Dual language teachers should begin the preschool year by focusing on developing general phonological awareness skills from the first part the Phonological Awareness Continuum (i.e., listening closely to sentences, words, syllables, and sounds).
We want to make sure that children listen well and that they can focus on the beginning and ending sounds of words. Those are the basics. Once children can recognize and hear different sounds (or phonological information), they can begin to manipulate, play, and experiment with what they have learned.
This section focuses on:
Developmentally appropriate strategies to use in helping children grasp the more complex tasks along the continuum.
Strategies for reviewing rhyming and alliteration to reinforce that knowledge base.
Ways to use center time to reinforce instruction.
We believe teachers need to know the steps involved in the Phonological Awareness Continuum in order to teach them effectively. To support you in memorizing the higher steps of the continuum, we provide a series of fun and simple interactive games
Estimated Time Allotment
It will take approximately four hours to complete this section of the course. Unless otherwise specified, the entire section should be completed within one to two weeks, before beginning work on the next section of the course.
Professional Development Goals
The professional development goals for the course were listed in What You Will Learn in the Introduction section. In this section, you will focus on the following goals:
1. Explain phonological awareness, including:
c. memorizing and explaining the steps in the Phonological Awareness Continuum.
2. Implement teaching strategies that help children develop phonological awareness, including:
a. focusing children's attention on listening, words in a sentence, syllables in words, onset-rimes, rhyming, alliteration, and
individual phonemes;
b. implementing strategies throughout the day, during transitions,
read alouds, center times, beginning of the day sessions, and
end of the day sessions; and
c. using specific tools to develop elements of phonological
awareness (such as books, pipes, bathtubs, paper bags, and
mirrors).
4. Support children's development of phonological awareness in
ways that:
a. stimulate and challenge but do not overwhelm the child;
b. balance the need for direct instruction and child-centered
activities (indirect instruction); and
c. progress from modeling, to guiding, and then to encouraging
students to do tasks independently.