Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id hB4LZGm15610; Thu, 4 Dec 2003 16:35:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 16:35:16 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <000801c3baae$aabb8e00$1a01a8c0@cccchs.org> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Sylvan Rainwater" <sylvan@cccchs.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9702] RE: Oral language, was Re: TABE and Adult LAS for ESL X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.4510 Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 1866 Lines: 41 Of course oral language is critical. And for very beginning students, and especially for low-literacy students, it's the logical first place to start (while ideally also working on literacy in the native language). But even with them, I can't help but do some English literacy stuff in there as well -- I'm always writing on the board, referring to the picture dictionary, etc. I have them do some writing (yesterday it was a list of their daily activities) and also some oral language practice. I listen to what they do and try to correct the common mistakes I hear. But really when people learn a language they make mistakes for a while (just listen to children!). I like to point out a few things in pronunciation briefly as part of an overall lesson, but I know that these things can get overwhelming fast, and may not be retained anyway. Hopefully if I point them out, they can start listening for them, and then gradually incorporate the correct usage into their speech. Error correction (both oral and written) is a whole topic in itself. I remember reading an article some years back about a teacher doing a lot of work on a particular grammar point, and then feeling frustrated because students were talking on the way out of the room and totally reverting to their erroneous way of talking. And that does happen. It's the reality of teaching/learning language. ------- Sylvan Rainwater mailto:sylvan@cccchs.org Program Managaer Family Literacy Clackamas Co. Children's Commission / Head Start Oregon City, OR USA -----Original Message----- From: nifl-esl@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-esl@nifl.gov] On Behalf Of james phillips Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 9:11 AM Isn't what students need in the real world is oral language development. Book learning is important. But, shouldn't language learning start with speaking and understanding. <SNIP>
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