TOPIC 1: LANGUAGE AND LITERACY AMONGST ESL LEARNERS

1. LANGUAGE
- Definition- a system of communication based upon words and the combination of
words into sentences.
- Purpose- to facilitate communication in the sense of transmission of information from
one person to another.
- Communication- language may be referred to as linguistic communication
- smiling, laughing and shrieking are types of non-linguistic communication.
- Purpose of communication- to exchange information.
- can be done through non-linguistic information.
- EXAMPLE: animals display through sound and gesture.
- Language is species-specific to human beings.
- It is an exclusively human property.

2. LITERACY
- Literacy is critical in helping us make sense of our world.
- Literacy is defined as the ability, confidence and willingness to engage with language
to acquire, construct and communicate meaning in all aspects of daily living.

- LITERACY WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

- From the moment child is born, his or her literacy journey begins.
- Children’s literacy abilities are nurtured through their families and communities.
- For examples:
-the infant smiling or crying to communicate their needs to a parent
- the toddler forming their first words
- a young child interpreting the symbols around them
- a preschooler singing a song and
- a parent and child laughing over a story

- LITERACY WITH SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN

- As children enter the school system, there is a strong focus on the development of
reading and writing skills.
- Children engage in learning opportunities that have them interacting with many
different forms of text, in print and digital forms, using words, visuals and graphics.
- Students begin to learn:
- the rules of language
 - how to acquire information, evaluate it, and ethically use it
- how to construct meaning from various kinds of text and
- how to communicate effectively
- The vast amounts of information that are available through both print and the Internet
and the ability to communicate with wide and varied audiences around the globe
have expanded the ways our students read and communicate.
- Literacy for our students today also means preparing them to be critical and ethical
consumers of information.

3. EMERGENT LITERACY
- Emergent = Early
- Could not actually read or write in conventional sense.
- Exposure to reading and writing.
- Language and literacy skills begin at birth.
- According to the National Early Panel (NELP) (2009), the important skills in early
literacy are:
- Alphabet knowledge
- Phonological awareness and memory
- Rapid automatized naming of letter and object
- Writing letters

- WHAT PARENTS CAN DO TO HELP?

- talk to the child and name objects, people and events in everyday environment
- repeat the child’s strings of sounds (e.g. babababa)
- talk to the child during daily routine activities such as bathing and respond to his/her
question
- draw child’s attention to print in everyday setting
- introduce new vocabulary words during holiday or activities
- engage their child in singing, rhyming game and nursery rhymes
- read pictures and storybooks focusing on sounds, rhymes and alliteration

- WHAT TEACHERS CAN DO TO HELP?

- provide activities that allow for learning letters names and sounds
- create opportunities for students experimenting with the sounds of language
- give activities that will make them remember specific words.
- expose children to some instances to make them practice talking.
- maximize opportunities to teach and discuss new words.
 - engage them in situations that will make them understand the role and value of
print.

4. BLENDED LITERACY
- Any formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through
online learning with some element of student control over time, place, path and /or
pace.
- Combining internet and digital media with established classroom forms that require
the physical co-presence of teachers and students (Friesen, 2012).
- Learning that is facilitated by the effective combination of different modes of delivery,
models of teaching and learning styles and applying them in an interactively
meaningful learning environment (Gonzales and Vodicka, 2002).
- No fixed formula, it depends on analysis of the learners’ requirements, their level of
understanding, competencies at stake, the nature and location of the audience and
resources available.
- How does it work? It combines the best empowering technology with human touch
(e.g. feedback, motivation, personalization, fluency and listening) to help student
learns more.

- BENEFITS TO TEACHERS
- Increased success
- Lessons begin in class, continue in online
- Extends the communication channel between home and school
- Differentiation that meets learners’ needs
- Frees teacher from the race with bell

- BENEFITS TO LEARNERS
- Learning environment responds to each students needs and interests
- Flexible scheduling
- Control over pace
- Variety of experiences
- Use of technology
- Facilitate simultaneous independent and collaborative learning

- DOWNSIDES
- Lack of IT literacy skills can be a barrier to effective utilization of the modality, thus
needing good technical support.
- Needs good technical resources or tools with for effective delivery and access to
content.
- Some students can easily lapse behind with digital and online content in the
absence of teacher’s supervision.
- Extra task for teacher, with the creation of online content and correspondence.
 TOPIC 2: LITERACY AT HOME AND SCHOOL

1. PARENTS’ ROLES
- Children’s literacy refers to their developing ability to read, write, listen and talk.
- Parents play a vital role in their development as they can provide experiences to help
young children gain a strong foundation.
- The home is where children first encounter language and literacy.

