EPL 312: Breakthrough to Literacy Stage 1

• EPL 312 is titled Breakthrough to Literacy
• The lecturer is Dr. Grace W. Muriithi from the Department of Primary Education, Faculty of Education, University of Botswana

Breakthrough Stage 1

• It takes three weeks (about 17 days)
• Students learn 15 words and 7 formative cards with the teacher
• The poster of the Home is used
• Each child learns to read each word in the key sentence (a sentence built using words from the first set of 15 words and formatives)
• Each child finds the card for one of the words in the teacher's sentence maker

Aims of Stage 1 for Students

• To learn to work in small groups without the teacher
• To talk to the teacher and fellow students about themselves & their families, their experiences
• To find the printed word card
• To recognize, read, and use the 15 words: mmê, ja, gae, apaya, tee, ntatê, golo, bôna, dijô, bana, rata, nnana, malomê, lela, kolo
• Seven formatives: 0, ba, a, le, go, ke, se

Aims of Stage 1 for Teacher

• To assess each child so that he/she can be placed accordingly in ability groups in Stage 2

Preparations for Stage 1

• The class layout involves arranging the class to work in 4 groups
• Teaching material involves:
  • Key sentence for the day, from conversations in the teaching group
  • Flash cards for the key sentence
  • Panels of the teacher's sentence maker taped together with the words of the first key sentence put in it
• Three Occupational tasks:
  • Two groups do the writing patterns
  • One group copies a picture
• Colour labels identify each group by the colour they wear, helping to sort activities and identify children's ability levels such as fast or slow

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1: Essential activities

• Day 1:
  • Encourage discussions through conversations among the children
  • Guide the conversation using the key sentence, e.g., nnana o a lela
  • Write the key sentence on the board
  • Read out the sentence and have the children repeat it
  • Emphasize the distinction between the words
  • Children should match the flashcards with the words on the board

Guidelines for Stage 1: Day 1

• Divide the students into 4 groups
• Each group gets an identifier, e.g., colour, names
• Step 1: 3 groups work on educational tasks
  • The teacher chooses either to show the whole class or start off each group separately
• Step 2: Groups change/rotate to a new station and do a new task

Guidelines for Stage 1: Step 3 (cont'd)

• Repeat the key sentence with emphasis
  • Sentences are made up of words we say
  • Words are important, and can be written
  • Words start from left to right, separated via writing and silent pauses
• Each child practices saying each word
• Word matching must be illustrated by the teacher, and students must be given a chance to practice

Guidelines for Stage 1: Step 4

• Change round amongst the groups
• Tasks include:
  • Drawing and colouring in the storybook
  • Writing nnana under the picture for those who can
• Establishing the link between writing and reading

Guidelines for Stage 1: Step 3

• Students gather around the 'teaching corner'
• The teacher encourages each child to talk about:
  • Conversation starters like The Home
  • Babies
• Teacher guides them to talk about babies and waits for a child to come up with the key sentence nnana o a lela
• Each child should be given a chance/opportunity to talk
• Aims of the conversation include:
  • Making each child feel important
  • Getting the key sentence, prompting when necessary
  • Training children in oral and listening skills
• Conversations can be started via:
  • Conversation posters
  • Stories from children, recalling events in their lives
  • Pictures
  • Phonics posters

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1: Day 2

• All groups complete the round of: Teaching group → 1st educational task → 2nd task → 3rd task
• Revise the sentence taught in Day 1.0
• Children match words by returning word cards to the pockets in the teacher's sentence maker
• Teaching group involves:
  • Taking the card nnana, telling the children what the word is
  • Each child says the word what the word is, several times
  • Showing the sentence maker (special house for the word) & compare each letter with the word on the card, pointing out the shape of the letters, and slotting into the pocket once the letters are the same
  • Each child gets a turn to do it by themselves
  • Illustrating reading from left to right

Teaching Plan for Stage 1: Day 3

• Revise nnana
• Teach phonics of syllables and letters of nnana , understanding that:
  • Phonics = letter recognition + its sound
  • Breakdown of syllables into letters and their sounds
• Aim for the child to recognise the whole word quickly
• Have students identify all the a's in the sentence
• Point out prefixes if any
• Breakdown syllables, e.g., tsa ma ya = ts | a | m | a | y | a
• Children match the letters and syllables on the chalkboard with the ones in the sentence holder by pointing and saying the sound
• Note single letter sounds.

Teaching Plan for Stage 1: Day 4

• Revise nnana o a lela
• Let children familiarize themselves with the use of the teacher's sentence maker & sentence holder
• Teach phonics of the whole sentence nnana o a lela
• Revise words and affixes used, and recognition of words and prefixes by finding in the sentence maker through matching word cards, doing activity with each child
• All groups should catch up with all activities

Teaching Plan for Stage 1: Day 5

• Guide conversation & discussion to get a key sentence, e.g., bagolo ba apaya dijo
• Introduce the new key sentence
• Teach the same way as the first key sentence
• Emphasize spaces between the words, and the 2 morphemes of ba and golo using the sentence maker, indicating that each morpheme (word part) has a separate home
• Use the sentence holder, making up the two cards into one word
• Use this routine with words that have different morphemes, e.g., prefixes + roots
• Occupation tasks = draw a picture for bagolo or for the whole sentence, with the teacher writing the word or sentence under each picture

