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EAL Activity booklet

S00168522
Sarah Fitzsimmons

A guide for English as a second Language or Dialect Learners


Overview

A guide to EAL/D learners has been designed to effectively assist


students whose first language is not English. EALD students differ
from students who speak English as their first language as they vary in
ability. These activities aim to significantly enhance such abilities in
speaking, listening, reading and writing (De Courcy, 2012). This booklet
is based on the core text Meet Marly by Alex Pung for Stage 2
learners who
have been
assessed as
Emerging English
Learners: Phase
2 and aligns with
the Australian
Curriculum,
Assessment and
Reporting
Authority (De
Courcy, 2012;
ACARA, 2012).
Contents

1) Communicative activity- Musical Class Survey

2) An information grid- Information Stations

3) Donut circles

4) Minimal pair exercises- Bubble Pop!

5) A barrier Game

6) A cloze activity

7) Text reconstruction- ICT integration


8) A word wall- Around the Word Wall

9) Split dictation

10) Talking Points

11) References

1. A communicative activity- Musical Class Survey


A communicative activity aims to provide the learner with a variety of opportunities in which they interact with
their peers and with a teacher to develop effective oral and listening skills(Gibbons, 2015 ). By engaging in
deep conversation, students learn to break down communicative barriers, learn about cultures and share
experiences (Centre for Applied Linguistics, 2017). In the book Meet Marley, Marley is from Vietnam.
Students compile a class survey as they wonder around the room listening to a piece of music. When the music
stops, students find a peer and ask what their name is and where they are from. Students write down their
answers into the class survey. The incorporation of music caters for musical students and consistent movement
caters for kinesthetic students.
Variation: Students could write the names and draw a picture/research something they know about they know
about that country
Extension: Questions such as what part of that country did you come from? How far is your country from
Australia?

The name of a peer in your Where are they from?


class
Sarah

Dilsamreet Sri Lanka

Tran Hong Kong

Karen England

Idea derived from Centre of Applied Linguistics, 2017.

2. An information grid- Information Stations


Information retrieval grids create an alternative way to represent information to students
(Gibbons, 2015). It allows students to gather information with minimal text and then construct
their own text using the information they have gained. This activity is suitable for all EALD
students, but would effectively cater for students who find it difficult to record key
information or who consistently blind copy text with no information processing. (Whitehead, 1990). In pairs,
students research information about characters introduced in the text and fill out the grid for a student
directed yet holistic understanding. In the text Meet Marly, Marly has arrived from another country. The
first two chapters of the text explain Marlys past. This information grid will focus on the context of the
story and will aim to provide the learner with a holistic view of the characters introduced so far. The questions
should outline who, what, where why and how. An information retrieval grid will aid in a students comprehension
as it cohesively pieces together vital parts of the text- for example, the characters, setting, climax etc.
Variation: This activity could be changed so that stations are set up around the room with one specific
character on each table. The table could have a variety of images and information that the students could work
through to add to their information grids while working collaboratively.
Extension: Students could come up with their own questions about the characters on what they already know
and what they would like to find out.
Character Where did they Occupation- What Why did they move Other information
come from? do they do? to Australia? or facts

Marly Vietnam when Marly Marly is a student Marly moved to Marly doesnt really
was 2 years old. Australia to escape understand what a
Looks after the the conditions they refugee is
womens children were living in.
while they work Speaks Cantonese

Marlys Mum Came from Vietnam Sews clothes in the To escape the Spoke Cantonese
back shed for a conditions they
living were living in

Uncle Beng Hong Kong Owned a successful The government Was taken away
business took their business from his family
away

Basic answers provided as an example of a student response.