- IMPORTANCE INVOLVING PARENTS

- Benefits the formal literacy instruction (give them a head start in school and an
advantage over their peers).
- Success in reading is a gateway to success in other areas of academic.
- Significant positive influences not only reading achievement, language
comprehension and expressive language skills, but also on pupils’ interest in reading,
attitudes towards reading and attentiveness in the classroom.

- STRATEGIES TO NURTURE CHILDREN LITERACY AT HOME

- Set up a mini library.
- Select books for many interests and levels.
- Read to your kids.
- Listen to your child reading.
- Take the children to the library.
- Model good reading.
- Make reading a regular activity in your home.
- Allow the children to ask questions about the book.
- Try to make the story real by relating it to their lives.

- PARENTS’ CHARACTERISTICS (children do better when parents…)

- Personally do enjoy reading.
- Spend more time reading for their own pleasure.
- Let their children see them reading and writing.
- Have higher literacy skills.
- Have completed more years of schooling.
- Did well in school.
2. HOME ENVIRONMENT

- Talk drives literacy

- Ask them about their day at school and their learning as a starting point for
dialogue.
- Encourage your children to talk at home and try to stretch their vocabulary.

- Reading as hobbies
- Family members reading at home will encourage children to read more.

- Provide word / letter games

- Games like Pictionary, scrabble, and BINGO will be able to enhance the children’s
vocabulary.

- Reading aloud
- Children will benefit from hearing an adult read complex material aloud to them.
- This way, children will learn new vocabulary and increase her fund of general
information.

- Expose children to academic videos

- Videos are a good way to continue to expose your child to vocabulary, general
information and varied story structures.

- The use of technology for learning

- A computer with a CD-ROM player - there are many programs designed to help
first-, second-, and third-graders to read, spell and write.

- Prepare interesting reading materials

- Preparing books and magazine at home are one of the perfect way for a child to
gain information through reading.

- Encourage critical thinking

- Asking a child about something will encourage them to reason certain knowledge
and will try to come up with an explanation for a solution.
3. TEACHER’S ROLE

Supporting literacy through activity

- Reading aloud activity
- Teacher listens to their pupils and corrects their pronunciation
- Teacher can also check their reading skills

- Teachers and parents form a strong partnership.

- Teacher can help the children in the classroom (teacher aware with pupils’
weaknesses and strengths)
- Discuss with parents on the children’s condition

- Build a good relationship with the pupils.

- An effective learning occurs when both teacher and pupils close to each other.
- A strong bond with the pupils would attract them to learn.

- Create an environment that supports learning to read.

- Label everything in the classroom
- Pin up instructions:
‘Next Monday, we are going to make cupcakes.’

- Motivates children to read.

- Provide a rich and varied literacy environment that includes interesting reading
material and engaging multimedia resources (e.g. audio and video).
- Demonstrate a passion for reading.
- Act as model readers for their pupils.

- Observe and assess.

- Use a variety of assessment tools and strategies, such as student self-reflection
and informal reading inventories.
- Use assessment data to determine the current strengths and needs of children.

- ORAL LANGUAGE LEARNING

- MODELLING
- Children tend to learn from what they see.
- Occurs when children make someone as their role model to develop their oral
 language.
- Student will develop oral language when teacher/parents model to them by:
- role modelling the use of words within the context of conversation.
- responding with clear and simple answers.
- using songs, rhymes, poetry, plays and jokes as other forms of oral language.

- EXPANSION
- Expansions are comments that add semantic and syntactic details to incomplete
phrases.
- It means that you are making an incomplete phrase more appropriate and accurate
by putting it into context and adding in missing words.
- EXAMPLE:
- Use words that the child already said.
- Maintain the meaning of the child’s intention.
- Do this by carefully looking and listening when the child speaks to ensure you
understand what he is trying to say.
- Complete the child’s utterance by adding in missing words.
- Your child puts a cow as figurine into a barn and says “cow house” or “cow barn”.
- Expand it by saying
“The cow is in the house” OR “The cow is in the barn”
- You are taking words that the child has said (cow/house/barn) to form a
grammatically correct sentence.
- By expanding your child’s comment, you help to clarify his intention.

