Yolanda U. Trapp
Subject: Language Arts. ESL, EOL, methods.
Grade: 1st gr. Level: non readers/emergent
Title: “The Story of Colors, “La Historia de los Colores, by Subcomandante Marcos, illustrated by Domitila Dominguez. Translated by Anne bar Din.
Goal:
To discriminate between various sounds and to prepare them to recognize all the colors. (Spanish-English)
Introduction.
Before starting, according to alternative instructional approaches to read and to guide students who don’t speak English or are at risk, the teacher has to put emphasis in three topic areas: Alphabetics, Fluency, and Comprehension.
Alphabetics:
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Phonemic Awareness, using flashcards and sightwords.
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Phonics Instructions and teaching the sound of each letter.
Fluency, Comprehension
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Vocabulary Instruction
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Text Comprehension Instruction
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Teacher Preparation and Comprehension Strategies Instruction (NICHD,2000a).
Objective:
Centers, Centers, everywhere. We need centers that engage learners and provide the space, resources and means for students to practice what they are learning in order to move them on toward independence. The Centers I am describing are samples for places where children can look at the book and learn the colors guided by the teacher and helper, with Modifications.
Reading Center
Reader’s Place:
All learners need a place to cozy up with a book, in this case, the one we chose to recognize colors. The place could be arranged with an old bathtub or a loft, a bean bag chair or the backseat from an old car, or just pillows or a rug, adding some boxes or shelves with bought, borrowed or classroom-made books.
Procedure
Cluster students in groups of four or five and give them (each) a set of colors made from construction paper. Have children look at the book in pairs. Encourage them to take turns talking about the pictures or making up stories.
Read the story aloud to the children, page by page. Stop in each different color and ask them to show you the card that matches with the color of the page. Focus on one color, and collect a basket of cards made that are alike. Make visual matching first and then let them repeat the word in Spanish and English.
Show the children a picture from the book for 10-15 seconds. Put the book down, then ask children to tell you what color they saw. (visual memory). For comprehension skills about the story use language games, and word walls, first in student’s native language, because children’s minds are trained in their first language. Teachers can teach, using the book for phonemic awareness, while also explicity teaching vocabulary words, their meaning and their pronunciation. (EOL)
Warm-Ups
Build different learning styles when beginning the lesson, use questions, pictures, prediction charts, role playing, films, semantic maps, brainstorming, discussion, story maps, hypothetical problems, tapes, and visualizations.
Assessments:
Use children’s ideas when recording the student’s responses. Because the dictated responses are read over and over and used as a basis for teaching language and writing skills, the text should be grammatically correct. This is the best way to maintain in students a positive self-image in the teacher’s approach to error correction.
Materials:
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Visual
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Pictures
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Activity Sheets
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Hands on manipulatives (colored cards and pattern blocks)
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Demonstration
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Graphic organizers
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Story “The Story of Colors” “La Historia de los Colores” by Subcomandante Marcos. (Bilingual version, English/Spanish).
Time: according to each child’s achievement.
