Anne Ralston Ling 583 Final Project Rationale Student Authors and Fluency Building

The target population for this project are students with uneven English language skills. Their reading/writing skills will be less developed, ACTFL Novice level, than their speaking/listening skills, ACTFL Intermediate level. The students might be be from varying, non-Roman alphabetic backgrounds in an EFL context or adult ESL, perhaps in a continuing education context. The reading class focus is on the development of phonemic awareness with the goal of improved reading and writing fluency. The project work will come at the end of the course. Students will have covered all units of a beginning reading course with a strong emphasis on phonemic awareness, one similar to Wilson Just Words (Wilson, 2012). The focus of this program is an awareness of the sound system of the English language, a familiarity with the spelling rules, sight words, increased vocabulary and specifically, reading fluency building. The students will work in pairs to complete the project. The final product will be a short, eight-page, book presented to the class and read aloud to children as well as a reading of Fox in Sox as an animated, group presentation. Project tasks will utilize authentic input and output, will contain a language-focused component, will recycle and reinforce course objectives. All four language skills will be developed. Importantly, the final projects, student authored books, will prove to provide tangible, lasting results. Confidence gained by students as a result of a positive, perhaps unique, experience of successfully reading aloud to an audience should be a rewarding experience and provide intrinsic motivation. Listening: The overall project will be introduced by the teacher with a presentation on childrens books written in English. The spotlight will be on Dr. Seuss, a brief background discussion of his life, what made him unique, and specifically why his books are beneficial for reading fluency. Examples will be shared for students to view. The presentation will wrap up with a YouTube video + audio of Fox in Sox. Task #1: Speaking A speaking component of the project will be an oral presentation of an author. With Dr. Seuss as an example, the students will give a 5-10 minute oral presentations of an author from their country. If possible, a copy of the book can be brought in as well as images from the internet. (Students will have been notified at the start of the course to find examples). Using authentic language, the goal of this task is to orally present information in a clear and informative manner. Students may refer to notecards but should not rely on them.

Task #2: Reading/listening/language-focus. Listening to and reading Fox in Sox, student teams will choose a sound to focus on. They will become sound specialists in this sound. Fox in Sox presents several sounds with various spelling possibilities such as /i/ three, freezy, eating, /u/:, new, two, you. All of these spellings have been taught throughout the course and students have, throughout the course, made personal notebooks with these spellings, the rules and example words. This task will provide students the opportunity to review the rules, review and compile learned words, investigate new examples enriching vocabulary as well. Students will use reading skills to identify words in text and listening skills to identify sounds in audio versions of Fox in Sox and other online audio. An interactive, online version is available of book and audio which allows listeners to read and listen to the story with words highlighted as they are read and to select individual words to hear pronunciation (see Appendix A). The final product of this task will be a lists of words that contain their sound (see Appendix B). These lists will be copied compiled in sound booklets for each class member. Task #3: Writing Using their list of words for reference, information on Dr. Seuss and their favorite authors as inspiration, the teams will each create an 8-10 page book. The book must contain at least one example of each spelling possibility for their sound, at least 10 sentences and at least one image per page. Sentences, of familiar grammar and vocabulary, should include tongue-twisters as in Fox in Sox amusing sentences with a story-line suitable for young audiences. This languagefocused strand will give deliberate attention to vowel diagraph pronunciation and recycle new vocabulary, with ample repetition; all features have been recently introduced (Nation, 2007) and to build fluency as students will be reading their books aloud (Tasks #4 and #5). Books should include simple language use, Such an extensive reading program should actually fit into two strands of a course: the strand of meaning focused input when learners read material which is at the right level for them (Krashen (1985) would call this i+1, and the fluency development strand where learners read very easy graded readers, far below their usual meaning-focused input level, but read them very quickly (Nation, 2007). Students will use familiar language, grammar and syntax, the intended readers for the books will be children hence the simple structures and focus on amusing themes.

Task #4: Speaking/Fluency building Students will prepare a Sound PowerPoint presentation featuring their sound. This PowerPoint will present the various spellings of the sound with one example word for each spelling. At least two sentences from Fox in Sox that contain at least one example of the sound will be included. Presenters will explain spellings and fluently read all words and sentences. The final section of the PowerPoint will be their newly authored books. Students will display the book and read aloud to the class. Classmates will be given copies of the books. The presentation will provide the students another opportunity to use familiar language with a main goal of

conveying their message (Nation 2007). Practice and reading of their books to the class will develop fluency as well. Task #5: Fluency building The final phase of the project will be an oral presentation of Fox in Sox and their new books to a small audience of children. If logistically possible, a Meet the Authors and book signing session at a local library, school, community center might be arranged. Student teams will discuss and read aloud their newly created books. Ideally, signed copies will be available for the audience. With a small class-size (10-15 students), the Fox in Sox reading can be a class presentation, the book can be divided among students. Individual students will read the sections of the book that focus on their sound. This can be an amusing, entertaining production. Students will be required to fluently read their section. Accurate, fluent, quick reading as well as animated presentations are the goals of these activities.

The final project and accompanying tasks will come at the end of course-work, wrapping up an intensive reading course that aims to develop phonemic awareness and reading fluency. Completing the components of this project, the students will utilize newly developed skills in a meaningful context. Ultimately gaining knowledge, skills, confidence and a sense of pride of accomplishment.

Appendix A

Fox in Socks
by Dr. Seuss

"New socks. Two socks. Whose socks? Sue's socks. Who sews whose socks? Sue sews Sue's socks." "Fox in Socks" introduces two delightfully funny characters, Fox and Knox, who converse almost entirely in rhyming tongue-twisters. Together they move through the story and describe each scene with rhymes that grow in complexity. Jump in and join the fun, but take it slowly because this book is dangerous for your tongue! The most famous tonque-twister in the book: "a tweetle beetle noodle poodle bottled paddled muddled duddled fuddled wuddled fox in sox, sir!" is often referenced in popular media. Try saying that out loud! Is your tongue numb? New features only available in this omBook include professional narration, background audio and enlarged artwork for each scene. To promote reading in young children, individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched. By combining the original text and artwork of Dr. Seuss with features that entertain and promote reading, this omBook appeals to readers of all ages.

http://www.oceanhousemedia.com/products/foxinsocks/

Appendix B Task #2

The sound /u/:

/u/ : ew new grew flew chew stew blew drew dew /u/: oo goo noon moon room

/u/ : ou you youth group croup

/u/ : ue blue true due

/u/ : eu deuce

/u/ : u___e flute rule tune prune rune

/u/: ui suit

/u/: u flu

spool broom pool poodle noodle choose too moo sight words to do

two through

who

References Nation, P. (2007). The Four Strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 2 13.doe:10.2167/ill039.0 Wilson, Barbara A.,(2012) Wilson Just Words Instructor Manual, Oxford, MA:Wilson Language Training Corporation.