Workshop 1
Participant’s Workbook
(Activities, Journals and Resources)
Understanding How We Use Language for Different Purposes
Purpose:
 learn how to understand the learner/your students in order to support their learning
 stimulate thinking about how our cultural and linguistic experiences shape our view of the
world
 learn about activities that can be adapted for use with children (retrieval charts and talk
stations).
Sessions:
1. reflection on pre workshop introduction... page 1
2. overview, big ideas... page 2
3. planning for purposeful talk and knowing our learners... page 3
4. scaffolding... page 9.
Homework task
1. Complete a student profile. Page 6
2. Observe a teacher scaffolding student oral language. Page 23
Session 1: Reflection on pre workshop introduction
Using the Pre Workshop Introduction, Participant’s Workbook you will reflect on the
information in it.
This will provide an opportunity to raise questions or matters that need clarification.
Session 2: Overview, Big Ideas, Workshop One
Course Overview
 Knowing about our learners
 Scaffolding learning
 Helping children’s oral language development and links to learning
 Helping children learn to read
 Helping children learn to write
Session 3: Planning For Purposeful Talk & Knowing Our Learners
Getting to know each other – A example of how to encourage purposeful talk In the workshop write the following on the 7 post it notes

Your name

Where you were born

Your interests outside work

Languages that you speak

What your job is

Number of months or years worked in schools

What you hope to learn from this course
Retrieval Charts / Information Grids:
Retrieval charts and information grids are examples of graphic organisers. They are a very
useful tool for organising information and for helping students to structure their thinking.
They can also support students to develop oral, reading and writing skills.
Name
Where you
were born
Interests
outside of
work
Languages
that you
speak
Job
Number of
years I have
worked in
schools
What I want
to learn from
the course
Talk Stations; An explanation
Talk stations are an activity to engage learners and to develop oral communication skills of
both speaking and listening. This strategy encourages learners to talk and listen in the
supportive environment of a small group.
2|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Questions or statements, linked to the topic being discussed in class are composed by the
teacher/ facilitator. Talk stations are used to set the scene of the concepts to be covered,
and so allows all students to make links to their prior knowledge about the new class topic.
In groups of 3, one student talks about a statement, while the other 2 group members listen.
Each group member has a turn of speaking about a different topic/ statement/ question. After
each group member has spoken the groups are moved on, and the members of the next
group repeat the process, in turn, with new statements/ questions.
Talk Stations topic sheet at this workshop:
Round 1
Red Topic: The best things about living where I do are ...
Green Topic: My earliest memories of school are ...
Blue Topic: A challenging experience I had meeting people from a different culture was ...
Round 2
Red Topic: In my family, when I was a child, literacy meant ...
Green Topic: Working with children, I think my strengths are ...
Blue Topic: One thing I wish I had learned as a child is ...
Round 3
Red Topic: I think children learn best when ...
Green Topic: Some interesting things I have learned about the cultural background of one of
the children I work with are ...
Blue Topic: The best things about where I work are ...
Write notes below if needed:
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3|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
What did I learn?
After each session we will take the time to reflect on our learning using the Tribes model
below.
The aim of the “What did I learn?” section at the end of each session is to give participants
time to reflect on:

what you have learned in each session

the skills and knowledge you needed to have to be able to participate in the session

any assistance you required

how you felt after completing the activity/session

whether you have seen the strategy/skill/activity used in your workplace

how you could use/adapt what you have learned to your own work
The “What did I learn?” sections will follow a pattern of:

