The Language Experience Approach (LEA) Part 2 of 2

LEA ACTIVITIES

NATURE WALK - Go for a 10-15 mins walk in the garden or outdoors. Observe the surroundings. What do you hear, see, smell and feel? After the walk or stroll, talk about the experience. Write them in sentences, then read it aloud to yourself or to others.

My Favorite Things - Choose pictures of the things you like from old magazines. Cut them out. Paste each picture on a clean sheet of paper. Tell a partner why you like these things. Write it down once you are done sharing with your partner. Put them together to form your book of favorite things.

Wordless Picture Book - Tell the story of a wordless picture book using your own words to a partner. Write a sentence for each page of the book on a separate page.  Have your partner read what you have written down. Talk about the experience of telling and writing the story.

In Your Own Words - What is your morning routine? What activities do you do in a day? Write them down or draw it. Turn to your partner and talk about routines and activities you do. Listen to your partner as he/she talks about her schedule.

Before Going to School - List down the things you do before going to school. Draw the most important to you. Write the reasons why and read it aloud to your partner. Compare your work and discuss.

After LEA Activities

1. Identify relevant words in the written output.

2. Make a list of these words in a WORD WALL. As an extension, make a dictionary form these words.

3. As a reader, identify sentences that struck you from the works of your classmates/co-participants.

4. In a group, discuss reasons why you found the sentences meaningful.

5. As an extension activity, go to the library and look for:

a. Magazines about nature or the environment;

b. A book on scrapbook making;

c. Wordless Picture Books;

d. Posters, brochures or infographics on time management;

e. A book that has a poem or stories about school and friends in school.

Remember these basic principles of LEA as postulated by Roach Van Allen (1964), one of the proponents of LEA.

What I can think about, I can say.

What I can say, I can write.

I can read what I have written.

I can read what others have written for me to read.

Listen. Speak. Read. Write!

Sources:

The Literacy Bug, June 2018 Retrieved

https://www.theliteracybug.com/using-the-language-experience-approach/

Harker, W. John. The Language Experience Approach. 

http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/viewFile/7380/5310

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) Part 1 of 2

“...the language experience approach (LEA) is a whole language approach that promotes reading and writing through the use of personal experiences and oral language. It effectively helps develop learners' print awareness, since learners see the direct connection between images and words. It effectively connects known vocabulary and new vocabulary with print words, since the experience and image(s) correlate with words in the written caption(s).” 

The Literacy Bug, June 2018 Retrievedhttps://www.theliteracybug.com/using-the-language-experience-approach/

Using LEA in the classroom for group and one-on-one sessions has many benefits. It allows teacher and students to discuss experiences and to have these written down would automatically familiarize students with the structure of language and the dynamics of using them. From speaking about experiences, listening to responses and writing these down, students learn reading skills along the way. In LEA, students engage in the communication of their experiences, there is a deeper connection to content making learning more meaningful.

The Language Experience Process

Before and During the Experience

1. Establish a common experience.

2. Pay attention to this common experience and how language (vocabulary) is used and documented (organizers, journals, cards, digicams, social media, etc.)

3. Be aware of instructions that take place and how discourse is built from the common experience.

After the Experience

1. Display and show evidences of learned vocabulary, new, old and how it is constructed through graphic organizers (mind maps, flow charts, semantic maps).

2. Review how sentence structures and cycles manifest in students documented writing.

3. Provide feedback on their writing that will help improve and enhance reading and writing skills.

4. Repeat the reading of newly constructed texts and observe how memory further shapes of improves the telling or writing of the experience.

5. Use newly constructed texts and vocabulary for further study.

Extending the Experience

1. Find an opportunity to link new readings to the common experience, for example, poems, magazine articles, social media posts, advertisements and flyers.

2. Provide a connection of these readings to writing activities.

3. Reflect on select areas of the experience and activities with students. 

4. Record these reflections by keeping them in a learning portfolio.

Convo on Phonetics and the Whole Language Approach 1 of 2

A friend who is based in the US sent me a private message three years ago asking for my opinion on phonetics and the Whole Language Approach. After three years, I am making the "big reveal" in the blog. Let's call my friend, Mommy LPM. She asked the question so she can teach her then 3 year old daughter the basics of reading.

Mommy LPM: Zars, I need your opinion about phonetics and whole reading approaches. One is an old school approach while the other is a constructivist approach. Which one is better? I'm teaching my 3 year old how to read and I'm confused which one to use. Btw, where do teaching sight words fall under?

ZarahG: You can start with whole language for your daughter. The advantage with whole language is that, you are building on experience and context if reading wholistically. This way when she reaches an age where she shows signs of decoding readiness, she can do basals or word attack skills. Good luck and have fun! One of the greatest joys of parenthood is to see and hear a child read aloud!

Mommy LPM: Thanks. We're still in the process. Clueless where to begin because I was never a Pre-K teacher.

ZG: Read signs and logos when you shop around town. Sing songs and chant nursery rhymes. Keep talking to her at home on routines and stuff you do together. Read aloud picture books with her. If there's tv and iPad at home, engage her in conversation. She's acquiring language at this point and her brain is like a sponge! So soak her up on language experience activities. Involve the senses, too: play dough, water games, plant in the garden. Do some process activities with her: zipping up her coat, up and down, lacing her sneakers, shower time is a learning experience too.

Mommy LPM: I see. So my husband and I were actually doing some of the things you've mentioned like the STOP sign. I actually posted names of things around the house such as CLOCK, TABLE etc. I let her play abcya.com and she likes it so much. Still she can't read on her own yet. Am I rushing her?

ZG: Emergent reader pa lang siya. Relax. Show her the wonder of the world with words

Part 2 will be about Whole Language teaching and resources for parents and teachers in the K-3 levels.