+ Chinese Poets to Read in Six Cities

other topics: use search box

A reading tour of young Chinese poets celebrates “Push Open the Window: Contemporary Poetry from China” (Copper Canyon Press. The book is a bilingual anthology that features over one hundred poems by some of China’s finest poets born after 1945.

The poets are Xi Chuan, Zhou Zan, Li-Young Lee, Maurice Kilwein Guevara, Marilyn Chin.   Forrest Gander and Michael Wiegers will host at two events.  Not all poets will be at every venue.

• September 29, Seattle WA.  Seattle Asian Art Museum,   7:00 p.m.
• October 1, Port Townsend WA.  Wheeler Theater, Fort Worden, 7:00 p.m.
• October 4, Chicago IL.  Poetry Foundation, 7:00. Reading with Li-Young Lee and Maurice Kilwein Guevara.
• October 6, Iowa City IA.  Prairie Lights, 15 Dubuque St. 7:00 p.m.
• October 10, New York NY.  Unterberg Poetry Center, 92nd St Y.  8:15 p.m. Reading with Marilyn Chin and Li-Young Lee; hosted by Forrest Gander.
• October 12, Washington DC.  Library of Congress, 8:15 p.m.  Reading followed by discussion with Michael Wiegers.

Xi Chuan has published five collections of poetry and serves as editor of Dangdai Gouji Shitan (Contemporary Poetry International).

Zhou Zan edits Wings, a journal of contemporary Chinese poetry written by women.

Visit http://www.coppercanyonpress.org. The preeminent non-profit independent publisher of poetry in the US, Copper Canyon Press connects the works of emerging, established, and world-renowned poets with diverse and expanding audiences.

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ “English Isn’t Crazy!” by Diana Hanbury King

other topics: use search box

I discovered, as well,  in the AOGPE “Academy News” that Diana Hanbury King’s wonderful book “English Isn’t Crazy! The Elements of Our Language and How to Teach Them” is available now.

King’s book is required reading for AOGPE Associate Level trainees.

I’ve had my copy for several years, and was told at some point that the book was not available. 

But when AOGPE Fellow Diana Hanbury King  spoke at Regis College in Weston Massachusetts, we are told that she autographed copies of her book.   So I went online, and discovered it is available at Pro Ed Publishers (visit  http://www.proed.com ). 

Chapters in this slim paperback  cover:

• Origins (of our English language)
• The Celts
• The Romans
• The Anglo-Saxons
• The Danes
• Old English: The Language
• The Normans
• Middle English
• The Classical Revival
• Toward Modern English
• American English
• The Roots of Our Language

There are 29 pages if appendices:

• Whence These Words
• Interesting Etymologies
• How to Teach Latin Elements
• How to Teach Greek Elements
• Working With Germanic Elements
• An Approach to French Elements
• Earth, Fire and Water

There is, as well, a bibliography.

Diana Hanbury King says she hopes her book will inspire some of us to pick up a bilingual edition of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” or Seamus Heaney’s translation of “Beowulf.”  

If we’d like to read further she suggests taking a look at Bill Bryson’s “eminently readable” “Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way.”

If we can handle something more scholarly, she offers Thomas Pyles and John Algeo’s “The Origin and Development of the English Language” ” (4th ed.)

My copy of King’s “English Isn’t Crazy! ” has been read and re-read — not only by me, but also by several of my students.  Check it out.

Diana Hanbury King  has worked with dyslexic students since 1950, when she became involved with Anna Gillingham’s work.  In 1955 she established the oldest summer program of its kind for dyslexic students. In 1969, she founded the Kildonan School in Pennsylvania (now located in Amenia, New York).

King is also the author of  “Cursive Writing Skills” (2nd ed.), “Keyboarding Skills” (2nd ed.), and “Writing Skills“  (2nd ed), available from Educators Publishing Service at  http://www.eps.com .

