| Activity Description:
Aims
- to develop standard usage of the simple present
past
- to refine sequencing of events skills
- to identify and refine skills in (details) in
a story
- to involve student's family in the child's literacy
development
- to have students work collaboratively and share
their life experiences orally and in writing
Procedures
The class reads a book such as The Relatives
Came that tells a story about something that happened in the past and
that uses the past tense throughout.
Teacher may model a short account from his/her life.
This may include modeling writing by using a language experience chart.
The teacher elicits oral language from students
(preferably in small groups) while scaffolding, providing and clarifying
the language as needed, about an experience from the student's own life.
For beginning level ELL students, a story starter
may be useful, i.e. (Last week my family...) or (One time I went to a ...)
or (In my country I liked to...) etc.
Students may dictate the beginning of an account
(the main idea) to the teacher. More advanced students may begin to outline
the story using a bullet list.
Students may then pair up to refine each other's
work.
Students may then be assigned to go home and ask
family members for a full account of this event. They may take notes in
their native language if appropriate.
Students bring in additional information and begin
a first draft. Process writing engages them in editing and revising their
accounts, both individually and in pairs. |