3.Donut Circles
Donut Circle is an activity designed to increase oral discussion for low level English learners
(Gibbons, 2015). This activity allows for practice and rehearsal of an idea or sentence structure
as they move through partners (Gibbons, 2015). Donut circles are two circles that are created
of equal size, with one circle inside the other. Students are given a topic in which they discuss
with the person in front of them for an allocated time. Students then move around the circle
using the same topic (for practice) or another topic. EALD students differ from mainstream students and it is
important to practice these types of discussions so students begin to distinguish the difference between
social conversation and structured conversation which is used in an academic setting.This collaborative activity
enhances student interaction between EALD and mainstream learners. In the text Meet Marly, it is explicitly
addressed that Marly is a refugee. Questions in a Donut circle may include:

What is a refugee?
Why do you think Marly found it difficult to make friends at school before she befriended Jessica
and Kylie?
Why do you think she got along so well with Hai?
Why did Marly have to explain to Hai what to do at school? Why do you think he was confused?
What was Marlys original thoughts and understanding of what a refugee was?
Variation: Students could have laminated cards with the question on it to refer to while moving around the
circle and to follow while the teacher reads out the question. The donut circles could be made smaller with
more circles and less children in each. Have one child facilitate the reading of the question, while the others
discuss. At the end, have the group of students report to the reader of the group what a summarised answer
of the question. This could then be shared with the class.
Extension: Ask students to write down new points every time they visit a new person. By the end they should
have a collection of notes. Ask the students to write these notes out using structured sentences.

Question

What is a refugee?
Notes:
A refugee is someone who may not speak the language
A refugee has moved to another country because they may be in danger
A refugee seeks refuge in another country because they are in danger

4. Minimal Pair Exercises-


Bubble Pop!
Minimal Pair Exercises are constructed to aid in a childs ability to
distinguish the differences between the phonemes of English
(Gibbons, 2015). Phonemes are sounds/ units of speech that
identify differences in words and their meaning (Gibbons, 2015).
Phonemic awareness is a vital element for developing alphabetic
literacy skills (Caravolas, 2005). A minimal pair activity emphasizes such awareness by giving students pairs of
words such as bat/ bit, cat/cot. The teacher will read one of the words in a pair and the student must circle
which word they think they have heard. This practice aids EALD learners in their pronunciation, oral word
recognition and facilitates the learning of discrete sounds in the English language (Tuan, 2010).
Variation: Students have cut out laminated bubbles with pairs of words on them. When the teacher reads out
one of the words, students circle the word using a whiteboard marker to make the bubble pop. Can be used in
group rotations so it is student centred and lead.
Extension: Students find words in the text and create their own pairs
Jackie,
Bing, Jockie
Beng

Tuyet,
Marly, Murly
Tiyet

5. A Barrier game
A barrier game is a resource designed to enhance receptive and
expressive communication skills (Stuckey, 2009). Barrier
games are played in pairs and incorporate elements of
problem solving to access higher order thinking (Gibbons, 2015). Barrier games are student lead and offer
opportunities for students to ask and answer questions (Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development, 2008). To begin, one student is given a complete piece of information and another student is
given the same information with parts missing- this is known as an information gap (Gibbons. 2015). A barrier is
placed between the pair (cardboard, desk) and students communicate by speaking and listening until each
person acquires the same information. In the text Meet Marly, there is a lot of dialogue between each of the
characters. Students record each other acting out pieces of dialogue from the text. The students then listen
to the recorded pieces of information and draw a picture on what they heard.
Variation: Students could be given a cloze activity and link this barrier game into it by recording the
information and then filling in the gaps from a cloze activity.
Extension: Students work pair vs pair to improve social interaction/ work collaboratively or individual pairs to
increase the level of interaction between students.

Examples:
Pung, 2015.

6. Cloze Activity
A cloze activity is a piece of text with excerpts removed (Gibbons, 2015). For
students who need additional help, a bank could be provided at the bottom with the
words that have been removed from the text for the students to refer to whilst
reconstructing their text. A cloze passage aids students in developing thinking, understanding, reading and
writing skills (Lu, 2006). Cloze activities are used as a reading strategy and sentence construction (Taylor,
1953). Cloze activities can be constructed in a variety of ways. For example, an open ended or multiple choice
cloze (Sadeghi, 2014). In the text Meet Marly, Marly becomes frustrated that her cousins are continuously
hanging around her at school. She wants to socialise with her own friends, but is torn between leaving her
cousins on their own. Students complete a cloze activity which is a class constructed diary entry from the
perspective of Marly. Students then use this same piece of work in a cloze activity by replacing all the emotive
language with words of their own. The words underlined in the
passage below would be removed to create a cloze activity.

