A Mini Language Arts Programme For A Caribbean Student
A Mini Language Arts Programme For A Caribbean Student
A Mini Language Arts Programme For A Caribbean Student
Hassan Basarally
806007430
Principles, Approaches and Methods in Teaching English in the Caribbean- EDLA 3111
Semester 2, 2008-2009
Table of Contents
Student Profile: a
Rationale: c
Assessment Techniques: d
Lesson Plans: e
a. Student Profile
From the information and indicators present in the student essay the
will now be referred to by the pseudonym ‘Ryan’. From the content of the
essay, the student comes from an extended family and is probably an only
child not living with either parent. The social network that comprises the
Christmas, where the family can meet. Community and family oriented
activities such as visiting relatives and going to ‘treats’ are enjoyed and
Creole Continuum. This is evidenced by his ability to code switch and code
mix between Standard English features and creole ones. This is seen in
Standard English statements such as “June waited while I got ready to go” in
the second paragraph and Creole constructions like “we go see everything
good from here” in the last sentence of the same paragraph. The English
structure can be explained in terms of fixed expressions that are learnt and
two codes in the Anglophone Caribbean. The essay is well constructed with a
clear and coherent flow of events and has details and descriptions. In
such as “delicious” and “luggage”; however the spelling of these words pose
appropriate descriptions for a range of objects and events. There is also the
these indicators, it can be assumed that the reading of the students is fair
writing.
The linguistic needs of the student stem from the need to differentiate
the Creole from English structures and use the English structures consistently
quotation marks. Ryan has knowledge of the use of commas but needs to
extend the use from separating things on a list to separating different ideas
Capitals are used at the beginning of sentence in most cases but are not
constitutes a proper noun is needed, Ryan knows that it is needed for names
of people and places but not for holidays and events, also some swords such
as ‘ham’ and ‘beef’ are capitalised incorrectly. The essay lacks dialogue and
direct speech. As such use of quotation marks and explanation marks require
“what my ant could cook good”. This Creole structure, if placed in quotation
with ‘silent letters’ e.g. aunt, delicious and four, which were among the
words misspelt in the essay. The misspellings can also stem from a deficient
pronunciation but not in meaning. The linguistic profile of Ryan also shows
some needs. These needs are due to the mixing of Creole and English
grammatical structures in the essay. Nouns are not inflected for number as
seen in ‘two bag’ and ‘for (four) slice’. As such, plurality is indicated, when
usually absent, e.g. ‘my father up there’. The preposition ‘by’ is used instead
of the phrase ‘at the home of’ in the phrase ‘by my ant (aunt)’. The
attempt to inflect for the past tense as in ‘telled’, the problem is that one
form of past tense inflection is applied to many verbs. Even when a verb is
inflected for the past tense, Ryan assumes that the past tense context was
already established in the initial inflection and there will no need to reiterate
it in the rest of the sentence. The anterior or past used by the student is
construction ‘it had’. Adjectives are used as adverbs as in ‘could cook good’.
reference to using a car, ‘I get a car from his friend, Huston’, the actual
competence level is lower. The actual level is about that of a 13year old due
of spoken language, in this case Creole language. The student has not
3. Capitalisation
4. Exclamation
5. Quotation marks
6. Direct Speech
7. Indirect Speech
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8. Past tense
9. Present tense
2. Tense 1. Present continuous tense
2. Future tense
3. Irregular verbs
3. Plurality 1. Singular nouns
emotions
5. Figurative 1. Similes
Language
6. Spelling 1. Words with consonant cluster
reduction
2. Homophones
Time Allocation: Capital letters, full stops, commas and exclamation marks:
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that
units.
i. State the appropriate places for capital letters, commas, full stops,
ii. Use capital letters, commas, full stops, exclamation marks and
Content Objectives:
The names of the days of the week, and of the months of the year, are
Proper names are always capitalized. A proper name is a name or a title that
an individual event.
Many religious terms are capitalized, including the names of religions and of
their followers, the names or titles of divine beings, the titles of certain
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important figures, the names of important events and the names of sacred
books.
newspaper or a piece of music, a capital letter is used for the first word and
for every significant word (that is, a little word like the, of, and or in is not
The first word of a direct quotation, repeating someone else's exact words, is
Use a comma + a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect
Never use only one comma between a subject and its verb.
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Between a city and a state [Port of Spain, Trinidad], a date and the year [June
15, 1997], a name and a title when the title comes after the name [Bob
etc.