- PARALLEL TALK
- DEFINITION:
- A technique in which the adult describes what the child is doing/seeing. When the
adult uses Parallel Talk, she is acting like a broadcaster.
- The teacher does not ask the child questions during parallel talk (not expecting
response).
- EXAMPLES:
- If the children are playing with coloured block,
“Oh, you put the yellow block on the top. The tower is getting taller”
- If the child is playing with Sesame Street characters, a teacher using Parallel Talk
might say:
“Here comes Oscar the Grouch. He’s riding in the car with Cookie Monster. Cookie
Monster’s in the back. He’s looking around while the car goes faster and faster.”
 - SELF-TALK
- DEFINITION: - A strategy in which the adult describes what he/she is doing.
- Adult provides the words to describe their actions, without expecting the child to
respond.
- WHEN TO USE?
- With children who are non-verbal or low verbal skills.
- Used for teacher directed activities, i.e. – cooking, gardening.
- EXAMPLES:
- “I’m sitting down at the table next to Carlos. I want to see what Carlos is doing with
the Play Doh”
- “Now I am writing a W. I start here and go down, up, down, and up again. There is a
W.”

ADVANTAGES OF SELF-TALK AND PARALLEL TALK

- Help adults and children develop a relationship.
- Helps children who are shy or have limited language.
- Adult often feels self-conscious or awkward when they begin to use Self Talk and Parallel
Talk.
- Beginners using Self Talk and Parallel Talk often overwhelm children with too much
description.

For dual language learners, Self Talk and Parallel Talk are excellent strategies for giving
attention to the child while also building the child’s receptive language.

Specific strategies for using Parallel Talk with dual language learners:

1) Slow down and use fewer words. Avoid overwhelming the child with too much language.
Speak using a natural pace remembering that the listener my nit understand what you are
saying.
2) Select one or two target words that you will use repeatedly during Parallel Talk. Typically,
these words are nouns or verbs that are concrete and readily understood by the dual
language learner.
3) To help the child understand your target words, use gestures or point to the object that
represents the word.
 TOPIC 3: LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOPMENT OF 6-36 MONTHS

• LISTENING SKILL
- 6 MONTHS – respond to sound around them.
Eg: Sounds from toys. They react to the sound by showing face expression: smiling,
sad, blur.
- 12 MONTHS – able to react when their names are called.
- 24 MONTHS – respond to people question.
Eg: You want milk? They answer yes/no.
- 36 MONTHS – can make decision whether they want to respond or not when
people call them. Next, they can differentiate many sounds of animals and other
things.

• SPEAKING SKILL
- 6 MONTHS – make nonsense sounds and cooing
- 12 MONTHS – able to call their parents. Eg: Mama/Papa
- 24 MONTHS – able to name familiar pictures. Eg: picture of animals
-36 MONTHS – able to answer question given to them

• READING SKILLS
- 6 MONTHS – begin to reach soft cover book
- 12 MONTHS – pretend to read – turn pages
- 24 MONTHS – recognise the covers of theirs favourite book
- 36 MONTHS – making up stories and recite the words from their favourite book

DEVELOPMENT OF AGE 3-5 YEARS OLD

• WRITING SKILL
- Hold a pencil with a tripod grasp.
- Write their first name.
- Able to follow mechanic of writing.

• READING SKILL
- Understand simple words.
- Exploring fiction and non-fiction books.
- Understand the illustration in the books.
- Able to name a few letters.
 • SPEAKING SKILL
- Able to spell simple words.
- Answering simple questions (who, where and what).
- Name objects by descriptors.
- Able to group objects by numbers up to five.
- Communicate easily with other children and adults.

DEVELOPMENT OF AGE 5-7 YEARS OLD

• READING SKILL
- The child is learning the relation between letters and sounds and between print and
spoken words.
- The child is able to read simple texts with complex words.
- The child starts to sound out new words.
• ACTIVITY: REPETITION AND RHYME
- Parents choose a story with repeated phrases or a poem
- Read slowly and let your child join in.
- As the child becomes more familiar with the story, pause and give him or her one
chance to fill in the phrases.
- Most children eventually will memorize easily all or parts of a book if it got repetition
and rhyme.

