TEACHING

STRATEGIES
IN MTB
 From Oracy to Literacy Development of
Young Learners

● Oracy is an essential skill, equivalent to literacy or

numeracy. Being an effective communicator (i.e.
being good at oracy) is a key part of being a
successful language learner.
● Focused oracy work improves listening and
speaking skills, which parents will notice
immediately. These skills will in turn benefit
children’s reading and writing development
● .
Where do I start?
- Establish basic Oracy Ground Rules at the beginning
of the school year. For preschoolers, these rules
revolve around the oracy skills of active listening and
cooperative behaviours such as taking turns, asking
for permission, learning not to interrupt, and
controlling the volume of their voice. Write the rules in
simple language on large colourful cards and display
them around the classroom. Students can even draw
pictures to illustrate the rules.
What types of activities will help my preschool
English students build their early oracy skills?

- Since preschool students are best engaged

through games and play, oracy work should
ideally be rooted in these. Cooperative
projects, music-making and circle time likewise
provide ample opportunities for oracy practice.
The following are examples of activities to
support the development of oracy skills:

● games to hone listening skills, such as Simon

Says, Telephone, Red Light/Green Light, and
Guess the Sound
● games to promote cooperation and turn-taking
such as board games, card games, 20 Questions,
building a tower, treasure hunts, and Follow the
Leader
● musical activities to sharpen listening and offer
practice producing English sounds and words,
including chanting, singing, reciting rhymes,
doing finger plays, copying and/or making a
rhythm with body parts or instruments, or
imitating sounds
● circle time with storytelling to promote active
listening and cooperative skills such as
controlling the volume of their voice, asking for
permission, waiting their turn, and asking
questions
● projects to encourage group
interactions such as gardening,
baking or cooking, puppet plays,
dressing up/role plays, and art
projects
● musical activities to sharpen
listening and offer practice
producing English sounds and
words, including chanting, singing,
reciting rhymes, doing finger plays,
copying and/or making a rhythm with
body parts or instruments, or
imitating sounds
● circle time with storytelling to
promote active listening and
cooperative skills such as
controlling the volume of their
voice, asking for permission,
waiting their turn, and asking
questions
The teacher’s role is fundamental in
providing children with ample input in
MTB while simultaneously creating a
safe space where children feel
comfortable to participate actively.
Here are some tips:

Tip #1: Create a language-rich classroom

environment with plenty of comprehensible input

Speak in MTB as much as possible. Comment on

children’s activities and add to or extend on what children
are saying as often as possible. Monitor and moderate
your language to ensure it is within children’s reach. Are
you using simple vocabulary and structures? Speaking at
a reasonable pace? Are you pausing and giving children
enough time to think and respond?
Tip #2: Make sure contexts and talk are
meaningful and understandable

Whenever possible, connect what you are doing

in class to children’s lives and experiences.
Focus on the concrete and avoid abstract
topics. Bring in plenty of visual supports and
realia to support meaning. Use Total Physical
Response (TPR) and gestures to support what
you are saying in English.
Tip #3: Be sensitive to each child’s pace
of development and do not force them to
speak

Allow for a silent period. Use and encourage

non-verbal responses and gestures to
support children who are struggling with
comprehension or who are shy and not
ready to speak.
Tip #4: Make your classroom a safe and
welcoming place for everyone.

Encourage inclusivity and show an interest in

all children’s contributions. Notice and praise
active listening and collaborative behaviour.
Validate what children say in English and in
their own language. Keep struggling students
engaged by checking in with them often.
Boost early oracy skills

You may have noticed that many of these ideas and

suggestions overlap with best practices for teaching
children. By moving beyond mechanical vocabulary
and language practice and focusing on the
interests, needs and developmental goals of
preschool learners, we can better support our
budding young language learners while boosting
their early oracy skills.
Approaches and
Strategies in
Teaching
Comprehension
When introducing each strategy, here is a
sample, kid-friendly description to guide you:

Making Connection: Often when we read we find

ourselves saying That makes me think about a time
when Or, that reminds me of another book I read.
Reading that reminded me of something I saw on
the news.That is called making a connection. We
can connect what is happening in the book to our
own lives, other books we’ve read, or even things
going on in the world.
Visualizing:

Ex: Do you have a family photo album at home?