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Latin “Connective i” Construct: Decoding Strategies

other topics: use search box

From the Winter 2011 issue of “Academy News,” the newsletter of the Orton Academy (AOGPE), Theresa Collins speaks to teachers of more advanced and ELL learners. 

Collins tells us that

Knowledge of the Latin connective i construct is the key to reading sophisticated Latin-based words. 

 More explicitly:

•  Pronunciation: the connective  i is pronounced as long /e/ before a vowel suffix (“imperious”).
• Pronounce connective i as  /y/ after l or n  (“million,” “genious”).
• Pronounce connective  i  as short /i/ before a consonant (“lexical” or “adventitious”).
• Teach that the i connective also helps a reader to identify the accented syllable (for example, always the syllable before the connective i.)
• Spelling tip:  if you can identify a Latin connective, you’re alerted that this is a Latin word.  So you have clues to spelling the rest of the word.  (e.g. if the word you’re spelling is “victorious,” you know that you shouldn’t  choose an Anglo-Saxon k or ck as you spell it.)
• More spelling: when you hear /y/ before a suffix, spell it with i.  When you hear long /e/ before a suffix, spell it with i .
• When the Latin connective i comes after the letters t, c, s, or x, the combination is pronounced /sh/ or /zh/ (as in “nutritious,” “official,” “confusion” and “anxious”).
• The ti, ci, si, and xi combinations are always used to spell /sh/ in Latin words.
• Syllable stress:  always place the stress in these words on the syllable directly before /sh/.  For example: “delicious,” “obnoxious.”
• A, O, U: these vowels  are always long when they precede /sh/ or /zh/.  Says Collins: these vowels “hold more sound,” and you can hear them when you say (for example) “palatial,” “ferocious,” “crucial.”
• E:  this vowel  is “only half full” and can therefore be pronounced long OR short before the sound /sh/ or /zh/.  Tell students to try saying both to determine the correct choice: “precious,’ “completion.” 
• I: this vowel is always short before the /sh/ sound in (for example) “judicious,” “malicious.”  Writes Collins, you can tell your students it is “little and wimpy and cannot hold any long vowel sound!”

Collins says if  you and your students  are armed with these logical generalizations, you should be ready to decode any Latin-based word.

sole source: Article in the Winter 2011 AOGPE ”Academy News,” by Theresa Collins, F/AOGPE, Director of language Training, The Kildonan School.

The purpose of AOGPE (the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators) is to establish and maintain the highest professional standards for practice of the Orton-Gillingham Approach; to certify practitioners and accredit O-G training programs; and to be active in professional development and public awareness.

Join to access AOGPE’s resources, to support their work, and to recieve this quarterly newsletter. 

Visit http://www.ortonacademy.org

NOTE: Errors are mine! I have supplied some of the above word usage examples where Collins gave none.   I may be incorrect in some of these choices. Please let me know where, why and how to improve those examples!

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Teaching Phonics: Some Terminology

other topics: use search box

At a COBIDA conference this weekend, I found Isabel L. Beck’s “Making Sense of Phonics: The Hows and Whys.”

The introductory chapter provides an explanation of some terms.

