Part1

							Part 1:
An Introduction to Dictation Activities
  1)   Purposes of Doing Dictation
  2)   Guiding Principles for Conducting Dictation
  3)   Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling and
       Note-taking Skills
1) Purposes of Doing Dictation
     Development of phonics skills
     Development of listening and note-taking skills
     Development of writing skills
     Promoting autonomy in language learning
     Promoting assessment for learning
   1) Purposes of Doing Dictation


   Development of phonics skills
    • Dictation helps                                    Awareness of
                                                  letter-sound relationships
      pupils develop
      phonics skills that
      facilitate                                              Phonics skills
      pronunciation and
      spelling.
                               CG* p.175

*CG stands for
English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) (CDC, 2004)

                                                          Spelling skills
1) Purposes of Doing Dictation


Development of listening and note-taking skills

                       • Dictation helps pupils develop
                         a range of listening skills.
                       • Dictation is a useful tool to
                         develop pupils’ note-taking skills.
    Listening skills


• discriminating sounds, stress and intonation
• identifying key words
• identifying the main ideas
• understanding the connection between ideas
                                   CG pp.51&52
1) Purposes of Doing Dictation

Development of writing skills
• By using dicto-                   Note-taking of key words
  comp / dictogloss,
  pupils can make
  use of the notes                Applying language knowledge
                                             in writing
  taken during
  listening to
  reconstruct texts
  and develop their
  writing skills.                         Writing skills
                       CG p.177
 1) Purposes of Doing Dictation


Promoting autonomy in language learning
 • Dictation can be used to promote self-learning.
 • Pupils should be encouraged to collect more
   vocabulary related to the theme / topic they are
   learning.
                                            CG pp.176&177


         Theme / Topic


Vocabulary taught    Vocabulary collected
    in class         by pupils themselves   Autonomy
                                            in learning
1) Purposes of Doing Dictation


Promoting assessment for learning
• Dictation is a useful tool
                                 Identifying and analysing
  that helps teachers                pupils’ mistakes
  understand pupils’
  learning progress.
                                  Giving suggestions for
• Teachers should provide              improvement
  constructive feedback
  to pupils by analysing
  their problems and
  giving suggestions for
  improvement.
                                     Assessment for learning
1) Purposes of Doing Dictation – Promoting assessment for learning


Providing constructive feedback
 • Teachers should analyse pupils’ mistakes and
   give suggestions for improvement by guiding
   pupils to make use of
    - context,
    - grammar knowledge, and
    - phonics skills
    in writing the words with accurate spelling.
 • Teachers should design follow-up learning
   activities whenever appropriate to consolidate
   learning.
2) Guiding Principles for
   Conducting Dictation
      Design
      Coverage
      Frequency
      Weighting and Marking
2) Guiding Principles for Conducting Dictation


Design
• Dictation should be contextualised to
  illustrate the communicative use of
  language and help pupils progress towards
  the Learning Targets.
• Dictation could be conducted in
  combination with a range of activities to
  develop pupils’ language skills.
                                                 CG pp.176&177
2) Guiding Principles for Conducting Dictation


Coverage
• Not every word in the learning materials
  must be learnt by heart.
• Pupils should not be asked to study
  formulaic expressions or classroom
  instructions for dictation.
• Pupils should not be asked to spell the
  spoken form of the date in full words.
                                                 CG p.175
2) Guiding Principles for Conducting Dictation



Frequency
 • Teachers should not overburden pupils
   with excessive dictation as it may kill
   their interest in learning English and
   deprive them of the opportunities to
   engage in other meaningful English
   learning activities.
                                                 CG p.174
2) Guiding Principles for Conducting Dictation



Weighting and Marking
• Dictation should not take up more than 10%
  of the subject marks.
• Marks should not be deducted for repeated
  mistakes.
• Bonus marks can be given to promote
  autonomy in language learning.
                                                 CG pp.175&177
  3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’
  Spelling and Note-taking Skills
     Spelling Skills                Note-taking Skills
 Developing pupils’             Helping pupils understand the
                                  meanings of key words through
  awareness of letter-sound       demonstration
  relationships
                                 Listening for key words
 Dividing words into small      Identifying main ideas and
  parts                           supporting details
 Identifying affixes to root    Using headings to organise
  words                           ideas
 Looking for letter patterns    Using tables and other graphic
                                  organisers to organise ideas
 Highlighting problem parts     Using short forms,
 Understanding the               abbreviations, numbers and
  meanings of words               symbols to take notes
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling Skills

 Developing pupils’ awareness of
 letter-sound relationships
• Draw pupils’ attention            Different sounds for
                                    different letters:
  to the letter-sound               Examples:
  relationships and                 boy, toy
  help them develop
  phonics skills.                          Different ending sounds:
                                           Examples:
• Let them try                             foot, food
  pronouncing new
  words using phonics               Different spellings for the same
  skills instead of telling         sound:
  them the pronunciation            Examples:
                                    ‘s’ sound: glass, piece, horse
  right away.                       long ‘e’ sound: me, teeth, sea
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling Skills


   Dividing words into small parts
   • Guide pupils to divide words into
     syllables and identify the ‘small words’
     in the word.

                                    Dividing words into
        Dividing words into
                                    ‘small words’:
        syllables:
                                    football = foot + ball
        pan/da
                                    breakfast = break + fast
        cho/co/late
                                    bedroom = bed + room
        Oc/to/ber
                                    blackboard = black + board
        beau/ti/ful
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling Skills


  Identifying affixes to root words
  • Develop pupils’ knowledge of word
    formation, e.g. adding prefixes and
    suffixes to the root words.