“community circle” where each participant is given the opportunity to talk about the
reflection questions

journal writing time where participants can work in pairs or individually to write about
or visually represent their learning and feelings.
Source: Jeanne Gibbs (2001) Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together.
Center Source Systems, LLC, California
4|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Community circle
 What did you learn from this session?
 What skills/help/understandings did you need to be able to participate in the activities?
 During the ‘talk stations’ activity, why do you think only one person was allowed to speak
while the other two had to listen and/or ask clarifying questions?
 Do all the children you work with come from the same cultural or linguistic background to
your own or to the teacher’s? What do schools need to know about their students’ family,
cultural and linguistic background and experiences? How can this knowledge help you
with the work you do with children? Where would you find this information?
 How did you feel while doing and / after completing the session?
 Have you seen retrieval charts/information grids being used in the classroom?
 Have you seen or used ‘talk stations’ in the classroom. Were they successful/not
successful with students? Why?
 Could you use/adapt the activity in the work you do with students?
Journal entry
Make notes (in writing or drawing below) about these questions. You can work with another
person or individually. (5 minutes)
JOURNAL
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5|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Homework Task – Student profile
Compile student profiles - Find out about two students. Discuss this task with the teacher
to identify which students to focus on and to discuss the sources for the information you
have listed below. If you are going to approach the student directly this will need to be done
sensitively and preferably after you have tried all other means of gathering information.
A guide to the type of information you may collect is supplied on the next page.
Note: Many schools already have a version of this. If your school has such a document
you might like to compare it with the example and identify any similarities and
differences. Has useful/important information been missed out on either vers ion?
It may be that you already know all the students very well. Does the classroom teacher
know them as well as you? If not could you provide the teacher with a completed
student profile?
6|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Student Profile – an example
Name (Use a different name for privacy)
Other names
Date of birth
Place of birth
Languages spoken at home
Mother’s country, language
Father’s country, language
Languages spoken by student
Languages understood by student
Who does the child live with (extended family)
Siblings / close family members at school
Places / communities the child travels to
Schools attends / Attendance history.
Cultural / ancestral background
This information was gathered from the following sources (please list):
Your signature
Teacher verification: this information was gathered about actual students
Teacher’s signature
7|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Additional Reading (Optional)
What do you know about the learners in your class?
Cultural Considerations
The following are some examples of cultural considerations (Vaugn, Bos & Schumm, 2003)
that influence how students learn:
Time:
How do students perceive time? How is timeliness regarded in their cultures?
Space:
What personal distance do students use in interactions with other students and with adults?
How does the culture determine the space allotted to boys and girls?
Dress and Food:
How does dress differ for age, gender, and social class? What clothing and accessories are
considered acceptable? What foods are typical?
Rituals and Ceremonies:
What rituals do students use to show respect? What celebrations do students observe, and
for what reasons? How and where do parents expect to be greeted when visiting the class?
Work:
What types of work are students expected to perform, and at what age, in the home and
community? To what extent are students expected to work together?
Leisure:
What are the purposes for play? What typical activities are done for enjoyment in the home
and community?
Gender Roles:
What tasks are performed by boys? By girls? What expectations do parents and students
hold for boys’ and girls’ achievements, and how does this differ by subject areas?
Status:
What resources (e.g., study area and materials, study assistance from parents and siblings)
are available at home and in the community? What power do parents have to obtain
information about the school and to influence educational choices?
Goals:
What kinds of work are considered prestigious or desirable? What role does education play
in achieving occupational goals? What education level do the family and student desire for
the student?
Education:
What methods for teaching and learning are used in the home (e.g., modelling and imitation,
didactic stories and proverbs, direct verbal instruction)?
Communication:
What role does verbal and nonverbal language play in learning and teaching? What roles do
conventions such as silence, questions, rhetorical questions, and discourse style play in
communication? What types of literature (e.g., newspapers, books) are used in the home
and in what language(s) are they written? How is writing used in the home (e.g., letters, lists,
notes) and in what language(s)?
Interaction: What roles do cooperation and competition play in learning? How are children
expected to interact with teachers? (pp. 273-274) (Copyright pending)
© ‘Teaching Exceptional, Diverse, And At-risk Students In The General Education
