xmca@weber.ucsd.edu writes:
actually, it's Martin who writes:
>
>
>This morning I was in a school where the natural mode of communication is
>Welsh. I I collected a bit of language use from a predominantly Welsh
>speaking child. In Bart Simpson mode she was writing out a punishment
>note, which for a reason I have yet to discover, was in English. As you
>will see her writing may at first appear to be completely odd. However
>Welsh, unlike English, is written phonetically (using the Welsh phonetic
>values for the alphabet).
>
>Her writing (in Welsh phonemes) is completely understandable:
>
>To: " Why I have to behave responsibly in lessons" , she replies:
>
>"so wi can lyrn in lesyns and bihef wen tetys tel ys to lisyn" and " we
>haftw bihef and lisyn o wi get a row ol the taim if we dont lisyn".
>
>I translate:
>"So we can learn in lessons an behave when teachers tell us to listen" and
>"we have to behave and listen or we get a row all the time if we don't
>listen."
>
>As I can read Welsh, I had no problem in reading this non-standard
>English. Her communication to me was competent but to others it could be a
>complete mystery.
good morning, Martin - as a third grade classroom teacher what the
student wrote made complete sense to me - though i would have read
"hafta" for "haftw", whereas you read "have to".
you note that "Welsh, unlike English, is written phonetically" - yet,
in my experience with five, six, seven, eight, nine & ten years old
children whose native language is English, they too write phonetically.
in fact, i see it as a strength that the students are writing
phonetically, because that demonstrates an understanding that the language
is constructed of phonemes. while yes, like French, there are all sorts
of letters not voiced, or multiple exceptions - more exceptions than
follow the rule because in a great part English has assimilated so much
latin based words thanks to the Norman Conquest, etc. - sorry, i'm singing
to the choir here - but, not only was i able to understand the child's
writing, it was similar to what i see in my classroom.
however, to relate this to Peter's paper, Peter points out the
relationship of known knowledge and cultural context that the reader uses
when co-constructing meaning - i'm assuming that because of my
experiences as a teacher, and all of the contextual clues you provided, i
was greatly aided in de-coding the text, and then comprehending it.
however, if, perhaps, the text had been a shopping list of items to
purchase in the local hardware store, replete with local lingo, i no doubt
would have been completely lost.
> Where do I draw lines?
yet, i'm very curious - what lines need to be drawn by you - i don't
know what you mean by this question.
phillip
phillip white
third grade
McElwain Elementary
Denver, CO USA
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