• Decoding:  using the letters on a page to retrieve the sounds associated with those letters
• Word recognition, sight word recognition:  decoding by applying  letter-sound knowledge immediately, without any apparent  attention.  Also called automaticity.
• Word attack:  decoding by the conscious and deliberate application of letter-sound knowledge to produce a plausible pronunciation of a word.  Self-aware “figuring-out” of a word.
• Encoding:  sometimes called spelling, encoding is the opposite of decoding.  It involves the application of letter-sound relationships to identify which letters will be needed to create a specific written word.
• Alphabetic principle:  the ground rule that written words are composed of letters, and those letters correspond to segments of written words.  In this alphabetic language, a letter (grapheme) is associated with a unit of speech (phoneme). 
• Grapheme:  a letter associated with a unit of speech; the smallest written representation of speech sounds.  For example, in the word “mop” (the m , the o  and the p ).  Or the three representations in the word “chain” (ch and ai  and n.)
• Phoneme:  A unit of speech; the smallest speech sound into which a spoken word can be divided.  For example, the sound /m/in the word “mop.”
• Great Debate:  a term coined by Jeanne Chall in 1967 to describe the argument in the reading world about whether to teach beginning readers with a code-oriented approach (these days associated with phonics) or a meaning-oriented (often referred to as “whole language”)  approach .Also called “the reading wars.”
• Explicit, systematic phonics:  the instructional strategy by which the relationship between letters and sounds are directly  (explicitly) taught in a pre-established (systematic) sequence.  In most reading programs (but not all) the consonants and short vowels are presented before long vowels, vowel teams and r-controlled vowels.
• Orthography:  a language’s writing (spelling) system.
• Orthographic knowledge:  what an individual knows about the writing system of a language.
• Invented spelling:  children’s initial attempts to represent oral language, such as CU for “see you” or bak for “back.”
• Consonants:  the English letters whose sounds are produced in the mouth and throat by blocking or controlling the air in some way; they may be voiced or unvoiced.   
• Consonant blend (or clusters):  two or three contiguous consonant letters in which each letter maintains its sound (the b and r in “brush”).
• Consonant digraph:  contiguous consonants in which the letters do not maintain their sounds  ( sh in “ship”) but produce a unique sound.
• Vowel:  in English, the vowels are a ;  e ;  i ;  o ;  u ;  and sometimes y  (as in “my).  They are letters whose sounds are always unblocked and voiced.
• Short vowel:  the sound of a vowel in a “closed” (CVC)syllable: the sound of o  in the word “hot,” for example.
• Long vowel:  the sound of a vowel when it “says its name.”  For example, the sound of o in the word “no” or “note.”
• Vowel digraphs or “teams”:  two contiguous vowels in which they stand for a long vowel sound (ai  in “sail,” for example) or a sliding vowel sound ( ou  as in “out,” for example).  The spelling for a “sliding” vowel sound is sometimes referred to as a …
• Diphthong:  the vowel digraph representing a sliding sound (the ou  in “out,” or the  oi   in “join”). In a sliding vowel sound, the speech sound begins with one vowel sound and moves to another.
• R-controlled vowel:  a vowel followed by r  no longer has its short sound.  Notice that the sound of  a  in “car” is not the sound of   a  in “cat.”
• Grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences:  expression used to name the correspondence between a grapheme and a phoneme.  How letters map onto the sounds of a word, and vice versa.
• Spelling-sound relationships:  the concept that a reader knows to use various sub-word units which are often beyond the grapheme-phoneme relationship, such as ous   or    tion    in “nervous” or “action.”
• Phonological awareness:  an umbrella term for a person’s ability to understand spoken words, or recognize rhymes, or to identify that “at” and “it” are different or to notice different words in a spoken list (“cat,” “mat,” “fat” for example).
• Phonemic awareness:  an understanding of the individual phonemes in a word (for example that “ran” and “rain” both have three sounds.

Chapters

• The Alphabetic Principle and Phonics
• Letter-Sound Instruction
• Blending
• Word Building
• Multisyllabic Words
• Epilogue  

Appendices 

• CVC Pattern
• Long Vowels of the CVCe Pattern
• Long Vowel Digraph Patterns 
• rControlled Digraph Patterns 
• Word and Syllable Matrices for Syllasearch
• The Word Pocket

There are also References, and an Index.

The definitions above are from the “Introduction” chapter of Isabel L. Beck’s book, “Making Sense of Phonics: The Hows and Whys,” published by Guilford Press (http://www.guilford.com).   134 pages. ISBN 1-59385-257-6 (paper).

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Six-Step Vocabulary Work

other topics: use search box 

I found Rebecca Alber’s blog at Edutopia.org.  She reminds us of Robert Marzano’s six-step method for direct teaching of vocabulary.   Here is a stripped-down version.

