(1) INTRODUCTION TO THE ALPHABET (Look and say). Give out a copy of the alphabet (capitals and small letters). “A,a; B,b; C,c; ... X,x; Y,y; Z,z.”

(i) Point to each letter in order, and say its name. Have pupil/s repeat the name. If there is any difficulty in pronouncing the letter (eg, tongue, lip positions etc.), give remedial assistance, and the opportunity to practise. Do this several times. When sufficient familiarity is gained with the various names of letters, vary the order of testing.

(ii) Point to a letter at random, eg. “g” and say, “What is the name of this letter?” (If there is a difficulty in vocalising the name: say it clearly for them, and have them repeat it a number of times, until it is reasonably mastered). Continue until the alphabet is learnt.

(iii) Give out practice sheets with sentences. eg. Have pupil point out all the letter “A”s (small and big) in, “Alex is gazing all around the spacious Atrium anticipating a small paper plane to place on the table near Alanna.” Each time the letter “A” (whether big or small) is spotted, say, clearly, “A!”... Point to, and say, all the “Z”s (big and small) in, “Zoe and Hazell are zealously [and with zippy zest] doing a zany Zigzag Puzzle about ‘Zebras, Zombies, Zodiacs and Zinias at the Zoo’.” etc.

(iv) If there is a group, you might give practice in listening to recognize word beginnings. Up till now the activity has been one of “look and say”on the part of the student. Now it becomes a matter of listening, too. Tutor says, “Listen for words that begin like ...,” (using a word that begins with a single consonant, eg., book.) “Clap when you hear one. If you clap at a word that does not begin as (book) does, you must sit down.” Tutor then says four words, some of which begin like book. eg., “bee, bank, house, bed.” After a number have had to sit down, all stand again and the game resumes with another beginning sound.

[If the game were played with Level 2 students consonant blends (eg., Blue) may be used, and also word endings. For Level 3, listen for medial sounds in words.]

Auditory acuity (sensitivity to hearing) and auditory discrimination (ability to distinguish sounds which are somewhat alike, such as the sounds of the letters p and b or the words “seeing” and “ceiling”) should precede auditory comprehension (the ability to understand and remember the meanings behind the word signals); and, therefore, I think I would limit exercises on auditory discrimination for Level 1 students, extending to comprehension in the higher levels.

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THE PHONEMIC CHART needs to be dealt with in the same fashion as the alphabet above, drilling students by similar activities, in the conventional phenome, symbols for vowels, diphthongs and consonants. This will ensure a sound and systemmatic approach to the pronunciation of all vocabulary. Taken in conjunction with the drill on the alphabet, students will concurrently prepare to handle the various sounds that the letters make. This task can commence also at Level 1.

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LEVEL 2 or 3. (auditory comprehension).

(1) TEST YOUR LISTENING. Give student/s practice in attentive listening in order to recall information, by reading paragraphs to a group (or individual). Tutor has prepared questions to accompany each paragraph. Says, “Listen carefully while I read this paragraph. I will ask you a few questions so that you can check your listening skill.

Wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole. In the 17th century people

used to say, “I wouldn’t touch you with a pair of tongs.” They used

tongs (a kind of two-limbed gripping tool), in those days, to lift things

they didn’t want to touch with their hands, things like coal, lump-sugar,

asparagus. Touching “whatever-it-was” was abhorrent (hateful,

disgusting, repugnant, made you feel sick, full of horror) to them. We

still use tongs for lump-sugar; but we don’t use that expression

anymore.

Today, we say, “I wouldn’t touch you with a forty-foot barge pole!”

Barge poles are much longer (particularly 40 foot ones), and therefore

better for keeping someone you don’t like at a greater distance.

(Note: A barge is a flat-bottomed freight-boat in a canal or river. The barge pole is used by the bargee (barge-man) to keep it from bumping into the sides of the canal.)

Now, who can answer these questions?

1. What is a pair of tongs? What were they used for?

2. Why were they used? If you touched whatever it was, how did it

make you feel? What does “abhorrent” mean?

3. Why do we say “barge pole”, and not “tongs”, today? Is it a real

“barge pole” that we are talking about? What are we really saying?”

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(3) WHAT WORD? Student listens for both sound and meaning clues of words. Players to guess the word when asked a question that includes clues to the word’s meaning and sound. eg., “What word means

(i) to look for something and rhymes with church?

(ii) to shine and rhymes with snow?

(iii) to jump and rhymes with sheep?

(iv) world-wide and rhymes with noble?

(v) a thousand dollars and rhymes with hand?

(vi) minced meat and rhymes with flash?

(vii) a credit card and rhymes with elastic?

(viii) a gambler (or a customer) and rhymes with affronter?

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(4) DON’T BELIEVE IT To develop thoughtful co-ordination between listening and observation. With individual or group. A player is chosen to be IT. He stands in front of another player and pointing to one part of his own body calls it by the name of another part. For instance, IT may point to his forehead and say, “This is my foot.” He then counts mentally to ten in about three seconds (not too quickly). The opposite player must point to the part of his own body named by IT but must call it by the part to which IT pointed, using a complete sentence. In the eg. given, the player would point to his foot and say, “This is my forehead.” If he does this correctly before IT counts to ten, he/she becomes IT and the game continues.

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APPENDIX A (Ted Russell.)

I have elected to make my contribution to the first hour session, by taking responsibility for a ten-fifteen minute INTRODUCTORY unit. This consists in an O/H projection slide overview of the book topic for the night. At the conclusion of the segment, a hand-out sheet will be given to each class member, which is essentially identical to the O/H. slide. Members are encouraged to keep these sheets in a folder; as they will go to make up a useful summary of each of the books of the Bible. At the end of the series, each will have a complete collection of all 66 books; and these can then form a useful text for revision, and on-going language exercises, in the regions of oracy and literacy (reading, writing, listening and talking).

(A copy of the first 12 of these summary sheets is included in this report.)

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Elston is responsible for the overall running of the first HOUR session. He opens the class, greeting the visitors. Then he calls on me to take my brief session. A cursory look at the summary sheets will afford a picture of how this period proceeds, and its parameters. What it does not show is treatment of language within the framework. This I will attempt to indicate in the following twelve lesson plans that identify, attempt to explain and develop through use, the language contained within the first 12 summary sheets. The methodology used will approximate that of the Explanation Model, as outlined in the Sydney Micro Skills, Series 2, Sydney University Press, 1977, pp.70-73, of Planning Skills (analysis of topic, specifying relationships, employing generalizations), Presentation Skills (Clarity, Examples), Emphasis (Variation, Structuring)and Feedback (assessing understanding, determining interests, probing attitudes). The focus in this exercise will be largely upon the content, with due regard to the above elements. The strategy for each lesson in these early stages will be that of the Imitative-Repetitive model with peer prompting. [See Ventriglia, L., Conversations of Miguel and Maria, “Imitative-Repetitive Strategy and Second-Language Learning ; Peer Prompting”, pp.86-89, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Sydney, 1982. ISBN 0-201-08147-4.]

I lectured in Linguistics (amongst other subjects) at U.W.S. during the 80’s, and so have a predelection towards lexis in the early stages of this particular outreach project; hence, so far, I have kept to lexical enrichment exercises. No doubt, I will eventually get round to some of my other areas of interest in oracy and literacy, as time and demand require. Last week, Ratna, one of our regulars went a long way towards moving me on, with a particular problem she raised about Bible study. I will comment further in Lesson 12.

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