The pictures in your album help you to remember the
time when that picture was taken. Maybe it was a
family vacation or a birthday celebration. Just like on
special occasions, when we read we can take
pictures in our mind to help us better understand and
remember that part of the story. It helps you better
remember and understand the book.
Ask Questions:

Ex: Sometimes when I read, I catch myself

saying things like Why did he do that? or
wonder what will happen next Asking
questions while we read helps us to interact
with the book. And as we keep reading, we
search for the answers to our questions. It
keeps our minds thinking.
Predict:

Ex: Have you ever gotten to the end of a

page or chapter in your book and made a
guess about what you think will happen
next? That is called predicting. You take
the information that the author has already
given you and make a guess, or predict
what will happen next.
Determining Importance:

Ex: When you go camping, what are

some things that you absolutely need?
Things like a tent, matches for lighting
a fire, and a sleeping bag are all super
important for camping.
Inferring:

Ex: If you see a little baby crying, I bet

you can guess without a doubt how he
or she is feeling. Upset, right? I bet you
can even guess why he or she might be
upset.
Synthesize:

Ex: When we read, our thinking is like

the water ripples. First our thinking
starts out small, but as we keep
reading, our thinking changes and
grows.
Once students are familiar with the names of
the strategies and have a basic understanding
of what each strategy means, you can begin
referring to them during a read-aloud, modeling
one or more strategies in a single sitting.
Picture books work great for modeling because
you can cover an entire story in a short amount
of time, showcasing multiple strategies
throughout.
As you begin modeling the strategies in
your read-alouds, you will gradually ask for
student participation. When you first start,
you will be doing most of the work
modeling the strategies. However, as
students get a better grasp of how to use
each strategy, you can then begin to invite
them to share their own thinking.
Do not worry about using every strategy
every time you read. It would be
unrealistic to expect that every strategy is
needed in every text. Only model the
strategies that feel natural in any particular
text. Over the course of multiple reading
sessions, you should easily be able to
cover each strategy several times
You can use your guided reading/small
group instruction and individual reading
conferences to hone in on strategies and
dive deeper to give students a stronger
understanding of that strategy. You can also
revisit a strategy as a whole class later on
when your students are ready to dive deeper
into a specific strategy and apply it on a new
level.
Although you will continue to model an
integrated use of all strategies in a
whole-class setting, you will also begin to
see individual learners, who could use
explicit instruction for one or more
strategies in isolation.
To bring it all together, learner's show
their learning through a simple
recording sheet (printable or digital).
This allows you to assess the learner’s
use and understanding of the reading
strategy, as well as plan further
instruction, as needed.
Finally, students get the opportunity
to practice the reading strategy on
their own through additional
high-interest reading passages
tailored to the reading strategy.
What is Decoding in teaching teaching
strategies?

Decoding is the ability to apply your knowledge of

letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of
letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words.
Understanding these relationships gives children the
ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to
figure out words they haven't seen before. Although
children may sometimes figure out some of these
relationships on their own, most children benefit from
explicit instruction in this area.
There are 3 keys that students need to have in place to
become global readers:

● Phonemic awareness is the ability to auditorily

perceive the identity, number and sequences of
sounds in words.
● Symbol imagery is the ability to create mental
representations for the sounds and letters within
words.
● Concept imagery is the ability to create an imaged
gestalt (big picture) for language and thought.
Here is an overview of some of the strategies.

1. Use Air Writing

As a part of their learning process, ask students to
write the letters or words they are learning in the
air with their finger. Having the students write
letters in the air is important because it helps them
learn to see the letter shape in their imagination. It
helps them to “image” the letter.
2. Create Images to Match Letters and Sounds
- Try to start with the smallest unit of language: a
letter. This is a simple but helpful step for students
of all ages because it lays the base for imaging
sounds and letters within syllables. Sound and
letter imagery is developed from seeing letter(s)
and also from hearing the letter(s) sounded out.
One way to practice this kind of skill is to walk
students through the process of creating an image
to go with the letter and its sound.
3. Specifically Practice Decoding
- This is probably one of those times when your
students will need some good old-fashioned
practice. It’s not always fun, but practicing basic
decoding skills can significantly improve
word-attack and word-recognition skills. Once
students have solid symbol imagery in place,
they are ready to move on to practice with word
lists.
A. Identify the vowel.
Try to have your student identify the vowel before he
reads the word. This is especially helpful for young
readers or those with very weak decoding skills.

B. Track student responses.

Score your students’ decoding so that you can track
progress from lesson to lesson.
C. Make some errors of your own to help your
students catch errors.
Kids love it when their teachers make mistakes, even
if they are “on-purpose” mistakes. Read the word
incorrectly and ask the student if you got it right.
Then ask the student to help you correct your
mistake.
D. Practice.
Do some symbol imagery practice (like strategy no. 2
above) on some of the words.
E. Diagnose.
Observe your student as he or she reads. Watch
for speed and accuracy and jot down the types of
errors made.

F. Teach how to handle errors.

Teach your student how to self-correct when they
make errors. When you make those errors in step
C, you can also model how to correct your own
errors.
4. Attach Images to Sight Words
- Sight words are the next step. The instant
recognition of sight words is crucial when it
comes to helping kids become proficient global
readers. Just as with letters and syllables, it is
also important for students to create images for
words when they are developing their sight-word
vocabulary.
You can help students attach images to all of the
sight words on the list using the three-step
process outlined below: Capture, Categorize and
Memorize.

