using an extensive range of evaluative language and are beginning to use nominalisations for feelings (beyond simple words such as sadness, happiness), for judgements and for appreciation eg A man full of forgiveness; this terrible destruction of the habitat. Graduation of evaluative language becomes important as writers make language choices to show the nuance of meanings. In the Tangaroa text greater focus and force is given through language such as: a single solitary friend; a booming voice. NB. Older students will need to use Appreciation language to report on their science experiments, movie/book reviews and excursions as well as their Personal Learning Plan (PLP). Refer to the table in the next Levels to introduce relevant evaluative (Appreciation) language.

Analyse with students an advertisement for a product(s), highlighting the evaluative language and modality.

Scaffold with students the writing of an advertisement for a ‘Miracle’ product eg face cream; shampoo.

Students then create their own advertisement for a product.

At Level 11/12 concentrate on modal adjectives and modal nouns.

Assuming the students have done an exercise like the one suggested in level 8 to 10 continue with the following:

Find a suitable media text that reports on an issue of national or international importance and Examine it together with the class for evaluative language. Look for describers, adverbs and nominalisations. Some verbs (processes) may also carry feelings or judgements eg the activists were seen creeping along the edge of the forest; the doctors have been sympathising with the local inhabitants. If the issue involves different groups of people create a table with the ‘participants’ of the text in the left hand column. In the middle and right hand column the positive and negative evaluative language is recorded.

Discuss how each of the participants in the text is presented. In a positive light? In a negative light?

Discuss critical literacy and bias with students. Show the shift from subjectivity to objectivity with examples from Levels as per Appendix 6.

A third copy of Tangaroa’s gift at the end of this resource (Appendix 4) has words in purple that show graduation. eg Conservation issue around logging of old growth forest in South America

+ positive words

- negative words

Loggers Provide jobs Destroying heritage; money grabbers.

Subsistence farmers

friendly; just trying to survive

Lacking education/world knowledge

Indigenous people

proud; knowledgeable; sustainable practices

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Language Level

Discussion Questions and examples

Level 13 – 14 Across the stages of schooling this is equivalent to end of Year 10

For the SACE Personal Learning Plan students are required to write an evaluation of their learning in literacy, numeracy, Community and work experience. The PLP is often done in year 10 as part of pre-SACE. Supporting students through an understanding of the type of language used to evaluate their learning will greatly enhance their reflective writing.

Learners will be tempted to write sentences such as “I enjoyed doing my Personal Learning Plan because I felt good about what I learned and could see that I am quite an intelligent student.” Here the student is expressing their attitude about themselves, in other words they are making language choices from the Affect language category. For a student to move to the ‘B’ or ‘A’ grade they need to make language choices from the Appreciation category of language, that is the language that shows appreciation (positive, neutral, negative) of the product. The product in this case is the program and process of their Personal Learning Plan.

It is also important for students to be able to extend their evaluative statements/ sentences using causal or concession clauses that reflect at a deeper level and more objective tone eg This part of SACE was challenging because the content had to come from my own thinking and experience. Even though there were no subject reference books to use, it was valuable to come up with my own ideas about my learning.

Possible questions around the three aspects of appreciation of ‘things’.

POSITIVE - language to model NEGATIVE – language to model

Reaction to the PLP

What did I like about the process of reflecting on my learning in literacy?

What was it about the program/process of literacy learning that engaged me?

I liked the Personal Learning Plan because it made me think deeply about my learning. It engaged me positively and I found it enjoyable. (satisfying, absorbing, interesting)

Being made to think about learning in this way was both exciting and engaging. It gave me a new interest in learning.

Doing the PLP was confusing and did not engage me in thinking about my learning. I found it boring, (un-enjoyable, tiring, stultifying).

Having to think about my learning in this way did not interest me. It was not an engaging process for me.

Composition of the PLP

Was the program of learning well put together/constructed?

Was it easy to follow the ideas that teachers were giving me to help me focus on my PLP?

My PLP program was well constructed. There were well organised questionnaires and evaluation proformas to follow. Peer discussions were guided appropriately There was a balanced amount of discussion and writing. Each step of the program was well supported and easy to follow.

It was hard to follow the process and it didn’t support my learning in my other subjects. The materials we were given were difficult to follow and poorly presented. It was disjointed, confusing, muddled.

Valuation of my PLP What was worthwhile in this program of learning?

What was the value of engaging in this approach to my learning?

The ideas and suggestions given were very helpful, however the whole process of reflecting on my learning was challenging at times but I have found this part of my SACE very worthwhile. My research methods were reliable and my data was accurate and useful. It has been a rewarding and constructive experience. I felt the whole program was effective. This innovative (valuable) program has had a big impact and influence on my learning by supporting and developing my capabilities. It has made me very aware of learning challenges I will face in tertiary education but has prepared me for the opportunities.

This process has not been helpful and has lacked depth and quality to further my education and growth as a student. I was not given support to solve and overcome the issues I faced. It was shallow, meaningless, outdated and irrelevant process. It was repetitive, repetitious and tedious. It was not stimulating. It failed to meet my needs as a student.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 13 – 14 Cont’d Across the stages of schooling equivalent to end of year 10

English speaking students are expected to reach Language Level 14 by the end of year 10 if they are high achieving learners. Level 14 is a highly sophisticated Language Level that many students do not reach while they are teenagers. While students are developing their language between Levels 11 and 14 they sometimes drop back to less complex language and grammar. This is because their ‘internal language voice’ is seeking clarity which they may feel is not evident in the higher order language. From Language Level 14 onwards a student increases their specialised topic vocabulary and uses lexically dense language with increasing confidence. Complex sentences and grammatically simple but lexically dense sentences become the norm in their academic writing.

Deconstruct a higher order text to record the various language items that express low to high modality. Concentrate on modal clauses and phrases. See Appendix 1. Show the shift from subjectivity to objectivity with examples from Levels. Expand on Appendix 6 with your own examples.

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Appendix 1

Modal resources expressing certainty

Modal Finites (auxiliaries): Will, must, could, might, may.

• That must be the milkman. • It could be Jill.

Modal Adjuncts perhaps, maybe, possibly, probably, surely, certainly, definitely.

• It’s possibly the best in the world. • It’s definitely the best in the world.

