marella tangwyn quiritah
Mica Withington
This became part of my homeschooling conscience. To this day when I need to correct a spelling error, I erase the mistake first. I make sure that no time is spent considering, pondering, evaluating, or reviewing the error. Instead, all attention and all eyes are always on what is right. At all costs I wanted to avoid the horrific situation that Mason describes:
But as the years went on, I started to worry. I reached the moment which every (honest) Charlotte Mason educator reaches somewhere in their journey. I began to think I needed to supplement with something else. I needed to reach out to the mainstream education machine to get some help, to get a quick fix.
And then there is the question about how living a lesson is that involves studying lists of words. This is no idle question. In Parents and Children, Mason made it clear that lessons must be living if they are to invite the cooperation of the Divine Teacher:
Here I think is a key to the power of dictation. The words are not studied in isolation. There are not, as it were, facts separated from ideas. Rather, the words are studied in the context of literature. Not nonsense literature to illustrate i before e exceptions, but real literature that communicates living ideas.
Some soul-searching revealed to me that our problem was not dictation. Our problem was with how I was implementing it. I did not need to supplement with traditional spelling lists, word lists, marks, and prizes. I needed to make my dictation lessons living. Here are two of the fixes I had to put in practice:
The best passages for dictation have words that are worth learning, and context that is worth studying. Also, it is important that the passage incorporate modern spelling and punctuation. It is a tall order to come up with the right set of passages to cover the entire schooling career of your children. Fortunately the work has already been done. Just check out the Spelling Wisdom series by Simply Charlotte Mason.
(2) Make the lesson interactive. In my summary of the dictation lesson above, I left out the portion that I was leaving out in practice. Here is the part I skipped, which stands between steps 1 and 2:
Thank you for sharing. I am so glad to hear that you put your phone away during school hours. And yes, we do want our children to become independent learners, and we have to balance the needs of multiple children. In fact, it is when we realize our own limitations that we are most able to recognized the limitlessness of God. Charlotte Mason wrote:
Are your two older children good spellers? Like many of us, I am nervous that spelling by dictation might not work and someday it will be too late and she will have to learn as an adult to spell right. Everything you said sounds wonderful but what if? I would really like to hear people ahead of me say that it worked for them at least eventually. Thank you for this article.
This was a great read! Thank you! I did have a question about narration. When my form 2 student is writing a narration do I correct her misspelled words or just let them be and only worry about the misspelled during a dictation lesson? Thank you!
Though he is a good speller, he is not as good at remembering to indent and to use proper sentence punctuation. Our previous spelling program never focused on that! I can see now why studied dictation helps kids become better writers. We are moving along rather nicely now, but he still forgets to indent now and then and he still ends up needing to do passages with question marks several times. On very rare occasions, he spells a word wrong. Overall, he misses one passage a week and needs to redo that. I can see he is learning so much and becoming a more careful writer.
Correction focuses on the spelling of the new terms and possibly identifying the part of speech. This is a bottom-up type of processing whereby students are listening for single morphemes and syllables, and copying out the full words they hear.
These longer forms of dictation are typically read at normal speed, students are given time to write their responses and the whole sentence may be read two or three times in its entirety to allow students to add to their responses or make corrections.
For word lists, the simplest grading is to give just one mark for a perfectly spelled word. What about with whole sentences and longer passages? Will we assess all spelling, all punctuation and will each incorrect answer get an equal percentage deducted from a grade?
Will we only focus on correcting the keywords or phrases that have been the target for the dictation? Will we penalize students if they get the actual sentence incorrect, yet they use correct grammar? What if they use grammatical constructions which are more complex than what was dictated?
They skip what they cannot write and can usually fill in any missing parts when the passage is read a second time. They listen for the keywords and are able to fill the gaps with the function words. This is what we train students to do in note-taking and it is the end goal of developing fluency in listening.
A fluent listener does not hear every sound, every syllable, they hear the main content words and are able to get the meaning of the overall message from not only the words used but also the tone of voice and other non-verbal clues a speaker may use.
However, their linguistic competence in spelling and writing was at a beginning level. What happens to these students when they must do a traditional dictation? They fail miserably because they cannot spell, they cannot sound out words and reproduce what they hear in writing.
Are you looking for a simple writing and listening activity that you can use for just about any level of English learner? Then dictation practice should certainly be an ESL activity that you consider. Keep on reading for all the details about how to do it with your students and get ready for some ESL teaching gold!
Skills: Listening/writing
Listening Sub-Skills: Detecting transition signals, note taking, listening for detail, using context to anticipate what comes next
Time: 5-10 minutes
Level: Beginner-advanced
Materials Required: A text to dictate
Dictation can help our students with some important sub-skills, including detecting transition signals (first, second, third, etc.), note taking, and listening for details. It also helps students practice a range of other things, from printing English letters to punctuation, spelling, proof-reading and lay-out.
I generally give students a minute or two at the end for proofreading and instruct them to check things like spelling and punctuation. Check answers and correct any errors with spelling, punctuation, etc. Or, you can write the passage on the board or online and students can check their own answers.
Also, often the easiest and fastest way to find listening strategies to teach students is to break down into micro-skills and strategies what you would do if you were a student in your own class. If you really want to challenge students, paraphrasing or summarizing the dictation passage are incredibly useful skills. These skills are often weak or unpracticed for many of our students.
Ask students to write, for example, a summary of the dictation passage in one sentence that has the main idea and maybe a few key details. Be sure that you have a summary sentence of your own to show students as an ideal example if you do this.
There are enough top-quality ESL games and activities to get through an entire semester of listening classes in style. Check out the book for yourself on Amazon but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of some ESL teaching awesome in your life. Are you ready for it? Head over there now:
Dictation is an activity where learners listen to a passage or a series of sentences and write down what they hear. It helps develop listening skills, spelling, grammar, and overall language proficiency.
Select dictation passages that match the language proficiency level of your learners. Start with shorter and simpler sentences, and gradually increase the complexity as their skills improve. Choose topics that are relevant and interesting to engage their attention.
Read the passage or sentences clearly at a moderate pace. Repeat each sentence or phrase as needed. Provide pauses for students to write, and then review the passage together, allowing students to check their work and make corrections.
It depends on the purpose and level of the dictation. For beginners, you may provide a written passage to help them follow along. For more advanced learners, you can omit the written text and have them rely solely on listening and writing.
Break down the passage into smaller chunks, provide vocabulary assistance, and offer clarification if needed. After the dictation, discuss any challenging vocabulary or grammar points and address common errors.
Dictation can be combined with other language skills. For example, after dictation, you can have students use the dictated sentences to practice speaking or writing. You can also use dictation as a springboard for discussions or creative writing activities.
Use a variety of dictation formats, such as dictating dialogues, poems, song lyrics, or short stories. Incorporate interactive elements, like dictation games or dictation races, to add excitement and competition.
The frequency of dictation activities can vary based on your lesson objectives and the needs of your learners. It can be a regular part of your language lessons, but ensure you balance it with other activities to provide a well-rounded language learning experience.
Provide immediate feedback after the dictation activity by reviewing the correct version of the passage. Address common errors, give explanations, and offer individual feedback on specific mistakes. Encourage self-correction and provide opportunities for students to compare their work.
Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.
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