A. Capture.
Ask your students to “capture” or collect the words
they cannot instantly read. Write the words on
3-by-5-inch cards to create a personal deck of
practice cards.
B. Categorize.
Work with students to sort words into slow, medium
and fast piles based on how quickly students are able
to read the words.

C. Memorize and practice.

Do symbol imagery exercises to help students
remember the words and increase their
word-recognition speed. Students can move words
from slow to fast piles until all of the words are
memorized for instant recognition.
5. Weave In Spelling Practice.
- Spelling is a partner to reading and a
significant other to expressive written
language. As with reading, spelling is an
integration of sensory-cognitive functions.
When children develop phonemic awareness
and symbol imagery, they have what they
need to learn to spell. A Visual Spelling Chart
can help you work through words with your
students.
 Work through a four-step process:

1.Analyze: Your students can study the word to

identify syllables and other unique features.

2. Visualize: Have kids practice saying and air

writing the word.

3. Write: Write the word on paper while saying it.

4. Track: Check to see if your students can use

the word correctly five times in a row.
As phonological awareness activities develop it is
important for students to participate in
phonological awareness activities that link sounds
(phonemes) to letter patterns (graphemes).

According to Allington et al. (1998) note the

importance of using a range of resources
purposefully such as nursery rhymes, riddles,
songs, poems, and read-aloud books that
manipulate sounds to draw young learners’
attention to the sounds of spoken language.
For example, using a familiar rhyme such as
Five Little Monkeys provides a playful and
meaningful context for young learners:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed

One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”
Phonological awareness activities and
lessons should broadly involve:

● Highlighting phonological awareness

concepts in songs, rhymes, poems, stories,
and written texts
● Finding patterns of rhyme, initial/final sound,
onset/rime, consonants and vowels, by:
● Matching pictures to other pictures
● Matching pictures to sound-letter patterns
(graphemes)
● Matching pictures to words
● Matching words to other words
● Using games to practise the awareness
of syllables, rhyme, initial/final sound, and
individual sounds in words.
 Phonological Awareness Activities & Strategies
Activity 1: Games to Play While Lined Up

Here are a few ideas for some simple games to play

while children wait in line:

Sentence game: say a sentence, “The cat is fat”. Tap

the first 4 children on the head as you say each word of
the sentence. Ask, “How many words?”, four! Repeat the
sentence, or say a different sentence, as you go down
the line of children.
Rhyme game: Say a few words that rhyme, “cat, fat, bat”.
Prompt children to join in the game. You may need to prompt
by saying some initial sounds: /p/ - at, /s/ - at, etc. Include silly
words (/z/ - at) and blends (/th/ - at)!

My Turn/Your Turn syllable count game: (My Turn) Model

clapping/stomping/tapping the syllables for objects you see in
the classroom (Ceil-ing, floor, ta-ble, com-pu-ter). (Your Turn)
Prompt children to imitate you. Ask after each word, “How
many syllables?”

Repeat the beginning sound game: /c/ - /c/ - cat, /c/ - /c/ -
cake, /c/ - /c/ - car. Prompt children to join in with other words.
Activity 2: Discriminate rhymes

Each of the four Mat Man books features the

beloved character, Mat Man. Rhyming verses in all
the books help children discriminate and learn about
rhymes.

Mat Man helps students learn about shapes,

professions, rhymes, while expanding their
imaginations, exploration, and community
awareness.
Activity 3: Discriminate between environmental
sounds and speech sounds

● Children learn important social, math, literacy &

language concepts as they move and sing to
upbeat songs on the Sing, Sound, and Count
with Me Music Album.
● Rhymes are taught in a fun playful way in the
song “Rhyming Riddles”. In fact, most songs on
the music album include verses with rhyming
words!
Activity 4: Identify Sounds and their sources

The Sound Around Box is a versatile classroom tool

that will help you teach early language and literacy
concepts in a fun and hands-on way. It provides the
opportunity for many group activities which will help
children develop important social skills as they engage
in multisensory play with rhymes, syllables, beginning
sounds, alphabet knowledge, letters, word parts, and
test their memory skills!
Activity 5: Develop early language, literacy,
motor, and social skills

Line It Up engages children in fun interactive

activities that develop early language, literacy,
motor, and social skills. The set includes a
mountable magnetic display bar to hold the
Story, Letter, and Coloring Cards.
The 26 Picture Cards can be used for phonemic
awareness activities as children name each picture and
identify those that begin with the target sound. For
example:

● Show picture side of Letter Card A. Name each

picture.
● Alligator begins with /ă/. Say it with me, /ă/, alligator.
● Does violin begin with /ă/? No, violin begins with /v/.
● Does astronaut begin with /ă/? Yes, /ă/, astronaut.
● Continue with banana and apple.
● Let children circle beginning /ă/ pictures.
The End!

Thank you for Listening!!