Mental and verbal processes Subjective: I know, I think, I believe, Objective: It indicates that.., It suggests that…, They say that…., Scientists claim that..

• I think it’s the best. • I believe you’re right. • Scientists claim that the Universe is continuing to

expand.

Modal qualities Certain, sure, positive, uncertain, impossible, possible.

• I am certain that it is the best

Modal nominals Possibility, certainty, probability, risk, chance, likelihood….

• There is a chance of rain. • There is a strong possibility that the event will be

cancelled. • The risk of damage is high.

Modal resources expressing usuality/frequency

Modal adjuncts Always, usually, typically, often, sometimes, seldom, rarely, never

• I always shop there. • I never shop there.

Modal qualities Frequent, common, usual, typical, infrequent, unusual, rare.

• It’s a common sight. • It’s an unusual sight.

Modal nominals Tendency, frequency, rate.

• Fatal accidents have decreased in frequency recently.

Modal resources expressing obligation

Modal finites Will, must, should, ought to, have to.

• I should go and help. • We ought to think about that more carefully.

Modal adjuncts Necessarily, compulsorily, at all cost

• It must be stopped at all costs.

Saying and relational processes Demanded, commanded, compelled, required.

• They demanded we finish immediately. • It required a change in procedure.

Modal qualities Compulsory, obligatory, necessary.

• It was a compulsory test. • Salt is a necessary ingredient.

Modal nominals Obligation, requirement, expectation, demand.

• There is an expectation that we will attend. • It is a requirement of the job.

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Appendix 1 continued

Table of language items for expressing High to Low modality

Grammatical Resource High Modality Medium Modality Low modality

Modal verbs and a few modal adverbs tend to be used in the lower Language Levels 5 to 7

Model verbs (auxiliaries)

Must; should; ought to; has to.

Will; can; need to. May; would; could; might.

Model adverbs, adjectives and nouns are more typical of Language Levels 8 to 10

Modal adverbs Certainly; definitely; absolutely; surely; in fact

Probably; usually, generally; likely.

Possibly; perhaps; maybe; sometimes.

Modal Adjectives Certain; definite; absolute.

Probable; usual. possible

Modal Nouns certainty probability Possibility

The following modal language is more typical of highly written-like language at Levels 11 to 14. However mental processes eg think; believe and rhetoric ‘in my opinion’ are taught at lower language levels.

Modal clauses and phrases

I contend (that) It is obvious/clear (that) Everyone knows (that) I am sure you will agree …

I think/believe (that) In my opinion It is/isn’t likely (that) If………..then……

I guess (that) It seems (that) This suggests (that)

Rhetorical (expository) questions

Does it have to be this way?

Will science provide an answer to global warning?

Can literature save the world?

Adapted from Humphries, Love, Droga (2011) Working Grammar, table 7.1 page 88

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Appendix 2

Tangaroa’s Gift

Affect. Words in blue describe the emotions and feelings of the character.

Once, in the days of old, there lived a sad and lonely sea creature named Paua. In all the ocean, he could not find a single solitary friend to play with. There were so few like him, for they had no means of protecting themselves from hungry fish and because they moved so slowly they had trouble finding one another in the myriad crevices and hiding places in the rocks.

So Paua huddled gloomily under the seaweed thinking sad thoughts and aching with loneliness.

Suddenly, a great surge of water plucked away his protective cover of weed. The sand swirled and danced about him like a whirlwind, stinging his eyes and filling his mouth. As he wept and spluttered and spat out the sand, he heard a booming voice, saying, “Paua, why are you so sad?”

Paua’s eyes were so gritty and blurred that he could not see, but he recognised immediately the booming voice of Tangaroa, god of the sea. “Oh, Tangaroa!” he cried forlornly. “I’m so very lonely”

“The snooty Snapper taunts me with his bright blue spots on his pretty pink skin as he flashes past.

The stealthy Stingray glides gracefully overhead, sleek and shiny and shimmering.

The swishing Seaweed bends and sways with the current, gently caressing the rocks and clothing them with all manner of wonderful shapes.

The kinky Kina boasts of his sharp spikes and adorns himself with pretty beads and pebbles and shells.

Other creatures flaunt their delicate, intricate shells and laugh at my thick, black rubbery lips. I’m so ugly, so slow, so defenceless.”

And he cried.

Tangoroa thought for a moment. Here was a steadfast, tenacious little creature who deserved something special. Something just for him.

So he said to Paua, “I will take the coolest blues from my domain……. ….and I will ask of my brother Tane some of the freshest greens of the forest.

“From the dawn you shall have a tinge of violet…… ….and from the sunset a blush of pink,

And over all, a shimmer of mother-of-pearl and the most intricate patterns, as fine as the finest Nautilus shell.”

And he fashioned for Paua a wonderful coat that sparkled and dazzled with its beauty.

Indeed, it was so beautiful that all the creatures of the sea came to gaze in wonder upon this new being that sparkled in their midst.

The other sea creatures became envious of Paua and started to tease and ridicule him and made his life utterly miserable.

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Tangaroa heard him crying. “I love this beautiful coat,” Paua sobbed, “but the other creatures despise me and are so jealous of me. I long for peace and quiet but I can’t even hide from them now, I’m so conspicuous.”

Tangaroa was angry with all those who made Paua so miserable, and said “From the rocks I take a drabness so that you may be as one with them, and to you , and only you, I give the coolest blues of the ocean, the freshest greens of the forest, a tinge of violet from the dawn, a bluish pink from the sunset, and over all a shimmer of mother-of-pearl.

And it will be your life’s work to add, layer upon layer, the most intricate patterns, as fine as the finest nautilus shell, each a different hue and blend.”

And so it was that Paua got his beautiful shell. He hugs the secret of its beauty to himself and only at the end of his life, when his empty shell washes ashore, is his artistry revealed ….each layer a unique, multi-coloured masterpiece.

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Appendix 3

Tangaroa’s Gift

Judgement. Words in red used to describe people or living things.

Appreciation. Words in turquoise used to describe the attributes of things.

Once, in the days of old, there lived a sad and lonely sea creature named Paua. In all the ocean, he could not find a single solitary friend to play with. There were so few like him, for they had no means of protecting themselves from hungry fish and because they moved so slowly they had trouble finding one another in the myriad crevices and hiding places in the rocks.

So Paua huddled gloomily under the seaweed thinking sad thoughts and aching with loneliness.

