Functional Grammar in the Early Years

1
Functional Grammarin theEarly Years

• Presenter Gail Young
• Holland Park State School
• For
• National Literacy Week
• Saturday 8 September, 2007

2
My Focus

• Language for Learning
• Fostering an explicit consciousness in a
  multi-age Early Phase classroom of how language
  functions in the learning process

3
My Belief

• It is not only helpful but crucial that
  understanding of how functional grammar is used
  to make more complex meanings in texts can help
  teachers support students develop literacy
  skills.

4
Literacy - the Key to learningFramework for
Action 2006 - 2008

• Recognises it is the quality of teaching that
  makes the biggest differences to students
  literacy outcomes across the phases of learning.

5
The systematic teaching of

• Reading
• Writing
• Spelling and phonic skills
• Explicit teaching of texts and grammar
• Scaffolded and contextualised teaching of reading
  comprehension
• Social-critical approaches purposeful teaching
  of critical literacy

6
The integration of these essential skills based
on explicit instruction enables children to

• Read and view
• Speak and listen
• Write and shape for learning in and out of school

7
IntroductionRegister

• Register is a way of describing how the
  context influences the language produced in a
  particular situation.
• The ways in which a teacher constructs a
  classroom context can help promote the sort of
  language which contributes to learning.
• ( Halliday, M. A. K., A Short Introduction to
  Functional Grammar, Edward Arnold, London, 1985)

8
Field

• The field of a situation refers to what is
  going on the doings and happenings, who or
  what is involved in them (the participants) and
  the circumstances in which they are taking place
  (where and when).

9
Tenor

• The Tenor of a text will depend on the roles of
  the participants and their relationships
• How well they know each other
• Their ages
• Their relative status
• How they feel towards each other

10
Mode

• Mode deals with the channel of communication.
• Learning can take place through the oral mode
  or the written mode.

11
Context of Situation
REGISTER
Tenor (roles/relationships
Field (subject matter)
Mode (written gt spoken)
TEXT
12
Farm Yard Bliss
13
Observing, describing through oral language,
defining, comparing, contrasting, grouping,
classifying and generalising through play.
14
Sharing the text Harriet and the Fox by Rina
A. Foti illustrated by Judith Rossell
15
Prep One GYs Responses to the Text
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
Prep One GYs Plans to Outwit the Fox

• Oscars organised, clever plan I would put
  poison on the eggs and Id pay him and then I
  would give him an egg and then he would go crazy
  and crash into a wall.
• Yuris secret, hiding plan I would go in a tree
  and get a fish. I would build a spider and I
  would put my fishing line out of the tree and the
  fox would come and I will scare it with the
  spider.

21

• Gabrielles yummy, food plan Id put some food
  on the grass. I would bring the food to the big
  trap with a lot of eggs and when he jumps on the
  eggs and eats them all Id press a red button
  that would make the trap close up. Wed put him
  in the bag and take him to gaol.
• Hamishs spider hanging plan Im going to cut
  out a spider and then Im going to put it on a
  piece of string and then Ill make a loop and put
  it on the tree and blow it until the fox comes.
  Ill say a word and then it will run away.
• Harriets open-the-mouth plan I can open up his
  mouth with my hands then I can put chilli in it.
  Then Ill open and close and open and close his
  mouth and when it swallows it might be a bit
  spicy. Then he might run away. Then he might not
  come again because hell think I will do it
  again.

22

• Harriets slippery slide plan Im going to make
  the fox go up the slippery slide and when he
  comes down Ill pull the rope and the cage will
  come down on him.
• Matthews rollercoaster plan First I make a
  rollercoaster and then the fox slides on it and
  then he goes in a lava thing and then he dies.
• Annies high swing plan Id put a chair behind
  the swing then he swings off it and goes into a
  trap.
• Zacharys brown snake plan Id make a cardboard
  snake and scare the fox with it. I would make the
  snake move.

23

• Harrys digital camera plan Id take a photo of
  the fox and then Id pull it out of the camera
  and then I would try to put it on the ground so
  he would know it is a picture of him. Then he
  will try to chase people.
• Spyros letter writing plan Id write a letter
  to the fox catcher and tell him to catch the fox.
• Jacks huge rock plan You sneak up on the fox
  and throw some rocks at him and then a cage comes
  down then there is something in the cage that
  comes out of the ground and spears him.
• Rubys trap cage plan - Im going to put round
  white chocolate that looks like eggs on a plate
  and there is a trap on the roof and its going to
  fall while he is eating.

24

• Shataliis chocolate eating plan Im going to
  go home and get a piece of chocolate. Im going
  to put the chocolate on the ground on the grass
  and then when the fox comes to my house Im going
  to hide behind the garage and scare the fox away.
• Jasmines bouncing ping-pong ball plan Hes
  going to eat all the ping-pong balls because he
  thinks they are eggs. He will blow up.
• Ethans rope trip plan Id make a rope and make
  it trip. It would hurt itself and it could bleed.
• Chloes fox trap plan When the fox comes to the
  hen house when he tries to get in he cant
  because the trap is there. We put him and trap in
  the bushes.

25

• Monishas stripy snake plan It scares the fox
  so the fox cant get Harriet any more.
• Koss fish spike plan The fox is going on
  spikes to get a fish. That will hurt him!
• Ellas plan - I build a pool and the fox comes.
  He jumps in the pool to have a swim and he drowns.

26
Putting it Into PracticeFARM YARD BLISS

• Structure the learning context in terms of Mode
  Field - Tenor.
• Mode ranges from oral/active through to written
  reflective
• Field increases knowledge of farmyard animals
• Tenor reflects the roles and relationships
  engaged in by the teacher and the children.