                                    Example of suffixes:
 Examples of prefixes:              ed – interested, bored
 un – unclear, unkind               ing – exciting, amazing
 re – replay, reuse                 ful – helpful, beautiful
 im – impolite, impatient           cian – magician, musician
 mis – misuse, misunderstand        ness – happiness, sadness
                                    ment – excitement, amusement
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling Skills


Looking for letter patterns
 • Draw pupils’ attention to                Pattern: ough
   the letter patterns, i.e.                Examples:
                                            tough, rough, enough
   groups of letters that often
   appear together, in lots of
   English words.
                                         Pattern: ight
 • Remind pupils to learn                Examples:
                                         light, fight, night
   letters as a group or
   pattern instead of as an
   individual letter on its own.             Pattern: ould
                                             Examples:
                                             should, would, could
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling Skills

 Highlighting problem parts
 • Draw pupils’ attention to the silent letters in
   some words.
 • Highlight that some contractions and
   words sound the same / similar.
                                    Examples of contractions and
                                    words with the same / similar
  Examples of silent letters:       sounds:
  Silent d – sandwich, badge        it’s vs. its
  Silent k – knife, know            you’re vs. your
  Silent h – honest, hour           we’re vs. were
  Silent w – whole, wrong           who’s vs. whose
                                    they’re vs. their / there
  3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Spelling Skills

 Understanding the meanings of words
   • Guide pupils to understand the meanings of the
     words learnt.
   • Draw pupils’ attention to the confusing words, i.e.
     words with the same / similar pronunciation but
     different meanings.



            sun?       son?                          pan?         pen?

It is very hot. The son / sun is shining.   I use a pen / pan to fry an egg.

                          Pronunciation vs. Meaning
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills


Note-taking Skills
 Helping pupils understand the meanings of key
    words through demonstration
 Listening for key words
 Identifying main ideas and supporting details
 Using headings to organise ideas
 Using tables and other graphic organisers to
  organise ideas
 Using short forms, abbreviations, numbers
  and symbols to take notes
    3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills

    Helping pupils understand the meanings of
    key words through demonstration
                                     Dear Mark,
•      Read a short text             How are you? I am going to visit Hong Kong
       with the whole class.         with my parents at Christmas! We will stay
                                     for four days.
•      Underline the key             On the first day, we are going to do some
       words, which carry            shopping. At night, we are going to watch the
                                     beautiful lights in Tsim Sha Tsui. Over the
       the important                 next few days, we can visit the theme parks
                                     and the Peak together.
       messages in the text
                                     We will be in Hong Kong on 23 December.
•      Explain to pupils that        The plane leaves Beijing at a quarter past
                                     eight in the morning and arrives at around
       function words are            eleven o’clock.
       less important.               See you soon.
                                     Leo
 3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills


 Listening for key words
• Divide the text into                      Guiding questions
  smaller parts and             Part 1
  read aloud the text bit       1. When will Leo visit Hong Kong?
  by bit.
                                2. How many days will he stay in
• Use guiding                      Hong Kong?
  questions to help             Part 2
  pupils jot down the
                                1. What will he do on the first day?
  relevant information.
                                2. What will he do over the next few
• Read aloud the text              days?
  several times if
                                Part 3
  necessary.
                                1. When will he be in Hong Kong?
• Allow time for pupils
                                2. What time will the plane arrive?
  to tidy up their work.
 3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills


Identifying main ideas and supporting details
 Mr Chan is my favourite teacher. He’s a
 great teacher in many ways. First, he’s       What makes Mr Chan
 humorous. He looks funny and has
                                                a good teacher?
 many interesting topics to talk about,
 so we like him very much. Mr Chan is
 also helpful. When we tell him our         1. Humorous
 troubles, he gives us useful advice.       - looks funny
 We’re lucky to have such a good            - has many interesting topics
 teacher. Lastly, Mr Chan is a healthy
 person. He doesn’t get sick easily. He’s   2. Helpful
 good at water sports. He’s been my PE      - tell him our troubles
 teacher for many years.                    - gives us useful advice

                                            3. Healthy
                                            - does not get sick easily
                                            - good at water sports
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills

Using headings to organise ideas

                                     Hi! My name is Judy. I’m a
                                     primary two pupil and I’m
                                     studying at Green Tree School.
                                     Let me tell you more about
                                     myself. I was born on 20
                                     February 2004. I love
                                     swimming and playing
                                     badminton. My favourite
                                     subject is English. My
                                     telephone number is 7345
                                     1237. My address is Room A,
                                     eleventh floor, Lucky Street,
                                     North Point, Hong Kong.
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills

Using tables and other graphic organisers
to organise ideas
                                            A spider web to show the topic,
A shopping list for Christmas party:
                                            main ideas and examples:
             Things to buy             To borrow books
 Food      • fish balls                   in libraries                  To enter schools

           • chicken wings
           • sausages
           • cola                                    Different uses
 Drink                                               of smart cards
           • fruit juice
           • water
Others     • paper cups                              To make payments
           • paper plates                                                      e.g.
           • forks
                                                          e.g.
3) Strategies to Improve Pupils’ Note-taking Skills


Using short forms, abbreviations, numbers
and symbols to take notes
• Using short forms / abbreviations for units of
  measurements, places and subjects
• Writing numbers (e.g. telephone number,
  date, time)
• Using symbols (e.g. for increase, for
  decrease)
• Creating own abbreviations and symbols
  (e.g. 6 sandwiches 6 )