SPEECH — LANGUAGE LINKS
ISSUE3
SEPTEMBER2005
ANewsletterforItinerantTeachersoftheDeafintheCentralandSouthernRegionsofNewZealand
SPRINGHASSPRUNG!
Hello again from your friendly Speech-Language Team
– Evette, Tina, Angie, Wendy and Rachael!
In our last newsletter we included a section on resource ideas
for developing questions. This time we have pulled together
some ideas for you to help your students develop the use of
adjectives. This work can also easily be incorporated into
reading and writing times.
Spring provides an excellent opportunity to extend your
student’s use of adjectives. Describe the beautiful, blossoming
trees; the bouncy, frolicking, playful baby animals; and the
smiling, excited children and adults who can now get out and
enjoy the warm, sunny, lengthening days!
tRaveL vIsIt #1 — LessoNs LeaRNed By ouR ReLIevING sRt
WeNdy LaMB
3.
Finished at one school and late
for the next. No time for morning
tea. Getting hungry and would
love a cuppa.
Lesson: Always carry food and drink in
the car.
At the beginning of August, I had the
opportunity to travel to Hawkes Bay as an
SRT. This was my first trip in this role and
I learned some valuable lessons about
regional travel, and thought you would
4.
enjoy a giggle!
Lessons learned:
1.
Going to Napier – that’ll be nice – get away
from the frosts! Watch the temperatures
on TV for a few days before leaving. Looks
like it will be much warmer there. Pack
cooler clothes. But No! It’s colder than
Christchurch!!
Lesson: Never presume it will be warmer than
Christchurch!
2.
Five minutes to get from Hukarere to
Onekawa. Where??? Can’t read the map!
Lesson: Always have glasses at the ready – not
in the back seat of the car.
Finish at second school – running
late again! On route to third
school but getting lost. Desperate
for the loo!
Lesson: Remember to introduce myself before
asking for the toilet!
5.
Time for dinner. Go to restaurant and sit at
table for one! Feels very odd dining alone.
Lesson: Always take a book to dinner.
6.
Return from Napier at 4pm – happy to be
home! But where is the car? It was dark
when I parked it at the airport at 6am on
Tuesday. After 20 minutes of walking round
and round the car park, I found it. Not
stolen after all.
Lesson: Always write down where the car is
parked. Put note into wallet – not car!
Wendy.
vanAschDeafEducationCentre2005
Resource Ideas
The following books have been found to be
useful for discussing adjectives with young
children. Thanks to Jill Irving for this list.
Old Hat, New Hat
By Stan & Jan Berenstain
Eg’s of adjectives: old, new, big,
small, beady, bumpy, twirly etc.
Can use for discussion/teaching
comparisons, opposites, shapes.
Link to art, technology.
The Very Blue Thingamajig
By Narelle Oliver
Eg’s of adjectives: plain,
twirly, waxy, hideous, hard,
ferocious etc. Can use
for discussion/teaching
comparisons, describing
objects through function,
colours, shapes. Link to art, creative writing.
The Little Yellow Digger
By Betty & Alan Gilderdale
Eg’s of adjectives: bigger,
muddy, huge, heavy, shining.
Can use for comparatives/
superlatives (big, bigger,
biggest) etc.
Dear Zoo
By Rod Campbell
Eg’s of adjectives: grumpy,
scary, big, tall, fierce, naughty,
jumpy. Extend adjectives
through discussion of
synonyms/antonyms.
With the following four books
you need to be creative on how
you include more adjectives
than are listed.
Bellbird’s Birthday Party
By Janet Marshall
Eg’s of adjectives: old, sweet,
fresh, green, juicy, lacy, soft,
flute-like etc. Descriptions of
New Zealand nature; realistic
illustrations of NZ flora and fauna.
Link with spring theme.
Ten Tall Giraffes
By Brian Moss
Illustrated by Trevor Dunton
Eg’s of adjectives: tall fierce,
massive, silly, angry, excited
etc.
The Man Who Loved Boxes
By Stephen Michael King
Eg’s of adjectives: big, round,
small, tall etc.
The Little Mouse, The Red
Ripe Strawberry, and THE
BIG HUNGRY BEAR
By Don & Audrey Wood
Eg’s of adjectives: little, red,
ripe, big, hungry. Illustrations
clearly show a range of feelings
the mouse experiences.
The following four
books are useful for introducing
adjectives with preschoolers.
Touch & Feel books:
- Puppy: fluffy, silky, woolly,
rubber, leathery
- Clothes: cuddly, warm, big,
shiny, rough, furry,
pink, soft, velvety
- Kitten: soft, silky, rough,
pink, smooth, hard,
scratchy.
