The 4 Language Arts
Listening - Speaking - Reading - Writing
Listening.
There is a difference between Hearing and Listening.
Listening is a Focus.
Ways to develop listening skills:
Listen to great music - It is the bridge between vibration and Language
- Take daily time - find a great piece of music and just listen to it.
- Don't be afraid to listen to the same piece of music over and over.
- e.g. Benjamin Britain's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
- e.g. Peter and the Wolf
- e.g. The Classical kids - Mr. Bach Comes to Call
Read out loud above child's decoding level.
- Decoding is very dependant on hearing.
- You say words to yourself - if you can't hear, you don't know what the word is.
- Language must be in your head first before you can decode when you are young.
Take notes.
- Create opportunities to take notes while listening e.g. Church
Speaking skills
- Speaking is intentional.
- Recite poems or scripture.
- Memorize excerpts from famous speeches e.g. Fredric Douglas (U.S slave) - memorize and commit to heart.
- Write your own speech (speech and debate league)
- limited planning speech (say 2 mins to prepare)
- expository speeches on current events.
- dramatic speeches - it combines all language arts together.
- Tell back what has just happened - it increases powers of observation.
Reading Skills
- It's more a brain function than something that can be taught and learned on demand.
- Scandinavian countries don't push reading till about 9 yr.
- Audiobooks are great - what's the difference? you can read with your eyes or ears.
- A bigger font can help.
- When reading to your children, read above their level - it sets an example to move up.
Writing Skills
- To write, you need an idea from within or without you.
- Own experiences often aren't in words but in pictures and feelings, so can be harder to write from.
- To have an original idea would be very unusual - everything is already out there.
- The idea has to get into words - It's tough!
- You have to hear what you just said to yourself and remember it long enough to get it down on paper - from your spelling database.
- Copy work is valuable - That's how you learn to write.
2019, We are changing the bell times to increase the length of the first period. Within the extra time, I plan to add time to listen to great works of music. I plan to teach the recorder, get my students to memorize their memory verses, establish a system for my students to practice and test spelling words each week, and memorize some poems over the year. I will also keep up the reading of a class book aimed at a decoding level above my students.
- Professional Learning
- School Goal (Writing)