Dear Diary,
My cousins are really
annoying me at school! They
keep speaking to me in
Cantonese which I hate!! Jessica
thinks they are being rude. It
makes me sad that my
friends dont understand. They think it is funny to talk
about my cousins and laugh at how we speak Cantonese.
Some kids at school keep calling and yelling at us
because we are different. I just want to have fun and be
happy with my friends and I want Tuyet and DaWei to do
the same (sigh). It is very frustrating- it took me sooooo
long to find some friends!! Now Im only going to have my
cousins to hang with. Anyways, I have to go now. Im
excited to watch the childrens shows on the new TV dad
got.
Marly
7. Text Reconstruction-
ICT integration
A text reconstruction is designed so that parts of a text
(paragraphs, sentences or phrases) are jumbled for
students to reorder and then justify why they have
chosen that particular order. It is a great activity for
focusing on the cohesive links across sentences, such as
pronoun references and conjunctions (New Zealand
Ministry of Education, 2012). Text reconstruction activities are particularly effective for focusing on text
cohesion and conjunctions (Gibbons, 2015). In the text Meet Marly, conjunctions are used to connect
sentences or clauses. A sentence/ clause is taken from a chapter in Meet Marly and is displayed on the
SMART board in the wrong order (The teacher can download segmenting apps to break up the words and move

Marly thought that the brown and green paisley print was horrible,

maybe Uncle Beng had no taste after being locked up for so long.

them around on the board as needed). Students rearrange the sentence and identify the conjunction.

It was so hot Marly thought you could break an egg on the cement
ground.

It would begin to fry.

Variation: This activity could be completed in a whole class setting or as an activity in


but and literacy rotations on iPads or individual devices.
8. Word Wall- Around the Word Wall

A word wall is a continuous progression of technical words that relate to


a topic, that are added to a display as a visual reference in the
classroom (Gibbons, 2015). Words are grouped on their meaning and relevance- for example, adjectives
(Gibbons, 2015). Word Walls provide a permanent word bank of high frequency words that EALD learners may
need for every day use. They also aid in recognizing relationships between words for language development
(Reading Rockets, 2017). The text Meet Marly explicitly describes how her cousins looked when they arrived
in Australia. Students use chapters three and four to identify adjectives in the text. Students begin to play a
modified version of Around the World. In this case, it has been adapted to Around the Word Wall. One
student stands behind another in a circle while the other students are sitting on the floor. Students listen to a
sentence or phrase containing an adjective in the book. The student who can identify the adjective first, takes
it from a pile of laminated words and adds it to the Word Wall. Students collaboratively construct a Word
Wall about Marlys description of her family members.

Marlys Family- What do they look like?

Aunty Tam:
Slender
Wore a pleated, sleeveless dress
Wispy, black hair like feathers
Large, brown eyes
Elegant and young

DaWei:
Has Large puppy- like eyes
Wears a Tan tracksuit and green running
shoes

Tuyet:
Long, black hair parted like a set of curtains
blinking, bewildering eyes
Wears purple pants and a knitted jumper
Her finger nails were painted hot pink

There is an extensive
amount of description
pertaining to Marlys family
but this is an example
which can be extended.
9. Split Dictation
Split dictation is a listening exercise/ barrier game where pairs have two
parts of an excerpt in which they collaboratively work together to fill out
the missing information. (Gibbons, 2015). Split dictation is designed to
promote meaningful communication between students as well
as to provide opportunities for sentence construction (Kidd,
1992). Split dictation promotes ordering and sequencing as
text is reconstructed (Department of Education and
Training, 1997). Students are given two cards labelled A and
B. Each card has the missing information of the other. Each card
holder must help their partner to identify the missing
information. In the text Meet Marly, Marlys cousin Tuyet is
commended on her advanced levels of sewing. The book explores
Tuyets skills as she recycles old toys and creates new ones. Students
bring in a toy of their choice and they use their toy to lead the split

dictation. An example passage that may be used is incorporated below.


