Winning entry Teaching and Learning Sequence

Book coverCONGRATULATIONS TO CARMEL RYAN FROM LTYENTYE APURTE SCHOOL (SANTA TERESA) FOR HER WINNING ENTRY. Carmel used a book she wrote in 1984 when she first learnt to write in her language (Arrernte). You can read the book here, and see her entry into the digital story competition below.

Download this T&L Carmelsequence as a PDF here.

 

Teaching & learning sequence, by Carmel Ryan & Susan Poetsch

 

Key learning area Northern Territory Curriculum Framework, Indigenous languages and cultures (NTCF ILC), language maintenance section.

Content outcomes:

  • Country/land
  • People and kinship
  • Natural environment

Language outcomes:

  • Listening and speaking (L/S)
  • Reading and viewing (R/V)
  • Writing (W)

Elements of language strands:

  • Communication
  • Language structures and features
  • Learning-how-to-learn strategies

The class has a range of learner abilities, mostly within band 1 of the framework.

Students’ background, and unit rationale This unit of work is written for Arrernte children with lived experience of their language and culture. They are still in the early stages of acquiring L1 literacy though. They have some knowledge of local bush foods but parents want them to learn more because these days food is most often bought in supermarkets. Families also want them to learn about changes in their community life because children’s free time is spent in very different ways compared with their parents and grandparents’ generations.
Teacher Carmel Ryan
Year Year 2, term 2
Length of unit 5 weeks, 2 x 45-minute lesson per week
Unit topic This unit is based on the story:

Arlte pwetye-werne unthe-tyeke-arle alhe-ke akerte (A day some kids went for a walk)

Unit outcomes By the end of this unit, students will be able to know/understand:

  • the text of the story which is the focus of this unit
  • details of bush foods that can be found in and near the community
  • some changes in technology that can be seen in Arrernte language materials
  • some changes in the lives of children in the local community
  • key conventions in the writing system and sentence structure of Arrernte.
Links to Australian Curriculum Humanities and Social Sciences (History and Geography Year 2):

  • compare objects from the past with those from the present and consider how places have changed over time (ACHASSI039)
  • how changing technology affected people’s lives (at home and in the ways they worked, travelled, communicated and played in the past) (ACHASSK046)
  • the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples maintain special connections to particular Country/Place (ACHASSK049)
  • the influence of purpose, distance and accessibility on the frequency with which people visit places (ACHASSK051)

Visual Arts F-2

  • content description: explore ideas, experiences, observations and imagination to create visual artworks and design (ACAVAM106)
  • content elaboration: practising drawing images and making objects related to self, others and personal environments in different forms, for example, painting, sculpture, photography.
Australian Curriculum

General Capabilities

     Literacy                          Numeracy                          ICT competence

Critical and creative thinking                   Ethical behaviour

Personal and social competence             Intercultural understanding

 Teaching & learning sequence overview

Arlte pwetye-werne unthe-tyeke-arle alhe-ke akerte

Ryan_TL_pic

 

 

 

Learning intentions

(NTCF ILC outcomes)

Planned teaching & learning activities, and resources & materials Assessment for and of learning
Communication R/V 1.1 read/view with understanding texts with familiar symbols and a range of written texts with familiar topics and vocabulary, illustrations and predictable text structures Teacher-led shared and guided reading of the story text, using the PowerPoint version.

Students identify parts of the text, e.g. title, author, year, beginning and end of the story, Arrernte sections compared with English translation.

Students identify any words in the text they already know, and note that some words have hyphens for suffixes.

Teacher observes students’ ability to recognise and identify key features of text, and to predict story events before turning each page.

Teacher selects individual students to point to words as the class reads each page/slide.

Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts Role play: teacher reads/tells the story, as students listen and act it out, e.g. going for a walk, swimming in a waterhole, climbing high trees, collecting bush foods, sharing food with younger siblings.

 

Teacher and Assistant Teacher observe students’ abilities to listen and respond to the events she reads/tells.
Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts Using a set of small laminated cards of each picture in the story, students:

  • listen to teacher read the story and as they hear each sentence, they place the relevant picture in order on the floor in front of them and/or
  • work in pairs, decide on the sequence, and retell the story orally together.
Teacher and Assistant Teacher check each student’s/pair’s sequencing and telling.
Language Structures and Features R/V 1.2 interpret some organisational features and punctuation in written texts; link most sounds with letters/symbols When re-reading the story together as a class students locate 5 types of Arrernte words and phrases on the pages of the story: characters, things, places, actions, time.

