INTERLINK Curriculum Guide
Course Details RW1
Students learn how to form syntactically correct, coherent sentences and punctuate them properly. Vocabulary development is crucial to both reading and writing skills at this basic level and extensive reading of simplified prose and use of texts accompanied by pictures (for example, comic books) constitute a major component of this class. Students begin to practice keyboarding skills and learn how to manipulate a mouse.
Benchmarks for Completion of Level 1:
Demonstrate ability
to:
a. comprehend passages and
stories written in simple English
b.
write a paragraph using simple but acceptable sentences (in class)
Core Projects for RW 1
RW 1 Portfolio Project: Informal Letters
Project Summary: This project fosters the coherent expression of ideas in writing. Since the letters are informal, they allow students to jump from topic to topic in a way that would not be acceptable in more formal compositions. Focus on informal writing helps students concentrate more on the message than on accuracy, allowing them to gain self-confidence and reduce inhibitions about expressing themselves in writing. However, even informal writing requires adherence to conventions of paragraphing, spelling, punctuation and proper sentence structure. In their writing, students should start to develop awareness of the purpose of their writing and the audience they are writing for. Letter-writing naturally encompasses the skill of summarizing, which will be further developed and refined in later levels. Students can write to classmates, students from other centers, real or imaginary friends. While work on mechanics is obviously important at this level, it is also important for students to use the letters as a vehicle for self-expression - a necessary ingredient for any competent writing. The portfolio includes the whole collection of letters as well as re-writes with corrections.
The development of writing skills is primarily a process of growth rather than addition of new elements. That is to say, students do not so much learn different skills at different levels as continue to improve skills already present albeit in only a rudimentary or underdeveloped form. Skills such as paraphrasing and writing to an audience are not absent in beginning level writing, but become more refined and sophisticated in higher levels. It is important to remember that the teacher's job is not to "teach" skills, but rather to help students acquire them. Some of the skills worked on in the course of this project are listed below (the list is not comprehensive) to help teachers make the best use of this project.
Skills
practiced in this level:
· Planning what to say: Students must recognize
the purpose of their writing and what they want to communicate. Even in an informal
letter to a friend, there is a reason or purpose for the writing, whether it is
to give or ask for news, ask a favor, express an emotion, etc. Even at this early
stage of writing, students must get used to clarifying what it is they are trying
to say and avoid unfocused rambling. Knowing the purpose, of course, does not
require saying things in a direct, stark manner.
· Matching what is
said to whom it is said to: A letter to a close friend will be different from
a letter to a parent. A rudimentary sense of audience must be established and
students need to think about what kind of background information may be necessary
for something to make sense to the reader.
· Expressing thoughts with
available vocabulary: Students sometimes attribute too much importance their word
bank and don't realize that they can express their ideas adequately without constantly
resorting to a dual language dictionary. Confidence and practice more than actual
vocabulary size is often the key to self expression and students need to work
on limiting their dependency on the dictionary.
· Writing comprehensible
sentences: Word order and sentence structure problems can obscure the meaning
of a sentence. These grammar features as well as basic verb tense usage and subject-verb
agreement need to be worked on in this level. By the end of the term, students
should be able to write good basic sentences.
· Organizing sentences
into logical chunks: Students should be able to string sentences together in a
way that is clear or logical. There should be no big gaps between ideas to confuse
the reader. While formal paragraph development is not the goal of this class,
a basic clumping of sentences around a central point is expected.
·
Summarizing and paraphrasing: In writing about events that have occurred or reporting
on things that were said, writers use shortened versions of those realities and
some incipient form of such shortening or re-telling is used even in the early
stages of writing.
· Using conventional letter format: Typical letter
format should be used and date, salutation, and closing should be included. Students
should know how to address an envelope correctly.
· Proofreading: Re-reading
and looking for errors should become second nature from the start. Students are
expected to spot and correct spelling and simple grammar errors.
· Computer
skills: Basic word processing and perhaps Internet and email use.
RW 1 Independent Reading Project
The specific activities and materials
for this project are determined by teacher and students, but the description
of the parameters and goals of the project should be carefully reviewed.
The specific activities and materials for this
project are determined by teacher and students, but the description
of the parameters and goals of the project should be carefully reviewed.