Suddenly, a great surge of water plucked away his protective cover of weed. The sand swirled and danced about him like a whirlwind, stinging his eyes and filling his mouth. As he wept and spluttered and spat out the sand, he heard a booming voice, saying, “Paua, why are you so sad?”

Paua’s eyes were so gritty and blurred that he could not see, but he recognised immediately the booming voice of Tangaroa, god of the sea. “Oh, Tangaroa!” he cried forlornly. “I’m so very lonely”

“The snooty Snapper taunts me with his bright blue spots on his pretty pink skin as he flashes past.

The stealthy Stingray glides gracefully overhead, sleek and shiny and shimmering.

The swishing Seaweed bends and sways with the current, gently caressing the rocks and clothing them with all manner of wonderful shapes.

The kinky Kina boasts of his sharp spikes and adorns himself with pretty beads and pebbles and shells.

Other creatures flaunt their delicate, intricate shells and laugh at my thick, black rubbery lips. I’m so ugly, so slow, so defenceless.”

And he cried.

Tangoroa thought for a moment. Here was a steadfast, tenacious little creature who deserved something special. Something just for him.

So he said to Paua, “I will take the coolest blues from my domain……. ….and I will ask of my brother Tane some of the freshest greens of the forest.

“From the dawn you shall have a tinge of violet…… ….and from the sunset a blush of pink,

And over all, a shimmer of mother-of-pearl and the most intricate patterns, as fine as the finest Nautilus shell.”

And he fashioned for Paua a wonderful coat that sparkled and dazzled with its beauty.

Indeed, it was so beautiful that all the creatures of the sea came to gaze in wonder upon this new being that sparkled in their midst.

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The other sea creatures became envious of Paua and started to tease and ridicule him and made his life utterly miserable.

Tangaroa heard him crying. “I love this beautiful coat,” Paua sobbed, “but the other creatures despise me and are so jealous of me. I long for peace and quiet but I can’t even hide from them now, I’m so conspicuous.”

Tangaroa was angry with all those who made Paua so miserable, and said “From the rocks I take a drabness so that you may be as one with them, and to you , and only you, I give the coolest blues of the ocean, the freshest greens of the forest, a tinge of violet from the dawn, a bluish pink from the sunset, and over all a shimmer of mother-of-pearl.

And it will be your life’s work to add, layer upon layer, the most intricate patterns, as fine as the finest nautilus shell, each a different hue and blend.”

And so it was that Paua got his beautiful shell. He hugs the secret of its beauty to himself and only at the end of his life, when his empty shell washes ashore, is his artistry revealed ….each layer a unique, multi-coloured masterpiece.

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Appendix 4

Tangaroa’s Gift

Graduation. Words in pink are used to sharpen or soften FOCUS or to raise or lower FORCE. FORCE can also be quantified by number, mass or extent.

Once, in the days of old, there lived a sad and lonely sea creature named Paua. In all the ocean, he could not find a single solitary friend to play with. There were so few like him, for they had no means of protecting themselves from hungry fish and because they moved so slowly they had trouble finding one another in the myriad crevices and hiding places in the rocks.

So Paua huddled gloomily under the seaweed thinking sad thoughts and aching with loneliness.

Suddenly, a great surge of water plucked away his protective cover of weed. The sand swirled and danced about him like a whirlwind, stinging his eyes and filling his mouth. As he wept and spluttered and spat out the sand, he heard a booming voice, saying, “Paua, why are you so sad?”

Paua’s eyes were so gritty and blurred that he could not see, but he recognised immediately the booming voice of Tangaroa, god of the sea. “Oh, Tangaroa!” he cried forlornly. “I’m so very lonely”

“The snooty Snapper taunts me with his bright blue spots on his pretty pink skin as he flashes past.

The stealthy Stingray glides gracefully overhead, sleek and shiny and shimmering.

The swishing Seaweed bends and sways with the current, gently caressing the rocks and clothing them with all manner of wonderful shapes.

The kinky Kina boasts of his sharp spikes and adorns himself with pretty beads and pebbles and shells.

Other creatures flaunt their delicate, intricate shells and laugh at my thick, black rubbery lips. I’m so ugly, so slow, so defenceless.”

And he cried.

Tangoroa thought for a moment. Here was a steadfast, tenacious little creature who deserved something special. Something just for him.

So he said to Paua, “I will take the coolest blues from my domain……. ….and I will ask of my brother Tane some of the freshest greens of the forest.

“From the dawn you shall have a tinge of violet…… ….and from the sunset a blush of pink,

And over all, a shimmer of mother-of-pearl and the most intricate patterns, as fine as the finest Nautilus shell.”

And he fashioned for Paua a wonderful coat that sparkled and dazzled with its beauty.

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Indeed, it was so beautiful that all the creatures of the sea came to gaze in wonder upon this new being that sparkled in their midst.

The other sea creatures became envious of Paua and started to tease and ridicule him and made his life utterly miserable.

Tangaroa heard him crying.

“I love this beautiful coat,” Paua sobbed, “but the other creatures despise me and are so jealous of me. I long for peace and quiet but I can’t even hide from them now, I’m so conspicuous.”

Tangaroa was angry with all those who made Paua so miserable, and said “From the rocks I take a drabness so that you may be as one with them, and to you , and only you, I give the coolest blues of the ocean, the freshest greens of the forest, a tinge of violet from the dawn, a bluish pink from the sunset, and over all a shimmer of mother-of-pearl.

And it will be your life’s work to add, layer upon layer, the most intricate patterns, as fine as the finest nautilus shell, each a different hue and blend.”

And so it was that Paua got his beautiful shell. He hugs the secret of its beauty to himself and only at the end of his life, when his empty shell washes ashore, is his artistry revealed ….each layer a unique, multi-coloured masterpiece.

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Appendix 5

CONVICT SHIPS

Blue bold - Intensity (intensifiers)

Purple – Evaluative language (feelings; judgement and appreciation)

Italics – Modality and rhetorical language.