Blue Pram
By Janet & Allan
Ahlberg
eg: colours
Activity ideas:
-
Introducing adjectives:
Rachael Kavermann has been using the following
ideas with on-base students.
Head up a sheet with some simple adjectives
that children tend to overuse in their writing (eg.
big, small, happy, sad, good). Under each word,
compile a list of other words that mean the same.
You can do this with the student, getting them
to suggest ideas, or prepare it yourself. Copy
and laminate this sheet then cut the words out.
The students can then rearrange the words on a
baseboard, with the shaded heading word at the
top and the alternative words underneath. This
is an introduction intended to lead onto other
activities.
-
The chart can be used to discuss prefixes
and suffixes eg. ‘cheerful’ compared with
‘cheerless’, ‘unhappy’ meaning the opposite
of ‘happy’.
The chart can also be used to introduce a
cline – listing the adjectives in increasing (or
decreasing) order up a ‘hill’ eg.
ecstatic
delighted
cheerful
happy
glad
- And many more brilliant ideas that you
develop! Please share these with us!
Feely bag games:
While Wendy was in Hawkes Bay she worked
with Erin Geoghegan and a 4-year-old child. Erin
used a feely bag and an assortment of plastic
fruit and vegetables to teach adjectives such as
round, long, smooth, rough, bumpy. As well as
learning the new vocabulary, ASP goals were
being addressed.
unhappy
big
huge
glad
tiny
great
Beware of the words you choose. For example,
‘nice’ can mean many things in many situations.
A nice person could be kind, generous, loving.
Nice food can be delicious, yummy. Nice clothes
can be colourful, beautiful, new. If using ‘nice’,
specify what you are describing before discussing
alternative adjectives. (This also applies to ‘good’
- you could discuss this in relation to the students’
work).
Some ideas for activities following this
introduction:
-
Write a few basic sentences using a simple
adjective (like ‘big’ or ‘good’) in each.
Students change it for one of their choice
from the list.
-
Write a story using the same simple
adjective over and over again. Read the
story together and discuss how it is a
little boring. Students change the simple
adjective for others from the list. Re-read
the story...Is it more interesting?
For Erin’s activities you will need:
a feely bag and plastic fruits/
vegetables (corn, carrot, apple,
banana, orange).
Activity 1: What’s in the bag?
Child chooses an object to put into the bag while
the teacher shuts his/her eyes.
The teacher then feels the object and models the
language: “Ooh, it’s round and it’s smooth and I
think it’s an apple”.
The child then shows the teacher what was in the
bag.
Role-reverse this activity once the child is
confident with the language.
Activity 2: What’s missing?
The teacher puts one object from the set of
fruit/vegetables into the bag while the child shuts
his/her eyes.
Teacher then says “What’s missing? It’s long and
it’s yellow and it’s smooth”.
Leaving the remaining fruit/vegetables on the
table provides the child with support in giving
an answer as he is able to scan the remaining
objects.
When the child is confident with this, try role
reversal.
Activity 3: Three questions.
The child puts one of the objects in the bag while
the teacher shuts his/her eyes.
The teacher is then allowed to ask 3 questions
e.g.
“Is it long?”
“Is it round?”
“Is it smooth?”
Once the child has responded to all of the
questions the teacher then makes a guess: “I
think it’s a _____”.
When this has been modelled many times, role
reversal can be done.
Black Sheep Activities:
Wendy has tried the following activity here on
base. The Black Sheep series has some useful
activities for working on adjectives. In the
resource ‘Language in Pictures 11c: Negatives,
Not…Adjectives’ on page 10 you will find a set of
pictures in squares. You will need to photocopy
this page twice onto two different coloured cards
(blue and yellow). You will notice that each
picture is part of a pair. To make a set you need
1 picture from each pair in yellow, and the other
picture in blue. You will be able to make up 2
sets. In one set you will have 1 yellow fish, 1 blue
fish, 1 yellow teddy, 1 blue teddy, etc.
To play the game, put all of the cards on the
table face down. Players turn over one yellow
and one blue card hoping to get 2 of the same
cards (i.e. two fish – 1 fat and 1 thin). The child
describes what has been picked up e.g. “I have a
man with round glasses and a new teddy”. If the
cards were of different items they are turned back
over. When 2 cards that match are found (e.g. a
fat pencil and a thin pencil), and the player has
described what is different using adjectives, the
player keeps that pair and has another turn.
There are other Black Sheep sets that can
also be used to work on adjectives. If you
haven’t had a flick through the sets for a
while, try and set some time aside this week
to have another look!
In the term 4 Speech-Language Links we are
planning to put together an index of all of the
previous issues, and their content. Hopefully
this will be a useful resource for you all.
BLacK sHeeP