Unit Newsletter

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Unit

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Hello!
Welcome to the GrapeSEED family! Our passion is to
empower children with excellent English oral language skills. turtle
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We are excited that your child is embarking on their English
learning journey with us. In GrapeSEED, students sing songs,
follow along with stories and poems, focus on the sounds of
letters, and learn through movement with action activities. New Words
We believe that the joy of using the English words and
phrases they are learning is important. We never force them to animals mother
speak though. This is similar to how children learn to speak at baby play
home. Family members encourage children to use the language
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they are hearing, beginning at a very young age. Students feel a
sense of joy and connection when they can communicate. When big sing
they are encouraged and understand what they are learning, they small/little sister
can join in.
As your child starts each unit, we will keep you informed brother stand
about what they will be learning. We will share the letters, dance steps
themes, and some of the new words and phrases they are
family stop
learning.
In Unit 1, your child will learn about the numbers 1-10, the father teacher
color red, family and friends, and animals at the zoo. friend yes
house no
Language Learning jump zebra
GrapeSEED focuses on oral language development, but what
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is oral language, and why is it important when learning a second
language? Communication is made up of four basic skills:
reading, writing, speaking, and listening. When we use the term
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oral language, we are referring to the listening and speaking parts
of communication. Oral language and vocabulary development
Dd Ff Kk Mm Zz
are important skills for students to develop because they lay the
foundation for strong reading comprehension skills—you must be
able to understand language at the spoken level to understand it in New Phrases
written text. As with all communication, oral language is a process
that develops over time. You have watched this development in Hello!
your child as they learned their first language—starting when
they babble random sounds, point, wave or cry. Over time, your How are you?
child began using single words to communicate—like mom, dad, Stand Up!
or toy. Eventually, those single words gave way to short phrases
and eventually full sentences. Students will follow this same
progression as they learn the English language. © 2020 GrapeSEED Media Limited. All rights reserved.
 Supporting Your Student at Home
Students need to spend time being exposed
to English at home through repeated and daily
exposure. GrapeSEED provides every student
with their own copy of the materials that they
use in the classroom. This gives you tools you
can use at home to support the learning that is
happening at school.
Since children are just beginning to use
their GrapeSEED materials at home, please sit
with your child as they listen to the audio and
follow along with the pictures. The goal of this
dedicated time each day is for children to make
connections between the words that are spoken
and the pictures they see. In the beginning, this
practice time can be as little as 15-20 minutes
each day.
As your child listens to the audio, they are
hearing English being spoken. As they look at
the materials, they are seeing the words and
pictures, and they will begin making
connections between what they are hearing and
seeing. As they watch the videos, they will hear
English being spoken as they see the words
being acted out.
In Unit 1, children should be allowed to lead
their learning. Some days children just may want
to listen while other days they may want to sing
along and do the actions they’ve learned in class.
We want their learning to be engaging. The
students who use this time to see the pictures,
letters, and words will begin to understand as
they hear the language in different ways. The
important thing to remember is that we do not
expect children learning English to read right
now.
As students grow and continue their
learning, their use of these at-home tools will
change. We will share ideas and new ways for
you to support your child with each new unit.

Meet Jonny Bear, one of the GrapeSEED characters. Each unit

includes a Jonny Bear story that provides review and reinforcement
for words that have been learned. Beginning in Unit 2, these stories
will also include words that were learned in previous units.
We encourage you to allow your child to watch the videos as they
wish. This visual support reinforces what is being learned in class.

Unit Newsletter Unit 1

© 2020 GrapeSEED Media Limited. All rights reserved.