Training guide
4. Supporting reading and writing across different subjects
4.1. Using group work to support literacy
In the course 2 training materials, you focused on using group work in your classrooms. Group work can be a very effective way of helping learners with their literacy skills across different subjects. As well as helping each other, they will be much less anxious about making mistakes if they are working in small groups than when working alone.
Activity 5.6: Using writing from your local environment for group workThe following activity involves collecting examples of writing in the local environment as the basis for a simple reading and discussion activity in the classroom. Since most of the examples are likely to be in English, this would be a good activity for Grade 4 or above, but it can also be used to support social studies topics around ‘living in the community’ for Grades 1 and 2. You can find TESSA resources to help with this activity in Literacy Module 1, Section 3 and in Life Skills Module 2, Section 2. In the TGM, work with a colleague to make a list of writing from your local environment that your learners may be familiar with or find interesting. Look out for examples at home, on your journey to work and within the school grounds. These could be on signs, adverts, labels, packaging etc. Write the words or phrases that you have collected in large letters on strips of paper and fold them up. Begin by explaining to your learners what you have collected. Put the learners in small groups of three or four and give each group several folded strips of paper. You can do this randomly by getting groups to pick them from a container, or selectively by allocating strips according to your learners’ attainment levels (as teacher Rita did in Classroom Example 5.2). Ask the learners to unfold their strip/s and have a short discussion about where the writing might be found and what it means. Ask each group to then ‘show and tell’ their words to the class. As a follow up, you could give each of your learners a blank strip of paper and ask them to look for new words or phrases over the next week on their way home from school, in their home or in their neighbourhood. You can use these for a similar group activity or put them on the word wall for other learners to read and talk about. You can also ask your learners to bring into class any printed material they find in their home or village that is no longer being used and make a wall display from it. If you have access to a camera and printer, you could take close-up photos of examples of writing in your local environment and print out copies to display. You can also set up a collection box in the school where written materials of any sort can be dropped off for other teachers and learners to use. |