First Language (Dinka) Literacy as a Foundation for English ...

Section 2: Teaching Ideas
Key features of teaching and learning
Dinka phase
• Oral practice of written texts eg through reading aloud
• Collective learning eg each individual ‘has a go’ while the other learners listen (a lot of
repetition, which helps everyone to remember)
• Use of readers / text books as the main source of course content
• Ample time given for copying (recognition that it’s not a simple, quick activity)
English phase
• Predictable lesson structure – a clear routine
• Limited, focussed, predictable staging of the introduction of new content in order to
avoid the sense of overload and failure that the learners reported experiencing in
previous formal study
• Strong emphasis on the practice and recycling of content
• Memorisation of content through repeated oral practice to support literacy / numeracy
work
• Very limited, carefully targeted use of worksheets
• Use of worksheets and activities requiring an oral (not written) response
• Regular opportunities for each individual to demonstrate their knowledge, particularly
through reading aloud
• Use of reading materials generated by the learners, or coming from the learners’ own
areas of interest / knowledge.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2009 Dinka-English Literacy Project Page 20