Term 2 is off to a great start! This term I made a conscious effort to choose text that will allow students to share their expertise and prior knowledge. The text we started this term with was Rongoā for the Land. This was a good choice because it tied in with our topic of plants and it allowed students to showcase their cultural capital.
Before reading we completed a pre and post vocabulary grid to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary. The benefit of using a pre and post vocabulary guide is that it causes students to look for and notice unfamiliar vocabulary.
We know that students are reluctant to use words that they cannot pronounce so whether a student is six or 16, they must be given the opportunity to repeat the word after the teacher has said it. This can be done as simply as saying, ‘I say the word … now you (the student) say the word’. If the word is difficult to pronounce then do this a couple of times.
Some incorrect word pronunciation has crept into our language. For example, many people pronounce ‘pronunciation’ as ‘pronounciation’ and ‘advertisement’ not as ‘advertisment’ but as it is spelt ‘advertisement’. Another common mispronunciation I hear is ‘liberry’ for ‘library’. Correct pronunciation makes a speaker more confident and assists with spelling. Other commonly mispronounced words are 'somefink' instead of something, 'aks' instead of ask and generally pronouncing the 'th' sound as an 'f'.
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