__________________________________________________________________________________

This text shows good technical language but uses evaluative language from Levels 7 and 8

The big ships called hulks were floating gaols. The hulks were over-crowded and cramped; often there wasn’t room to stand up. A hulk could be up to 65 metres long. On board each hulk there could be 300 convicts. There were many diseases on board and convicts died. Between 1776 and 1795 nearly 2000 out of 6000 convicts held on hulks, died. The majority died from diseases such as typhoid and cholera. The convicts were not fed well. The people in charge wanted to keep costs low. The daily diet was made up of ox-cheek, either boiled or made into soup, pease (peas), bread or biscuits. The biscuits were often mouldy. Tobacco was supplied as part of their ration and as a reward for good behaviour. Convicts got up at sunrise and worked very hard for up to 10 hours a day. All convicts were sentenced to hard labour as part of their punishment and could be forced to work at any manual task such as timber cutting, brick making or stone cutting.

At higher Language Levels there is more extensive evaluative language, more intensity and modality. The evaluative language in this text is at Levels 9 to 10

The huge ships, called hulks, were floating gaols. Conditions in these floating gaols were terrible. The hulks were over-crowded and cramped. Often there wasn’t even room to stand up! A hulk could be up to 65 metres long. This is the same size as 6 buses placed end to end. On board each hulk, there could be up to 300 convicts. Can you imagine 50 people living in one bus, for many months? There were many diseases on board. The stench was disgusting and the matter on the floors was indescribably awful. Between 1776 and 1795, nearly 2000 out of almost 6000 convicts held on hulks, died due to the appalling conditions. The majority died from diseases such as typhoid and cholera.

The convicts were not fed very well - in fact – often they were not fed at all. The slightest misdemeanour resulted in food being withdrawn for 24 hours or longer. The people in charge did not value the lives of these poor convicts and wanted to keep costs low. The daily diet was often made up of ox-cheek, either boiled or made into soup, pease (peas), bread or biscuits. The biscuits were either tasteless or mouldy. Tobacco could be supplied as part of their ration as a reward for a job well done or for good behaviour. Poor convicts often did hard physical work on board ship just to get a paltry measure of tobacco to pass the time of day.

On arrival in Australia, convicts got up at sunrise and worked extremely hard for up to 10 hours a day- sometimes more. All convicts were sentenced to hard labour as part of their punishment and could be forced to work at just about any manual task such as timber cutting, brick making or stone cutting. Such were the harsh conditions resulting from something as small as stealing a loaf of bread.

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Appendix 6

Subjectivity and Objectivity While subjectivity is about opinion, objectivity is about facts. The opinion can be a personal opinion or the opinion of others eg I think; Many people say; Doctors tell us; Historians argue;

Objectivity requires reference to data eg These results show; Due to all the evidence previously stated; Research tells us; Recent reports confirm that; Recent findings conclusively support…;

Highly Subjective Highly Objective

Moving towards objectivity

I think that smoking is really bad for your health.

There is much evidence that shows us smoking is really bad for our health.

Recent Reports indicate 89% of people admitted to hospitals in 2009 – 2014 suffering from lung cancer had been smokers at some point in their lives.

I found the PLP very rewarding.

SACE Board believes the skills learnt in the PLP improve students’ ability to be independent learners

At the end of 2012, all year 10 students completed the SACE questionnaire which showed that 74% agreed that the PLP was rewarding

I liked doing Community Service as I think it is a really valuable thing to do.

Many people say that we should spend more time on voluntary community service as it is so valuable.

Of 825 students interviewed in December 2013 79.2% of them indicated that they found the Community Service activities valuable and 92.4% said they hoped to do more in 2014.

Being overweight is a huge health risk

Many doctors say that being overweight is the major cause of heart attack.

Recent findings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that high consumption of sugar rather than fat is the cause of obesity and thus heart attack.

In my opinion. Global warming is a real issue

Tim Flannery urges us the act because global warming is a real issue.

This research conclusively demonstrates that the earth’s atmospheric temperature is increasing.

My dad told me that life came to earth on a comet.

One of the many theories is that life was brought to earth on a comet.

Sankar Chatterjee (ASTROBIOLOGY magazine Nov 6th 2013) Professor of Geosciences and Curator of palaeontology said “Thanks to heavy comet and meteorite bombardment, the large craters left behind not only contained water and basic building blocks of life but also became the crucible to concentrate and cook the chemicals to form the first life”.

Teachers can use Appendix 6 as examples to model the shift across the continuum from subjectivity to objectivity and/or create • an ‘information gap’ sheet where facts are quoted in the right hand column and students fill in the left

hand and middle columns with more subjective spoken-like language • a teaching/learning activity in which students analyse short texts and sort them according to where they

might fit on a continuum from subjectivity to objectivity. Students can then share and justifying their decisions focussing on the vocabulary choices; the modality; and varying phrases used to express subjective and objective perspectives.

NEXT RESOURCE FOLLOWS

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Vocabulary

This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around Word Knowledge development, for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document. Vocabulary is vital for success with comprehension and fluency. It is also a key component of reading for meaning. It is learned directly through repeated exposure to new words in conversations, listening to stories, by reading and through media exposure in meaningful contexts. Explicit teaching of vocabulary adds to the vocabulary growth of all children. Teachers realise the importance of the role of vocabulary and how to directly support its development.

Most of the activities listed below could be adapted to suit a variety of year levels.

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4

Across the years of schooling equivalent to end of Reception).

Language development from birth to 5 is vital for a child’s future learning in reading and writing. A learner’s use and understanding of, is developed through opportunities and encouragement to speak, to experiment with words and to respond to or pose questions.

Teaching vocabulary in context of the topic and focus genre is paramount. Pre-teaching critical vocabulary and discussing meanings and associated concepts before reading a story aloud or before students read new texts is essential to ensure new words are in the reader’s oral vocabulary.

Tiers of Vocabulary

See next page.

Label items in the classroom. Ask students to point to/touch a nominated item.

Discuss the purpose of the item, what it is made of etc. Have a large picture of a room, a farmyard scene, or a shopping precinct that shows numerous objects. Ask students to name particular items and explain what they are and how they are used.

Ask questions which encourage complete answers and include spatial terms: eg Where is the …….? It is on the…..

What is the name of the ‘thing’ under the table? It is a ……..

Read picture books. Print vocabulary is more extensive and varied than oral language. Read a text several times as it provides the repeated exposure students need to internalise the new vocabulary.

Write words related to a theme or topic on cards and have pictures to match those words on another set of cards. Students can match the word with the picture.

