In the next step, interested members of the community of varying ages met and discussed suitable materials, wrote and edited stories for the Story Track, and chose the key words and
wrote the pages for the workbooks in the Word-Building Track. In a week, all the necessary books were in draft form, so three men did the final editing and helped prepare the stencils for
the first books. People of all ages, including children, helped in the printing on silk-screen printers in the village, after which, they collated the books ready for the classes. The teachers
were given a short two-day in-service course, then they used the books in the current prep- schools, where there was a very enthusiastic changeover from Tok Pisin to Kwanga.
People in the neighbouring village of Warmenakor heard about the activities and came to ask if they could have some help to begin an adult class. The Tau teachers demonstrated and
gave four young men some training for two days. It was not possible to continue training at this stage, so the Warmenakor men took some copies of the books and started a class. They began
teaching a highly motivated group of young adults who had not had a previous opportunity to learn to read and write. These applications of the new material in the prep-school classes and the
adult class are presented in the next section.
2. Applications of the Materials With Format Changes 1. Use of the material in prep-school classes
When the teachers began using the new Kwanga materials in the prep-school classes, the researcher monitored the lessons to note any difficulties. One outcome of the change to their own
language was quite dramatic in the Story Track lessons. The children made such comments as, “Now it is easy because we can think and write.” “Now we can write because we know what to
write next.” Such spontaneous comments support the notion that in the area, especially with children and women, enough Tok Pisin is known to use in everyday conversation but there is not
the in-depth knowledge and understanding to enable full expression in writing. There seemed to be few difficulties in using the story books—reading with comprehension was evident along with
spontaneous, creative story telling and writing.
In the Word-Building Track, the teachers made the transition to the new format without problems because the activities were essentially the same as previously taught in Tok Pisin. In
the activity with analysis and synthesis of the key word, the new extension of breaking the syllable into phonemes was done appropriately. Two children in one class did say a vowel with
the separated consonant for example, ka.a, instead of ka at first, but quickly understood the idea because the letters were always said consecutively in the context of the syllable. There was very
little confusion in clapping the syllables: to differentiate between syllables and phonemes, the phonemes were tapped on the fingers. From observation and feedback from the teachers, this
further breaking down of the syllable did seem to help the children to identify the single letters. There was no problem of blending because the individual letters were learnt in context, being
immediately read in larger units of syllables and words.
The teachers gave favourable comments about the new format, both for ease of teaching and for preparation, with the same structure used each day. The enthusiastic transition from Tok Pisin
to Kwanga materials and the full acceptance of the new format for the workbook in the prep- school classes boosted the resolve to test the materials with an adult class. The next section gives
a description of the beginning of classes for preliterate adults in the neighbouring village of Warmenakor.
2. Use of the materials in an adult class
The Warmenakor group of preliterate people were highly motivated to become part of the reading community in the church. In the new class, the teachers were encouraged from the
outset, to take complete control and conduct the program in a “model-do” cooperative learning style closely related to a traditional way of learning a new skill. During the two days of training,
the trainee teachers had learned in this “model-do” way; they had observed the Tau prep-school teachers in their classes, the Tau teachers had demonstrated further and explained each lesson,
and had then given opportunity for the trainees to practice. In the Word-Building Track, the readiness activities in Workbook 1 were not included; the instruction began in the primer lessons
in Workbook 2.
After the new class was started, the researcher made three visits to observe, to give encouragement, and to explain further the principles and lessons as needed. On one occasion,
one of the prep-school teachers gave extra help with a demonstration and explanation for the Story Track. Twenty-one people attended this new class initially. On the occasion of the last
visit, sixteen members were present and had been consistent in their attendance.
The new teachers took control and handled setting up the class with very little equipment. The basic equipment was a large blackboard, chalk, some paper and pencils, and a black marker
pen. When the pen went dry, the teachers dipped it in the juice from the seed pod of the Lipstick Tree Bixa orellana which worked efficiently. The men were encouraged to be innovative and
to teach within the basic structure given to them, but they were also expected to adjust it to suit their situation. The dialect was slightly different, so the lessons were taught mostly from the
blackboard in a flexible way with cooperative learning between the teachers and students. The teachers involved the students by writing the material on the blackboard, while the students
interacted by reading each part as it was written, or by suggesting the content of the text to be written. The prepared books were mostly used as a reading resource for the teachers and
students.
The progress that was made after eighteen days of lessons was most encouraging. The class was held intermittently over a period of seven weeks for two to three hours per day. On the
eighteenth day of class, a short test in reading and writing was given by the researcher. The test was given to ascertain the progress that had been made. The students were asked to identify and
read two syllables and three words, and to read a short story of three sentences which contained known syllables and words. The students were also asked to write a story about a louse the topic
of the story they had read. The results of this test are shown in Table M1.
Table M1. Number of participants successfully reading test items after 18 days of instruction
READING ITEMS
Number of items completed Syllable n=14
Word n=14 Sentence n=14 3 -
5 7
2 10 3
2 1 4
3 2
0 0 3
3
