Journal of Texas School Women Executives, Volume II, Issue 1 2013 1 ABC Disney-An Alphabet Pop-Up 1 Look, Baby! 1 Tron Legacy-Into the Light 1 Meet the Gang 1 Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure- A Friend Indeed 1 Grammar Wheel (hands-on sentence tool) A general orientation of the content of the tote bag was conducted. Families received instruction on how to use the Look Baby book to generate family literacy activities in the home. Examples were given to families of speaking to babies to allow them to acquire “words�. Parents were encouraged to practice speaking English in the home. The myth of not talking to babies was brought up as a question by one of the families. Many African countries believe it is foolish to talk to babies since they cannot respond. This myth has been passed down from one generation to another. It is believed that this myth has greatly contributed to the decreased literacy rates rampant in many African countries. Children learn how to read and write at a mature age, sometimes at age 10 or older. The issue of the myth was addressed and dispelled; in addition to modeling the appropriate literacy behavior of how to read to babies. Following this modeling session, families received one-on-one training from the designer of the grammar wheel on how to construct simple sentences at home. Participants had a chance to practice how to use the grammar wheel and role-played with each other. Families received instruction on follow up activities in the home for the rest of the week. The second day of the intervention phase of the study began with a review of the homework assignment given from the previous week. All ten families were present in addition to the translators. Each family read books to their children and four families worked on constructing sentences using the grammar wheels. Families then received group instruction on how to create a Language Rich Home using homemade visuals. Families learned about words associated with topics common in the home. They learned about: Grocery list words: Bread, eggs, milk, apple, peanut butter, jelly, banana, cheese etc. Kitchen words: Pot, frying pan, hand-towel, knife, fork, spoon, plate, stove etc. Bathroom words: Towel, soap, tooth brush, tooth paste, mouthwash, comb, brush etc. School words: Crayon, pen, pencil, eraser, markers, notebook, school bus, lunch box etc. To create visuals, participants demonstrated their understanding of what was modeled to them with construction paper. Every participant wrote a word in a category at the top and drew the picture to accompany the word. After completing the visuals for a specific topic, participants received instructions on how to display the visuals in their home. Using a tape, participants can display the visual in a central location in the home where everyone can easily see them. The visuals stay on the wall for at least one week and another set of visuals on another topic replaces the previous one. The visuals become a practice guide for children to discover new words and acquire an expansive vocabulary enabling them to write sentences and short stories.
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