2023 MLTAV Action Research Project Presentation
�
Literacy through Languages
Tahn Watson
Federica Mancusi
Linton Roe
https://mltav.asn.au/literacy/
An MLTAV initiative supported by the �Victorian Department of Education
Workshop Overview
Project Overview (3 mins) | Linton Roe |
Tahn’s Project (15 mins) | Tahn Watson |
Q&A (3 mins) | |
Federica’s Project (15 mins) | Federica Mancusi |
Q&A (3 mins) | |
Possible Next Steps (3 mins) | Linton Roe |
Literacy through Languages
Project Overview
2022 - We wanted to clarify and make explicit how Languages contribute to literacy skills
2023 - Support teachers to implement specific, targeted literacy strategies
We will now hear from two of our project participants, Tahn and Federica.
Tahn’s Project
I began working at Hughesdale Primary last year. My mission was to introduce a language program (French) across the school from F-6 for 560 students. Previously the language taught was Mandarin.
I quickly realised that this was an excellent opportunity as I had “carte blanche” to create my own program as long as it was within the scope of the Victorian curriculum.
Having had experience in bilingual schools and as a generalist early years teaching I felt that I had sufficient knowledge of the English Early Years Program to build on. I embarked on the quest to support the English Program through our languages program.
The idea being to mirror what the students were doing in their own classroom.
I began working at Hughesdale Primary last year. My mission was to introduce a language program (French) across the school from F-6 for 560 students. Previously the language taught was Mandarin.
I quickly realised that this was an excellent opportunity as I had “carte blanche” to create my own program as long as it was within the scope of the Victorian curriculum.
Having had experience in bilingual schools and as a generalist early years teacher I felt that I had sufficient knowledge of the English Early Years Program to build on. I embarked on the quest to support the English Program through our languages program.
The idea being to mirror what the students were doing in their own classroom.
Having trained as a LOTE teacher I used to follow the standard language curriculum using the gradual release format.
We would move from one topic to another layering new knowledge over prior knowledge. With 48 minutes per week for each grade, this proved to be rather piece-meal.
In order to try to link my Languages program with the English program I began with research and reading.
Having trained as a LOTE teacher I used to follow the standard language curriculum using the gradual release format.
We would move from one topic to another layering new knowledge over prior knowledge. With 48 minutes per week for each grade, this proved to be rather piece-meal.
In order to try to link my Languages program with the English program I began with research and reading.
FRENCH CURRICULUM
VIC CURRICULUM FRENCH SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
DESCRIPTION
Foundation to Level 2 Description
Students become familiar with the sound systems of the French language, including pronunciation, rhythm, pitch and stress. They learn to pronounce individual letters and letter combinations, including unfamiliar sounds such as -eau, -u, è, é, ou, r and g. They recognise and use the intonation patterns that distinguish between statements, questions and exclamations. They use simple basic sentence structure and learn to write single words and simple phrases.
French is learnt in parallel with English language and literacy. Learning in the two areas progresses at very different levels but each supports and enriches the other.
ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
They rely heavily on visual, non-verbal and contextual cues such as intonation, gestures and facial expressions to help make meaning.
ENGLISH CURRICULUM
Key English literacy knowledge and skills for students in Prep to Year 2 (ages 5-8)
· phonemic awareness (as part of phonological knowledge and skills)
· phonics knowledge (grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge)
· letter and letter-sound knowledge
· word decoding (segmenting sounds inside a word and blending them back together
· oral reading fluency
· word encoding (spelling)
· ongoing expansion of oral language comprehension
· written letter formation
Phonological awareness:
My literacy related challenge.
The biggest challenge was to find and source literacy resources that are age appropriate and that the students find interesting.
My biggest challenge
Resources
You will hear the students coming up with their own word associations..
Ananas is the French word for pineapple and as the student pointed out in the video it is like “bananas” without the “b”.
The discoveries I made..
GarÇon is pronounced GarSon
When doing the guided reading we rely heavily on cognates and the students have also come up with their own strategies to make word associations to help concrete their learning.
REFLECTION
· Grouping the students in the same levels as their English reading groups was not ideal as many of them have another background language at home and can at times perform better in the language classroom.
· With the structure being familiar to them it did not take long to establish a routine.
· As you can see from the quality of the work the students are producing their literacy skills have improved across the board.
· Finding the right resources that are age appropriate and engaging has made a world of difference. If for some reason, we divert from the reading groups the students are very disappointed. They absolutely love their classes.
· Working in the small groups on different activities gives them student voice. They thrive on the autonomy and independence they have.
Next steps..