6-STEP  VOCABULARY  WORK

Step one: you explain the new word, beyond reciting definition

Step two: child restates/explains the word in his or her own words

Step three: child creates his or her own picture of the word

Step four: child engages in an activity (compares / classifies / makes  an analogy or metaphor)

Step five: child discusses/uses the word (perhaps writing)

Step six: child plays a game that reviews new words

Remember: vocabulary has been shown to be  the best single indicator of intellectual ability and an accurate predictor of success at school.

 source: Rebecca Alber’s blog at http://www.edutopia.org; “Teaching Basic and Advanced Vocabulary” by Robert Marzano; “Vocabulary Games for the Classroom” by Lindsay Carlton and Robert Marzano

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021 or email aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com  

+ Learning Languages on the Web

other topics: click a “category” or use search box

An NY Times article by Eric A Taub explores some products available for learning language on the Web.

The growth of broadband connectivity and social networks has resulted in a range of Internet-based language learning products. 

Rosetta-Stone’s yellow boxes may be the most recognizable, but there are many more to choose from.

Taub categorizes them as “Pay and Learn,” “Free Now, Pay Later,”  and “Free Language Learning.”   In addition, he discovered apps for smartphones.

Here they are.

RosettaStone Totale

This seems to be the best known language program.  It offers a $1000 product that includes RosettaCourse, a traditional lesson-based module; RosettaStudio, a place where a learner can talk with a native speaker via video chat; and RosettaWorld, which is an online community where one can play language-related games.

Says the company’s CEO Tom Adams, “We offer modern-day pen pals with voice-over IP.”

The product uses such things as colorful flashcards to help students learn words and then connect those words to concepts and sentences. 

According to Adams, the idea is for the user to let go of the adult “technical questions and just get into a comfort zone, learning new sounds and trying to make sense of them.” 

TellMeMore

TellMeMore believes it has an advantage over RosettaStone.  Its software not only teaches words and phrases, but incudes a speech recognition component that analyses pronunciation, presents a graph of speech, and then suggests how to perfect it.

Other videos show students how to shape their mouths to create particular sounds that might be difficult for a native English speaker (for example, the rolling r of Spanish).

TellMeMore has 10 levels of content, a 1,000 word glossary, videos of native speakers and more than 40 practice activities.  According to Adams,  their methods keep people interested. 

 TellMeMore’s charge of $390 will give you a year’s access to its resources for six languages.  If you need a quick refresher you can buy a $10 daily pass.  Weekly, monthly and half-year passes are also available.

Currently it’s only available on CD-ROM, but online versions for both Mac and Windows are coming later this year.  See below about coming smartphone apps.

Livemocha

This is a two-year-old Web start-up, which offers free basic lessons in 30 languages. 

Users can upgrade to advanced courses with additional features on a monthly or six-month basis.

Students can submit up to eight voice recordings to a native-speaking tutor for $20 a month.  The tutor will review them and make recommendations withing 24 hours.  Alternatively, pay $70 for a six month commitment and submit two examples per lesson.

Whether you are using the free or the pay model, you can join social networking groups.  Using VoIP, you will speak live to native-speaking people around the world who are interested in learning to speak English.

However, writes Taub

As with all social networking sites, this feature is open to misuse.  Within hours of signing up for Livemocha, I received a note from a young woman, ostensibly from Poland, wanting to meet me.

Livemocha says it has the world’s largest community of people learning languages; they claim 5 million registered users in 200 countries.

Babbel

Babbel is financed in part by the European Union, and offers paid instruction (a trial lesson is free) in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish for $12 a month; if you commit to six months, it’s $6.62 a month.

Users are given extended grammar and vocabulary, but in addition they can communicate with others in their desired language through private or public chats; it’s also possible to arrange for voice contact.