Classroom’,3e, by Vaugn, Bos, & Schumm, used by permission.
UNESCO, 2004, Changing Teacher Practices: Using curriculum differentiation to respond to
students’ diversity, Paris,p.17
8|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Session 4: Scaffolding
Activity 1: Thinking about learning For example riding a bike, learning to swim.
Table 1: Complete as a whole group. Take notes if you wish.
What was the skill?
Why did you want/need to learn it?
Had you seen others use that skill?
How did the person teaching you demonstrate to you?
How were you supported to learn the new skill?
What were the steps?
At what point did you use the new skill independently?
Did the person teaching you have to tell you to do it independently?
Were you able to successfully do it or did you need to get some more help?
What were your feelings about learning the new skill?
If the learning was not successful, why do you think this was so?
9|W orkshop 1: Participant’s W orkbook
Table 2: Complete in pairs.
Think about something you learned in a more formal situation, in a class e.g. computer
skills/ making a power point, learning a new language, a musical instrument or to sew.
What was the skill?
Why did you want/need to learn it?
Had you seen others use that skill?
How did the person teaching you demonstrate to you?
How were you supported to learn the new skill?
What were the steps?
At what point did you use the new skill independently?
Did the person teaching you have to tell you to do it independently?
Were you able to successfully do it or did you need to get some more help?
What were your feelings about learning the new skill?
If the learning was not successful, why do you think this was so?
10 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Table 3: Complete individually.
Think of a skill you taught someone else
What was the skill?
Why did you want/need to teach it?
Had the learner seen others use that skill?
How did you demonstrate to the learner?
How did you support the learner to learn the new skill?
What were the steps?
At what point did the learner use the new skill independently?
Did you have to tell the learner to do it independently?
Were they able to successfully do it or did you need to give some more help?
What were your feelings about teaching the new skill? How did teaching that skill help you to do other
things?
How did the learner feel?
If the learning was not successful, why do you think this was so?
11 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
What did I learn?
Community circle
 What did you learn from this session?
 What skills/help/understandings did you need to be able to participate in the
activities?
 How did you feel while doing and / after completing the session?
 Have you ever reflected on learning and teaching new skills in such a way?
 Will such reflection be useful to you in your work?
Journal entry
Make notes (in writing or drawing below) about these questions. You can work with another
person or individually. (5 minutes)
JOURNAL
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12 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Activity 2: The Theory of Scaffolding
Look at the picture and think about what scaffolding
is used for? What is it?
Jot down notes, key words, examples that come to mind
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Now read the following article about Scaffolding as we use it in education and in the space
provided after the article note down five points you think are most important.
Scaffolding
What is scaffolding?
“Scaffolding refers to support that is designed to provide the assistance necessary to enable
learners to accomplish tasks and develop understandings that they would not quite be able
to manage on their own. It is not just any assistance to help a learner accomplish a task. It is
help which will enable a learner to accomplish a task which they would not have been quite
able to manage on their own. It is help that is intended to bring the learner closer to a state
of competence to enable them eventually to complete such a task on their own” (Hammond
& Gibbons 2001).
What does scaffolding do?
 supports learning through speaking, listening, reading, viewing and writing across all
learning areas
 allows the curriculum to be enriched, not simplified
 gives opportunities for exploration and clarification
 provides for guided practice
 revisits the concepts
 ‘unpacks’ the subject (ways of thinking and the language involved).
What is the purpose of scaffolding?
The purpose of scaffolding is to allow learners to do as much as they can on their own and
then for the teacher to intervene and provide assistance when it is needed so that the task
can be successfully completed. This assists learners to move from the ‘zone of actual
development’ to the ‘zone of proximal development’ (Vygotsky 1978), so that the task can be
completed independently.
Scaffolding is designed to help learners know not only what to think and do, but how to think
and do so that new skills and understandings can be applied in new contexts.
“Learning always proceeds from the known to the new. Good teaching will recognise and
build on this connection.” www.myread.org
13 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
What does the teacher do?
The teacher provides assistance and support that is designed to help learners move towards
new skills, concepts or understandings. Classroom scaffolding is much more than
encouragement, management or confirmation of learning.
Source: ESL FundameNTals
Five points you think are most important in the reading you have just done:
1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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Copy your group’s definition of scaffolding:
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

