Developing Sensory tasks for languages Early Primary classes

1. Developing Sensory tasksfor languages Early Primary classes By Viviana Golding, LOTE Project Officer DEECD BSW Region

2. OVERVIEW • Senses are physiological capacities within organisms, which provide inputs for perception. • Humans have a multitude of senses; in addition to the traditionally recognised five senses of: sight(ophthalmoception); hearing (audioception); taste (gustaoception); smell (olphacoception) and touch (tactioception), other senses include: temperature (thermoception); kinesthetic sense (proprioception); pain (nociception); balance (equilibrioception) and acceleration (kinesthesioception). (definitions of senses and numbers of senses differ).

3. QUIZ • Non human animals have other senses, which humans do not possess... • What are for example: • Echolocation? • Magnetoception? • Electroception?

4. A Rich diet for learning-A multi-sensory approach that nourishes all children • “Sensory integration is a natural part of the growth and maturation process that occurs during the early childhood years. Early childhood classrooms should therefore provide lots of experiences that support this growth process. Children learn by doing and benefit from daily experiences that provide a rich sensory diet as well as hands-on play opportunities” (Blagojevic, Kendrick and Maeverde, “Young Children and Sensory Integration: Planning for Success”, 2003)

5. Sensory Tasks in Languages • Teachers need to have their linguistic teaching intentions clear when they utilise sensory tasks to produce learning/acquisition in languages. • Teachers need to provide a varied diet of sensory tasks to cater for all learners. • Teachers need to realise that children grow differently , also in relation to senses development. • Sensory activities/tasks need to be repeated often to produce language acquisition. • Sensory tasks work well also with adolescent and adult learners.

6. TASKS • A Texture Book. • Teaching intention: to enable students to describe objects in terms of texture. • Method: the teacher brings to school and displays a number of materials like cotton balls; leaves; dry leaves; sandpaper; aluminium foil; rubber gloves; velvet; soap; plastic, etc The teacher displays a few baskets labelled with words like: soft; rubbery; smooth; velvety, rough, etc The teacher picks up a few objects and describes them with sentences like: this is velvety; this is very soft, etc. A few children, one by one, are asked to come and touch the objects and to put them in the baskets, as they see fit. No correction/change should be made by the teacher. The sorting process can be done again and usually children love to do it a few times. Children are then encouraged to look around the classroom to add other objects to the baskets. Throughout these tasks the teacher continues to provide support with the language. • After this task is finished, the teacher divides the children into groups (as many as the baskets) and asks each group to paste the different textured objects into big pages. • A book of textured pages will be then created, which will be used by the teacher to reinforce the language and to work towards new language structures.

7. TASKS • It smells like.... • Teaching intention: to enable students to describe objects in terms of smell and to increase vocabulary ( using the sense of smell in activities is a powerful way to encourage long term memory acquisition). • Method: the teacher brings to school and displays a number of objects like lemons; onions; garlic; banana chunks, peanut butter; vinegar; rose petals; coffee beans; vanilla extract, etc also the teacher organises some film canisters with pinholes at the top. In the canisters the teacher puts parts of the objects on display and cotton balls for the liquid scents. Each object on display has a sentence like: “garlic has a strong odour”; “a rose smells sweet”, etc. The nouns should be written in bold and emphasised in the teacher’s sentences. • The teacher then encourages the children to smell the objects on display supporting the smelling experience with the sentences. • Children should then try to guess the objects in the canisters through their smells. The process of guessing should be repeated and the number of canisters with other “smells” should be increased.

8. TASKS • Can you make your body into a.... • Teaching intention: to enable students to understand sentences in relation to animals, flowers; objects, etc. • Method: the teacher brings to school and displays a few pictures or photographs of items, which may be related to a specific topic, for example, flowers. On the pictures some specific parts of the objects are also highlighted; e.g. in a sunflower picture, roots, stem and petals are highlighted, maybe even the sun. • The teacher then shows the children the pictures describing them with sentences like: this is a sunflower; here are the petals; here is the stem and here are the roots. • The teacher then asks the children: “Can you make your body into a sunflower? Show me your petals; show me your roots; show me your stem... • The teacher can add some other elements to this task, like playing music and asking: Can you move in the wind? Can you turn to the sun? Can you grow from a little seed to a big sunflower?

