1205 English - 8 May 2012

English is usually seen as literacy (reading and writing) and nothing else and it is true that, as teachers, we tend to focus on these aspects.

English, however, also covers visual language (presenting and viewing) and oral language (speaking and listening)

As writing and reading are well covered in the literacy report we will concentrate on the lesser covered strands of oral and visual language in this report.

Focus

·       Our focus goals for this year concentrate on Reading and Writing.

·      We do not have a specific focus area in oral language

Programme

Oral language:

·       Most classes begin each day with an oral language session. The structure of these sessions varies from class to class but all involve developing the progress of listening and speaking through skills and strategies such as:

o   Participation

o   Roles

o   Turn taking

o   Appropriate responses

o   Clarity of speech

o   Appropriateness of language

·       Speeches: The school speech competition and its follow-up, the Rotary Speech Competition are held each year at the end of term 2 and most classes are already in the process of planning, preparing and practicing this important skill. The school competition is in week 6 of this term. All pupils are involved in the school competition and two or three are chosen to go on to the inter school event. We consistently do well at this event.

·       The school has recently purchased three wireless listening posts. While the main purpose of this technology is to enhance reading skills, it also allows us to focus on pupils’ listening skills.

·       Assemblies: Pupils virtually run assemblies with introductions, karakia and presentations. While all presentations are not necessarily in English the aim is to make our pupils confident in standing in front of the whole school and talking. 

Visual language 

·       Visual language is not usually taken as a stand-alone subject but is integrated as part of the presentation of other topics.

·       Visual language sends a message and includes selecting font types, designing posters, presenting projects, posters, packaging etc. It concentrates on the tie-up between text and illustrations.

·       Pupils use the digital cameras to develop visual language skills in:

o   Appropriate font

o   Choosing appropriate illustrations

o   Facial expression

o   Framing and cropping

o   sequencing

Assessment Procedures·       

·      The literacy team are still creating a literacy handbook and will incorporate things such as listening, speaking and presentation progressions.

Students and Groups of Students at risk

·       New entrant children and new enrolments with oral language problems are referred firstly to the RTLB and from there on to the speech/language therapist )(SLT) at special education services.

Looking Ahead

·       We will be looking at providing PD covering the Learn through Talk publications.