How Do I Teach English
3
7/28/2019 How Do I Teach English http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-do-i-teach-english 1/3 1 http://www.barbsbooks.com/Englsh1.htm HOW DO I TEACH ENGLISH? This is the time of year when many of you are beginning to think about you’re going to do next year. Some of you are reevaluating what you’ve done this year and are looking for a different approach . Others of you feel you’re on the right track; you’ve found an approach that works, but you’d like a few fresh ideas to liven things up a bit. Here are a few suggestions and resources that might be useful. First, know what you want to accomplish. Evaluate each student’s writing to see what skills should be taught next year. Are you following a school curriculum, or intending to put a child into school at some time? If so, you need to know what that school will expect your child to know when you enroll him. Otherwise, you are free to choose your own methods and materials and to wait until you think your child is ready before you launch into a formal study of grammar. When you’ve written down your goals, the next step is to plan how to best reach them. Keep your own teaching style and abilities in mind as you plan. Can you make your own curriculum, or would you feel more secure with a text or workbook? Perhaps all you need is a little direction. Teachers of primary students should read Ruth Beechick’s The Three R’s ($10.80-D) for inspiration. Teachers of junior and junior high students should read Beechick’s You Can Teach Your Child Successfully, Grades 4-8 (12.60-D). Some time spent reading these books can save a lot of money on textbooks you might not need. If you determine that you need to use a textbook, check out the big companies who go to all the conventions. I haven’t used them since I quit teaching English in schools. If you’re ready to plan your own course of study, perhaps I can help. During my years as an English teacher and homeschool mom, and now as a vendor, I have used, seen, and evaluated many different books in the language arts area. I’ve also gotten input from other teachers. It won’t surprise you to learn that no one approach works for everyone. It might surprise you to know, however, that not everybody agrees that you need to start a formal study of grammar in the elementary years. If a student will not go to a school where he’s expected to know something about parts of speech, you might be able to teach grammar to all of your children together when your oldest child starts high school. Unless things have changed in the past five years, the standardized tests require a student to know good usage: spelling, rules of punctuation and capitalization, what constitutes a complete sentence, agreement of subjects and predicates, and other patterns of speech and writing that are best taught by modeling standard English usage, reading aloud, and writing. It has been my experience that most text books start with parts of speech, and that the year seems to be over before they get around to teaching writing. This ought not to be. The goal is learning to speak and write effectively. I would heartily recommend that every home schooling parent get certain items that I consider basic. Comprehensive Composition by Kathryn Stout (14.00*), contains
Transcript of How Do I Teach English
7/28/2019 How Do I Teach English
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-do-i-teach-english 1/3
1
http://www.barbsbooks.com/Englsh1.htm
HOW DO I TEACH ENGLISH?
This is the time of year when many of you are beginning to think about you’re going
to do next year. Some of you are reevaluating what you’ve done this year and arelooking for a different approach . Others of you feel you’re on the right track; you’vefound an approach that works, but you’d like a few fresh ideas to liven things up a bit.Here are a few suggestions and resources that might be useful.
First, know what you want to accomplish. Evaluate each student’s writing to see whatskills should be taught next year. Are you following a school curriculum, or intendingto put a child into school at some time? If so, you need to know what that school willexpect your child to know when you enroll him. Otherwise, you are free to chooseyour own methods and materials and to wait until you think your child is ready beforeyou launch into a formal study of grammar.
When you’ve written down your goals, the next step is to plan how to best reachthem. Keep your own teaching style and abilities in mind as you plan. Can you makeyour own curriculum, or would you feel more secure with a text or workbook?Perhaps all you need is a little direction. Teachers of primary students should readRuth Beechick’s The Three R’s ($10.80-D) for inspiration. Teachers of junior and
junior high students should read Beechick’s You Can Teach Your Child Successfully,
Grades 4-8 (12.60-D). Some time spent reading these books can save a lot of moneyon textbooks you might not need.
If you determine that you need to use a textbook, check out the big companies who goto all the conventions. I haven’t used them since I quit teaching English in schools. If you’re ready to plan your own course of study, perhaps I can help.
During my years as an English teacher and homeschool mom, and now as a vendor, Ihave used, seen, and evaluated many different books in the language arts area. I’vealso gotten input from other teachers. It won’t surprise you to learn that no oneapproach works for everyone.
It might surprise you to know, however, that not everybody agrees that you need tostart a formal study of grammar in the elementary years. If a student will not go to a
school where he’s expected to know something about parts of speech, you might beable to teach grammar to all of your children together when your oldest child startshigh school. Unless things have changed in the past five years, the standardized testsrequire a student to know good usage: spelling, rules of punctuation andcapitalization, what constitutes a complete sentence, agreement of subjects and
predicates, and other patterns of speech and writing that are best taught by modelingstandard English usage, reading aloud, and writing. It has been my experience thatmost text books start with parts of speech, and that the year seems to be over beforethey get around to teaching writing. This ought not to be. The goal is learning to speak and write effectively.
