Plan of Learning Activity for Emergent Literacy - Essay Example

Outline Plan of the learning activity for emergent literacy Introduction: An overview of emergent literacy Body: Critical evaluation of the lesson Importance of supporting emergent literacy learning Conclusion: A summary of the essay on emergent literacy learning Activity plan Storybook reading is the learning activity for emergent literacy of both monolingual and multilingual children as well as those with special needs. Children were gathered and sat in a circle close to the teacher and the storybook. The storybook reading activity entailed storybook preview, storybook read aloud, storybook sounds for the monolingual and multilingual children. For children with special needs, the activity focused on storybook letters and words (Ambrose, 2009). The children keenly listened to the teacher when she was reading the story. They were also able to identify and shout the pictures of the items in the storybook. This is as per the requirements of the EYFS, which states that in order to effectively develop the emergent literacy of children; they should be allowed to participate in the learning activity (DFES, 2012). The story was about a hungry bear feeding on mice. The children were also provided with the pictures of the bear eating mice. Availability of pictures for the story is an indication the provisions of the EYFS of showing the children pictures of items in the story was considered. The learning goals for the lesson plan include vocabulary development, , development of print concept among the children, develop phonological awareness and sensitivity for the children, developing the decoding and comprehensive skills of the children, letter and sound development as well as to develop the oral language of the children. The learning activity achieved the learning goals in various ways. Application of storybook preview enhanced the achievement of oral language and vocabulary development when the children were able to look at the pictures and describe the action in the pictures. Oral language development was also achieved by reading aloud of the story. Development of the concepts of print was achieved by reading aloud of the story and pointing out of the words being read by the finger. This also developed the narrative skills of the children because they were allowed by the teacher to shout out the action in the pictures. Finally, phonological awareness and sensitivity was achieved by emphasizing on the sounds, words, and letters in the storybook. Introduction Emergent literacy can be described as a learning process that involves children from infancy through to the age of five years. During the process, children tend to construct concepts on functions of print and a symbol based on interactions with adults, which is facilitates meaningful language and experiences. Emergent literacy enable children learn and understand the use of language in expressing their feelings, ideas, and thoughts through communication (White, 2005). Various learning activities can be helpful in the development of emergent literacy among children. Below is a reflective essay on the critical evaluation of the learning activity that entails a teacher reading a storybook to a number of children, and the importance of supporting emergent literacy learning. Classic theories of Piaget and Vygotsky provide strong theoretical framework that supports storybook reading as a way of developing emergent literacy skills for children. The classic theories argue that storybook reading is truly much appropriate in the development of emergent literacy among children in a variety of ways. One of its significance is the reading of the story in the storybook in a loud voice. Reading stories to children in a loud voice has been found to be an aspect that helps in the building of their foundation in successful reading and listening (Rhyner, 2009 p104). From the discussed lesson activity point of view, the children found it fun when the teacher was reading how the hungry bear was eating the mice. This pushed them to look keenly at the pictures of the bear feeding on mice, and they were even able to shout that the bear was eating the mice. From the critical evaluation of storybook reading as a learning activity for emergent literacy, various studies indicate that the activity is largely linked to the development of brain among children in preparation for learning. Theories that support emergent literacy learning claim that repeated reading of stories to children is efficient in the strengthening of essential connections in the brains of the children. It is of great importance to integrate rich use of language in the daily social activities of children so that the foundation of the children in the use and comprehension of words can be created (Whitehead, 1997). Theorist Piaget argues that reading of a story to children in a loud voice familiarises the children with pleasure in reading; therefore, this encourages them to find their own time and read for themselves. On the other hand, when children see others reading, they tend to become familiar with the process of reading and eventually this helps them understand the structure of the story on their own. In the case of the discussed lesson activity, children were able to connect the pictures in the book when the teacher was reading to them the story in a loud voice (Palaiologou, 2009). This helped the children understand the structure of the story, which involved a hungry bear that was feeding on mice. Since this story was fascinating to the children, they tend to revisit it many times, therefore improving their reading skills. The development of the expressive and receptive language among the children has been found to be promoted by storybook preview during storybook reading as a learning activity. Storybook preview is used to introduce the book to be read by the students. For the storybook preview to be effective in the development of receptive and expressive components of conventional reading, the activity is ought to be carried out in smaller groups of children or with individual children. The main purpose of this is to enable the teacher to interact fully, and responding to the language of each child (Riley, 2006). This also promotes the development of vocabulary among children. In the storybook that involved a hungry bear eating mice, children could be heard shouting, “bear eating mice”, which was a positive indication that their vocabulary skill has developed. Still on the relevance of the storybook preview in storybook reading, the decoding and comprehensive skills of the children are developed. Due to the presence of pictures that connect with the story in the storybook, children are able to explore the content of the storybook by observing and talking about the pictures. For instance, in the learning activity discussed, children were able to identify a bear eating mice through the available pictures of the same. This is an indication that comprehended the story and was able to identify the items involved in the story. This helped in building of the vocabulary. The narrative skills of the children are developed through storybook preview when the teacher responds to the communication of the child (DeBruin-Parecki, 2007). The concept of a symbol development is a crucial aspect in emergent literacy. The Convergent Skills Model of Reading alongside the reading development theory indicate that the use of symbols such as pictures promote the development of emergent literacy among children. This concept indicates that a symbol represents something else (Ambrose, 2009 p128). For example in the case of this learning activity, pictures of bears eating mice were a true representation of a hungry bear having its meal. This helped in the development of the speech skills of the children. When the y saw the pictures of the bear eating mice, they could be heard shouting that