Word Histories

1. Gold

As it refers to the elemental metal, gold is an English term that refers to element 79, Au (taken from the Latin term aurum).  The use of the term to describe the metal dates back to the Middle English period, around 1400.  Before gold had been used to describe a substance, however, it was used to describe a color similar to the shine of the metal.  The spelling of the word has remained mostly unchanged through the periods of English.  Gold has the pre-Germanic root gulth, derived from the Proto-Indo-European guelth­, used to describe a yellowish, greenish, and possibly shiny color.

2. Knight

Since the 12^th century, knight has carried with it a military connotation, first as a general term referring to any active follower of a king or leader until eventually being formalized as a rank during the 16^th century.  The Middle English period is also when the term gained its most recent spelling.  Prior to this time, cniht was used to broadly refer to boys or servants.  Although the word is similar to the Old Frisian kniucht, the Dutch knecht, and the German knecht, it is ultimately of unknown origin.  In An Etymology Dictionary of the English Language, Walter Skeat suggests that the word might come from a combination of the root for “kin” (cn) with an adjective meaning “stony” (iht)—possibly indicating the age at which a young person could join a tribe.

3. King

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary at www.etymonline.com, the roots of the word king make it a term of controversial origin.  King was spelled in Old English as cyning.  It was derived from the pre-Germanic word kuninggaz, similar to the Dutch koning and the Danish konge.  What makes the term controversial is that it is likely stemmed from the Old English word cynn, which refers to a family or race.  This root can also suggest a noble or divine birth, suggesting by the use of the term itself that the person it refers to was ordained by God to be powerful.

4. War

In pre-Germanic language there was no accepted term for what we currently know as “war.”  In the late Old English period, werre and wyrre were adopted from the Old French word werre (which can be heard in the Modern French word guerre).  While there were many words to describe conflict in Early Old English, the term gewin (“struggle”) was commonly chosen to translate the Latin bellum.    

5. Dog

Dog is one of the stranger words in the English language, at least in terms of its origin.  Prior to the 16^th century, English speakers preferred the Old English term hund.  Hund was forced out as the common term in favor of dogge, which itself came from the Old English docga.  The reason for this transition is unclear.  Docga was a late term, originally referring specifically to describe a strong, powerful canine.  The prefix –ga was commonly used to denote an animal, but how the root docce (“muscle”) came to describe canines remains a mystery.

Langauge Learning vs Langauge Acquisition

Learning/word recognition view	Acquisition/Sociolinguistic view
Reading ·   Belief that written language must be learned ·   Uses phonics rules to sound out a word ·   Memorizes a list of sight words that do not follow the rules ·   Sometimes use structural analysis to read longer words ·   Pre-teaches vocabulary ·   Requires words be recoded from written language into a word that the students are already supposed to have in the oral language. ·   Readers are focused on identifying individual words ·   Might pre-teach words too difficult to sound out	Reading ·      Believe that written language is to some degree innate and can be acquired ·      Reading is a process of constructing meaning ·      Uses graphophonics as one of three language cueing systems to gain meaning ·      Readers use background knowledge, and all three cueing systems to make meaning ·      Believes vocabulary will be acquired through reading. ·      Readers are focused on making meaning ·      Most reading is done silently ·      Teach comprehension strategies to use during silent reading
Writing ·   Writing is like reading and must be directly taught. ·   Goal is to learn how to produce a good piece of writing ·   Directly instructs students in how to form letters, then words, then how to combine words into sentences, then sentences into paragraphs ·   Teacher corrects piece of writing ·   This approach can help students perform well on typical tests of writing ·   Teachers emphasize importance of correct handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and organization. ·   Handwriting and spelling are major components of writing program	Writing ·      Writing is like speaking and reflects the language competence an individual has acquired. ·      Goal is to learn how to produce good writing AND acquire knowledge of the writing process ·      Create conditions for authentic writing ·      Helps students express themselves in writing ·      Peers and teacher respond to drafts of writing ·      Teachers set aside time on a regular basis for students to write. ·      Teachers help students focus on content of writing, not just form. ·      Teachers believe that writing will move from individual inventions to conventional forms over time.
Second language development ·   Teachers teach each part of the language directly and systematically ·   The goal is to produce students who speak and understand the language ·   Students learn language through drills and exercises lead by teacher. ·   Teacher correct errors to help students produce good language habits.	Second language development ·      Teachers believe that students should be able to understand, speak, read, and write the language in different settings. ·      The goal is to enable students to use language for a variety of purposes. ·      Teacher use techniques such as gestures, pictures, realia, or reading a book with a predictable pattern and clear pictures of key words to help students acquire language. ·      Students begin learning a language by listening and reading to gain receptive language and eventually move to speaking once some language has been acquired. ·      Teachers help students say what they want to say while allowing them to make and correct their own errors.
Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition ·      In a learning classroom, learning is a conscious process that involves studying rules and vocabulary ·      Students learning a form may have difficulty using the language later because the language has not been acquired into their long term ability to use the language.	Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition ·      In an acquisition classroom, students acquire language subconsciously; they develop language through experiencing language ·      Acquisition is what allows a native-language speaker to tell when something does not sound right. ·      Students acquire language when they receive input that is slightly beyond their current level, but is still comprehensible ·      Boredom and anxiety can act as blocks for students acquiring language.