I would heartily recommend that every home schooling parent get certain items that Iconsider basic. Comprehensive Composition by Kathryn Stout (14.00*), contains
7/28/2019 How Do I Teach English
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-do-i-teach-english 2/3
2
everything you need to know about teaching composition at every grade level. Write
Source 2000 ( 17.95 softcover) is absolutely the best English handbook you can buy,and will do nicely for grades 4-8. Writers INC (19.95 softcover) is the best handbook you can buy if your children are junior high or older. These books are so attractivethey beg to be used. It is easy for students and teachers alike to look up information
on writing, grammar, usage, spelling, punctuation, study skills, and even publicspeaking. The almanac contains maps, historical documents, and even math andscience facts and tables. Why should anybody spend $15 or more every year to buy atextbook that repeats a lot of what was in last year’s, with a bit of new materialadded? Why not get it all at once and teach it when you need to? Write Source nowhas texts, teacher’s manuals, and workbooks for every level, but they never used to. It
just isn’t necessary, in my opinion.
So, Comprehensive Composition and a good handbook will give you the basic facts to be taught and good teaching methods for composition at each grade level. But perhapsyou’d like some workbooks or enrichment books to help you over some rough spots.
One rather inexpensive one, good for all subjects, ages, and grade levels, is Quick Flip Questions for Critical Thinking, only 3.99, based on Bloom’s Taxonomy anddeveloped by Linda Barton. This little 14-page flip chart contains key words andquestions for all six levels of thinking in the cognitive domain. It will help you designassignments, lead discussions, and prepare tests relating to any subject.
In the primary years I think languages skills are best taught by reading aloud andreading aloud some more, with lots of discussion. I prefer unit studies, and myabsolute favorite of these is Five in a Row. Jane Lambert has selected a number of outstanding picture books and written three volumes of lessons around them. The
basic idea is that you pick a book, read it aloud for five days in a row, and each dayyou pick an activity from a different subject area. An example: for The Story About
Ping you will find social studies activities about discernment in relationships, the physical features of China and the culture of China. You pick the one that best suitsyour students. There are three literature activities, five art activities, and so on. If youwant to use Ruth Beechick’s approach, you can also use these books to teach andreinforce basic primary English skills through discussion and dictation. Jane has four volumes at this time. Book 1, 19.95, is for the fall semester. Book two, 24.95, for spring, contains more lessons. Book 3, 19.95, is for the summer. A Christian Bible
Study Supplement , 17.95, brings out the moral and character issues in the stories fromall three volumes and ties them into Bible passages. This last book is useful for
anyone who reads picture books with children. (By the way, I stock the books from allthree volumes that are currently in print. See price list. on page describing Five in a
Row
I see I’ll run out of room if I describe everything good for the younger ages, but I feelI must mention some books you may not hear about anywhere else. Ruth Heller has aseries of brightly colored picture books about parts of speech that are a true feast for the eyes. No family with elementary children should miss these at only 7.95 apiece.Titles are Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs; Kites Sail High: A Book About
Verbs; Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives; Merry-Go-Round: A
Book About Nouns; and A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns. Believe me,
the illustrations alone are worth the price of these books.
7/28/2019 How Do I Teach English
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/how-do-i-teach-english 3/3
3
If you want books with actual writing assignments and lessons, I would mostrecommend Wordsmith Apprentice for grades 4-6 (16.00), Wordsmith, for junior high(14.00) and Wordsmith Craftsman for high school (14.00). I like these books becausewhen they teach parts of speech, they immediately incorporate them into writingapplications instead of isolating them. In Wordsmith Apprentice, Jane Cheaney uses a
newspaper as the basis of all writing. Your student joins the "staff" of an unnamednewspaper. Through a series of practical and imaginative assignments, he or shelearns about nouns, verbs, and basic sentence structure; modifiers and more complexsentences; and organizing and reporting. Wordsmith gets into more parts of speech,
building strong sentences, and writing narratives, dialogue, and even a story.Wordsmith Craftsman is a self-directed program that lets students take charge of
building, integrating, and polishing their own writing skills. as they approach thecollege years.
If you’d like an innovative way to review English spelling, vocabulary and usage, tryThe Great Editing Adventure Series. Students learn and review by searching for errors
in exciting stories you can write on the board or a piece of paper. Volume I (15.00)contains three separate stories divided into a total of 90 lessons. Volume II (15.00) hasthree new stories, also containing 90 lessons. Student workbooks are available for each volume at 10.00 each. These contain the grammar activities (so you don’t haveto write them out) and space for the student to write the corrected version.
I wish I had room to list more, but I do carry most of the books you’ve seen reviewedelsewhere. Just call for availability and prices. I’ll go more into spelling andvocabulary next issue. Hang in there. Help is coming.
This is a reprint from Books, Pens, and People, Issue 4
A publication of Barb's People Builders© Barbara Radisavljevic, 1997
