Dictation is a great way to get children to link reading and spelling in a controlled activity. This activity enables the pupil to practice encoding words they have learned to decode. Writing is a very complex and demanding activity, so it is important to make the dictation activity as stress-free as possible.
Before the learner writes down a caption.
Ask him/her to listen to it and repeat it. Depending on the age of the child, the sentence may not be able to be held in their short-term memory if it is repeated more than once or broken down into smaller chunks. Encourage the learner to review what they have written and read the sentence to make sure it makes sense.
You may have them written on a small whiteboard for the learner to copy. However, try not to encourage copying in your class.
- Say a sentence, count the words, then draw a line on a board for each word.
- Count with your students’ help how many words do they hear in that sentence.
- Write the number on the board for visual aid.
- Remember, at this level, students need lots of visual aids. Give that to them.
Then we go over:
- What good writers do rules?
- How do we start and end our sentences?
- Keep a finger space between their words.
- Reminding them to see a punctuation mark at the end of each sentence.
And only then we segment (yes, I use this word segment with my ELL Students) the first words, and write them down as they hear them. We do that with every word in that sentence.
Download:
For older kids, check this Fry Instant Phrases.
Check these Free Digital Libraries if you want to help improve your students’ Reading and Writing.
