Book navigation
Knowing what to do
Much of our knowledge of what print does comes from familiarity with and exposure to it.
Give learners practice in:
- handling books (opening them, turning pages)
- becoming familiar with parts of a book (cover, title, author, main text, illustrations)
- looking for specific items (a word, letter, picture) in different kinds of text, such as a newspaper, magazine, course book, brochure, forms and cards
- seeing and listening to many different text forms (such as letters, forms, newspapers, magazines, advertising flyers, signs and posters) and types (such as instructions, explanations, reports, narratives and persuasive texts)
- discussing/predicting a story from the picture or title on the front of the book, and
- matching words (for example, if the title is Coffee time, ask the learners to find the word coffee in the text).
Some useful strategies in undertaking these activities are to:
- read a text aloud from a projected overhead transparency (OHT) so that the whole class can focus on the same text, and the tutor can observe the learners’ eye movements
- use a pointer with the OHT to guide learners’ eye movements, and
- point out parts of the text, for example, “Show me a word”, “Show me where I should start reading”, “Show me where a sentence starts and finishes”.
Also visit the local library and ensure that learners all have their own library card.
Provide opportunities for learners to check and consolidate knowledge of word concepts during other activities. Use directions such as, “Show me the next word”, “Where does the next word start?”, “Can you find that word again?”, “How many times is this word printed on the page?”, “Which word starts with b?”, “How many other words start with b?”