• WRITING SKILL
- The child moves from scribbling to controlled scribbling to non-phonetic words.
- Child is encouraged to write about known words.
- Child uses invented spellings when start writing.
• ACTIVITY: WRITE THE WORD
- Children are given pictures.
- They must search for hidden items.
- Then, they must write down the word when they find each item.

• SPEAKING SKILL
- Children have good speaking skills as they are better at using language in different
ways
- Children use this skill in learning to read, write and spell
- Children learn that the same word can mean two things
- ‘orange’ the fruit and ‘orange’ the colour
- Children learn different words can mean the same thing
 - ‘minus’ and ‘take away’
- Children use language for different purposes
- They share and discuss more complex idea
• ACTIVITY: ICE BREAKING
- Children assigned to pairs.
- They will introduce themselves.
- They will tell their hobbies, favourite colour and food, and ambition.
- Children also will discuss their talents and favourite cartoon characters.

DEVELOPMENT FOR AGE 9 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN

• SPEAKING SKILL
- Started using adult-like grammar correctly.
- Able to express themselves in more complex language style.
- Able to retell stories.
- Able to form and defend ideas.

• READING SKILL
- Read aloud accurately with inflection.
- Identify and articulate the main idea.
- Summarize what has been read.
- Understand similes, metaphors and other descriptive devices.
- Find meaning in what has been read.

• WRITING SKILL
- Learn how to use different types of writing such as narrative and expository writing
for different purposes.
- Practice writing stories, persuasive letters, and informative report.
-Start to use the writing process :
- Writing
- Proofreading
- Correcting
- Writing a final Draft
 TOPIC 4: TEACHING OF EARLY LITERACY SOUND SYSTEMS

1. PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
- Phonological awareness instruction helps children make the connection between
letters and sounds.
- During reading and spelling activities, children begin to combine their knowledge of
phonological awareness and phonics.
- Phonological awareness instruction improves children’s understanding of how the
words in spoken language are represented in print.

- RHYME
- Match between ending sounds of words.
- FUNCTION: Nursery rhymes
- For example: cat hat bat sat pat

- ALLITERATION
- Producing groups of words that begin with the same initial sound.
- For example: Ten tiny tadpoles.

- WORD AND SYLLABLE SEGMENTING

- Segmenting sentences into spoken words.
- The dog ran away.
1 2 3 4
- Blending syllables together to form words.

- ONSET AND RHYME SUBSTITUTION

- Onset: initial consonant or consonant cluster of the word.
- Rime: vowel and consonants that follow the onset.
- In the word cat, the /k/ is the onset and the –at is the rime.

2. PHONEMIC AWARENESS
- The understanding that words are made up of sounds or phonemes.
- It refers to the ability to focus and manipulate phonemes in spoken words.
- It deals only with speech sounds.

- PHONEME ISOLATION
- A type of strategy to help students developing their phonemic awareness.
 - Involving students’ ability to identify beginning, middle, and last sound in a word.
- Ex: CAT as in C, A, and T
- Takes place in orally without the written word BUT can be reinforced with
educational games/ activities

- OBJECTIVES
- Students will able to recognize isolated phonemes in word.
- Increase students’ level of proficiency.
- Students will able to differentiate between the sounds of each phoneme, especially
when it comes in almost similar sound phonemes.
- Example (b,d,) or (m,n).

- PHONEME BLENDING
- Phoneme blending is the ability to hear the individual sounds in a word, put the
sounds together and say the word that is made.
- For example, these sounds may be said to a student, /sss/, /aaa/, /nnn/, /d/ and the
student will say the word “sand”.
- Phoneme blending is essential in developing reading skills.
- If a child can blend sounds, he will eventually be able to see letters in a word, think
about the sounds that the letter make and blend the sounds to say the word.
- Children who have strong phonemic awareness skills demonstrate better literacy
growth.