Teach specific words that relate to a topic eg shopping: create a list of the types of shops that the students know, go to a shopping centre, take photos/write a list of the shops. Compare lists.

Tell stories that use elaborate language, use audio books and model good language to also support vocabulary development of all students.

Fill a bag or box with a variety of objects, students select an object (without looking at it first) from the bag and describe it. Have a box with items that have a commonality eg kitchen utensils. Students choose one and talk about it.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 – 4

Cont’d

Across the years of schooling equivalent to end of Reception).

Tiers of Vocabulary

Tier 1 – basic and high frequency words eg said, house, school used in everyday conversation and learnt reasonably quickly.

Tier 2 – words used by more mature users of a particular age group so will differ depending on the age of the children. Words appear more often in texts but not so frequently in everyday language. These words should be the focus of direct instruction as they are the most useful across multiple contexts and words that children are less likely to learn without help.

Tier 3 – words that relate to specific fields of knowledge (subject specific vocabulary) and are usually taught as part of content area literacy.

Match the name of the shop with what happens there eg butcher – where we buy meat. greengrocer – where fruit and vegetables are sold newsagency – where we buy newspapers, cards, pens etc

Teach the names of the person in the shop eg butcher, greengrocer, newsagent

Create a list of shopping items eg cash register, shelves, counter, display cabinet, trading hours etc

Create a wall chart/word wall/class book of new words with matching pictures to build vocabulary knowledge.

Collect a variety of pictures or objects eg animals; modes of transport; flowers; foods and work with students to sort them into categories. Discuss/explain the categories. Develop further with hyponymy activity

Ask students for translations of key nouns in their home/first language. eg if you are doing an information report on frogs, ask what the word for frog is in Vietnamese etc. Make a display using the English and Vietnamese words with an accompanying picture.

Lead students in a hyponymy activity with topics eg birds – and subsets of birds: crow, budgie (budgerigar), parrot, kookaburra; seagull etc.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 3.

Continue to introduce and teach new vocabulary in context of the focus genre and topic matter.

Continue to pre-teach critical vocabulary and discuss meanings and associated concepts before reading a text and before students read new Learning Area texts.

Teach the correct use of words that have different meanings in learning area contexts eg Put it on the table; Write the results in the table. Here is a phone message for you; The message of the story is ……. Explain key learning area vocabulary relevant to this language level eg English:, fairy-tale, paragraph Geography: stream, city, contour lines. History: olden days, memorial, goldfields Maths: half past, edges, fraction Science: nest, seedling, investigation Check for differing meaning in different Learning Areas.

Teach abbreviations and the full word eg phone –telephone, bike - bicycle, Dan –Daniel Students write these word in full Nov _______________ temp ___________ Ltd _______________ Rd _____________ Km _______________ max ____________ vol ________________ Ave _____________ Students write down the full words for these letters

ACT NT SA WA QLD VIC NZ Use real life objects when practical to assist in the explanation of words eg wood, plastic, metal.

Make a list of different words which express ways of moving eg strolling, ambulating, waddling, slithering etc. Match the word with the movement of an animal. Which words describe how a person can move?

Repeat a hyponymy activity (see Expansion Level 1 – 4) with other topics eg fruit; vegetables. Write topic words on cards with accompanying pictures. Students group the cards and write a category name for each set of cards.

Label parts of a plant; an insect; a map; a piece of technology or any object relevant to the topic/L A context.

Provide a topic related text which describes an animal or object with a picture of the animal or object. Students label the picture using the appropriate vocabulary from the text eg a text about camels would have coat, mouth, nostrils, eyelashes etc. Write the words next to the correct body part.

Explain why words are shortened. Some words are shortened to make them quicker to say. Some groups of words are shortened so much that only their first letter remains. Students can place sticky notes next to unknown or unfamiliar words. They can work with a friend, re-read the sentence or use a dictionary to find its meaning.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 6.

Continue to teach vocabulary in context of the focus genre and topic matter.

Continue to pre-teach critical vocabulary and discuss meanings and associated concepts before students read new Learning Area texts.

Provide opportunities for students to use subject specific vocabulary during whole class two way information gap activities (barrier games).

Focus on the nouns in a selected text or paragraph. How specifically do they define the subject of the text? Is it general or specific? Is the noun general in the introduction and become more specific as the text goes on? What words are used to make it specific? eg lagoon rather than lake; convict rather than prisoner

Teach the appropriate choice of word for the purpose of the text and audience eg chop up, cut, slice, dissect; move, turn, rotate, oscillate by placing them on a cline from informal and everyday language to formal and technical language

Teach abbreviations by matching the short words to the longer versions and writing them in full:- Christine petroleum exam Maths

fridge influenza add petrol

addition examination Chris Geoffrey

Geoff refrigerator flu mathematics

Introduce acronyms, see Appendix 1, and review abbreviations. An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of other words and pronounced as a word. eg RAM - random access memory DOS – disc operating system

Begin a class dictionary of polysemous words which are words that have multiple meanings eg the word scale can mean to climb, a plant disease, a measuring instrument or a feature of a fish. Students each add a word.

Introduce the process for dictogloss to develop learners’ confidence to use topic and specific/technical Learning Area vocabulary. See Appendix 2.

In Maths a student could give instructions to the whole class so they can draw the same geometric shape eg “The circle’s circumference is 30 cms” instead of “The circle has an outside length of 30 cms” Provide a topic related text which describes parts of a system. Students label the diagram using the appropriate vocabulary from the text eg a text about the skeleton. Write the words next to the correct body part eg cranium, radius, ulna, tibia, sternum, ribs, clavicle etc Teach students to use clues in the text (eg a dash is often used in front of a definition) to help understand particular words eg Sophie was bewildered- she didn’t understand what was happening

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 11 – 12 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 8. By end of year 8 students use a wide range of new specialist and topic vocabulary to contribute to the specificity, authority and abstraction of texts

Continue teaching vocabulary in the context of the topic being studied.

Teach students to use clues in the text to help understand particular words. A dash is often used in front of a definition eg Sophie was bewildered – she didn’t understand what was happening.

Model ways for students to learn new vocabulary eg underline, highlight or place sticky notes next to unknown or unfamiliar words, find the meaning using a glossary or a dictionary, have a guess, re-read the text, find it a second time in the same text where its meaning is more obvious.