Reflections
&
Questions
Federica’s Project
School context + language assistant
Footscray Primary School
At Footscray PS I work as a language assistant, I:
Case study - Grade-1 Italian classroom:
Literacy challenge
Sometimes, year 1 students are not engaged/lose interest easily when listening to an unfamiliar book/text.
Before taking part in the Literacy Through Languages Project I used to
and….
Action Research Project
Focus Question
Hypothesis: students are disengaged because they do not understand the story.
How might the teacher use some specific literacy strategies to:
and overall help Year 1 students become more engaged/comprehend more confidently when listening to/reading an unfamiliar text?
Strategies/interventions trialled
Predicting and decoding
Inferring
Strategies
Providing supporting material before the reading, also in non-verbal forms
(e.g., flashcards, single words, action words)
Literacy skills promoted in this project:
Listening for gist, listening for specific information
Asking questions, point to picture to support understanding (specific focus on word, images, events in the story), yes/no questions
Showing the front page, point out strategic images, decoding/reading the title, stand up and act out the story (consider the size of the book)
How the data was collected
No strategies
+ questions
Strategies: front page, point out strategic images (flashcards), decoding/reading the title, present the big book + specific questions
Session 1
Session 3
Strategies:
Front page, point to pictures, flashcards
Session 2
All strategies + open-ended questions
Session 4
Data during the action-research were collected through Peer Observation.
Outcome of the observation
Notice how students responded to different reading strategies
Note for the observer: While taking notes of what the students do, try to identify ‘evidence’ of their participation. For example: they were paying attention as they were looking at the book (evidence) - They participate in re-telling the story by using single word answers in Italian and English (evidence).
Observation 1
What does Federica do?
(uses Italian all the time)
Federica is sitting on the chair
At the end of the reading (just a few minutes),
Explains the meaning of the word ‘guscio’ by using actions
Tuesday, 16/08 - Observer: Elena
What do the students do?
Sit down, for a few minutes they are still a bit distracted and look around
Focus on the book, listen
Students’ response:
Look at the picture to find the answers, respond in both Italian and English
Overall good participation in the re-telling of the story for meaning-making demonstrated by correct answers, gaze to Federica and the book
Participate and show understanding by translating the word in English, responding to a yes/no question game (hai un guscio?, Kim ha un guscio?etc.)
Preliminary observation
No strategies introduced
Observation 2
Focussing on the cover was great, they were into it. Keep it short. This warms them up to be excited about the book.
Book too small, they want to see pictures and this increases engagement. If the book is small, roam through the group and show individuals pages. Engage them this way, as they all want to be chosen.
Students will respond in English but be prepared but respond in Italian to things the students say or they won't respond at all and will lose interest.
The thing about flashcards is that depending on what the students say or how they respond to the text, if the cards are focussed on nouns but the kids respond to verbs in the story, the cards may not be of value. You don't want to have a 'focus' for reading the story, but if there are resources that take time and effort, they need to be worth it. 🙂 Frontloading them by using the cards at the start before reading could tune them in. Display the cards so they can refer back to them. (Could you write the words on the board and do a quick drawing?)
Max made a great connection between appetito and appetite - be alert to small moments because they can be golden.
Brava Fede. I am so grateful that I get to have you in my classroom.
29/08 - Observer: Kim
Strategies:
Front page, point to pictures, flashcards
The teacher/language assistant could:
The book is too tiny…
Strategies:
Costa, N. (2011), Tanti animali.
Observation 3
What does Federica do? (use of Italian all the time)
Pre-reading stage
Set of strategies 1: show the front page, point out strategic images, decoding/reading the title, present the big book
Federica uses gestures to invite students to sit and read together (leggiamo insieme)
-asks to read the title of the book (Tanti animali)
-asks to explain the meaning of the word “tanti”
-asks what animals they see on the front cover
Monday, 4/09 - Observer: Elena
What do the students do?
Pre-reading stage
Students:
Read aloud the title of the book
Explain the word tanti in English
Raise their hands to answer the question:
Io vedo …. (I see) - a structure they are familiar with) and the name of animals in Italian and English
Active and focused participation
T
All strategies
Resources: The story has been printed out on A3 pages so that the students have access to pictures and text along the reading. The pages are shown to the students while reading and then placed on the floor in front of them. The students are sitting in a circle.
What does Federica do? (use of Italian)
While-reading stage
It starts with a question to engage students (guess the animal of this story):
Leggiamo la storia di un animale che fa “moo moo” - La mucca Maria
Set of strategies 2: Flashcards to introduce vocab (foglioline - appetito - riposino) - Using gestures and intonation while reading the story
Federica uses gestures and points to the enlarged story while reading, uses intonation to suggest meaning
What do the students do?
