Volume 4 - NEL

1 Nurturing Early LearnersA Curriculum for Kindergartens in Singapore4 VolumeCopyright 2013, Ministry of EducationRepublic of SingaporeAll rights reserved. This publication shall not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright information contained herein is correct at the time of : 978-981-07-8551-2 Designed by LOUD! Productions Pte LtdCopyright 2013, Ministry of Education, Singapore1 Bethesda (Katong) KindergartenKay Poh Road Baptist KindergartenPCF Little Wings Buona Vista Childcare CentrePCF Pioneer (Block 654B)PCF Tampines East (Block 261)PCF Tampines West (Block 887)AcknowledgementsThe Ministry of Education wishes to thank Dr Melinda Eng Wah Yound for her professional guidance and invaluable are grateful to the principals and teachers from the following kindergartens and child care centres for their useful feedback and suggestions.

2 We would also like to express our appreciation to the children, teachers and principals of the following kindergartens and child care centre for their involvement in the photographs taken for this Volume :KindergartensAr-Raudhah Mosque KindergartenBethesda (Katong) KindergartenJurong Calvary KindergartenPCF Bishan East (Block 144)PCF Cheng San-Seletar (Block 435)PCF Hong Kah North (Block 315-319)PCF Kaki Bukit (Block 519-545)PCF Pasir Ris West (Block 517-511)PCF Taman Jurong (Block 352-355)PCF Tampines West (Block 140-938)St James Church Kindergarten (Harding)Yio Chu Kang Chapel Kindergarten Child Care CentresAgape Little UniCherie Hearts Corporate Pte LtdIchiban (Yunnan) Childcare CentreModern Montessori International Group (Sengkang)

3 MY World Child CareNTUC First Campus Co-operative Limited Smart Kids Educare LLPStar Learners Childcare CentreSunflower Child Care GroupTable of ContentsIntroduction ..04 Chapter 1: Language and Literacy in the Early Years ..05 Listening and speaking ..06 reading ..07 Writing ..11 Chapter 2: Learning Goals for Language and Literacy ..17 Learning goal 1 ..18 Learning goal 2 ..20 Learning goal 3 ..22 Learning goal 4 ..27 Chapter 3: Strategies for Language and Literacy ..31 Modelling ..32 reading aloud ..34 Teaching target vocabulary ..38 Using songs, rhymes and finger plays ..39 Using functional role play ..41 Using language games ..42 Shared writing.

4 43 Chapter 4: Organising the Learning Environment ..47 Creating a print-rich environment ..48 Setting up learning centres to support language and literacy ..51 Chapter 5: Observation and Assessment ..59 Observing and documenting children s learning ..60 Examples of how observations are documented ..64 Bibliography ..69 Copyright 2013, Ministry of Education, Singapore4 IntroductionChildren begin learning language, learning about language, and learning through language from the time they are born (Halliday, 1969). They learn how language is used as they listen to adults talking and reading to them and as they interact with others and play with their friends.

5 Children learn what written language looks like when they encounter signs, labels, posters, books and images on television. They begin learning about reading and writing as they observe others making lists, writing notes and reading newspapers in their daily lives. With these experiences, children develop literate behaviours even before they can read and write conventionally. They hold a book and turn the pages as if they were reading . They use the pictures and other clues in the book to tell the story as they read the book. They draw a picture and make marks on the paper as if writing a story, and tell the story from their scribbles. When children are provided with opportunities to interact with adults and peers as well as engage in meaningful literacy activities with purposeful instruction, they develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills that enable them to be effective communicators.

6 While Language and Literacy encompasses the teaching and learning of English and the Mother Tongue Languages, this Volume addresses the development of children in the English Language. Copyright 2013, Ministry of Education, Singapore5 Chapter1 Language and Literacy in the Early YearsLanguage is about listening and speaking within a system that has its own rules and conventions while literacy involves reading and writing in order to understand print and convey meaning using print. Children s language and literacy development is facilitated by their experiences at home, in school and in the community. As they interact with people and objects, they construct their own knowledge and use language and concrete representations such as drawing, mark making and writing, to communicate what they know and have 2013, Ministry of Education, Singapore6 Dramatic play provides an authentic context for children to use language in their interactions with one and SpeakingChildren need to hear language in order to learn to speak it.

7 They also need opportunities to use language to communicate with others. Playing with their friends and interacting with the people around them provide real and meaningful contexts for children to use language. In the process, they learn to listen and take turns to talk in conversations and discussions. They also develop understanding of intonation, gestures, facial expressions and body language that are necessary to help them make sense of the words being spoken. Children may go through the following phases as they learn and acquire language (Holdaway, 1979): Observation Children act as spectators and may not speak up in class or when playing with peers.

8 Instead, they are observing and learning as teachers and peers use language to express themselves and communicate with others. Copyright 2013, Ministry of Education, Singapore7 Participation Children take part in the play, conversation or discussion with guidance from the teacher. Practice Children practise using language through opportunities created by the teacher such as during dramatic or functional role play, large group discussions and show and tell . Performance Children feel confident and are able to independently use language to communicate with others and express needs, wants and ideas. Vocabulary1 and syntax2 are important components of oral language.

9 The more vocabulary children have, the better able they are to understand what others are saying and to express themselves. The more children hear and use language, the better they learn how words are put together to form sentences. It is important to develop children s listening and speaking skills in the pre-school years as they lay the foundation for reading and reading involves constructing meaning from print. Children generally go through the following phases (Chall, 1983; Ehri, 1995) when learning to read: Pre- reading Children first become aware that print carries a message. They use visual cues to make sense of print in the environment.

10 For example, children recognise the word exit by associating it with the sign above the door. Initial reading As children begin to learn the names and sounds of letters, they use this knowledge to decode words and recognise some words by sight. For example, children who recognise the word at become aware that words such as cat and mat share the same ending sound ( at ). They use this understanding to decode and recognise words in the at word family. Fluent reading As children start to decode words faster and more efficiently, they will be able to read more effortlessly. As automaticity3 sets in, children will be able to focus attention on understanding and making meaning of the need experiences with oral language and a variety of texts ( rhymes, story books and charts) to develop the following early literacy skills which help them in learning to read.