- PHONEME SEGMENTING
- Breaking a word into its sounds by tapping out or counting the sounds or by
pronouncing or positioning a marker for each sound.
- For example: How many sounds do you hear in:
Bell → three (3) /b/ /e/ /l/
Write → three (3) /t/ /ra/ /t/

- PHONEME MANIPULATION
- Able to manipulate work with individual sounds in spoken words.
- Distinguish & remember words that are similar.
Eg: fresh, French, flesh
- Able to insert and delete sounds in words.
- Involved substitution & deletion.
- SUBSTITUTION
- Able to replace a phoneme in a word with another phoneme to form a new word.
- For example; when the /k/ sound in cat is replaced with /s/, you get sat.

- DELETION
- Able to remove individual or blended sounds from words.
- Identifying how a word would sound if one sound were omitted.
- For example; when the /k/ sound is removed from cat, you get at.
 TOPIC 5: TEACHING LITERACY SKILLS

1. PRINT MOTIVATION
- Print motivation is the first step in early literacy.
- It can be done with babies as young as a few months old.
- Print motivation is having an interest in and enjoying books and reading.
- It is the first thing children will learn about reading.
- It requires time and patience.
- It begins with
- the first time the child is read to
- the first time the child holds a book
- the first time the child sees you reading

- Children who have print motivation:

- ask to be read to
- enjoy being read to
- more attentive during reading time
- pretend to read and write
- want to learn to read
- enjoy trips to the library

- How to build print motivation?

- Begin reading early: Even as a newborn, babies will benefit from hearing your voice
- Let children see you reading and enjoying it.
- Keep books accessible.
- Keep reading short and fun (it does no good to go on too long and lose their
interests).
- Make reading fun! (Silly voices, faces, easy crafts)

2. PRINT AWARENESS
- Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book and how to follow the words on a page.
- The next step after print motivation.
- Includes knowing that print has meaning, and knowing that it is read left to right.

- Why should we care?

- Children must become aware of words before they can read them.
- They should understand that words and pictures work together to tell the story.
 - When children feel comfortable with how a book works, they can concentrate on the
story.
- These are simple skills, but they are not intuitive.

- How to encourage?
- Point to simple or repeating words and encourage children to say the words
together.
- This helps the children to understand that you are reading the words, not just the
pictures.
- This works really well with favourite books that you read over and over again.

- How to apply?
- Encourage interactive story time. Have children follow along by engaging them with
the illustrations and text, asking questions that go beyond “yes” or “no”.
- Use flannel boards to act out the story differently- Nursery rhymes and folktales are
familiar and will help children to develop a story building process.

3. LETTER KNOWLEDGE
- Able to recognize the letters of the alphabet.
- Letter knowledge is knowing that:
- letters are different from each other.
- the same letter can look different.
- each letter has a name and is related to sounds.

- Children who have strong letter knowledge skills:

- Know the names of each letter of the alphabet.
- Can identify each letter by its sound.
- Understands that letters have uppercase and lowercase.
- Can link sounds together.
- Can identify shapes.

- HOW?
- Introduce shapes. Young children learn by touching and exploring.
- The first step to being able to distinguish differences in alphabet letters.
- Teach animal sounds. Help children hear the differences in sounds.
- Enables children to hear the different letter sounds.
- Play with patterns. Watch for patterns around you as well as those used to teach.
 - Helps to develop an eye for detail, which helps children learn their alphabet letters.
- Use flashcards. Make homemade flashcards, cutting the letters out of sandpaper.
- Rubbing fingers over the texture of the letters helps the brain recognize and
remember shapes of the letters.
- Play games. Make learning fun. Play and learn with songs and music.
- Most children learn easier when learning is set to music.

4. VOCABULARY
- Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
- A child’s interest in and enjoyment of books.
- Picture books use vocabulary not commonly used in everyday speech.
- Compare to Beginning Reader books with controlled vocabulary.

- Why is this skill important?

- It is not enough for children to just have a wide range of vocabulary.
- They also need to know the meaning of those words.
- By encouraging children to put smaller sounds into words, we are teaching them
that sounds make up words that can be found in books and in conversation.

- What parents can do?

- Whether it’s shopping at the grocery store or driving around, talking is a very useful
tool in building vocabulary.
- Speak with as many words as you can!
- If you are introducing words that your child is not familiar with, explain or show an
example.

5. NARRATIVE SKILLS
- The ability to describe things and events and to tell stories.
- Simple process books.
- Easy to remember sequence of events.
- Repetition of the same story.

- Why is this skill important?