Reinforce specific vocabulary by labelling a visual (eg aerial photograph, map, graph, schematic drawing) relevant to the topic. Model using subject specific vocabulary to explain a graphic in a subject text. Reinforce specific vocabulary by labelling items in a practical Learning Area. Continue use of dictogloss, see Appendix 2. Where appropriate focus upon hyponyms for example in a text about farm birds use poultry instead of ducks, geese, chickens. Model a process whereby students read a text and then, highlight key words and suggest different terminology/word forms as possible headings, before deciding upon the most appropriate ‘Heading’ for each section eg

Engines Locomotion Ground propulsion There are various means of moving solid bodies along the ground. This is most often for the purpose of transporting people or cargo. The system used to propel ground vehicles often combines of an engine, a gearbox, axles and wheels.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 13 – 14 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 10.

Teach vocabulary in context of the focus genre and L A subject.

Pre-teach critical vocabulary and discuss meanings and associated concepts before students read new texts.

Discuss the likely reasons for particular terms being used instead of their synonyms eg traffic police instead of transport police /vehicle police. Develop concept maps using subject specific vocabulary. Use cloze exercises needing technical words to complete. Explicitly teach words encountered in materials being read in class. Some words and their meanings are more easily understood through direct instruction. See Appendix 3 for a suggested teaching sequence. Increase the complexity and difficulty of the activities mentioned in Levels 11-12.

Deconstruct a text and consider vocabulary choices in terms of purpose and audience. Refer to Appendix 3 in ‘Sentences’ Teaching Strategies in this document.

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APPENDIX 1

Activity 1: Connect each acronym to its correct meaning. personal identity number AIDS computer-aided design

really old men ALP apples labelled as pears

goods and services tax CAD read-only memory

Australian Labour Party PIN acquired immune deficiency syndrome

cats and dogs GST person in need

Any infectious disease symptoms ROM volume and tone

Activity 2: Find out the meanings of these acronyms.

UFO

CD

ABC

ie

ISBN

VIP

SCUBA

FIFO

AWOL

UNICEF

ANZAC

Activity 3: Investigate student knowledge of SMS text. Make up some acronyms to suit topic or student level.

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APPENDIX 2

DICTOGLOSS* A dictogloss is a writing activity in which students attempt to reconstruct a short piece of text which the teacher will have read aloud to them. On the first reading they simply listen to the text. On the second reading they take down key words and phrases and then, with a partner try to reproduce the text they have just heard. When they have done that, they compare their text to the original text. The idea is to get as close to the register of the original text as possible.

The aim of the activity is to develop skills for writing in a particular register**. One of the strengths of the activity is that it gives students the opportunity to negotiate meaning of a shared text with their peers. Another strength is that, in replicating the meanings of the original texts, students will have to use equally complex nominal groups and a similar level of nominalisation.

How to do it There are 4 stages in a dictogloss: • preparing for listening • listening to the text – the first time, just listening- the second time, jotting down words and phrases • reconstructing the text • comparing versions of the text

Preparation If the students have not done a dictogloss before, give a very brief explanation of the main stages. The next step is to provide a context for the listening task. This stage includes reviewing the field that is being studied in the unit of work, using a range of multimodal resources. Such preparation helps students to anticipate what they are going to hear and thus, to listen more actively and effectively.

Listening to the text Read the text aloud at normal speed. Students listen, in order to understand the passage as a whole. The second time the text is read aloud, students jot down key words and phrases. Remind students that they won’t be able to write down the text in its entirety or even to take notes in the normal sense. The task is to record words and phrases that will trigger their memory and allow them to reconstruct the text with their partner.

Reconstruction of the text Students work in pairs or small groups to reconstruct the text they have heard, using: • key words and phrases they have jotted down individually • their knowledge of the topic • their collective understanding of how language works.

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The text they create should: • maintain the register of the original text as much as possible (ie same content and degree of technicality and abstraction (field), same degree of

objectivity or subjectivity and certainty (tenor), similar elements being foregrounded (mode)) • be “sound English text” – cohesive and as grammatically accurate as possible. To support students in note taking, the class as a whole, could share the

notes they have taken so they can discuss which were relevant for the reconstruction. Comparison of versions of the text Groups share and compare the text they have produced, including a comparison with the original text. Follow this up with a discussion on the language choices they have made. You may decide to work through particular difficulties the students might be having with any aspect of language, either with the whole group or with individual students. Outcomes of the dictogloss When doing a dictogloss with students, it is not crucial that they reproduce the text verbatim. The idea is to get as close as possible to the original text, thus replicating the register of that text. For many EALD students, writing in these more formal written registers, often pressures them to plagiarise other people’s texts. An advantage of the dictogloss is that it has students actively reconstructing the meanings with their peers rather than just copying out of the text. EALD students not only have the opportunity to contribute to the task, but they also benefit from listening and talking with their peers. Another advantage, is that it works very well in helping students to remember the content and can be used at any stage of the curriculum cycle to consolidate knowledge. *Teaching ESL students in mainstream classrooms: language in learning across the curriculum pp 151- 153 2012 version

**A term used to refer to combined aspects of specific situations or contexts which influence language choices and meanings. The three aspects which combine to form register are:

• what the subject matter is (field) • who is taking part and their relative roles and relationships (tenor) • how language is organised to create a cohesive text, the medium or channel of communication and whether language is used to accompany action

or as reflection (mode) from Language and Literacy Levels across the Australian Curriculum: EALD students - Glossary

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APPENDIX 3

i. Read aloud the sentence or mention where the students first met the word. Show students the word and ask them to say it aloud.

rudimentary

ii. Ask students to repeat it several times. Brainstorm possible meanings with the group. Point out any parts of the word that might help with meaning eg a prefix or Latin or Greek root. Reread the sentence or refer to the context in which it was used to see if there are any contextual clues.

iii. Explain the meaning explicitly through a student-friendly definition and use of synonyms.

Rudimentary means simple or very basic.

iv. Provide examples, emphasising the target word.

Ben found the test easy because all the questions were quite rudimentary.

Bella speaks rudimentary German because she has only been learning it for three months.

The pilot’s final test was not rudimentary because it covered everything he had learned in three years of training.

v. Ask questions to determine if students understand the word.

Would a doctor have a rudimentary understanding of the human body? Why or why not?