Free Language Learning

Taub notes that a variety of free language learning is available. 

The British Broadcasting Service at www.bbc.com/languages offers several levels of instruction in 36 languages.  Features include audio and video playback and translation.

The German television network, Deutsche Welle, will help you with your German (www.bit.ly/ts6x7). 

You might try learning Japanese at www.japanese-online.com.   Or Korean:  www.learn-korean.net.

Or Smartphone Apps

Many of these exist to help you get along in a foreign language.  For example: simple providers of useful phrases.  

• The Lonely Planet Phrasebooks ($10 for each of 18 languages);
• The Oxford Translator Travel Pro ($10 for each of five languages); and
• World Nomads (which is free and offers 23 languages. 
• Ultralingua Translation Dictionary offers simultaneous translation of English and six languages for $20 a language.

According to Taub, both RosettaStone and TellMeMore are developing smartphone apps as supplements to their programs. 

Livemocha expects to have an app later this year for both Android and iPhone.  The plan is to integrate text with a native speaker pronouncing the language, as well as to provide an option for voice recording and live video feeds.

sole source: Eric A Taub’s article in the NY Times on 1/28/10.   http://tinyurl.com/ylddopw

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards 614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Study: Bilingual Children Pick Up Words More Quickly

other topics: click a “category” or use search box

The assumption that bilingual toddlers have more trouble learning language skills than children who know just one language has been contested by European researchers, according to Peter West, HealthDay Reporter.

Study author Agnes Melinda Kovacs, research fellow at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, says

While the remarkable performance of children acquiring one language is impressive, many children acquire more than one language simultaneously. 

As bilingual children presumably have to learn roughly twice as much as their monolingual peers [because they learn two languages instead of one], one would expect their language acquisition to be somewhat delayed.  However, bilinguals pass the language development milestones at the same ages as their monolingual peers.

 Appearing online in Science, the finding came from a test of the responses to verbal and visual cues from 64 babies who were 12 months old.  They came from monolingual and bilingual families, although the study did not specify which languages the families spoke.

The Method

The toddlers were exposed to two sets of words that had different structural characteristics.  After each word, the children viewed a special toy on either the left or right side of a screen, depending on the word’s stucture.  They then were presented with words they had never heard before, but which conformed to one of the two verbal structures.  No toy followed.

Researchers determined whether the infants had learned the word structures by measuring the direction of their gaze after hearing each new word.

Judging by their eye movements, the bilingual kids did better in recognizing words than their monolingual peers.

Says Kovacs

We showed that pre-verbal, 12-month-old, bilingual infants have become more flexible at learning speech structures than monolinguals.  When given the opportunity to simultaneously learn two different regularities, bilingual infants learned both, while monolinguals learned only one of them.

This means, she says, that bilinguals may acquire two languages in the time in which monolinguals acquire one — because they quickly become more flexible learners.

How It Works

According to the study, the cognitive pathways developed during the learning of two languages might make bilingual children more efficient in acquiring new information.

Researchers had already often confirmed the benefits of learning more than one language.  In a 2004 Canadian study, for example, it was found that bilingual speakers were more proficient at dealing with distractions than those who spoke only one language; and that ability was even more pronounced for older people (suggesting that multilingualism might help elderly speakers avoid age-related cognitive problems).

A significant percentage of humanity speaks more than one language.  In the United States more than 18 percent of the population aged 5 and older speaks a language other than English at home, according to the 2000 census.

A child psychologist who read the Italian study says the results are intriguing, and said she would like to see further research on how children learn different languages, especially languages with different tonal structures such as Chinese and English.

Says Marta Flaum, who practices in Chappaqua NY,

We now know, thanks to fMRI studies that allow us to observe the working brain, that learning does result in discrete changes in ‘wiring.’  It would make sense that learning a second language affects brain changes as well.

Flaum, who specializes in diagnosing and helping children with dyslexia and other language handicaps, says

We do know that the young brain is more plastic than the older brain, making it easier to learn at an earlier age.