- Narrative Skills help children to understand what they read through Dialogic
Reading.
- Dialogic Reading means to explain to children what is happening in the story
through descriptions.
 - Take this skill further by asking your child questions as they tell the story because it
will allow them to put their knowledge and creativity to work.
- If your child would rather tell the story in their own words, don’t be afraid to
encourage them.

- What parents can do?

- If you have a baby, encourage baby babble.
- If your child can talk, ask questions that will illicit some sort of response, which can
consist of one or two words or a few sentences.
- Get creative by making your own stories about Iggy the iPhone or Tommy the
Toaster.
- By showing children how to tell stories, we are not only helping them with reading,
but encouraging their imagination and sense of humor.
 TOPIC 7: ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT OF LITERACY SKILLS IN

CHILDREN

1. ANECDOTAL NOTES
- Anecdotal notes are used to record specific observations of individual student
behaviours, skills and attitudes as they relate to the outcomes in the program of
studies.
- Information about the student’s achievement in learning are collected.
- Directions for further suitable instructions are also included.
- Often written as the result of ongoing observations during the lessons but may also
be written in response to a product or performance the student has completed.
- They are brief, objective and focused on specific outcomes.
- Notes taken during or immediately following an activity are the most accurate.

- HOW TO MAKE IT?

STEP 1: 1) Keep a binder with a separate page for each student.
2) Record observations using a clipboard and sticky notes.
3) Write the date and the student’s name on each sticky note.
STEP 2: Keep a class list in the front of the binder and check each student’s name as
anecdotal notes are added to their section of binder.
STEP 3: Review records frequently to ensure that notes are being made on each
student regularly and summarize information related to trends in student’s learning.
STEP 4: Share anecdotal notes with parents and students at conferences.

2. CHECKLIST
- A list of items that you need to verify, check or inspect.
- It can be in the form of questions or actions to be carried out.
- It can have scoring system and can collect comments.
- It states specific criteria which allow the teachers to gather information and make
judgements about what students know and can do in relation to the outcome.
- EXAMPLE: a ‘to do checklist’

- HOW TO DO IT?
- Organize all items by category.
- Each item must be clear and suit and succinct.
- Must be easy to understand and use.
 - Keep refining the checklist.

3. PORTFOLIO
- DEFINITION
- an assessment form that learners do together with their teachers.
- is an alternative to the classic classroom test.
- contains samples of the learner's work and shows growth over time.

- KEYWORDS : LEARNING OBJECTIVES and REFLECTION

- LEARNING OBJECTIVES
-Each portfolio entry needs to be assessed with reference to its specific learning
objectives or goals.

- REFLECTION
- By reflection on their own work, learners begin to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of their own work (self-assessment).
- The weaknesses then become improvement goals.
- Should say something about why the learners have made the choices they have
made in the portfolio.
- Describe the method used to arrive at the final result.
- If two learners submit the same work for assessment, the individual reflections
may make the difference.
- Even if a learner has failed with the content presented in the assessment portfolio
to a certain degree, he or she might be rewarded for mature reflections on the work.
- 2 PORTFOLIOS:

- WORKING PORTFOLIO
The Working portfolio page has four tabs:
- Working portfolio: Here you can see an overview of all the elements in your working
portfolio. You are allowed to add elements to the portfolio (files, notes or links),
transfer elements to the assessment portfolio and manage the working portfolio
settings.
- Task list: This page allows you to add tasks you can do in the course. When you
finish one of the tasks in the list, you can mark it as completed.
- Log: This page allows you to enter log entries. It also allows others who have access
to your working portfolio to add comments.
- Learning objectives: Under this tab the learning objectives connected to the course
are listed. You are also allowed to add personal learning objectives here.

HOW TO ASSESS?
- Your working portfolio is a very important document for showing evidence of your
practice during a professional experience placement.
- The working portfolio is a working document. This means that you will be building or
adding to the portfolio every day during your placement to display the tasks and
activities that you are completing.
- It is usually in the form of a folder that includes all of your lesson preparation and
planning, your observations, assessment strategies, student work samples, daily
reflections and evaluations of your teaching.
- Your working portfolio must be organised so that you can easily locate lesson plans
and reflections to show your supervising teacher each day or to produce any
samples.

- ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO
- Purposeful collection of student work that has been selected and organized to show
student learning progress (developmental portfolio) or to show samples of students
best work (showcase portfolio).
- Can be used in addition to other assessments or the sole source of assessment.

- PURPOSES
1. To document student learning on specific curriculum outcomes.
- The items in the portfolio must be designed to elicit the knowledge and skill
specified in the outcomes.
- For example, the assessment tasks must bring the curriculum outcomes to life by
specifying precisely what students must do, how well they must do it, and do these
statements of learning have meaning.
2. It may be used to demonstrate mastery in any curricular area.
- They may span any period of time, from one unit to the entire year.
- It is dedicated to one subject or many subjects.
- For example, a teacher may wish to have evidence that a child has sufficient skills
in a content area to move to the next level or grade.

- AUDIENCE
1. To document student learning on specific curriculum outcomes.
 - The items in the portfolio must be designed to elicit the knowledge and skill
specified in the outcomes.
- For example, the assessment tasks must bring the curriculum outcomes to life by
specifying precisely what students must do, how well they must do it, and do these
statements of learning have meaning.
2. It may be used to demonstrate mastery in any curricular area.
- They may span any period of time, from one unit to the entire year.
- It is dedicated to one subject or many subjects.
- For example, a teacher may wish to have evidence that a child has sufficient skills
in a content area to move to the next level or grade.

- EFFECTIVE PORTFOLIOS
- Help students examine their progress.
- Help students develop a positive self-concept as learners.
- Are shared with parents.
- Are a planned, organized collection of student-selected works.
- Tell detailed stories about a variety of student outcomes.

- In evaluating portfolio, remember to:

- Share the rubric with students before they work on the portfolio.
- Allow students to reflect on their portfolio, using the rubric.
- Ensure that you have checks for biases (e.g., rate portfolio with another teacher).
- Rate portfolio without looking at student name.
- When making major decisions based on evaluations, ensure that you use more
than one rater and all raters are trained.

4. OBSERVATION
- The action or process of closely observing or monitoring something or someone
- Observation involves teachers in observing as they participate in planned activities.
- Occurs continually as natural part of the learning and teaching process.
- Can be used to gather a broad range of information about students’ demonstration of
learning outcomes.
- Valued as an important technique that teacher might use.
- Example of formative assessment:
- Observation and Teacher Talk
1. Watch and listen.
2. Use effective questions (to inform observations)
 - to seek what a student knows or can do
- to probe for more information, go deeper
- help to encourage thinking and risk taking
3. Give useful feedback (always encourage or praise)

- There are 3 types of observations:

Unstructured Structured Observation Participant & Non-
Observation participant type
- Refers to controlled
- Refers to simple Participant observation:
observation where
and naturist
mechanical aids for -The observer joins a
observation.
securing accurate group and observes their
data are used. activities, while at the
same time taking care to
observe what is going
on.
- Conditions of
- No attempt is made Non-participant
observation are
to manipulate a observation:
standardized and
control the
attempts are made -The observer simply
phenomenon.
to get a observes them but
representative doesn’t take part in the
sample and to group.
correct sampling
errors wherever
necessary.
- -
- Observation is
made in the national
surroundings and
the activities are
performed in their
usual course
without being
influenced or any
attempt to use
 precision
instruments to
measure and record
facts and to check
their accuracy.

- WHAT TO DO WITH ASSESSMENT INFORMATION?

- Identifying learning pattern

- Identify most weaknesses shown in class.
- Identify weaknesses shown in small group.
- Identify strength shown in class.
- Identify strength shown in small group.
- Design diagnosis activities if needed (see exactly what the problem is for an
individual, small group or whole class)

- Modifying lessons
- Modify lessons, so that some activities target skills in need of more teaching and
practice.
- Modify resources (flashcards, pictures, worksheets according to the learners’
needs)
- Differentiate according to the learners’ needs.

- Planning groups
- Modify group size for intended lessons and focus/ modified work.
- Re-arrange student groups so able learners can model to less learners.
- Re-arrange students into ability groups for focus activities.
- Buddy system.

- ADVANTAGES
- Structured means of providing feedback to students / teachers / parents.
- Opportunity to share learning expectations with students in advance.
- Can provide instant feedback.

- LIMITATIONS
- Not all kids’ actions in class can be observed.
- Personal bias of the observer.
- Inadequate method.