Full Stops:
The full stop [.] (sometimes called the period) is a punctuation mark indicating a
strong pause. The only common exception to this rule occurs when the sentence is
a question or an exclamation.
The stop is also used following abbreviations: ibid. No. 1 ff. e.g.
The stop is not necessary following common titles which are shortened forms of a
Full stops are not necessary after the initial capital letters commonly used as
Exclamation Marks:
In very informal writing (personal letter or email), people sometimes use two or
Quotation Marks:
Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, even inside single quotes.
quotation marks, the question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks.
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When you have a question outside quoted material and inside quoted material, use
only one question mark and place it inside the quotation mark.
Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes. Note that the period goes
Direct Speech:
In direct speech, the original speaker's exact words are given and are indicated by
quotation marks.
Indirect Speech:
In indirect speech, the exact meaning of the speaker's words is given, but the exact
words are not directly quoted. To convert direct speech into indirect speech: If the
main verb is past tense, present tense verbs in the that clause must also be
changed to past tense and the first and second person pronouns must be changed
For objective ii: Students will be able to add the punctuation correctly to the
following passages:
Write the correct answer in the box next to each word. If there is no
Lab .
games."
immigration.
10. I think that lake Superior is the largest and the most
Full Stops: Rewrite the sentences using full stops where needed.
2. Miss Kitty picks up the bits of paper She will put them in the bin
3. Uncle Peng sits in his car His friend is also with him
below:
1. He left the scene of the accident and tried to forget that it had
happened.
contradictory.
6. The contractor testified that the house was completed and that the
7. Some people refuse to go to the zoo because of pity for creatures that
9. The closet contained worn clothes old shoes and dirty hats.
below sentences:
The film was really frightening I was really shocked by what I saw Rubbish
That is what you find on many city streets What a situation There must be
some way of dealing with it You hear it from all sources, "Swimming is so
good for you" The World Cup can bring out the best in sporting achievement
following sentences:
In the Second Coming of the American Small Town, that appeared in the
Winter 1992 edition of the Wilson Quarterly, the author states, The town
We should not forget the words of one of the greatest American Presidents,
carry a big stick, and that's the way we should carry out our foreign policy.
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Be quiet! the teacher shouted. I want everyone to open her book and read
To make the past tense of a verb –ed is added. There are irregular vrbs that
We (wait) there for more than half an hour by the time the show
began.
head.
Samantha (live) in Berlin for more than two years. In fact, she
5. Will and Tim said:" We were very happy about the present."
9. The Clarks told us:" We drove right down to Athens last summer."
marking: 20 minutes,
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that tense
describes actions that occur in the present continuous and future and with
English.
Content Objectives
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For objective i:
this very moment. It can also be used to show that something is not
happening now. E.g. You are learning English now. In English, "now" can
mean: this second, today, this month, this year, this century, and so on.
Sometimes, we use the Present Continuous to say that we are in the process
speakers use the Present Continuous to indicate that something will or will
not happen in the near future. E.g. Is he visiting his parents next weekend?
expresses the idea that something irritating or shocking often happens. E.g.
She is always coming to class late. Present continuous has the following
for help. We also use "will" when we request that someone help us or
volunteer to do something for us. Similarly, we use "will not" or "won't" when
when I get it. "Will" is usually used in promises. E.g. I will call you when I
arrive. "Be going to" expresses that something is a plan. It expresses the
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idea that a person intends to do something in the future. It does not matter
whether the plan is realistic or not. E.g. He is going to spend his vacation in
Hawaii. Both "will" and "be going to" can express the idea of a general
prediction about the future. Predictions are guesses about what might
happen in the future. In "prediction" sentences, the subject usually has little
control over the future and therefore USES 1-3 do not apply. In the following
(watch) TV as well.
(scream) , "Surprise!"
5. We work out at the fitness centre every day after work. If you
key under the welcome mat so you will not have to wait outside.
class.
you.
Irregular verbs are past tense forms that do not use –ed endings. Some are:
broadcasted broadcasted
browbeat
do did done
go went gone
ay laid laid
REGULAR
rebroadcasted rebroadcasted
Irregular verbs: Fill in the correct form of the irregular verb and
1. go went gone
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2. saw
3. had
4. break
5. sang
6. fly
7. did
8. become
9. won
10. threw
11. tell
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12. rung
13. made
14. quit
15. heard
16. paid
17. run
18. worn
19. put
20. sold
21. thought
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22. begun
23. read
24. met
25. left
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Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that nouns
have both a singular and plural form and that pluralising a noun involves
specific rules.
