New Teacher Academy Far West GREAT Center

1. New Teacher AcademyFar West GREAT Center March 4, 2006 Presenter: Barbara Baird 915.831.5105 BBaird@elp.rr.com

2. Language Experience Approach • Teaches reading and writing skills by capitalizing on students’ interests, language, and knowledge of the world • LEA fosters language development by emphasizing understanding and control over language

3. Language Experience Approach • Builds basic language skills as personal experiences are transcribed and become reading material • The basic procedure is to obtain a dictated story and develop instructional materials and skill-training activities related to the story • Links spoken and written language

4. Language Experience Approach • Students dictate stories and accounts based on their experiences • These materials are used for skill development • Reinforce sight vocabulary • Use word-analysis • Develop reading comprehension

5. Language Experience Approach • 4 basic steps: • Prepare for dictation by discussing an event or shared experience • Take dictation • Read the story • Conduct immediate follow-up activities to develop basic skills

6. Language Experience Approach • During dictation: • Record each student’s statement repeating the words while writing them down • Include commas, quotation marks, and other appropriate punctuation with each statement

7. Language Experience Approach • At the completion of each statement direct attention to the writing, point to the words, and read the sentence aloud • Construct paragraphs. Indent the first sentence and begin the next sentence where the previous sentence ends. • Space words and sentences so the writing is clear and readable

8. Language Experience Approach • During reading: • The stories should be read aloud several times • By the teacher • As a choral reading • By groups of students • Individually • Use natural phrasing, pacing, and pronunciation

9. Language Experience Approach • During follow-up activities: • Use a variety of activities to develop specific reading and writing skills • Sight vocabulary • Word attack skills • Comprehension • Punctuation • Writing strategies • Language usage • Spelling Source: The Language Experience Approach to Reading A Handbook for Teachers by Denise D. Nessel and Margaret B. Jones

10. Language Experience Approach • Picture Stories for Adult ESL Health Literacy http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/Health/healthindex.html#Emergency

11. Suggested LEA procedure: • Ask the students what is happening in each frame of the story. • Elicit specific details or observations, and if students don't have a clear idea of what to say, various scenarios can be discussed until the class chooses one they like. • Once the whole story has been elicited orally, write it down as they retell it, trying to stay close to the students' own language. Smooth it out for clarity's sake occasionally, but the story should be the students' product, based on their ideas.

12. Suggested LEA procedure: • Ask questions again to make sure important information or vocabulary is included. • After the story has been written, the class can practice reading it chorally and individually. • Students can then copy it down (it's best to leave this step until the end). • If reading is a skill focus of the class, various follow-up activities like sentence or word sequencing, or cloze activities can be done in a later class. If oral skill development is the focus, retelling without reading could be practiced.

13. Links that Matter • Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning (TCALL) http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/ • National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/ • Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) http://www.cal.org/

14. Links that Mattercont. • ESOL Starter Kit Virginia Learning Resource Center http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publications/ESLKit • 4Teachers.org http://www.4teachers.org/ • Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/index.html

15. Links that Mattercont. • The OWL at Purdue for Writing http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ • El Paso Community College Tutorial Service for GED, Math, Writing http://www.epcc.edu/Student/Tutorial/tutorialservices.html