  • On the interactive whiteboard, students find these different kinds of words in the text and circle them in 5 different colours.
  • In pairs/groups students play a card game to read and organise the words into the 5 groups.
Teacher and Assistant Teacher observation of students’ reading skills and their responses during the whole class activity and the card game.
Language Structures and Features R/V 1.3 recognise some ways in which sentences are structured

 

Language Structures and Features W 1.2 write most letters and symbols and some words correctly; follow the conventions of writing

 

Learning-how-to-learn Strategies W 1.3 use some strategies to plan and compose their own writing.

Language and culture integrated with Australian Curriculum, Visual Arts F-2. Use the art room in the school to make a mural to display in the Arrernte classroom depicting the story events. Students later add Arrernte labels to the mural, using different colours for the 5 different types of words and phrases in the text of the story, e.g.:

  • characters (blue): ampe mape (children), itne (they), ampe itne (the children), atyeye (younger siblings)
  • things (purple): merne pwerte arenye (food from the bush), merne alangkwe (bush banana)
  • places (red): pwetye-werne (out bush), apwerte arlenge-anthurre-werne (far into the hills), kwatye iperte ikwere (in the water hole), arne akertne-ke (high up in the trees), ampere-werne (to home)
  • actions (orange): angke-ke (said), aknge-rre-ke (agreed), alhe-ke (went), irrpe-tyeke (to enter), alhe-tyeke (to go), unthe-tyeke (to walk), atnyene-ke (had), ake-tyeke (to pick), ake-ke (picked), antye-ke (climbed), aknge-irtne-ke (took back), ite-ke (cooked), arlkwe-tyeke (ate/shared)
  • time (yellow): arlte (day), akwetetethe (always), arlte apurrke-le (on weekends), arlte anyente-le (one day), angwerre-le (in the mid afternoon)
Teacher and Assistant Teacher work with individual students and use a checklist to record their ability to locate key words in the story text, and categorise them according to the 5 word types.
Language Structures and Features R/V 1.3 recognise some ways in which sentences are structured When re-reading the story together as a class:

 

  • students identify sentences in the story which show how to express in Arrernte things that happened in the past and things that are happening now, e.g.:
  • o    past tense verb suffix –ke
  • o    remote habitual past tense verb suffix –tyerte
  • o    present tense verb suffix –me
  • teacher plays oral language game with students, providing the class with a verb and asking them to change the tense suffix.

 

Teacher and Assistant Teacher observation of students’ responses during class activities.
Learning-how-to-learn Strategies R/V 1.4 demonstrate some developing reading strategies to predict and confirm meaning in written and visual texts. Each student is allocated some computer time to listen to the story independently with headphones, to practise reading along with the recording in PowerPoint. When students have had a chance to independently listen and follow the story, Teacher and Assistant Teacher listen to each one read the text and make a running record.
Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts The teacher focuses the students’ attention on PowerPoint slide 6, about looking for bush foods. Students use their knowledge of initial letters and sounds to find 2 key words and phrases in the text:

  • merne pwerte arenye (food from the bush)
  • merne alangkwe (bush banana).

The class brainstorms bush foods they know and like, and any information they already know about those foods.

From the brainstorm, create a class word bank of these (which students can refer to when completing the writing tasks coming up).

Teacher and Assistant Teacher observe and guide students’ participation in and contributions to class discussion.
Learning-how-to-learn

Strategies L/S 1.3

demonstrate understanding of how listening and speaking are used for learning.

Students participate in a short class excursion close to the school, to find some nearby bush foods. The teacher might also bring to class other examples of bush foods to show and taste. Teacher and Assistant Teacher observes how students pay attention, ask and answer questions about bush foods.
Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts

Learning-how-to-learn Strategies L/S 1.3 demonstrate understanding of how listening and speaking are used for learning.

