This manual was developed to help trainers and volunteer coordinators prepare volunteers who tutor adults in basic skills. It is based on 9 of the 11 workshops presented at a Training the Trainer conference in Colorado. Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 6 provide background information for training. Chapters 3, 5, and 7-9 provide materials for presenting…

This paper describes a comprehensive first grade language curriculum which views the acquisition of literacy as a whole language process. The paper explains how to configure program elements to provide direct instruction, time-on-task, and self-directed learning. The manner, timing, method of instruction, and specifics of the contribution of each…

The Language Shaping Paradigm (LSP) is designed to help improve student language and comprehension by evoking a sample of language and aiding students in a critical review of their personal patterns of language, comprehension, and thought. The basic teaching strategy is built upon having students read essays written or dictated by classmates. Each…

Examines different approaches to reading acquisition used in four first grades of a suburban elementary school. Supports the use of a language experience approach as a viable alternative to the basal reader approach for teaching reading and writing. (JK)

This handbook was created through participatory research between November 1989 and July 1990. It includes ideas, experiences, and stories contributed by learners, tutors, teachers, and organizers at St. Christopher House, a group home for people with disabilities in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The handbook contains five sections: (1) who are the…

The book is both a guide to the language experience approach for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and a collection of one ESL student's personal narratives about his home country. The first section describes the language experience approach, which uses the student's own language and experience as the source of second language learning…

The Success in Reading and Writing Program used in the District of Columbia Public Schools in 1985-86 is described and evaluated. The program, used in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, employed a variety of materials, as well as the students' own writing. Instruction lasted approximately 2.5 hours each school day. The program connected reading…

The West Virginia University Child Development Laboratory has successfully used microcomputers as a complement to their language experience approach to teaching three- and four-year-old children. The computer acts as a motivational tool, and gives children the opportunity to produce perfectly typed pictures or letters. The first encounter a child…

Even young children can be encouraged to write through the use of individual communication, group discussions, and activities that involve rhythms and music. Such activities create a classroom of children who feel comfortable and happy, who share a rapport with their peers and others throughout the school building, and who feel free to express…

Describes strategies which teachers can model to help their students become cognitively aware of language. Suggests that teachers model writing and reading strategies at the same time they demonstrate word processing functions. (MG)

Intended as a text for prospective primary through middle-school teachers in their professional year of training or for experienced teachers taking in-serivce courses, this book offers practical information, suggested activities, and theoretical background to help teachers learn how to structure, plan, and execute a whole-language program.…

This study sought to determine how retained first grade students function in a whole language classroom after meeting with failure in a traditional first grade setting. Data collection for the five retained students, plus six "at-risk" students, involved naturalistic observation. Reading began from language experience stories that the students…

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet deals with the integrated language arts curriculum. Noting the disparity between what is advocated for and what is practiced in language arts teaching, the first section of the booklet describes an integrated…

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet describes several classroom-based studies that have examined children's writing development and synthesizes what they have shown about the process. The first section of the booklet analyzes the term "writing…

A second grade teacher's use of storytelling to teach English language skills to both native speakers and learners of English as a second language (ESL) is described. The technique combines the concept of comprehensible input, the importance of stories and storytelling to children, and a commitment to teaching writing skills. Early in the day, all…