More Information

The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics has more on the emerging field of psycholinguistics.  http://www.mpi.nl/

sole source: http://www.yahoo.com, HealthDay Report by Peter West on 7/9/09.

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ One Teacher’s Vocabulary Tips

other topics: click a “category” or use search box

From Kevin Feldman, educator and lecturer who shares his valuable newsletter with anyone who asks:

A 4th Grade Teacher in Billings Montana, Ann Brucker, wrote about the ways she has implemented his strategies in her classroom.

First of all, her process for teaching words follows this sequence:

1. Pronounce
2. Explain
3. Provide examples
4. Elaborate
5. Assess (question, complete, yes-no-why, etc.)

Activities

Brucker wanted to “beef up” vocabulary learning.  She created several activities that require students to actively review words on a weekly basis.

• An activity where students sort words by (for example) parts of speech, or number of syllables
• A think-pair-share activity where groups of students “adopt” and present a word
• An outline for them to write a news article using as many previous words as they could (and have it still make sense)
• A bingo game, in which students must identify words meeting various criteria
• A “chalk talk” activity, in which students silently and collaboratively brainstorm any information they can remember, connect, or share about a given set of words
• A sentence session where students would write different types of sentences using any Word of the Day in a select location within the sentence

Use the Word!

Students always cheer (one year it was clapping, another year students shouted “Fantastico!”) every time one of the old target words is uttered. 

This causes a stir when visitors to the classroom are spontaneously cheered when they — unknowingly – utter a target word!  The school librarian feels like a celebrity and has begun trying to use words she thinks might hit the mark.  Brucker notices that this has quickly and drastically elevated the level of vocabulary in daily use.

Journal Page Entries

Brucker developed a journal page template with room for information about  four words on each page.  For every word entry there is a slot for the word itself; for the definition; for an explanation; for the origin; and for the part of speech.  There is also a small block for an “image” of each word.

Technology

To integrate some type of technology in this vocabulary development project, she decided a blog was much easier than a web site.  She got one set up in about five minutes, she writes.

She and the class decided to call it “Philology Blog.”  It has been a dynamic and engaging way to get students to interact with the words.

After going through the first three steps (pronounce, explain, give examples),  she is now able to pull up the blog where the target word is posted.  In it is found all of the information she wants to use for “elaboration.” 

There are descriptions and links to dictionary, thesaurus and etymology sites relevant to the word; there is some type of video, image or activity providing an example of how the word is used; and there’s a writing prompt where students are asked to use the word in context.  

Brucker also provides the words with their part of speech, so they can be sorted.

She uses a document camera and projector to display this page first thing every morning, so students can complete their paper journal entries and start using the words right away.

Sources For  Words 

Brucker selects the words from the context of the entire daily curriculum and instruction.  This obviously offers a vast array of words to choose from.  But she has also been able to integrate and embed some technology terms which naturally come with the tools she is using.

And the intense focus on vocabulary ties the entire schoolday together: from reading and language skills to math to science and art and music and sports — it all revolves around words.

Students are now not just waiting for her to introduce words for them — they are finding words on their own.

They truly love knowing and using grown-up words.  They are constantly bringing in newspaper and magazine clippings in which their target words appear.  The class has designated a “Wall of Fame” on which to hang their words.  As they watched President Obama’s inauguration address, they listened raptly for “their” words.

Vocabulary Strengthens Writing Skills

And a suprise perk: Bucker’s students’ writing has gained strength as they began responding to her writing prompts and posting their responses as comments.

This took a good bit of front-loading on her part, of course.

If the class is studying compound sentences or apostrophes, she instructed students to use such forms in their written responses.

She has noticed that they are much more eager to get on and write with the blog than they ever were with pencil and paper.  They have really taken ownership of their “site.”

Brucker is proud of her “philologists:” learners and lovers of words.  She is happy to share her experiences with all of us.

