Reading Comprehension Writing 47752 Stringer M Literacy acquisition

Text 3 a. Em dispela mun em i stap hait tasol long haus bilong tupela manmeri. Tupela i save yusim olsem lam bilong tupela long haus tasol. This moon only hides in the house of a couple. They just use it like their lamp inside their house. b. Tupela i save yusim olsem lam bilong tupela long haus tasol. Olgeta manmeri bilong dispela graun i no save long mun. They just use it like their lamp inside their house. All the people on the ground don’t know about the moon. Text 4 Taim ol i laik pait wantaim wanpela ples ol i kisim dispela kil bilong diwai ol i sapim long en wantaim skin bilong pik. Ol i kisim skin bilong pik na haitim bodi bilong ol. At the time when they want to fight with another place they get this base of a tree which they have sharpened and the pig’s skin. They get the pig’s skin and hide their bodies.

6. Comprehension

Say, “Tell me that story text 4 in your own words. What do you think might have happened before that? What do you think might have happened after that?”

7. Writing

When the student has finished, turn off the tape recorder and say, “Look at these three pictures and write a long story about what is happening.” When the student has finished writing, turn on the tape recorder and ask the student to read the story. 248 Appendix H. Picture Sequence for Writing in Test Four 249 Appendix I. Follow-up Semi-Structured Interview Teacher Interview 1. Assessment of the four lessons 1. Which parts have you found the most useful? 2. Which parts have you found to be useful enough to continue with? 2. Changes made to the lessons 1. Which parts have you changed? 2. What are the positive changes that you feel you have made? 3. Attainments of students 1. In your view, how many of the students have foundare finding this method a successful way? What are some of the ways they show you that they find it a good way to learn to read and write. 2. How many of the students have foundare finding it not so successful? In what ways do they show you that? 4. Sociocultural factors 1. Do you think that the way the classes were taught fits in with the everyday way you live? If yes, what are some of the things about the way that the classes were taught that fit with the way things are learned in village life? 2. Think about each lesson and tell me if you think they fit the way you do things in village life or not. 5. The “ABC” question 1. What do you think about teaching the “ABC?” 6. Writing materials 1. Did you find the process of writing the Story TrackWord-Building Track easy or difficult? 2. Which parts were the easiest to work out? 3. Which parts were the most difficult to work out? 4. Now that you have been shown what to do, do you think that you could help other village groups to work out the lessons for their dialect? Sample Interview With a Word-Building Track Teacher I: Now the two of us will think about that way that I showed you when you taught the adults. That way has four lessons: • The first one is the key word lesson. • The second is the Big Box lesson. • The third is games from the Big Box. • The fourth is writing. Do you feel that there is something in these four lessons that really helps students to learn to read and write or not? T: Yes, the key word is all right, and the sentence too, is all right, the Big Box is all right and writing too, is all right. All of them are all right. But in this the sentence only in this, it is like this: that the first key word is on Monday, then that the sentence Tuesday, that the second key word Wednesday, that the second sentence Thursday, and Friday everything is repeated. So it is only in this the sentence that is hard. It is that way. Now, in the new way that you made, it is really good. It is this way: Monday it is the sentence, no, the key word. On Monday you do it all, everything, the key word and the sentence. I: So this helps them? T: I think it is good. Then, on Tuesday too, you do the same thing with the key word and the sentence, the Big Box and the writing. That is good for helping them again. On the second time they can really understand this and learn it. I: You said about the adults: the key word is all right, the Big Box is all right, and writing is all right. And the third lesson with games, with this joining of syllables to make words of different things in the games, you did not say anything about it. What do you think about that? T: Yes, about that too, it is all right. That too is good. That is good, but I told you before about these only: we do it here key word only once and we leave that again and Tuesday we come down to here sentence. They don’t learn this well, this first lesson, the key word. And we leave this key word, we do it only one day, we leave it and come down again to here sentence. That too, we do one day and finish it. Then we leave these each day. A person is not able to understand well. And this the new format in the new way you do it twice instead of one day. It is good. This helps them all. They can understand. Now we do it, then we stop, sleep, and in the morning they do this again; they can understand. They still look at this the old format, it is good. But concerning this, the new way, it is good. I: All right, now I understand because before the key word was on Monday and the sentence on Tuesday, so the key word was not done again. That is very good. I: When you taught the adults did you yourself change anything in the four lessons or not? T: No, I followed the same way as this book. I: Now you think about the adult classes. What did they do and what helped them to learn quickly? Which parts in these four lessons did they learn quickly? Do you have some thinking about this? T: I have some thinking. About the key word, they the teachers give it. They the students understand that well, break and break it at the divisions and do it. I: This is the best for helping them? T: In the box too, they look at the small spaces where a syllable is inside and one says, “Yes, this is this way, this is this way, and you put them together to make it this way to build a word.” Only the sentence, it is a little bit long and they find it a bit hard. And in lesson four in the writing, it is all right. It is good. So, we tell them what things we are teaching them and they write. That is all right. The three are all right. I: All right, only the sentence is hard. T: Only that. It is a bit long. When they are new they make a few mistakes. So, they go a longer time and they understand it more clearly. I: I have been around and I have looked at the way of children, or anyone who learns something in the village. And what do you feel? This way of starting a school to read and write with a workbook and a story book, with two ways inside of it, what do you feel? Is it pleasing to all because it is the same kind as something to learn inside the village or not? Do you think this fits with their way that they start this kind of thing to learn something inside the village? Does it fit the way to learn things in the village or not? T: Yes, that, it is good. It is a good way for showing the children so that they can understand in the same way that they so something in the village. And this too, is the same kind of thing. These the books teach us and we teach them. They understand in this way, “Yes, these things we will do them this way, we will go to school and we will do these things and they will be this way.” I: I taught all of you and you taught the children. In this