9. TASKS • I like it; I don’t like it; I like it a lot; a like it so so. • Teaching intention: to enable students to express likes and dislikes in a kinaesthetic way (linked to the Total Physical Response, by Dr James Asher, Learning Another Language Through Actions-right side of the brain, which dominates early years learning). • Method: at first the teacher stands in front of the children; when she/he steps forwards she/he says: I like it; when she/he steps backwards she/he says: I don’t like it; when she/he steps to the left she/he says: I like it a lot; to the right, I like it so so. • The teacher then mentions to the children the name of a food, e.g.: milk and invite them to move in the appropriate direction.Thisis repeated many times with different foods; at some stage children are also encouraged to accompany movements with language. • Food tasting can be added afterwards to reinforce the language; small pieces of cheese, meat, vegetables or other foods can be offered to students who are invited to express likes and dislikes.

10. TASKS • Wonderfully Weird Words • Teaching intention: to enable students to familiarise themselves with many different words in the target language not for what they mean but for their sensory effect. This task will also enable students to learn adjectives. • Method: the teacher selects a number of words in the target language, which have an interesting sound and records them, either said by him/her or by somebody else. No translation is given. • The teacher then mentions to the children that words are wonderful and exciting and that there are different kinds of words: sweet words; bitter words; stinky words; perfumed words, sad words, happy words and so on. • The teacher puts these labels, in the target language, in different parts of the classroom; the students (all or in small groups) stand in the middle of the classroom; then the recording is played; students will go to the side of the room where they feel that a word belongs. This process should be repeated a few times. This stage can then be expanded with the meaning of the words given; the students might then change their minds to which side of the classroom a word belongs.

11. TASKS • Big Leaves-Small Leaves • Teaching intention: to enable students to compare sizes (of leaves) in the target language. • Method: the teacher brings some brown bags full of different kind of leaves and keeps a bag for himself/herself. On the board the teacher sticks the leaves from the biggest to the smallest or vice versa using the language structures: this leaf is smaller than this leaf or this leaf is bigger than this leaf and so on. He/she asks the students to do the same with their bags full of leaves. The bags of leaves can be swapped to allow students to repeat the process; one or more students can do the process at the board in front of the class. This task can be followed by the “quest for the biggest leaf”.

12. TASKS • Language and Sounds (using music, rhythm, chants, sounds in languages teaching in the early years is extremely important as young students belong to the tribe of “oral cultures” and as such the sense of hearing is extremely important). • Teaching intention: to enable students to remember languages structures through sounds and/or music. • Method: the teacher reads a simplified text, which is well known to the students (a fairy tale; a big book, a nursery rhyme); a number of significant sentences have a special sound/special music associated to them (castanets; clapping; whistle; drum, etc; at times, depending on the text, the sounds can be onomatopoeic).The reading needs to be repeated many times over a period of weeks. Slowly the students will be able to say the significant sentences when they hear the sound that is associated to them. The teacher will help this process by slowly omitting the significant sentences and playing only the sounds.

13. TASKS • Navajo Stone Game • Teaching intention: to enable students to acquire linguistic structures using sounds and movements • Method: the students are kneeling in a circle; each of them has in their left hand a small stone or a small ball or a piece of material; The teacher has created a short paragraph that is the text of the game; this text can be as simple as: This is a funny game for us to play; we only need a voice, a stone and we are away; if you give your stone to him another stone you’ll receive from your kin. The students. 1- this is a funny game: the students clap their hands three times on their legs; 2- for us to play: the students clap their hands twice on the floor in front of them and leave the stone on the floor; 3-if you give: the students cross their hands and pick up the stone with their right hands; 4- the stone to him: the students clap their hands on the floor twice; 5- another stone: the students clap their hands on their legs twice; 6- you’ll receive from your kin: with their left hands the students take the stone from the student sitting on their left side while at the same time pass their stone to the student sitting on their right side.

14. TASKS • Total Physical Response Activities • Origami • Cutting shapes • Building with Lego • Drawing and colouring under instructions • Hockey Pocky • 5 steps as a...... • Swatting...words and sentences • Telling stories through Drama • Cooking and/or preparing food • Having fun with words (tongue twisters; interesting rhymes, etc).