Students complete worksheets and/or interactive whiteboard activities about the bush foods discussed and tasted, e.g.:

  • match the Arrernte word to the picture
  • counting how many of each bush food in the picture
  • categorise according to when it is available, how and where it grows.
Teacher and Assistant Teacher collect and check each child’s worksheets and add them to individual portfolios.
Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts

 

Communication R/V 1.1 read/view with understanding texts with familiar symbols and a range of written texts with familiar topics and vocabulary, illustrations and predictable text structures

Students learn the bush foods song, which has 4 verses about:

  • 4 different bush foods: alangkwe (wild banana), yalke (wild onion), arlperrantyeye (wild tomato), peraltye (sugar)
  • the season each is available: alhurrpenge (in winter), uternenge (in summer)
  • how it grows: arlparaneme (hanging), alhehe kwene (in the ground), ahelhe akertne (on the ground), arlpelhele aneme (is on a leaf).

Song lyrics are projected on the board for students to become familiar with and follow.

Teacher and Assistant Teacher observe students’ ability to read and follow lyrics, as they become familiar with the song.
Communication W 1.1 write different types of short texts containing more than one idea

 

Language Structures and Features W 1.2 write most letters and symbols and some words correctly; follow the conventions of writing

Students write a new verse for the bush foods song, based on knowledge they gained from the class excursion and bush food tasting.

 

They use the same sentence structure in the song, but change the:

  • food name
  • season available
  • how it grows.

In pairs, students write a new song verse on a poster to display on the wall, or type it onto a PowerPoint slide to share with the class.

Class learns and sings the newly-written verses of the song.

Teacher and Assistant Teacher assist student pairs to draft and write/type their verses; and check the students’ writing for accurate content and spelling.
Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts

 

Learning-how-to-learn

Strategies L/S 1.3 demonstrate understanding of how listening and speaking are used for learning.

Language and culture integrated with Australian Curriculum, History and Geography (part 1):

Carmel shows the students the original book she wrote and talks about when she wrote it, how she was learning to write Arrernte at that time, how young her own children were at that time, and that there were no computers for her to use then.

Students compare the old printed book with the new PowerPoint version. Class discusses what is different about the two of them, e.g.:

  • book made with no computer compared with PowerPoint made on the computer
  • handwritten version compared with fonts in Word processed version
  • black and white book compared with colours in the PowerPoint
  • sound file embedded in the PowerPoint.
Teacher and Assistant Teacher observe and guide students’ participation in and contributions to class discussion.
Communication L/S 1.1 listen and speak formally and informally in learning contexts

 

Learning-how-to-learn Strategies L/S 1.3 demonstrate understanding of how listening and speaking are used for learning.

Language and culture integrated with Australian Curriculum, History and Geography (part 2):

  • Class recalls which activities the children in the story did.
  • Class identifies and reads the labels of activities in the class mural (painted in orange).
  • Guest speaker (who is grandmother to many of the children in the class) talks with the students about her childhood days: what children did, where they played, what kinds of activities they liked, where they went, how they played, any bush toys they had, transport options they had.
  • Class discusses what is different about children’s lives then and children’s lives today.
Teacher and Assistant Teacher observe and guide students’ participation in and contributions to class discussion.
Language Structures and Features L/S 1.2 create texts with linked ideas, accurate grammar, a developing vocabulary Students draw a small picture about something they learned from the guest speaker’s talk and the class discussion. Their pictures are then displayed on a class chart about children’s lives with two columns: then and now.

In summary class discussion about the class chart, each child explains what their picture tells about children’s lives in their community then and now, in their grandparents’ compared with their own generation.

Teacher and Assistant Teacher observe students’ skills in using Arrernte (e.g. verb suffixes) to express and compare past and present.
Learning-how- to-learn Strategies W 1.3 use some strategies to plan and compose their own writing. Students complete a writing activity sheet on which they add their own ideas into a sentence frame in Arrernte. They compare/contrast children’s lives then and now, e.g.:

When my grandmother was a little girl children used to … … … … but today children … … … …

Children practise reading their own and each other’s sentences.

Teacher and Assistant Teacher work with individual students to draft and edit their text, and listen to each child reading the sentences.

 

Completed sentences are added to the students’ portfolios.

 

Here’s is Carmel’s narrated Powerpoint presentation converted to video (original slides here)