                                                                  References

Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom. NH:Heinemann

Traditional Writing classroom experience

When thinking about the writing instruction I received going through school, I would have to say that it was very, VERY traditional the entire way through school. Everything from the traditional goals and methods, to the traditional approach to correctness rang true about my own experience as a writer from kindergarten through 12^th grade.

                Beginning in elementary school, writing instruction was very product based. Every student  had to arrive at the same product within a specific amount of time. During 1^st grade, the one thing I remember about writing was the handwriting worksheets. If each letter wasn’t formed correctly, it was circled in bright red ink and given back to erase and try again. In 2^nd through 5^th grade, the writing instruction followed the same steps each year: prompt is given, then whole class moves through planning phase, drafting phase, writing phase, editing/revising phase, and then publishing phase (in that order).  In Freeman and Freeman (2004), they explain that, “in a traditional class, teachers want students to be able to produce a good story, report, or other piece of writing. To accomplish this goal, teachers break writing down into its component parts and teach each one” (pg 30).  Even in middle school, I remember my language arts teacher circling letters and giving us spelling lists.

The traditional approach of teaching made writing miserable for me. I struggled with it as a native-English speaker; I can’t even imagine what it was like for those students who had to learn English on their own (English language acquisition teaching strategies really weren’t widely used in my home town). The stress that the traditional approach placed on my classmates and I was unreal. Having to write about the same prompt, such as “what I did on my summer vacation…” (even though we all had different experiences), plan the story at the same time, write the story at the same time (which was agonizing! When you did have something to write about, you felt rushed to get it all down; when you didn’t have something to write about, you were left trying to look busy so you didn’t get into trouble), edit/revise the story at the same time, and produce a published piece all at the same time as every other student in the class. It was awful!

Children's books

Book 1: Germs are not for sharing by Elizabeth Verdick

Germs are not for sharing teaches students the social skills needed to not spread germs. The first component of the story that might affect a student’s comprehension is the idea of germs being something that they can share. We spend lots of time teaching students that sharing is something nice that they should do with their friends and then we read this book and tell them that they should not share. To help comprehension, students must first know what germs are and why they are bad to share. The second component that might affect comprehension is the instances when sharing germs would not be ok. The instances (i.e. dropping food on the floor and then throwing it away) are very representative to the American culture. Students from places where food is scarce might not understand why we would want them to throw the food away after it is dropped on the floor. The third component that might affect comprehension is the placement of the text on the page. There is a lot going on in the picture and the text can be difficult to find. We would have to teach students different places to look for when locating text. The fourth component that might affect comprehension is the difficulty of the text. The content is very simple, but the readability level of the text is at a first grade reading level. Students will need to know very difficult sight words and phonetic concepts in order to read the story on their own without adult help.

Book 2: Llama llama misses mama by Anna Dewdney

Llama llama misses mama contains several components that might affect student comprehension. The first component is the layout of the text on each page. The text appears at all levels around the illustrations. To help students with this component, I would have to teach students how to look at the top of the page first, and then the middle and then the bottom in order to not get the lines of text mixed up. The second component that might affect comprehension is the author’s use of uncommon words that allows the book to maintain a rhyming pattern. I would have to teach students to look at the illustration to try to decipher words such as chugga-choo and fuss. The third component that might cause some problems is the uncommon grammatical marks that the author uses. When reading alone, students would need to know what an ellipsis is and what a dash means in order to read with fluency and not interfere with comprehension.

Foreign language text

The text I chose was a French book called, Monsieur le Prèsident Scèenes de la vie politique (2005-2011). I initially chose it because it had a picture to go along with the title on the cover of the book. I know what Nicholas Sarkozy looks like so I figured the book must be about him and his presidency. Once I opened to book, I was only able to make sense out of the text by looking for the French cognates. There weren’t many so consequently the text was still very foreign to me (no pun intended). In order to have any real meaning with the language, I had to scale back the difficulty all the way back to pictures with one-word text underneath them.  This allowed me to match the word to the picture and have a meaning for it. As a teacher, this was a very powerful exercise. Students who are new to the language must have text differentiated for them in order for them to get any meaning out of it. I cannot ask a student who is new to the language to read a grade level text in their new language. The text must be made accessible to them by adding pictures, diagrams, and translations into their language.