Teaching children WLA

Teaching English through Children’s Literature:

Whole Language Approach

Sherri Wei 10/29/2007www.eng.fju.edu.tw/iacd_2007F/

children_lit/ppt/10_29.ppt -

Introduction

I Am Sam 他不笨 他是我爸爸Stellaluna

Wit 心靈病房The Runway Bunny

Dennis the Menace淘氣阿丹Huffy the Little Mail Train

Why Picture Books? • They could motivate students to read better than

textbooks. • They provide the contexts and authentic language

learners need to acquire a second/foreign language.

• The combination of colorful pictures and texts could help learners to absorb the rhythm and nuance beauty of the English language.

• They could train learner’s imagination and observation.

• The literature nature would guide the discussion of issues we all deal with in lives as human beings.

• They cover diverse topics so that it’s possible to do content-based cross-subject studies.

Literary Analysis & Cultural studiesMulticulturalism Reader Response TheoryWhole language approachPiaget’s Theory of cognitive development

Language Learning Theories:Second Language AcquisitionConstructivist Vygotsky’s ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development)

TESOL Methods : CLT TPRContent-based Task-based learning

Genres : fairy tales,

fantasy, Nursery rhymes

poetry &Non-fiction

English Teaching

Children’s Literature

WH QuestionsChildren’s Literature

• What is the features of children’s literature?

• What are the genres of children’s literature?

• What is the purpose of children’s literature? What are the values we want to pass on to our children?

• How do we perceived children?• How do we teach with/through

children’s literature?• How do we plan lessons

integrating children’s literature?

TESOL

• What does it mean to learn a language?

• What is the relationship between teaching and learning a language?

• How do we acquire a new (second / foreign) language?

• What kind of English are we teaching?

• What is the role of English outside of the classroom?

• How do we design curriculum and plan lessons in this particular context?

What

Why

How

Who

Where

When

Whole Language as a Philosophy• 1980s – 1990s: What’s whole in whole

language? (Goodman, 1986)• The debate in literacy learning: Teaching

phonics or not? A whole to part movement.• The definition of whole: Viewing language

skills as one single unit, can not be separated into sub-skills.

• Belief: “[C]hild-centeredness, adult guidance, social interaction, and meaningful experiences” (Stone, 1993).

5 Constructs of Whole Language Approach

1. Children are expected to learn to read and write as they learned to talk—gradually, naturally, with a minimum of direct instruction, and with encouragement rather than the discouragement of constant corrections.

2. Learning is emphasized more than teaching: the teacher makes detailed observations of the children’s needs, then guides their development accordingly.

3. Children read and write everyday—and they are never asked to read artificially simplified or contrived language, or to write something that does not have a real purpose and audience.

4. Reading, writing and oral language are not considered separate components of the curriculum, or merely ends in themselves; rather, they permeate everything the children are doing in science, social studies, and the creative arts.

5. There is no diversion between first “learning to read” and later ”reading to learn,” as there is in the code-emphasis, sight words, and basal reading approaches.

6. From the very beginning, children are presented with and encouraged to compose whole texts—real language written for real purposes and a real audience.

Weaver, 1988: 44-45 Cited in Stone, 1993: 362-363

What you see depends on where you come from.

The Advantages of Whole-Language Processes• Routman (1998) • Use “real books” promotes an

emphasis on meaning, connects more closely to human emotion, places children in contact with higher quality illustration, and promotes fluent reading.

• Urge teachers to concentrate on the development of readers rather than the development of skills.

Learner Autonomy • Aims to promote lifelong learning, but is

different from self-learning. • The capacity to take charge of one’s

own learning under limited freedom (Holec 1984, Little 1999).

• Involves learners in the decision-making process in terms of the content, the process and the final result of leaning.

• Emphasize the power of motivation, reflection, and self-regulation.

Creativities in teaching & learning• What is Creativity?

– Not necessary new invention, but an original recycle of current materials.

• Purpose: – To enhance motivation and learning

results • Motivation:

– The Adventure of Tom Sawyer: Painting the fence.

• Learning Results: – Language Learning, Culture Studies

& Life Education

Creativities in choosing reading materials

• Break the “best-seller” Myth – EX: What a family looks like

• Provide diverse issues with diverse interpretations

– EX: Dark issues: Death & War

為什麼孩子要上學 大江健三郎 著• 柏拉圖的《米諾》 The Meno• 所謂的老師，並不是一個知道怎麼去教未知者的人，而是可以把學生心中的某種問題，重新再創造出來弄清楚， 以此為工作的人。• 為了達到這個目的，他的策略是把學生無法用語言說清楚但是知道的事情，由他再做確認。• 他們所專擅的事情是把人們心中壓抑著、阻礙對真知更了解的各種力量， 將之破壞。• 這就是為何老師要比學生問更多問題的理由。

Family

Alternative Family

Jamie Lee Curtis

Multi-culturalism & Race

Peter Pan?

Judged by Your Skin by Kevin Sealey • “It is totally surprising and reprehensible to

think, however that many cram schools and other organizations in Taiwan still practice and endorse racial segregation when hiring Westerners for English-teaching jobs.”

• “The concept that black people are incapable of teaching English is backward, narrow-minded and especially unfortunate for a society that claims to have one of the most developed economies of Asia -- if not the world -- while at the same time putting a high premium on education.”

• This narrow-minded thinking is reminiscent of the US in the early 1960s, where segregation was socially acceptable. Segregation in many cram schools which proudly call themselves "American Schools" is acceptable in Taiwan. It's safe to suggest, therefore, that Taiwan is one of the most racist places on earth, as reflected in their employment ethics.

• Sunday, Jul 16, 2006, Page 8 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/07/16/2003319078

History

• "Children's literature also teaches history, and when children do not see their history in school they began to think it is not worthy of learning."

—Rudolpho Anaya http://www.nea.org/readacross/resources/50multibooks.html

History as the past and the present

Norman Rockwell

"Commonplaces never become tiresome.

It is we who become tired when we cease to be

curious and appreciative…

[We] find that it is not a new scene

which is needed, but a new point of view" ©1960 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing,

Indianapolis, IN

Illustration for Look, January 14, 1964. Definitive Catalog number S400. ©1964 Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing Company, Niles, IL

The Problem We All Live With

From Eye Opener http://www.nrm.org/eyeopener/eye_problem.html

Can wetalk

aboutWAR?

Oprah & Elie Wiesel • Nobel Peace Prize Winner 1988

• Survived the horror of the Holocaust death camps at age 15.

• When I needed people to come, they didn’t. That’s why I’m here.

November, 2000

What I know for sureI have no doubt that indifference is not an option.

I have not doubt that the life of any person, any person, weighs more than all the books in the world on life.

I have no doubt that education is good for the soul. Not only for the mind.

I have no doubt that questions have their own magic. Their own charm. And their own immortality.

References• Goodman, K. 1986. What's whole in whole

language? Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. • Chitrapu, D. 1996. Whole Language

Adapting the Approach for Large Classes. Forum 34(2). Retrieved Oct. 27 2007 from <http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol34/no2/p28.htm>.

• Stone, J. T. 1993. Whole-Language Reading Processes from a Vygotskian Perspective. Child&Youth Care Forum, 22(5): 361-373.