the bear was eating the mice. In the case where a child could not see the pictures clearly, she was angry that she could not see what her fellow children were seeing. She was forced to move closer to the book also that she could have a precise picture of the bear, hence development of her reading skills. Majority of studies have found that children, especially those who are three years of age, tend to recognise the symbols such as pictures around them and be able to understand them. They quickly recognize the symbols through observations and interactions (DFES, 2012). Interactive reading of a storybook has been found to be one of the ways in which oral language of students develop. As one of the language based skills, reading entails sharing of processes as well as knowledge necessary for the understanding of oral language among children. Majority of children who have hardships in reading also tend to have problems with the development of their oral language skills. The interactive process of storybook reading involves an adult, who may be a teacher or a parent, the child, and the text in the book. For effective development of oral language skills of the children, the teacher or parent is expected to respond or comment on the child’s perception about the pictures and words in the book (Rhyner, 2009). Development of oral language involves the growth of syntactic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge. Children tend to learn how to construct sentences and they learn new words for both monolingual and multilingual children. The development phonological awareness and sensitivity of the children in the learning activity was facilitated by storybook sounds. The activities of storybook sonuds has been found by a number of theorists to be relating to the pictures and content in the storybook. For example, in the discussed learning activity, children could listen keenly to the beginning sounds of the items and be able to point out the apppropriate pictures. For the pictures pointed out by the children, they were able to say the word as well as the sound, for example, “bear eating mice” (Whitehead, 1997). Print concepts, general vocabulary, and oral language development of the children according to classic theories are usually targeted by storybook read aloud activity. The teacher is first expected to read the story to a large group of children and as a follow-up, repeat reading, the same story to smaller groups of children pointing out every word read in the book. When the children sit closely to the book, they are able to effectively see the print precisely. The teacher may opt to repeat reading the favourite parts of the book for the children to enhance their oral language skills (DeBruin-Parecki, 2007). Supporting of the emergent literacy is of foremost importance in a number of ways. Emergent literacy entails all the relevant aspects in the development of the literacy level of a child throughout their entire childhood life. The process of emergent literacy commences with the early verbal and non-verbal interactions with their fellow children and adults as well as literacy environment and explorations. For this reason, it is necessary to support emergent literacy because it plays a foundation role in the literacy of the children. In cases where children have poor emergent literacy, they tend to grow up with poor literacy skills; hence end up having poor performance in school in their later years (Rhyner, 2009 p76). It is essential to support emergent literacy because it is an interactive and a constructive process. The process is considered interactive because it entails feedback from other children on a certain child or from adults to children initiated by language and play. Through the interactions, the literacy process of children is fostered rather than just helping the child get a right answer. For example in the learning activity of storybook reading, when one of the children was not able to see the pictures clearly, she interacted with her fellow children and was able to support the process of emergent literacy (DFES, 2012). Emergent process is considered constructive in the sense that a child’s internal literacy is nurtured and developed. Through this process, children tend to improve their verbal and non-verbal potential by use of various emergent literacy resources. Reading of a storybook literacy activity was useful in constructing the literacy skills of children by use of symbols, which were pictures, and by the teacher reading aloud the story from the storybook to the children. When the teacher was reading the story in a loud voice, the gathered children were able to connect the story through the pictures in the book (DeBruin-Parecki, 2007). The story in the storybook mainly focussed on a hungry bear eating mice. This is therefore a core reason as to why emergent literacy learning should be fully supported. Emergent literacy learning should be supported because it improves the listening and talking skills of the children. For instance, once the listening and talking skills of the children are improved during their pre-school time, children are prepared to learn how to write and read when they get to the elementary school. This is a clear indication that children who get to school with poor communication skills related to verbal skills tend to experience some hardship in learning literacy skills as compared to those with well-developed verbal skills (Whitehead, 1997) Sound awareness in children is always developed by emergent literacy learning. For this reason, emergent literacy learning should be supported. Theories that support emergent literacy learning indicate that reading and writing development among children is linked to phonological awareness. Phonological awareness entails the recognition that various words are made up of different sounds of speech. When children get to realize that words are of separate sounds of speech, they tend to develop their reading and writing skills. Therefore, the support of emergent literacy learning is an issue that should not be taken on a lighter note (Larson and Marsh 2007 p85) Conclusion In conclusion, the aspect of emergent literacy is an aspect that every child is ought to go through in their childhood years so that they can fully develop their literacy skills. It also enables children with special needs be able learn literacy skills at a tender age. This opens up opportunities for the children to have better performance at school in the later years when they join the elementary schools. Reading of a storybook is one of the most efficient ways of developing the literacy skills of children especially when the teacher reads the story in a loud voice to a group of children. This encourages them develop a passion of wanting to read the story by themselves (White, 2005). It becomes more efficient when the storybook has pictures that connect with the story being read by the teacher to the children. References Ambrose, S. (2009). Phonological Awareness Development of Preschool children with Cochlear implants. London: Oxford Univewrsity Press. DeBruin-Parecki, A. (2007). Lets Read Together: Improving Literacy Outcomes with Adult- Child Interactive Reading Inventory. Baltimore: Brookes. Department for Education and Skills (DFES), (2012) ‘The Early Years Foundation Stage’, London DFES https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE- 00023-2012 Larson and Marsh J. (2007) Making Literacy Real. Sage Publication Palaiologou, I. (2009). The Early Years Foundation Stage:Theory and Practice. London: SAGE. Rhyner, P. (2009). Emergent Literacy and Language Development: Promoting Learning in Early Childhood. New York: Guilford. Riley J. (2006) Language and Literacy. Sage publication White, H. (2005) Developing Literacy Skills in the Early Years. Sage Publication Whitehead, M R. (1997) Language and Literacy in the Early Years (2nd ed), London: Paul Chapman Read More