DictaSpell is the name I have given to process of working with language with students. It involves dictation and spelling and more. It contains nothing really new, but is maybe a new slant on existing techniques. It depends on having a data projector. The name “DictaSpell” was mainly chosen for the students’ benefit.
Basically DictaSpell consists of 4 phases.
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The teacher prepares several sentences which contain vocabulary, grammar, punctuation or other elements related to the requirements of the class. The teacher writes these sentences into a Microsoft Word document. They are then marked as “hidden” and “projected” onto the whiteboard. |
The teacher dictates the sentences to the class in an appropriate way. |
After each sentence has been dictated, the hidden sentence is revealed. The students correct their version of that sentence carefully. |
Any teaching points about the sentence are the subject of discussion and emphasis. A traditional whiteboard marker can be used to emphasise aspects of the text. |
The above process continues until all sentences have been dictated, revealed and discussed.
DictaSpell has the following advantages:
· It combines the aural and written aspects of language.
· It enables all students sufficient opportunity to achieve, by the end of the correction process, 100% accuracy and very high understanding of the learning points.
· Engagement levels are invariably 100%. It is something students really like doing. Maybe one of the reasons for this is that is a little closer to the visual media that many of them interact with at home every evening (PS2, Xbox etc).
· It provides instant feedback for students and an opportunity to immediately apply what they have just learned.
· It is self-marking!
· It enables ad hoc inclusion of “boring” concepts such as verb forms into “interesting” contexts such as The SpongeBob Movie!
· Flexibility is built into every step. Whether the focus is vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, revision, pronouns, common nouns etc will depend on the precise point the class is up to. The precise mix will vary day by day.
· It is a very quick way of building up an appropriate lesson. The creation of the sentences can take as little as 5 minutes, whereas the presentation of this phase of the lesson and ensuing discussion can take 15-20 minutes.
· It is possible to build quite a wide range of skills into the sentence set providing some challenges to the more advanced student along with simpler tasks for the less capable student.
To make DictaSpell work you obviously need a projection device. The means by which the text is hidden can vary depending on your resources. These means could include:
· “rolling up” the text into the viewable area using the scroll bars.
· Formatting the text to be hidden with the colour “White” and then removing that colour. A good way of doing this is to select the text and press Ctrl+Spacebar, which has the effect of removing all manual formatting.
· The use of a text or paragraph style.
· The use of a tool such as TextWand.
Here are some actual sentence sets I have used with a class this year, with the focus of each set. Notice the amount of repetition in many of the sets. This enables a student who “got it wrong” the first time to “get it right” later.
Focus: revision of natural/artificial, passive forms (follows the use of “Vanilla Ice Cream” in Wild and Wacky)
1. In the supermarket you can buy two types of vanilla, natural and artificial.
2. Natural vanilla comes from the pods of a vine.
3. Vanilla grows in warm countries which have fertile soils such as Tonga.
4. The pods are treated in a long process called curing.
5. Artificial vanilla is made from chemicals.
6. Artificial vanilla is cheaper but doesn’t taste as good.
7. Many people are prepared to pay more for natural vanilla.
Focus: contractions and present tense of “to be”
(After each sentence is revealed students are asked what they think the contraction represents.)
1. He’s very happy at his new school.
2. She’s hoping to get a job in the local supermarket.
3. I’m very excited about my trip to Australia next holidays.
4. They’re going to be visiting Tonga and Samoa.
5. You’re a really good friend.
6. We’re going to have a party on Sunday.
Focus: “I’ve” and “I’d”, revision spelling of European places previously discussed, interest in Europe and languages
1 I’ve never been to Europe but I’d like to go one day.
2 Among the many countries I’d like to visit are Spain, Switzerland and England.
3 Switzerland would be my preference because it’s very mountainous and I love mountains.
4 Before going to Europe I’d like to learn one of the European languages.
5 I’ve always wanted to learn French or Italian.
Focus: “I wish … had”, revision of they/their/they’re, revision of present tense forms.
1. I wish this classroom had air-conditioning.
2. I wish I had a ticket to travel around the world.
3. I wish I had enough money to buy my parents a new house.
4. They’re waiting to buy their lunch.
5. Do you know what they’re doing there?
6. They’re sitting over there eating their lunch.
7. I’m tired, you’re tired, he’s tired, she’s tired, we’re all tired, but we must finish the job before we rest.
Focus: information texts
The characters in the SpongeBob movie are based on real creatures.
When most people think of sponges they think of the artificial sponges which are used to clean up spills in kitchens and bathrooms. SpongeBob SquarePants looks like one of these.
However sponges are real creatures. They are called “the lungs of the sea” because they are full of tiny holes, like our lungs. They do a good job of cleaning up the ocean by removing tiny pieces of food and rubbish.
Focus: technical vocabulary e.g. “porous, revision of “artificial, natural, species”, information text language,
1. When most people think of sponges they think of artificial sponges.
2. However there are 5000 species of natural sponges.
3. Both natural and artificial sponges are porous which means having lots of holes.
4. Because sponges are porous, water can flow through them easily.
5. One species of sponge has 80,000 holes.
6. Natural sponges are one of the most primitive creatures.
7. Natural sponges are always attached to rocks so they cannot move around.
8. The skeletons of natural sponges are often sold in shops.
Jim Brook, ESOL Department, Massey High School