Source: Ann Brucker shared her strategies with  Kevin Feldman, whose literacy newsletter you can subscribe to at kfeldman@lists.scoe.org

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Take Ten for Your Child: 10 Minute Activities

other topics: click a “category” or use search box

LDA’s  Early Childhood Committee feels quality — not quantity — is what matters.  They know how difficult it is for busy parents to set aside whole blocks of time every day to focus only on their child.

So they suggest ten minutes of an activity that can take place at home, in the car, or grocery store.  Make it an activity your child can look forward to, and treat it as your special time together.  And make it happen consistently.

Foundations for the understanding and use of language are laid early, so talking to children should take place beginning immediately.  Talking and bonding provide the beginnings of the give and take for social and language development.

Look daily for these language opportunities.  For example:

• Find a picture that shows action — have your child tell you about the picture.
• Play the matching game.   You might start with pictures on a card – one object on each card.  Match one picture with another that is the same.  The child needs to name the object and not just find it.  When pictures are not available, use two objects around the house: plates, colors socks, anything that is handy.  They can match and name.  Or ask them to touch and name.  Or let them play being the teacher. 
• Pictures of wild animals  (pets, toys, farm animals) — have child describe them, make their sound, tell where they live.  Or use anything around the house as a target object.
• Pictures of buildings (houses, banks, churches, schools, post office) — ask child to tell you what takes place in each building; who will they find in such a building?  This can be done when you’re driving!
• Find interestingly shaped objects around the house                  (circle, square, triangle, rectangle)   and ask about the “circle”.  Talk about feeling the edge, it’s round.  Do the same with other objects that are round.  Then have the child pick out more objects that are round.  When the child’s knowledge of “circle” is firm, add a second shape and go through a similar routine.

 Enjoy these activities with your child and you’ll be setting a firm foundation of language skills for the future student.

source: LDA Newsbriefs May/June 2009; “Take Time for Ten With Your Child” by the LDA Early Childhood Committee.  www.lda.org

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com   

+ Resources and Summer Trainings for Teachers

other topics: click a “category” or use search box

From Kevin Feldman, some suggestions for resources and summer trainings.

• CORE — http://www.corelearn.com/about/ is a leading institution supporting practical, research-based, professions development/support/tools/etc. to schools and districts.  Check out Summer Institutes at http://www.corelearn.com/calendar/; Core online library at http://www.corelearn.com/learninglibrary/; Core University at http://www.corelearn.com/coreu/
• Sopris West –  a leader in publishing research validated intervention materials (e.g. REWARDS, Read Well, language!); they also run excellent summer institutes around the nation (in beautiful settings): check out http://www.bettereducator.com/summer_institutes.aspx
• READ 180 Annual Conference — Scholastic’s annual training and support event for people using Read 180 and related tools; visit http://www.scholastic.com/products/read180institute/index.htm
• Do What Works — The federal site which shows classroom footage (and more) of research-supported strategies; visit http://www.dww.ed.gov/dww_guidedtour.html
• University of Texas Reading Center — Locate specific materials, strategies, resources based on domain (e.g. vocab/fluency/decoding etc.); lots of FREE resources at http://searchlight.utexas.org
• Center for Media Literacy — Also FREE — great resources such as Five Questions That Can Change the World; see http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article661.html
• The Forgotten Middle — The entire 76 page document is available at http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/reports/ForgottenMiddle.html
• Center on Instruction: Adolescent Literacy Walk Through – A great resource looking at various tools for observing/coaching/walk throughs with a very specific strategic focus; see http://www.centeroninstruction.org/resources.cfm?category=reading&subcategory=materials&grade_start=4&grade_end=12#227
• English Learner Research and Resources: National Clearing House for English Language Acquisition — see http://www.ncela.gwu.edu

source: Kevin Feldman’s newsletter; literacy@lists.scoe.org and kfeldman@lists.scoe.org

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com