Lisa Van Thiel, Mary Lu Love, and Jennifer Kearns-FoxInstitute for Community Inclusion

University of Massachusetts Boston

Expand conversation between adults and children and among children

Use print to document conversations and promote storytelling

Intentionally link phonemic awareness, letter identification, and writing

Explicitly support English language learners

Table discussions English Language Learners oral and written

language development Break Strategies for conversing with children Language and Literacy skills (Video) Making Print Talk (Video) Practice and apply scaffolding Works plans in small groups

How are oral and written language similar?

How do they differ? Why do children use written language? What can we learn from observing

children’s writing? What about English Language

Learners?

Phonology, or the sounds of language Vocabulary, or the words of language Grammar, or how the words are put

together to make sentences in the language Discourse, or how sentences are put

together, for example to tell stories, make arguments, or explain how something works

Pragmatics, or the rules about how to use language. Tabor 2008

A longitudinal study of English-speaking children from low-income backgrounds showed that early language input at home and in early childhood settings is predictive of literacy abilities in kindergarten (Dickinson & Tabor, 2001) and that kindergarten abilities are highly predictive of fourth-grade reading comprehension (Snow, Porche, Tabors, & Harris, 2007).

Simultaneous acquisition of two languages occurs when children are exposed to both languages from a very early age.

Sequential acquisition occurs when a child begins to learn a second language after the first language is at least partly established.

Children use home language in the second language situation

Children enter a non-verbal period Children begin to go public with words and

phases Children productively use second language

to communicate in phrases and then in sentences

Social language Academic language

Expression Attention-getting Requesting Protesting Joking Responding to questions (non-verbally)

Help children join small groups to play.

Provide children with some words or phrases.

Encourage other children and adults to give some feedback on what works and what does not.

Promote peer tutoring. Children need to count on adults and other children to help break through the social isolation.

Describe the questions asked in the first video.

Reflect on the questions and why they limited children’s responses and turn-taking.

How do the questions in the second video change the responses and turn-taking of the same group of children?

1. Activities that target letter recognition (alphabetic principle)

2. Activities that emphasize the sounds that make up words (phonology)

3. Activities that show how books look and how they work (book and print concepts)

4. Activities that emphasize words and their meanings (vocabulary)

5. Activities that encourage telling stories, explaining how the world works, or building a fantasy world (discourse)

Knowing names of printed letters Knowing the sounds associated with printed

letters Manipulating sounds of spoken language Rapid naming of letters, numbers, and

objects Being able to write one’s own name on a

drawing Being able to remember the content of

spoken language for a short time

Children should be learning 6-10 new words a day in the early childhood period.

Using language in ways that go beyond the here and now and focus the conversation on • Past events• Explaining something not present• Discussing a future time and/or place• Building a fantasy

Which of Rhanda’s questions work best to help Colin tell the story clearly?

How does the second conversation support Colin’s language and cognitive development and skills?

Watch the following 4 vignettes and consider:

How does the teacher help children connect written and spoken words?

How does the teacher make print meaningful in the classroom?

What is done to encourage children to use print?

1. Visual memory of each letter2. Line segments that form each letter3. Sequence used to put lines together4. Directions to draw each letter

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1. When and why should I write?2. How do people know what I’ve written? Is

there a special way to organize these marks?3. How come sometimes the words are listed

down the page, and other times, we write across the page?

4. How do I know which of these marks to use to represent my words?

5. How do I know that someone else will be able to know what I meant?

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- Some items adapted from Vernon & Ferreiro (1999)

Motor development and understanding of letter-sound connections are two separate skills and develop concurrently and separately.

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Children’s messages are represented by scribbles, marks, and pictures, which representthe way they identify print. Their differentiationbetween writing and drawing is intermittent.

Letter-like/number-like forms emerge

Child often uses same three letters

Often letters from own name

Writer can talk about own writings

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Children recognize that text has a fixed numberof forms and a variety of characters. They beginto explore writing independently.

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Children begin to make correspondences between letters and syllables.

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Strict one-to-one correspondence between oral syllables and letters, but the letters are not pertinent—ANY letter can represent any given syllable.

Systematically use one letter for each spoken syllable and use an appropriate letter for most syllables.

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A mixture of syllables and phonemes

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Systematic phoneme-letter correspondences, although spellings may not be conventional.

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(i.e., a word or a phrase) that they have not yet been taught to write, we can witness a real

process of construction. Data include not only the written product, but also all the comments and verbalizations made during the writing process and interpretations children give once the piece of writing has been completed... Between initial scribbling and invented spellings, a whole range of precise conceptualizations take place.”

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- Vernon & Ferreiro (1999)

1. Say the word mentally to himself2. Break off the first phoneme from the rest

of the word3. Mentally sort through his repertoire of

letters and find one to match with that phoneme

4. Write down the letter he has decided on

- Beverly Otto (2002), Language Development in Early Childhood

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5. Recite the word again in his mind6. Recall the phoneme he has just spelled,

subtract it from the word, and locate the next phoneme to be spelled

7. Match the phoneme with a letter of the alphabet, and so on, until all of the phonemes have been spelled

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“Children’s errors often show us what they know about writing conventions, as well as

what they have not yet learned.” - Schickedanz, J. (1999). Much More Than

the ABCs, p. 115

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1. Individually fill out the yellow worksheet “Writing To, With, and By Young Children” based on your own classroom.

2. Complete all four columns: writing resources you provide for children. ways you include writing TOTO children. ways you include writing WITHWITH children. ways you include writing BYBY children.

3. After completing your charts, share with table.

► Look for opportunities to talk about writing – “What letters should I write?” or “What letters do you need?”

► Encourage children to read their “writing” before trying to interpret it – “Can you read your writing to me?”

► Write the whole word when a child asks – seeing the word in its entirety helps the child form a visual picture of the word and its configuration.

► Never write directly on children’s work…write at the bottom of the page or on a separate strip.

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We We do it.do it.

What child can do only with help

What child can now What child can now do alonedo alone

What child and teacher do together

scaffold

What child can now What child can now do alonedo alone

► Progress within a child’s Zone of Proximal Development can be enhanced when not only social interactions are present but also special instructional techniques are utilized. (ZPD = the space between the child’s level of independent performance and the child’s level of maximally assisted performance.)

► Scaffolding = how an expert can facilitate the learner’s transition from assisted to independent performance.

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► Scaffolds do not make the task itself easier, but rather make it possible for a learner to complete the task with support.

► Initially, maximum teacher assistance is needed to elevate performance to its highest potential level. Gradually, the level of assistance decreases as the learner becomes capable of doing more independently. At this point the teacher “hands over” responsibility to the learner, removing the scaffolds.

► Teachers must help learners develop strategies they can apply to novel problems they will encounter, not just answers to specific questions.

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► The child creates his/her own message and then, with the teacher’s help or independently, draws a highlighted line to stand for each word in the message.

► The child then fills out the empty lines, placing scribbles, letter-like forms, or letters on the line to stand for the words in the message.

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►In pairs, practice Bodrova and Leong’s process of scaffolding. Each partner should take a turn being the “child” and the “teacher.”

►The child creates his/her own message and then, with the teacher’s help or independently, draws a highlighted line to stand for each word in the message.

► The child then fills out the empty lines, placing scribbles, letter-like forms, or letters on the line to stand for the words in the message.

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Reflect on today’s professional development.

Establish a goal for yourself. Design an action plan for yourself.

◦ What is your goal?◦ What supports will you need?◦ How will you use your coach as a resource?◦ What changes do you expect your coach to

observe in the classroom?

What is one thought you will take away from today’s session?