LENGUA EXTRANJERA

INGLS
Prctica

SPECIFIC ENGLISH PART

OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
COMPETITIVE EXAM

EXERCISE 9

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2nd TERM

PART 1: Listening comprehension

Listen twice to this programme on Motivating learners from The Weekend Teacher and
complete tasks 1 to 5 below:

1.

Complete the following sentences from the recording with word or expression you hear:
a. An environment more ______________ to learning, an environment more ______________
to motivation.
b. The desire to master content, the desire to be _______________ as intelligent, fear of failure,
wanting to impress the teacher, a competitive desire to win _______________ of other
students.
c. As you may have guessed its best if learners feel the ____________ __ of intrinsic motivation.
The extrinsic kind can actually serve as a _______________ to true learning.

2.

You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink. The saying continues by saying that
you can salt the oats. What does the speaker mean by this?

3.

What two categories of motivation does the speaker say are useful?

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4.

Once again the speaker uses a proverb to illustrate his point, what does he mean when he says
they wont care how much you know until they know how much they care?

5.

How does the speaker say teachers can create intrinsic motivation environments for their
students?

6.

How would you design an activity around the topic Giving Directions for 5th grade students? Try
to incorporate as many of the above criteria as possible.

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PART 2: Reading comprehension

The following excerpt has been adapted from Chapter 7 in Geoff Pettys book Teaching
Today; it focuses on promoting equal opportunities for every student in the classroom. Read
the excerpt and answer the questions:
You are likely to come across students who are much better at answering questions verbally
than they are at writing and especially at reading. In some cases this can be extreme, and the
student seems very bright, but is not able to read one sentence or one phrase at a time, and
instead seems to labour over each word in turn. However, there are a number of possible causes
of reading difficulties, so only a qualified person, often an educational psychologist, is able to
diagnose dyslexia.
The US government commissioned the National Institute of Health to carry out and enormous
study of dyslexia. As part of this, 5,000 children aged 4-18 were tested by specialists three times
a year. Brain scans, genetic tests and other investigations were also carried out, and thanks in
part to this study we now know very much more about dyslexia. For example:

About 15-20% of people have a language-based learning difficulty, and dyslexia is by far
the most common.

The condition is inherited, and the gene for it has been identified.

Dyslexia is a lifelong condition, but special teaching can greatly reduce its negative effects.
This should start as early as possible and certainly at age 5.

People with dyslexia process language in a different area of the brain than more fluent
readers.

About half the children with dyslexia were found also to have an entirely separate condition
called attention deficit disorder (ADD), or the hyperactive version of this condition (ADHD).

Dyslexia is not related to intelligence, and it does not necessarily inhibit achievement.
There are a large number of very gifted and successful people who are dyslexic such as
Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, Whoopi Goldberg, Muhammad Ali, George
Washington, John Lennon and W. B. Yeats, to name a few.

It is the leading cause of school dropout in the US, and probably in the UK too. The majority
of young offenders, and probably the older ones too, are dyslexic.

The researchers found that the root difficulty suffered by dyslexic children was a lack of phonemic
awareness. A phoneme is a sound such as the c, a or t sound in cat. If you ask a young dyslexic
child what rhymes with cat or what the word cat would sound like if you removed the c
sound, they cant work this out. However, if phonemic awareness is taught with direct, explicit
instruction before the child is taught to read, then the child can learn to read almost normally.

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Exercises

As well as difficulties with reading, a dyslexic student may have dysgraphia, which means
they have difficulty with handwriting, even to the point where they cannot read their own
handwriting.

Why can you read tihs?

Aocincrdg to a resaecrh at Cimbardge Uinveisrty, it desont mtater in waht odrer the ltetres
in a wrod are, the olny imtaponrt tnihg is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are at the rgiht pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wthiuot pblroem. Tihs is beacuse the
hmaun mnid deos not raed evrey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wohle.

First of all, if students have been identified with dyslexia, talk to them. Symptoms vary greatly
from student to student, but those with the condition are often very clear about what helps
them. So ask:

What would help you most?

Is there anything else I can do to help?

Am I delivering material too fast?