10. Talking Points- Lets debate!
Talking points are questions that are created to spark discussion on a particular subject (Gibbons, 2015). It
provides stimulation of speaking, listening, thinking and learning (Dawes, 2008). Talking points are composed of
statements that may be contentious, wrong, fictional or correct (Gibbons, 2015). It creates another dimension
to discussion by creating a platform for students to think outside the box. Talking points take place in small,
group discussion circles and then each discussion is shared in a whole class setting. In the text Meet Marly,
the themes race and belonging are prominent from beginning to end. Students discuss points in small groups
and then debate their argument with another small group. Students participate and observe as they view
different perspectives and angles of an argument.

Variation: Talking points/ debates should go for around 2 minutes, but could be adapted to talk for a shorter
or longer amount of time to increase the difficulty of the task.

n Marlys family gets a TV, she notices there arent many Asians on the shows. Do you think Australia was as
nty Tam and Uncle Beng, is Australian culture different to what they are used to? Use evidence to support y
ffort to fit in? Why/ Why not?
er to fit in?
true?
Questions may include:

Refugees are bad people. Do you think this is true?

Should Marly forget about her culture in order to fit


in?

Do you think Marly should make more of an effort to


fit in? Why/ Why not?

After learning about the perspectives of Aunty Tam


and Uncle Beng, is Australian culture different to
what they are used to? Use evidence to support your
answer.

Meet Marly is set in 1983. In chapter 5 when Marlys


family gets a TV, she notices there arent many
Asians on the shows. Do you think Australia was as
much of a multicultural society as it is now?

References
Books:
Gibbons,P.(2015).Scaffoldinglanguagescaffoldinglearning:TeachingEnglishlanguage
learnersinthemainstreamclassroom.(2ndEd.).Portsmouth,NH:Heinemann.
Pung,M.(2015).MeetMarly.Brisbane:Queensland:PenguinRandomHouse.

Journals:

Caravolasa,M.(2005).Phonemeawarenessisakeycomponentofalphabeticliteracyskillsinconsistent
andinconsistentorthographies:EvidencefromCzechandEnglishchildren.JournalofExperimental
ChildPsychology,92(2),107139.Retrievedfrom
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096505000688.
deCourcy,M.,Dooley,K.,Jackson,R.,Miller,J.&Rushton.(2012).TeachingEAL/Dlearnersin
Australianclassrooms.PETAAPaper183.Sydney,NSW:PETAA.

Kidd,R.(1992).TeachingESLGrammarthroughDictation.TESLCanadaJournal,10(1),4959.

Sadeghi,K.(2014).PhraseCloze:ABetterMeasureofReading?.TheReadingMatrix,14(1),7680.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.readingmatrix.com/files/126u64c3r.pdf.

Taylor,W.L.(1953).ClozeprocedureAnewtoolformeasuringreadability.JournalismQuarterly,30,
415433.

Tuan,L.T.(2010).TeachingEnglishDiscreteSoundsthroughMinimalPairs.JournalofLanguage
TeachingandResearch,1(5),540561.Retrievedfrom
http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/jltr/vol01/05/02.pdf.

Website:
AustralianCurriculum,AssessmentandReportingAuthority,(2012).Englishasan
AdditionalLanguageorDialectTeacherResource.NSW:ACARA.
DepartmentofEducationandTraining(1997).LanguageforUnderstandingAcrossthe
Curriculum.Retrieved20/5/2017,from
http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/17338/LUAChandbook.pdf

Lu,G.(2006).ClozeTestsandReadingStrategiesinEnglishLanguageTeachinginChina.Retrieved
20/5/2017,fromhttp://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.577.4469&rep=rep1&type=pdf

ReadingRockets.(2017).WordWalls.Retrieved20/5/2017,from
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/word_walls

Stuckey,K.(2009).BarrierGamesDoYouSeeWhatISee?.Retrieved20/5/2017,from
https://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/228_barriergames.pdf

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