Content Objectives
For objective i:
English nouns can be classified as count (singular and plural) and non-count.
When a noun means one only, it is said to be singular. When a noun means
count).The plural form is used when considering more than one of the same
item. Non-count nouns do not have a plural form. Most plurals are formed by
Home
Cards
Tomatoes
Bridge
Plane
Staples
Printer
Watch
by changing y to ies.
s.
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ves.
Storm
Door
Dish
Church
Army
City
Turkey
Play
Hero
Cargo
Calf
Thief
Wife
Creoles use no inflection, generic countable nouns and external markers for
plurality.
5. There were many bottle left on the roadside after the party.
45 minutes
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that adjectives
emotions.
Content Objectives:
For objective i:
adverbs. You can recognize adverbs easily because many of them are formed
by adding -ly to an adjective. Adverbs can't modify nouns, as you can see
from the following incorrect sentences. On the other hand, it's sometimes
adjective always follows a form of the verb to be when it modifies the noun
before the verb. Likewise, an adjective always follows a sense verb or a verb
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of appearance -- feel, taste, smell, sound, look, appear, and seem -- when it
Contd. Contd.
alive impossible
evil upset
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fierce uptight
foolish weary
frantic wicked
frightened worried
grieving
Feelings Feelings Shape Size Sound Time
(Good) (Good)
Contd.
c thankful soft
fantastic wonderful
fine zealous
friendly zany
funny
gentle
glorious
good
Taste/Touch Taste/Touch Touch Quantity
Contd.
icy wet
loose wooden
yummy
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1. My best friend.
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that essays are
ii. Describe the element described in the simile and what it is being
compared to.
Content objectives:
Similes are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways
are similar in one important way. Similes are a way to describe something. Authors
Similes use the words “as” or “like” to make the connection between the two things
compared to. The first three have been done for you.
1. Mary frowned and said, “I believe that taking drugs is like (playing with
fire).”
2. I walked along the beach and listened to the ocean. My sadness was as
3. Don’t tell Mother that her cookies taste like (lumps of sand).
4. Sam waited impatiently for his older brother to calm down. “Bill, I think
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5. Karen was offended when I said that she was as flaky as a snowstorm.
glass.
7. I’m not comfortable about this situation. I feel like a bug sitting under a
magnifying glass.
8. I hoped our play would be a success and last for many performances.
As light as a feather .
As blind as a dat.
Daniel was trying to compliment Jaycee. "Your face is like a flower", he said.
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Barb frowned and said, “I believe that taking drugs is like flushing your brain
Write a fresh simile for each of the topics below. Try to make your
e.g. He had arms like tree branches and help tightly to the
screaming child.
minutes
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Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that words are
not always spelt the way they sound, they have letters that are not
reduction.
Content objective:
For objective i:
differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower)
and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot,
or to, two and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also
both homographs and homonyms.[1] The term "homophone" may also apply
to units longer than words, such as letters or groups of letters that are
ondents
medal/metal/mettle/ vial/vile
council/counsel meddle
vice/vise
creak/creek might/mite
wade/weighed
crews/cruise mince/mints
wail/whale
cruel/crewel mind/mined
waist/waste
cue/queue miner/minor
wait/weight
currant/current missed/mist
waive/wave
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curser/cursor moan/mown
want/wont
cymbal/symbol mode/mowed
ware/wear/where
dam/damn moose/mousse
way/weigh/whey
days/daze morn/mourn
ways/weighs
dear/deer muscle/mussel
we/wee
defused/diffused mustard/mustered
weak/week
desert naval/navel
(abandon)/dessert we'll/wheel
nay/neigh
dew/do/due weather/whether
none/nun
die/dye we'd/weed
oar/or/ore
disburse/disperse we've/weave
ode/owed
discreet/discrete wet/whet
oh/owe
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note) one/won
while/wile
done/dun overdo/overdue
whine/wine
draft/draught overseas/oversees
who's/whose
dual/duel pail/pale
wood/would
earn/urn pain/pane
yoke/yolk
ewe/you/yew pair/pare/pear
yore/your/you're
eye/I palate/palette/pallet
you'll/Yule
faint/feint passed/past
fair/fare patience/patients
faun/fawn
Then
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c. Rationale
“We prefer one thing to another, we shift our attention from one event to
another, we praise one behavior and condemn another, we like and dislike,
and whenever we do it, we value” (Hart, 1971, p.29). This is the basis of
there is no one method, approach or principle that can solely provide for the
learner’s needs. As such, a mixed approach is needed. The first thing that
Caribbean student. Two codes that resemble each other exist in the region.