Do I do anything that you find difficult, or that makes you feel uncomfortable? (dyslexic
students may not like to have to read or write for classmates, for example)

Make it clear that it is not their fault they have dyslexia, and that you understand it causes
difficulties. Stress that students can succeed if we work together to find what support you need.

1.

Having read the text, decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F):
a. There is a negligible proportion of the population who has language-based learning
difficulties.

b. A large proportion of dyslexics end up getting in to trouble with the law.

c. Dyslexia is a genetic condition for which instruction can do little.

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d. Dyslexics also suffer from attention deficit disorder.

e. Dyslexic children have difficulty in grasping phonetics.

f. Dyslexics have a poor understanding of what helps them learn.

2.

Explain the following words found in the text:

a. To labour over:

b. Commissioned:

c. To work (something) out:

d. To drop out:

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Exercises

3.

Rewrite the following sentences using the word provided so that the resulting sentence bears a
similar meaning to the original one:
a. You are likely to come across students who are much better at answering questions verbally
than they are at writing and especially at reading.
WORSE:

b. Only a qualified person, often an educational psychologist, is able to diagnose dyslexia.

THAN:

c. Thanks in part to this study we now know very much more about dyslexia.
KNOWLEDGE:

d. If phonemic awareness is taught with direct, explicit instruction before the child is taught to
read, then the child can learn to read almost normally.
UNLESS:

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PART 3: Didactics
Read the following text from The International Dyslexia Association and answer the questions
below:
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by
difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding
abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of
language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of
effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading
comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary
and background knowledge. (The International Dyslexia Association)
Dysgraphia is the condition of impaired letter writing by hand, that is, disabled handwriting.
Impaired handwriting can interfere with learning to spell words in writing and speed of
writing text. Children with dysgraphia may have only impaired handwriting, only impaired
spelling (without reading problems), or both impaired handwriting and impaired spelling. (The
International Dyslexia Association)

1.

Having read the text, provide a definition for dyslexia and dysgraphia.

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Exercises

2.

Based on the information conveyed in the text above, complete the following chart with ways
in which you may help dyslexic students with their reading and writing. A few examples have
been provided:
Reading

Keep information that must be read to

a minimum. Keep it concise, clear and
very structured, with helpful headings
and subheadings.
Introduce new words explicitly.
Write them on the board and explain
what they mean with some concrete
examples. Give students a glossary.
Produce handouts that include a
mind-map summary of the key points,
preferably at the beginning, and use
other visual representations.

Writing

Produce written handouts. If the

students make their own notes, check
that they can read them.
When grading work, grade content
rather than spelling, handwriting and
grammar.
Dont judge understanding by writing;
students may limit their writing to
words they can spell, and they may use
odd grammar.
Allow students to present their ideas
verbally where possible.

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4.

Read the following description of elkonin boxes adapted from bogglesworldesl.com and answer
the question below:
The use of elkonin boxes helps teach phonemic awareness by having students listen for
individual sounds and marking where they hear them in the boxes. Each box in an elkonin box
card represents one phoneme, or sound. So the word sheep, which is spelled with five letters,
has only 3 phonemes: /sh/ /ee/ /p/. Segmenting words is one of the more difficult skills children
acquire. It is also one of the best predictors of future success in reading. Elkonin boxes are a
physical segmentation of words into phonemes.
Elkonin boxes can be used to practice spelling from a synthetic phonics point of view. Because
it helps fix phoneme-grapheme correspondences in childrens minds, this technique supports
childrens spelling, reading and writing development.
There are many activities that teachers can do with these boxes, one of them consists of
stretching out words, identifying similar or different sounds and then guessing at spellings.

The elkonin box above for the word sheep, consists of three phonemes or sounds. Each box should fit
one of the digraphs sh, ee and p.
Words are segmented (broken down into syllables) and then students try to figure out possible
spellings with the help of the teacher who may need to make correction, (i.e. sheep as opposed
to sheap) and which they then write into the boxes.
Given the information above, think of a couple of ways in which the following elkonin boxes for
book and goat could be used in class:

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5.

As well as raising phonetic awareness in students, it is important, especially for higher grades,
to emphasize the importance of correct spelling. Can you think of fun ways or games that may
render the learning of spelling less tedious?

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