Would a primary school teacher have a rudimentary understanding of the human body? Why or why not?

vi. Provide sentences that students can judge as being true or false.

The high court judge had a rudimentary knowledge of the law. True or False?

The first year apprentice had a rudimentary knowledge of how to build a house. True or False?

vii. Students then write their own sentences to be judged as true or false by other students.

viii. Consciously use the word throughout the day to reinforce the meaning and different ways in which it can be used.1

NEXT RESOURCE FOLLOWS

1 DECS June 2011 Research into practice paper - Understanding the reading process Series 1/1.4

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Spelling This resource is to support teachers who have set goals and targets, around Word Knowledge development, for their students’ texts using the Teaching and Learning Goals and Language and Literacy Levels Targets proforma. This proforma is in the Language and Literacy Levels: Recording and Tracking for Learning document. Types of Spelling Knowledge (See Appendix 1)

• phonological – how words sound • visual – how words look • morphemic – how words change form eg jump, jumps, jumped, jumping • etymological – where words come from

Stages of Spelling Development. (See Appendix 2) • emerging print concepts • semi-phonetic – phonic activities eg onsets and rimes, • phonetic- digraphs, silent letters, prefixes, suffixes • transitional - spell by using rules/generalisation • proficient – spell from memory

Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1 - 4 Across the stages of schooling equivalent to the end of reception

This is the beginning stage of learning the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. Students begin to use this knowledge to recognise and read words. They also build skills to blend onsets and rimes (eg c-at) and segment sounds (d/o/g) in words. Through this they become familiar with the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) pattern. These aspects along with syllables are components pf ‘Phonological Awareness’ (refer to Big 6)

Focus on letter formation instruction. It is important to teach spelling in context.

Assess students’ prior knowledge of words and letter clusters. Introduce selected/relevant letter/s and sound/s related to the genre or topic being taught. Teach each letter’s name and its sound.

Display items beginning with that/those letter/s.

Whole class or individual activity: Plan activities in different learning areas (where practical) to reinforce recognition of selected letters eg if the letter is “f”, jointly compose an Information Report including the life cycle about frogs/fish, draw frogs/fish, teach songs about frogs/fish, introduce topic vocabulary related to frogs/fish, move like a frog/fish etc. Read texts. Ask students to identify nominated sounds by pointing, using post it notes or highlighting or circling on photocopied pages.

Students walk around school and look for, draw or write items that begin with that letter. Have a ‘sound/s of the week.’

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 1-4 Cont’d Consider adapting teaching strategies for New Arrival students (regardless of their age) whose language system isn’t alphabetical eg Chinese, Arabic. The use of symbols as an introduction may bridge the gap.

Teach and make lists of words with the same pattern (CVC) eg. word ending in ‘at’, ’en’, ‘it’, ‘ug’ etc

Teach recognition and spelling of high frequency words.

Encourage independent writing by focussing on letter-sound relationship, listening to and saying beginning, middle and end sounds and high frequency words.

Say the word and re-read the sentence.

Design writing tasks which focus on writing the words which start with a given letter.

Teach both capital letters/upper case and lower case. Use that terminology.

Teach and model correct letter formation. Emphasise correct starting point and direction. Talk about the shapes of the letters. Trace over the letters.

Create a picture from the letter. eg write a big ‘m’ and adda head, horns and a tail to create a monster.

Write a sentence with each word beginning with the target letter such as ‘My monster moves‘ under the picture.

Draw a visual representation of words eg write the word ‘red’

in red; curly in ‘Curlz’ font – curly; ‘hollow’ in font effects -

Assess “spelling” by incidental testing eg “Who can sound out mat?” “Who can write sun?” “What does h-a-t say?” Use the sounds of the letters, not the name.

Make reference to when capital letters are used. Students can use alternative media to write letters, eg writing in sand, crayons, chalk on cement, paint, icing sugar. (Consider teaching the procedure genre to make the icing.) Make patterns by repeating the letter eg aaaaa and add antennae and legs to create an ant

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 - 7 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 3.

It is important to use topic related words and focus on the spelling. Explain how some words have different meanings in different learning areas. eg cycle – a life cycle (Science) or the verb to cycle; table – set the table or a table of information.

Teach consonant blends. Compose tongue twisters to encourage correct spelling and to reinforce letter combination. Demonstrate correct pronunciation of blends and then as part of the whole word. Continue teaching of high frequency words. Introduce spelling rules eg ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after c or when sounding like an ‘a’ as in neighbour or weigh. Introduce mnemonics to help with spelling particular words and rules: eg because’ big elephants can always understand small elephants.

Introduce suffixes through word building activities eg. add ‘s’; ‘ed’; ’ing’ to verbs; and ’er’, ‘est’ to comparative and superlative adjectives. Create tables for students to complete

word add ‘s’ add ‘ed’ add ‘ing’ look looks looked looking talk talks talked talking

Use in sentences to reinforce subject-verb agreement.

word add ‘er’ add ‘est’ tall taller tallest wide wider widest

Focus on • words in which the last letter is doubled before adding ‘ing’, ‘er’, or

‘est’ • words that drop the ’e’ when adding ‘er’ or ‘est’ eg large – largest • irregular verbs eg run – ran.

Incorporate into Literacy blocks or Guided Reading blocks “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking”. eg the ‘e’ in beat or the ‘a’ in main.

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 5 – 7 Cont’d

Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 3. By the end of year 2 students: - spell topic

words, new words with regular letter patterns and some common irregular words

- recognise relationships between words such as ‘play’, ‘playing’ and ‘playground’.

A blend is formed by two sounds that can be heard eg fl as in flag. A digraph is made up of two sounds heard as one eg ck as in click. A diphthong is a combination of two vowels making one sound/syllable eg coin, loud. Teach the letter groupings in context whenever/where-ever practical. Adapt to suit the ability levels of the students.

Introduce and teach • long vowel words eg name (magic ‘e’) park, feet • consonant blends eg drop, clap, • consonant digraphs eg shop, much, thin • 3 letter blends eg scr, thr, str • diphthongs eg ay (play), ai (tail); ee (feel), ea (real) • single syllable homophones eg right/write, saw/sore • compound words eg toothbrush, handbag • adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ for plurals • topic words: have topic words on display, write their meaning next to the word, break them

into syllables. • different letter/combination of letters that make the same sound: eg ey; ea; e; y; ie; f; ph.