Creole is the first language and English is the target or second language.
Hence a second language approach must be taken. The two main theories of
towards the target. This is important as there exist a Creole continuum in the
region with individuals moving form Creole to the target; English. In addition,
the closeness of the Creole to English removes motivation to learn the target
recognizes that language development requires time. The student may not
is desired in the long term as after the student reaches an acceptable level
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grammatical parsing. This means that focus on the form and inflection of
verbs. This is important as the student used many uninflected verb forms
and it is a main feature of Creoles. It also shows the differences between the
same importance as reading and writing and errors are used constructively in
English one so that the student would be aware of the difference. Unit 1:
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is a base for the next. For example, the use of quotation marks is learnt
before direct speech which is followed by present and past tense learnt, then
approach and the Direct method can be seen in Units 4, 5 and 6: Adjectives,
Figurative language and Spelling. The topics to be covered are best learnt
through usage in speech. As the units involve drill and learning words peer
lessons in groups.
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d. Assessment Techniques
Assessments and tests are the primary methods of evaluation in the education system.
However the concepts of assessment, test and evaluation are not clearly understood by those in
the school system. A test “connotes the presentation of a standard set of questions to be
answered” (Mehrens & Lehmann, 1991, p. 4). Assessment is often used interchangeably with
test but according to Mehrens and Lehmann this is not the case. Assessment is the use of both
“formal and informal data-gathering procedures and the combining of the data in a global
fashion to reach an overall judgement” (1991, p. 4). Both tests and assessment are therefore used
information from one or more sources. It must be noted that evaluation cannot exist truly of the
entire student but of a certain aspect such as academic performance, behaviour and attitude.
are essays and short responses. These types test higher level skill as the
students must achieve the cognitive and affective objectives to perform well.
Objective type questions are of two types, supply and selection type. The
supply type questions include completion exercises and short answers and
the selection types include matching exercises and multiple choice. It benefits
poor readers and allows a wide area of work to be covered, however like the multiple choice
question pupil’s scores “may be unduly influenced by good or poor luck in guessing” (Mehrens
a) Essay writing.
d) Speech exercises.
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e. Lesson Plans
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that
meaningful units.
1. State the appropriate places for capital letters, commas, full stops and
exclamation marks.
2. Use capital letters, commas, full stops and exclamation marks properly
in writing.
marks. Students are invited to attempt to read the passage. The teacher
punctuation. [5 minutes]
Procedure:
1. The teacher will invite students to come to the board and insert
2. The teacher will explain how capital letters are used in writing. (Refer
to p. 7)
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3. The teacher will explain how commas are used in writing. (Refer to p.
8)
4. The teacher will explain how full stops are used in writing. (Refer to p.
9)
5. The teacher will explain how exclamation marks are used in writing.
(Refer to p.9)
6. The teacher will have students work independently in rewriting a group of sentences,
marks.
[20 minutes]
board and invited to insert all the punctuation marks in the correct
places. [5 minutes]
complete out of class and submitted for review to the teacher by the next
class.
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Unit 2: Tense
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that tense
describes actions that occur in the present continuous and future and
Introduction: The teacher will write three creole past tense sentences
on the board. The teacher will elicit student input in changing them to
Procedure:
2. Teacher will show students that there are irregular verbs that do not
3. Students will read aloud a list of irregular verbs and the teacher will
p. 30)
[25]
Closure: Teacher will name an irregular verb and ask individual students
to give the past tense forms and complete sentences using the irregular
verbs. [5 minutes]
Assessment: Students will learn more irregular verbs from the list
Unit 3: Plurality
Teaching Point: At the end of this lesson students will learn that nouns
have both a singular and plural form and that pluralising a noun involves
specific rules.
both singular and plural, and asks students to name them. The students’
attention are drawn to several of the responses that show that the same
Procedure:
1. The teacher explains the difference between singular and plural nouns.
given.
6. The sheets are peer corrected and the teacher will repeat the concepts
7. The teacher will write three Creole plural sentences on the board and
8. The class will be divided into two groups; each will take turns providing
Closure: The teacher will review the rules of pluralisation in English and
and present to the class in English. Teacher and peers will listen with
Works Cited