While-reading stage
They answer in both languages
Cow, la mucca
Students:
Look at the flashcards and contribute the meaning in Italian and English,
Appetito → ha fame
Riposino → letto, sleepy, follow the suggestion of Federica do…..--> dorme
Students follow Federica’s moves and words, they look at the book and the pictures
They keep their attention to the story
What does Federica do? (use of Italian)
Post-reading stage
Set of strategies 3: Asking questions, point to picture to support understanding (specific focus on word, images, events in the story), yes/no questions
Federica asks very specific questions that refer to each of the pages of the story. The questions seem to require a specific word and refer to a specific stage of the story.
She tries to help the students by pointing to the pictures but the students seem a bit confused.
One example:
La mucca è triste o felice (pointing to the picture)?
Perché?
Com’è la bocca? Va in su o in giù?
What do the students do?
Post-reading stage
Questions:
Some questions are a bit too narrow and require a specific word linked to a specific page of the story. These questions are difficult as they are not open enough for them to contribute.
Next step: to improve final questions
More open-ended
Leave to the students the option to refer to different parts of the story they may have understood and use any language, verbal and non-verbal
Students answer:
Felice
Confused…then they seem to follow Federica’s questions and start smiling (non-verbal answer)
Suggestion: focus on open ended questions and accept any way the students interpret that question, do not look for a specific word, let them answer verbally in any language or non-verbally, rephrase their answers in Italian
Observation 4
What does Federica do?
(uses Italian all the time)
Pre-reading stage
Federica presents the book to the kids, who recognise it and she asks them if they remember what the title means and what the stories are about.
She asks if the students remember the protagonists of the stories, and she helps them by pointing at the drawings on the cover and at times giving up the first syllable of their names.
She also asks the students if they can infer what animal will be the main character of the next story.
Federica shows the kids some flashcards with names of the two main characters, with the setting and objects central to the story.
Date 10/10 - Observer: Laura
What do the students do?
The kids recognise immediately the book and are able to read to the title and follow the questions.
They answer in both English and Italian. Some kids seem more confident to reply in English rather than Italian, but with the help of Federica with the syllables, they are able to also use Italian to tell the names of the characters.
The kids repeat the words that Federica shows them on the flashcards.
All strategies
Observation 4
What does Federica do?
(uses of Italian all the time)
While-reading stage
Federica has a A3 printed version of the story, while she reads, she puts the pages on the floor.
While reading she points at the words as she says them and at the characters, when they are mentioned, as well as miming the actions.
As she reads, if there is a word that is also in the flashcards, she points to them rather than to the page, so that the kids can interact with the reading.
Date 10/10 - Observer: Laura
What do the students do?
The kids seem attentive and engaged by the story, especially when asked to complete sentences by using the words they might know or see on the flashcards.
All strategies
Flashcards to tune students in
Scenes of the story and flashcards are all placed on the floor, so that all students can see them
Observation 4
What does Federica do?
(uses of Italian all the time)
Post-reading stage
After the end of the story, Federica asks questions.
She asks “Chi c’è nella storia?” (Who is in the story), “Che succede nella storia?” (What happens in the story), “Cosa fa il leone?” (What does the lion do?)
Then she asks personal questions such as “Mano su se ti piacciono i leoni” (Raise your hand if you like lions) or “Mano su se ti piacciono i pappagalli” (Raise your hand if you like parrots)
Date 10/10 - Observer: Laura
What do the students do?
The students are excited to answer the questions, especially when they are sure of the answer, and they can answer both in English and in Italian. They repeat the words they have heard, as well as simply pointing to the pictures in the pages, that are still exposed on the floor.
To the more complex questions, such as “Che succede nella storia?” they use a mix of English and Italian to create a complete sentence.
For the question about what the lion is doing, because Federica is not pointing at any page in particular, the kids can answer with any action they can recall and feel confident to describe.
They seem especially enthusiast about the last two questions, which are more personal, and also require a physical response rather than the use of language.
Strategy
Observation 4: (Laura)
because Federica is not pointing at any page in particular, the kids can answer with any action they can recall and feel confident to describe.
Costa, N. (2011), Tanti animali.
Future steps
Possible activities
Reflection: what did/didn’t work
Some strategies that worked:
Strategies that have not worked:
Reflection
Explicit strategies/ reinforcing strategies used in the English literacy class brought:
- improvements in their participation/engagement/confidence
“Exploring” the English classroom and try to link my Languages program with the English program
Language assistant role in supporting all linguistic and literacy development
Next step: create a resource for the school/booklet/guide for the language assistants.
Grazie!
Thank you!
Accessing the Passport Resources
Full details available on the Department of Education Languages Teaching Resources webpage
All enquiries, email: languages.passports@education.vic.gov.au
Source: My Languages Journey Passport, Victorian Department of Education