Activity: circle the words in a given sentence or a text that have the wrong spelling. Rewrite the sentences correctly eg The buoy with the long hare went to bye a new torch.

Use cloze exercises: students choose the correct word to complete sentences: eg A ____________ (weak/week) has seven days

I’m going to ___________ (read/reed) my book.

Use a jumbled letter words activity to emphasise the sound or letter groupings being taught. Ask students to write the letters of that sound first, they can be highlighted on the board, and then ask students to put the remaining letters in order to create the words.

Teach and model the change in the vowel sound by adding an ‘e’ at the end of the word: cat/Cate; cap/cape; car/care; cut/cute; pin/pine; din/dine; bin/line; Tim/time; pan/pane; tub/tube; hug/huge; mutt/mute; tap/tape; sit/site; at/ate; rid/ride; gap/gate; hop/hope; etc.

Use these words in poems, or sentences to create a humorous story. NB adding an ‘e’ in the word also lengthens the vowel: ten/teen; pen/seen etc.

Create ‘Find-a word’ games using the newly spelt words and vocabulary. Use appropriate websites for word search games eg http://www.gamehouse.com/word-games

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Language Level Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 8 – 10 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 6.

It is important to teach spelling in context of the focus genre and topic matter whenever possible. The following aspects of spelling are those mentioned in the Language and Literacy Levels • topic words • frequently used regular

and irregular words • word families and

consonant clusters eg str, thr, scr

• diphthongs • silent beginnings eg kn,

wr • homophones eg to,

two, too; knew, new • prefixes and suffixes

and rules o eg doubling when

adding a suffix – get/ getting

o dropping ‘e’ when adding a suffix

Some aspects have been introduced in an earlier Level but the complexity of the spelling rules and the generalisations has increased.

Jointly compile a list of topic words and their meanings. Add prefixes and/or suffixes and use them in sentences etc. Demonstrate how prefixes when added to a word modify or change the meaning of the word eg tie – untie; act - counteract Research the meanings of prefixes eg in, un, inter, semi, trans etc. Complete a table by choosing an appropriate suffix and writing the new word in the correct boxes. Teach prefixes and suffixes by grouping words that have the same prefixes and suffixes eg words ending in ‘ity’. Highlight any changes in spelling and have students say the word and using it in a sentence. Consolidate homophones by focusing on the difference in meaning of each pair of words. Use a word search that includes homophones for listed words. Join the two words together. SELLER ROOT SHOOT YEW HALL RIGHT OUR Teach silent letters by: • distinguishing between homophones eg be/bee;

know/no; whole/hole • working out the meaning of the word and change

the pronunciation of the word eg sin/sign • showing the origins and history (etymology) of a

word. eg Plumber from plumbum (Latin for lead)

NB As appropriate highlight the old English prefix/suffix of en/em eg enforce; empower; strengthen; lengthen; brighten; enlighten etc.

Examine the origin of words from other languages eg ‘jodhpurs’ from Hindi ‘smorgasbord’ from Swedish Suffixes form a new word or alter the grammatical function of the original word. eg read is a verb but when ‘er’ is added it becomes a noun (reader)

Word Noun Verb Adjective Adverb

rectangle rectangle rectangular

slow slow slowly

collect collect collectable

C E L L A R H R U O H U U C A Y O O T F H T E T E T I R W E

Some rules about silent letters before or after certain letters.

silent ‘k’ before ‘n’ knock, knee

silent ‘w’ before ‘r’ wrist, wrong

silent ‘g’ before ’n’ gnash, gnaw

silent’ p’ before ‘s’ psychic, psalm

silent ‘l’ before ‘k’ folk, talk

silent ‘b’ after ‘m’ plumber, lamb

silent ‘n’ after ‘m’ column,

silent ‘t’ after ‘s’ listen, whistle

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 11 – 12 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 8.

It is important to teach spelling in context of the focus genre and topic matter whenever possible. Students show greater spelling accuracy over • multi-syllabic words • difficult homophones eg

practice/practise • difficult subject and topic

specific words • subject specific words with

Greek and Latin roots

May use spelling creatively for effect

Explicitly teach the spelling of topic words and include the spelling of key topic words to topic assessment criteria. Assign a key multi-syllabic word or a difficult subject specific word to each student so they can learn it and then teach others using a spelling strategy that worked for them. Research the origins of words (etymomlgy) eg Latin and Greek origins. Use dictionaries or websites to investigate their meanings. eg sub = under as in subsoil, submarine; kilo = thousand as in kilogram, kilometre Develop word walls to promote vocabulary and spelling proficiency. Promote the use of student glossaries. Use cloze exercise and crosswords using selected words, and close exercises using extracts from the texts.

Read news report headlines that include puns and explain their humour.

“Campaign is easily spelt by breaking it into its syllables. Cam and then pain, but don’t forget to include silent ‘g’ before the ‘n’ like in sign and align.” “Permission is a nominalisation so it is no surprise that it has that shun sound as the suffix, but in this case you drop the t and add ssion instead of just ion.” Spelling strategies:

Spell it like it sounds – breaking words into sounds and writing the sounds they hear

Spell it by pattern – diphthongs, diagraphs, suffixes, prefixes, silent letters, compound words.

Spell it by rule or generalisation – eg drop the ‘y’ before adding ‘er’ or ‘est’.

Spell it by chunking – break words into syllables eg in-ter-net

Spell it from memory – automaticity

Spell it using mnemonics – using ‘tricks’ to remember how to spell words eg “parallel” has two parallel lines (double letter l) in the middle of the word

Cele-brat is about the birthday celebration of a young misbehaving celebrity

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Language Level

Discussion Activities Expansion

Level 13 – 14 Across the years of schooling equivalent to the end of year 10. .

It is important to teach spelling in context of the focus genre and topic matter. At this level students continue to spell most words correctly and apply their understanding of spelling to spell difficult topic or subject specific/technical words, and unusual words. May use spelling creatively for effect.

Refer to Levels 11-12.

Use required or chosen texts as the basis for teaching and learning activities. Align the acquisition of spelling with the understanding of the word in context.

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Appendix 1

Spelling: from beginnings to proficiency - DECD 2011.

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Appendix 2

Spelling: from beginnings to proficiency Chapter 6 - Teaching and learning activities page 55