Examples of Key Sentences

• Bagolobaapayadijô
• Nnanaobônammê
• Ntatêobônamalomê
• Banabaratadijô
• Banabasekolebaratamalomê
• Ntatêlemalomêbaaja
• Kebônannanaalela
• Kebônabana
• Mmêoapaya
• Mmêoaratatee

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1; Examples of Key sentences to bring in using routine for Week 1 Day 1

• Bagolo ba apaya dijô.
• Nnana o bôna mmê.
• Ntatê o bôna malomê.
• Bana ba rata dijô.
• Bana ba sekole ba rata malomê.
• Ntatê le malomê ba a ja.
• Ke bôna nnana a lela.
• Ke bôna bana.
• Mmê o apaya.
• Mmê o a rata tee.

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1; Day 6-11

• Introduce new key sentences, ensuring that:
  • New letters and sounds are learned (phonics)
  • Children can build new sentences in the teacher's sentence holder

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1; Day 12-16

• Introduce new key sentences until all the 15 words and 7 formatives in the first set of cards have been taught/used

Note for Days 6-16

• As new words are added, revise the old ones daily.
• Don't overload the children

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1; Conclusions of Stage 1

• Use pictures related to the key sentences
• Ensure Children learn to use the sentence maker
• Children learn to locate the cards & return to their respective pockets
• Practice phonics daily using the words in the key sentences
• Stage 1 can go on to 4 weeks

Occupation Tasks

• Draw a picture for a new key sentence – the sentence is written under each of these

Setswana Phonic

• Single letter sounds: a, e, ê, i, o, ô, u, b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t
• Diagraphs (two letters with one sound) includes: common diagraphs (ph, th, tl, ts) and less common diagraphs (ny, kh)
• Trigraphs (3 consonant letters) include: tlh, tsh, ngw, tsw

Occupation Tasks Include

• Occupation tasks 6 to 10
• Copying letter shapes entails following steps such as: Writing patterns (curves and lines, not alphabet writing), letters of the alphabet (not capitals), where to start when writing particular letters, addressing confusing letters (e.g., b & d; b & q; ft; p & q; n u; w m), and spacing between words

Problems with handwriting in children, includes; poor letter formation

• Poor coordination on how to form the letters
• Different sized letters
• Confusion between similarly shaped letters, such as lowercase a, e & o
• Lowercase letters usually contain more rounded edges & curves, making them harder to write than capitals

To Remedy the poor letter formation

• Practice helps muscle memory, strength and dexterity in the hands

Common Handwriting Problems in Children: Spacing Problems

• Words
• Letters
• Problem is not understanding how these 2 different distances work, or being able to recreate them on paper
  • Introduce how to write letters that are similar in size, and use a "finger space" between words using a finger on the paper

Common Handwriting Problems in Children: Letter and Number Reversals

• Examples: b & d; p & q; 6 & 9
• Not understanding the different letter shapes and how they are oriented
  • Use memorable clues when writing ‘b’– first the bat (straight line), then the ball

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1

• Use new key sentences using routine for Week 1 Day 1
• Examples of Key sentences:
  • Nnana o bôna mmê
  • Ntatê o bôna malomê
  • Bana ba rata dijô
  • Bana ba sekole ba rata malomê
  • Ntatê le malomê ba a ja
  • Bagolo ba apaya dijô
  • Ke bôna nnana a lela
  • Ke bôna bana
  • Mmê o apaya
  • Mmê o a rata tee

The Teaching Plan for Stage 1: Day 17

• Test each child to assess their ability
• Divide the students into groups depending on their ability
• All students work on occupation tasks while testing is going on
• Results of the test are 1st entry in the Record of Progress
• A child gets a mark for each card, based on reading: quickly (without long pauses) and correctly (without prompting or correcting)
• After assessment, group the children depending on ability:
  • Group 1 = fastest, and few
  • Group 2 = second best
  • Group 3 = 3rd best, usually a fairly large group to allow for progress
  • Group 4 = children have room for promotion after later assessments

What the teacher must

• Not do: stand over the children, do all the talking, correct children's mistakes by telling the answers
• Do: sit with the children, talk calmly and encourage children to talk; allow children to discover their own mistakes

Additional Items

• Teacher's sentence holder – to hold the word cards in place as one builds a sentence
• A teacher panel with word cards, plus word cards which consist of:
  • Core vocabulary of Breakthrough
  • Cards placed in the sentence maker, packed away after use and ideally done by the students so that they can learn to match words with the words printed in the pockets
  • Blank cards – for personal words i.e., those words that are not part of the core vocabulary
• Conversation posters
• A pupil's storybook
• A phonic poster

Additional Items Continued

• 12 Breakthrough Readers
• Students should begin to read by halfway Stage 2, and Readers 13 and 14 are stories
• Once a child finishes reading, the reader should be put back in the Library
• Additional tasks for all stages so that students are not idle, in the Breakthrough Occupation Task book
• Tasks that should be prepared together with daily work so that there is work for students who complete tasks fast

Assignment

• Make a breakthrough kit with a teacher panel with word cards, conversation posters, a pupil's storybook, a phonic poster and collected conversation posters.