Cairo Forum 2010 Education Site

Archive for August, 2010

The following strategies are offered for enhancing language skills and managing language challenges. This listing is by no means exhaustive, but rather is meant as a place to begin.

Alice Thomas and Glenda Thorne

1. Take the mystery away.

The first and perhaps most important strategy is to teach students about the components of language, common language challenges and language strategies, and to help students understand their own language strengths and challenges. This process is sometimes called demystification – taking the mystery away.

2. Simplify directions.

Students with receptive language challenges may need directions broken down into their simplest form. They may also benefit from a comic book-type illustration of steps to take for the completion of a task.

3. Give written copies of directions and examples.

Students with receptive language challenges may need directions given to them at a relatively slow pace. They may need directions repeated to them. They most often benefit from having a written copy of directions that are given orally. Examples of what needs to be done are also useful.

4. Provide frequent breaks.

Students who have receptive language challenges may use up a lot of energy listening, and, therefore, tire easily. Consequently, short, highly structured work times with frequent breaks or quiet periods may be helpful.

5. Give additional time.

Students with receptive and expressive language challenges are likely to have a slower processing speed and should be allowed additional time for written work and tests.

6. Sit Close.

A student may want to sit close to the teacher so he can watch the facial expression of the teacher when s/he is talking. This may also help to diminish interference from other auditory distractions.

7. Allow voluntary participation.

Students with language processing challenges should not be put on the spot by being required to answer questions during class discussions, especially without being forewarned. Rather, their participation should be on a voluntary basis.

8. Teach summarizing and paraphrasing.

Reading comprehension is often enhanced by summarizing and paraphrasing. This helps students to identify the main idea and supporting details. It may be helpful to provide key words such as who, what, when, where and why to orient attention to the appropriate details.
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As with most holidays, school will use Grandparents Day as a special activity for the class. This can be especially true of preschool, where there is as much focus on social activity and every day life as there is on learning the functionalities of reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, with so many different holidays to plan activities and crafts for, you may be out of ideas for Grandparents Day. Have no fear; there is always something new and different to try.

If your preschool has a high level of parental involvement, you may have your preschoolers create family trees. While these don’t have to be long and detailed, they can trace the immediate family and the grandparents. It can also be made creative, actually drawing a tree with branches that reach to each family member.

You can also have your students create Grandparents Day “gift bags”. Make the bag as much a part of the gift as what it contains by having your students color paper lunch bags. Then, fill it with a hand-crafted greeting card for the holiday and perhaps things like a colored picture or a couple of pieces of candy.

One fun idea, if you have the time and patience, is to have the children put on a show. They could act out a scene depicting children showing respect and thanks to the elderly or even sing to their grandparents. Having these respected members of society visit the classroom could be a very special event and could make the elderly feel useful. At the same time, perhaps the children’s grandparents could visit and tell stories from their youth, read books, or even just answer questions about the “olden days”.
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