On the next page is a blank example of how young learners are supported through their
learning, using a scaffolded sequence of teaching and learning.
Cut up the boxes in the handout given to you by the facilitator and glue into the correct
sequence.
14 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Lesson: Introducing Time Lines
Getting ready
A
Show me how (modelling)
B
Help me do it (guided
practice)
C
Let me do it myself
(independent practice)
D
What did I learn?
E
NTCF Curriculum Support Materials, teaching resources for Indigenous students, Maths,
http://www.det.nt.gov.au/teachers-educators/curriculum-ntbos/support-materials
15 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Remind the participants that the teaching-learning sequence has been designed using a
scaffolded sequence of activities and has been used for all the workshop sessions and
activities you have already participated in up to this point.
16 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
What did I learn?
Community circle
 What did you learn from this session?
 What skills/help/understandings did you need to be able to participate in the
activities?
 How did you feel while doing and / after completing the session?
 Could you use/adapt the think-pair-share activity for the students you work with?
Journal entry
Make notes (in writing or drawing below) about these questions. You can work with another
person or individually. (5 minutes)
JOURNAL
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17 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Activity 3:
Scaffolding in practice
Parents have already taught their children
to speak and listen by:
 Expecting them to speak
 Providing models of how spoken
language works
 Demonstrating how to listen
 Supporting their attempts with praise
Strategy
Being an active listener
Asking open ended
questions
Repeating new language
Rephrasing and
modelling
Extending
Pause-prompt-praise
You can support children in the classroom
by:
 asking open-ended questions
 repeating new language
 rephrasing and modelling
 pause-prompt-praise
 extending
 being an active listener
Example
Nodding, eye contact with speaker, smiling, gestures,
Repeating words said, word for word, rephrasing what was said,
respond with comment or question
Examples of open ended questions include: How will you...? What
happened after...? List all of the... How did...? Can you tell me...?
How many ways can...? What would happen if...? Why do you
think...? How did you feel when...?
Child: Her in Hostabul
Adult: Yes, she went to the hospital.
Child: trimba
Adult repeats word and may define: Did you know timber is the
wood from trees?
Student:- big monster, big and fat, very good
Adult: Oh! You liked the big monster, because he was big and fat.
The big hairy monster was big and fat. He did good things for other
people (in the village)
Pause: Wait for child to think
Prompt: Help the child by giving a key word, or sound, or starting a
sentence
Praise: Praise their efforts.
Remember to praise the behaviour not the child e.g. say “You
spoke very clearly” (and smile) don’t just say “Good girl”
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Oral Language Transcript 1
Talking about a book the class is familiar with and after an excursion into the school grounds
looking for caterpillars.
T: Tell me about the story
S: Hungry Caterpillar
T: What happens in this story?
S: Um he can eat food an leaf. Um and he can eat umm some strawberries and he can turn to
the um fly
T: The caterpillar ate some food. He ate a leaf. He ate some strawberries. He turned into a
butterfly
S: There’s a egg
T: (Nods)There’s a little, tiny egg
S: At today there was a little tiny egg tiny egg!
T: Today, on a leaf, there was a little tiny egg.
S: Eating some ... Oh ... He eat one apple (looking at wrong page). He was looking for food
and he eat first one apple. Hey he needs the other one
T: He is looking for food. First he ate one apple, but he was still hungry. (T points to page) He
needs more food.
S: He full he eain one cup cake one ice-cream one pickle one cheese and one stotis
(sausage) and ones um lolipo (lollipop) one pizza one stotis one cup cake one walemelon
Ohhhh (big sigh)
T: Thats right. He ate one cupcake, one icecream, one pickle, one piece of cheese and one
sausage. He was still hungry so he ate one lollipop, one pizza and some watermelon. He was
so full
S: He wanna find some food and eat someping else an he wanna go back home now cos he’s
fat like like his Mummy. Ecause he need a eat lots a foods