way of learning, what way of teaching is the same as a good way in the village? T: Concerning the workbook it is all right because it is this way: something you show and you do it, they look and they follow. They follow and later they go, they themselves go, they go and try to do it and say, “Yes, before the teacher he taught us, we do that to do it this way.” And that is the same way with the adults. They show the children. When the children go to some place are they lazy? No. One of them thinks, “Father showed me this way and I did something this way.” And he does it, he does it the way he wants to at another time. That too, is the same kind of thing. When you taught us in the workbook, we showed them and we put all the small syllables inside. They saw them. All right, later when they went to the house again these things are with them that they learned before in school when the teacher taught them and said, “The words are this way. You learn them this way.” So the workbook too, is all right. It is good. I: Some say that it was harder for the students to learn to read and write when they learned in Tok Pisin. What do you think about that? T: Now, before when you did the Tok Pisin books the children did not feel very pleased and be smart to do something. No. They were a bit afraid or they were a bit ashamed. It was that way but when you came and we did it in our language and we used our language from our own village and taught them in our language and talked with them in our language, they were smart. And they were pleased to do whatever we wrote and we said. They raced each other, and another one put hisher hand and another one put hisher hand and another one said, “Me, me” Another one wanted to beat another one and heshe said, “No me” It is that way and we are pleased with the new way you made and also our language too, it is good for us to teach them. It is that way and I am pleased with this. I: What do you think about teaching the “ABC?” T: About the “ABC,” I don’t teach them with the “ABC” because this school you gave to us, in it we use this to talk the same as the sounds that go with our language. It is that way and we must teach them completely in our language. Later when they go to the Community School or later if in this way you yourself tell us to teach the “ABC,” all right, we will go with the “ABC.” Now at this time we have been to this course where you gave it straight in language. It is that way and now we must teach them in our language. 253 Appendix J. Follow-up Reading Test Examples for Tok Pisin 6 7 Pik Pik em i makim pasin bilong stil na pasin bilong kaikai na dring planti. Em i save brukim banis na iI go long gaden na i stilim kaikai bilong yumi. Sapos yumi daunim planti kaikai na pulimapim nating bel bilong yumi inap long yumi kisim bel i pen na i traut, em i no stret long ai bilong God. Jisas i tokim ol disaipel bilong en: «Tasol yupela lukaut gut. Nogut yupela i dring nabaut oltaim na yupela i spak.. Mumut Mumut i save kirap long nait na wok long bungim kaikai i go i go. Em i save sutim longpela nus bilong en long graun na em i save mumutim planti kaikai. Haus bilong en em i save wokim insait long graun. Olsem i gat planti man, tingting bilong ol i pas tru long samting bilong dispela graun. Tasol God i tok long maus bilong pikinini bilong em Jisas Kraist: 8 9 Snek Snek em i makim pasin bilong mangal na giaman. Snek i bin giamanim Iv taim em i stap long Paradais. Adam na lv tupela i bin stap wanbel tru wantaim God. Tasol Seten, papa bilong giaman, em i mangal planti long tupela i stap wanbel wantaim God. Em i go giamanim tupela na mekim ol i pundaun. Em i brukim wanbel bilong tupela na i bagarapim laip God i bin givim long tupela. Muruk Muruk em i man bilong belhat na pait. Sapos muruk i pait wantaim yumi, yumi no inap winim em. Em bai i bagarapim yumi nogut tru. Planti manmeri tu ol i save belhat kwik na i paitim wantok bilong ol. Man i paitim meri bilong en na meri i paitim man bilong en. Long I Jon 3:15 Baibel i tok: «Man i save bel nogut long brata bilong en, em i olsem em i save kilim man i dai. Na yupela i 254 Appendix K. Multi-Strategy Word-Building Track Format Change Interview Sample Interview I: I want to ask you about these two ways of teaching because you started teaching the Word-Building Track one way, in the book we made in Tok Pisin. Now I have brought another way that has a few changes. I would like you to talk about this. Do you some thinking, feeling or belief about these two ways? T: Yes. About the first way you brought to us and we taught the adults, it is a somewhat all right. But if we had taught them for a long time, then they would have learned well. But now we had them for only six months and they didn’t learn well; that was the adults. I: Yes, many have spoken like that, “If we had gone on a bit longer, we would have learned.” T: All right, about this second way which you came and showed the children and we taught them in our language, that is really easy. They have learned well now and they are all right. This new way is good. So now we want it like this, we must grasp this new way that is really good. I: Now do you have any feeling about what things in this new way help them to learn quickly? T: In this new way it is like this: you do those lessons, the lessons you put in there, they are there like that one day, then later we repeat them again for another day. And later, for the second page, we get that for the next day and later on the fourth day we repeat it. Then on Friday we read all of that. So it is good for all of the school children, they learn and can understand well. I: All right, now you can think about what things inside the four lessons in this new way help them to understand. The other old way has different things. Now it is turned about. What do you feel this new way does to help them well? Do you have some thoughts about this or not? T: Yes. I have some thoughts about this. Like this, you clap with your hands this way for each syllable and tap this way with the finger for each letter. I: You think this helps them? T: Yes. I: You tap, tap on the finger for each time there is a letter. Will this help them all? T: Yes, this helps them well. I: What kind of help? What do you think it does? What do they know? T: They know that this little piece a letter is like this and this little piece another letter is like this. Being like that, that is good. I: They then understand how much writing is in each syllable. T: That’s right. I: In this, did you mark two parts, one with one sound and the other with the other sound or not? T: No. I: Did you say one sound for the two together and this that I marked in one box and another box, these two parts are just marked to help them to understand? T: Yes. I: And do you feel that this helps them to read and write, or only to read, or only to write? Where does it help? T: In the way they hear. It is like this: that is the same, and this one, it is the same. Later they look with their eyes too. It is the same kind of thing, such as this one and this is the same way. And too, when they clap hands it is this way, it follows the same as that, in this way tapping with a finger. I: Do you think it is some help in writing? T: Yes, it is some help too. They look in a box and they write the small part and again they go to another—there is another small box—they look again, they write again and follow it. 256 Appendix L. Tok Pisin Teachers’ Reactions to Teaching the “Alphabet” and Writing and Preparing Materials

