04-+Phonemic+Analysis

Phonological and phonemic awareness is absolutely vital in any classroom. The differences that ELLs face become apparent very quickly. The words they know and are familiar with are significantly different than the English language they are trying to learn. The effects are both positive and negative.

The differences can have a negative influence because they can play a role in prolonging the students’ success in the English language. How? Well, simply put, phonemic awareness helps students gain a good foundation in how to spell as well as how to recognize words. The difficulty comes when they try to use these same sounds and words from their first language in the second language they are trying to learn. The differences between the languages can cause confusion because languages have different letters and sounds which can very easily change the meaning of words that students might recognize because it is similar to a word in their first language.

Despite these difficulties there are positive influences as well. Teachers can help students who are learning English by finding ways to connect their first language with their second language. By helping students make connections they are allowing the children to use their LER to find familiar ways to remember the new information. They can make connections by finding a word in the students’ first language that sounds similar to one in English and means the same thing. For instance, in Spanish: //familia// means family, and it also sounds very close to the English word //family// which has the same meaning as the Spanish word //familia//. Helping students discover connections like these will definitely have a positive influence!

__**a. Objective:**__ The students will be able to take their vocabulary words, break them down into smaller units, and analyze what the individual parts of the word mean.

__**b. Introduction:**__ During our lesson on Anne Frank during WW II, I would begin by asking the students to think back to what they might already know about Anne Frank. Have they heard of her before? If so, what did they hear? I would also encourage them to remember information about WW II, who was involved? Who were the leaders? These questions would get them to warm up their LER so that they can easily connect the new information I would be about to teach. After we discussed what they already knew, I would allow students to read the section in the textbook that correlates with the supplemental material we will be using in class. They would read the section //Steps Toward Another World War//, pages 422-424. This should take the students no more than fifteen minutes to read.

__**c. Model:**__ After they have finished reading I would introduce them to one out of their five new vocabulary terms that are //not// in their textbook. I chose five vocabulary words outside of their textbook so that they can choose words from their textbook for the guided and independent practices. The word I will use as an example here is: //Anti-Semitism//. I would show them how to break apart each word piece by piece. I would look online at the etymology dictionary and find the meaning of the word //anti// which means: //against, opposed to, opposite of, instead//. Then we would take the next part //Semit// which comes from the word //Semite// which means: //Jew, Arab, Assyrian, Armaean.// If we look even further we would see that this originates from //Sem// or //Shem// who was one of Noah’s three sons. Not for the final part of the word, -//ism// which is a suffix forming nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine (I received all this information from the following website: []). I would keep track of the meaning of the word by writing on the board the meanings as I went along. Then I would give the students a few minutes to study what they just saw me do and look at the meanings of the individual words written on the board. Finally I would ask them, based on what is on the board, what the word //Anti-Semitism// means. With the information on the board the students will be able to correctly explain that in essence it means “against Jews.”

__**d. Guided Practice:**__ After discovering the meaning of the word //Anti-Semitism// I would break the students up into groups of two. Each group would take one of the four remaining vocabulary words (because they are in groups of two each vocabulary term may be used two-three times depending on how many students are in the class). Together they will follow the example I gave. Each vocabulary word will be taken apart to find out what word/meaning it originated from. This should take no more than ten minutes as each pair only has one vocabulary word. After all the students have finished they will take turns writing their vocabulary word and their definition on a poster board that will be put up in the front of the classroom. This will ensure that all the vocabulary terms have been taken apart and it will give students a chance to see the vocabulary words their classmates researched.

__**e. Independent Practice:**__ For the independent practice each student will choose five vocabulary words that will correlate with their final project. They will take apart each word on their own, write them down, use each word in a sentence, and then turn the paper in to me so that I will know which words they are using in their final projects. This will also give me a chance to see if they truly understand how to break down each word to the smallest unit possible, understand what it means, and then correctly use it in a sentence.