In developing the most appropriate strategies for the learning, teaching and assessment of English in the Solomon Islands, the most important considerations are that:
Children in the Solomon Islands come to school with many different Vernacular languages. They also come with a variety of experiences with, and exposure to, English. However, for most children, primary school provides their first opportunity to engage in ongoing and increasingly complex, or academic, uses of spoken and written English. Hence, teaching strategies must be similar to those used when teaching ‘additional’, or foreign languages. These should take into account that learners are not only learning to read and write English, many are also learning to understand and speak English at the same time. Given this situation, learning English needs to begin with learning oral English and be linked to the language(s) that learners bring to the classroom to explicitly show how language and English works.
Researchers agree that learners take many years to become academically proficient in an additional language, in this case, English. Multilingual learners like those in the Solomon Islands, who are learning about and in English at school, have different language development pathways to monolingual English learners. To support multilingual learners of English, classroom activities in all subjects must provide a strong focus on the types of activities that help them to hear, comprehend, use and create meaning, ideas and information in English. The process for doing this is outlined in the section below, The ‘Pijin/Vernacular first’ English teaching process in multilingual Solomon Islands.
8.1 Model of language and approaches to classroom
Teaching and Learning
This syllabus supports a balanced approach to language and literacy learning. The model of language it draws on views English and other languages as a resource for meaning making. It situates language in the context of use: how English can be spoken, read and written for various purposes and audiences. Language knowledge and literacy skills are taught in an integrated and explicit way through the study of meaningful texts. Language knowledge includes phonics and vocabulary, spelling text types and grammar. Literacy skills of decoding and encoding meaning develop through speaking and learning about language and by applying language knowledge for a purpose, such as in learning in all curriculum areas. Literacy includes comprehension of texts through reading and listening and creation of texts through writing and speaking. It also includes fluency in handwriting in order to effectively convey meaning.
The following diagram represents the model of language and literacy which underpins this syllaus.
Diagram will be inserted later!
As English and literacy learning is the active construction of meaning, it involves hands, head and heart. Therefore, teachers should:
Support for Teachers
Further information about how to teach key elements of the balanced approach to literacy outlined above, for example, phonics and phonemic awareness, is available in the Nguzu Nguzu Teacher Support Document (currently being updated).
Support for teachers is also given in the teachers’ section in the back of each of the Nguzu Nguzu English Years 1-3 books. In this section there is a daily breakdown of the integrated literacy elements to be taught during a week. Guidance is also given about when and how to teach them. For example, the sub-section, Focus on Letters and Sounds, indicates to teachers the phonics focus taken from the weekly story, and also suggests ways in which this can be taught.
The ‘Pijin/Vernacular first’ English teaching process in multilingual Solomon Islands
Research into successful teaching practices in multilingual contexts has consistently shown that learners achieve better academic outcomes when they begin their schooling in a known language, before moving into learning in the official language of instruction. Therefore, this syllabus recognises that learners must begin to build proficiency in English and literacy through the initial use of Pijin or Vernacular. Teachers should guide learners to do this in way that are based on successful practices from similar contexts. The fundamental element of such practices is that learners in all years of primary schooling first engage actively in talk (oracy) about familiar and new ideas and concepts, guided by the teacher, in the languages that they already know. In the case of Solomon Islands, these languages are Pijin or Vernacular. Doing this ensures that learners understand ideas and concepts before the teacher moves on to talking and teaching about the same ideas and concepts in English. Developing learners’ ability to think and express ideas first in Pijin or Vernacular is the foundation for developing oral English. Oral English is the crucial foundation for the development of the English reading and writing proficiency learners require to be successful in all subjects in the primary curriculum.
Steps in the ‘Pijin/Vernacular first’ English teaching process
The steps in this process are as follows:
Diagram will be inserted later!
Example of Implementation
Following is an example of classroom implementation of the steps described above. It is from the Nguzu Nguzu Teacher Support Document and depicts a teacher speaking with her class about giants.
| Teacher: Orait olketa. Yufela save talim mi enisamting aboat olketa jiant? Learner 1: Tit Teacher: Save talim mi moa abaot olketa Learner 1: Olketa garim bikfela tit Learner 2: Olketa big tumas Teacher: Gut tumas. Nao yufela lisen kam hao fo talim lo Inglis. Giants have big teeth and they are big. O yumi save talim Giant are huge, or they are enormous. Yumi save raetim hia Giants are huge and they have enormous teeth. Wanem moa? Yu talim trifela samting abaotim olketa jiant, difrent from olketa ya an waswe yu save talim long Inglis tu. Den yumi save tok abaot olketa ya tugeta. |
Other contents will be inserted in here soon!