T: He ate lots of food, and grew very fat. Then he went home and built a house called a
cocoon.
S: Yeah I know it. Ummmm. Des is fo des is for eating some food an an your an your full an
you’re all an you’re all full an you’re fat
T: That’s right. He puts the food in his mouth. He eats and eats and gets full. He grows very
fat because he is eating lots of food.
S: Umm. Eating. Ecause calapillas can eat anything.
T: In this book the caterpillar eats everything. What do you think real caterpillars eat?
S: Long pause... ummm
T: Do they eat this kind of food?
S: (Nods, smiles )and says No
.
Key
Pause prompt praise
Rephrasing and modelling
Active listening
Open ended question
Use highlighters to show key.
19 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Extending
Oral Language Transcript 2
Talking about a book the class has been reading over 2 weeks.
T: Look at the book
The crocodile is sleeping. OOOHHH, don’t wake him up. (T puts finger to mouth and says
SSSSHHHHH) Turns the page
Who’s asleep now?
S: Kangaroo
T: (Teacher nods) Yes the kangaroo is sleeping. Can you see anyone else sleeping?
S: Ummmm.... Wally wombat....
T: Yes, look at Wally Wombat here (Points to page) He’s sleeping Who else is in this book?
S: umm ..... a bat
T: This animals is not a bat. Its a furry animal that lives in a tree ... (pause)...and it starts with
a K .... kkkk ... (pause)
S: Koala bear?
T: Yes, (smiles) that’s right. A koala. The koala is sleeping.
S: Yeah (and actions curled up)
T: He’s all curled up (Copies student’s actions)
S: He’s scratching his back becos .... um ... becos ...um.... the little baby’s living in back with
baby
T: Yes, the babies do spend a lot of time on their mum’s back. They hang on to their mum’s
back, don’t they and the mum crawls up the tree
S: and choke him
T: I think they try not to choke their Mum. They hang on gently like that.
S: Becos they hold them over there (Student points at her chest)
T: Yes, the babies hold onto their Mum’s chest
S: Becos they got sharp nails
T: Yes, they’ve got very sharp claws. You’ve got to be careful when you pick up a koala
because they can scratch you with their sharp claws.
S: Becos ... um ... becos .... um ... my sister had a koala bear
T: your sister had a koala?
S: and a snake ... a long one and she hold .. um... becos my sister ... um... my sister lib in
Cairns
Key
Pause prompt praise
Rephrasing and modelling
Active listening
Open ended question
Use highlighters to show key.
20 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Extending
Class activity
Strategy
Asking open ended questions
Examples of language used
Repeating new language
Rephrasing and modelling
Extending
Pause-prompt-praise
Being an active listener
21 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Community circle
 What did you learn from this session?
 What skills/help/understandings did you need to be able to participate in the
activities?
 How did you feel while doing and / after completing the session?
 Have you ever observed the language used by students before? If so how did it
help you to find out more about your students?
 Will you use/adapt such observation strategies with your students?
Journal entry
Make notes (in writing or drawing below) about these questions. You can work with another
person or individually. (5 minutes)
JOURNAL
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22 | W o r k s h o p 1 : P a r t i c i p a n t ’ s W o r k b o o k
Homework Task – Scaffolding
Write examples of these scaffolding strategies as you observe them in the
classroom
Talk to the teacher about

the homework task,

the ways they use questioning techniques to scaffold learning,

other scaffolding used by the teacher, and

particular children that require a lot of scaffolding.
Strategy
Being an active
listener
Examples of language used
Asking open
ended questions
Repeating new
language
Rephrasing and
modelling
Extending
Pause-promptpraise
Other strategies
observed
After the observation please ask your teacher to sign this page as an accurate observation –
Try for one example of each strategy. Write N/A in sections where it wasn’t observed.
Teacher Verification ..........................................................................................................
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Date ....................
Glossary
Add unfamiliar words to this list, and use a dictionary to find the meanings
OR
Write the word or phrase on a post it note and add it to the Glossary poster in the room.
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