1. Teachers Comments on the “ABC” Question

In the Multi-Strategy literacy program, for young children in the preparatory year before the children entered the national English system, each teacher had a different way of introducing the names of the letters after the students had some expertise in reading and writing. The Story Track teacher who gave spelling helps by writing the theme word on the blackboard then rubbing it out and putting a horizontal mark for each letter did not teach the names, but he emphasised the letter forms in the context of the sound of the whole word. One of the Word-Building Track teachers did tell the children the names of letters in the context of teaching the sound in a syllable. He wrote the letter in isolation and taught that it had one name when it was on its own, but in context with another letter it had a different name. When asked if he told the English “ABC” alphabet names to the students, he said that he used the sounds. There seems to be some confusion about the meta-language used because the English names and the sounds for letters are both spoken of as “names.” The “ABC” is interpreted as a recitation of the whole English alphabet by some people. Another Word-Building Track teacher said that he did not teach with the “ABC” because he had been taught to use the sounds that go with their language. He indicated that if it were thought necessary, he would teach the “ABC” names. For example, he would teach the alphabet names when the children were almost ready to go to the primary school ready for transition into English. Another teacher strongly recommended that they continue the practice of teaching the English alphabet names to the children in the last term before going into the national primary school. In the adult class taught by the Warmenakor people, as described below, a different approach was tried. Instead of only introducing the sounds in the context of the key words, at the request of the people all of the sounds in the Kwanga alphabet were outlined early in the program. Each letter of the Kwanga alphabet was written on the blackboard and explained in the context of a word—the sounds were emphasised and the English names told to the students. Neither the sounds nor the names of the letters were drilled in the lessons—sounds were taught in the context of the key words as the lessons progressed and the English names were told when students asked. This seemed to satisfy the students who were progressing well in their efforts to read and write.

2. How Teachers Reacted to Writing and Preparing Materials

The comments on preparing materials came from the teachers who were most involved in the process. When asked about the ease or difficulty of preparing the literacy books, one teacher said that making the books was all right, but selecting the alphabet and getting everything ready for teaching in the language was difficult. He said that now that they had been able to work closely with a model and do it all, it was all right and they could do it. In answer to a question about being able to set up a literacy program in another dialect, he said: We would be able to go and do it. In some parts of the workbook, now that you talk about it, yes, I understand enough to do it. In the story book it doesn’t have anything hard in it, it is easy for us to be able to do it. On the story side, how is it easy? Because we have found out the small rules in order to spell the language and it is all right. We are able to do it. Another teacher said the workbook stories were not hard to develop and write. He said that they would be able to do it because they had been shown how. He added that having someone that they could talk to about it and who could check on what they did would help. He said that he did not find anything in the story books that was hard; it was easy to do them. The same comment was made by another teacher who said that the teachers wrote the stories or people in the community could write them, edited them, and made them into books. He said that they understood how to make books because they had been shown how and it was not hard for them to do.