El lado chic de la ciudad según la prensa escrita

Phase One consists of five Stages and the following essential skills of listening and speaking, identifying, sequencing, memory, spatial awareness, peer and self-assessment as well as teaching, cognitive transfer, reading and handwriting form an integral part of the learning outcomes and assessment standards of this phase.

In Stage One (TI Picture Location)) of Phase One the emphasis is on the learner being able to locate and name the letter-boxes and the 120 outline pictures (which provide visual clues to support picture/keyword/phoneme association) on the class Picturechart, which is divided into four rows of consonant picture/keyword/phoneme boxes and four rows of vowel picture/keyword/phoneme boxes separated by a bold vowel line. The class Picturechart may be used to name, describe, talk about and classify the outline pictures; create compound words,

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phrases, sentences and stories about the pictures; explore cross-curricular themes to develop vocabulary and explore language elements such as verbs, nouns, adverbs and adjectives. For example, learners may be asked to find all the keywords that would be categorised as 'pets’ and this theme would then be explored in detail to develop literacy skills. Spatial awareness is promoted by asking children to describe the picture ‘above’, ‘next to’ ‘to the left or right’, or ‘below’ another picture. The class Picturechart, the desk Picturechart, the colour-coded Phoneme- Grapheme Cards, the Picture cards, the Raps & Sequence tape, CD or book, the ‘THRASS-IT’ software and the ‘SING-A-LONG’ and ‘SOUND-IT-OUT’ software, books or CDs are resources for building up necessary listening and speaking skills by introducing one row at a time to discuss the attributes of the outline pictures and develop lexical knowledge. Thus the learners become familiar with the ‘geography’ or ‘landmarks’ of the Picturechart, and, in turn, also develop their memory skills (Davies & Ralphs 2006:1,5; Davies & Ritchie 2006:24-30).

Stage Two (T2) Letter Location is concerned with the learner being able to locate (by pointing directly underneath the given symbol with an index finger) and name the lower-case letters and their capitals in the letter-boxes on the class Graphemechart, which is the predominant resource around which the programme is based. Both lower-case and capital letters are taught simultaneously as opposed to the ‘traditional’ method of first teaching the lower-case letters as 26 sounds and then the capitals letters as 26 names. This skill can also be practiced on the class Picturechart, the desk Picturechart, the desk Graphemechart as well as the Raps and Sequence book and the software programmes. The magnetic alphabet/grapheme/letter tiles are used for learners to sort the tiles out of random order into linear sequential order. Life-world, environmental application is promoted by facilitating learners in locating and naming lower-case and capital letters in, for example, their names, names of family members and friends, names of the surrounding streets, newspapers, books, packaging and so on. Children thus learn when to use capital letters and they are also exposed to a variety of letter fonts, sizes and colours (Davies & Ritchie 1998b:40; Davies & Ritchie 2006:32-36).

Stage Three (T3) centres on teaching learners to correctly form both the lower-case and the capital letters identified on the class Graphemechart. This skill is practiced and assessed by tracing over letters on the Overwrite Chart, clicking the start point of letters in the handwriting ‘practice and play’ section of the THRASS-IT software, tracing over letters on worksheets and overwriting letters on lower-case and capital ‘Formation Sheets’ and ‘Name and Overwrite Sheets’ in conjunction with the Raps & Sequence tape or CD. Learners say the names of the letters and, as they trace over them they say the accompanying letter-formation ‘rhyme’ that describes the letter-formation. Thus, they see the letter shape (visual modality), hear the description of the letter shape (auditory modality) and trace over the letter shape (kinaesthetic re- enforcement). The Graphemechart is used by learners to trace over the lower-case and capitals

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in the letter-boxes located at the top of the chart and to strengthen Letter Location skills by tracing over the letters that represent the 120 keygraphemes. In time and with practice, learners will eventually start writing more quickly and progress naturally to generating a joined script/cursive based on Sassoon Primary Infant font. Stage Three is also integrated across the curriculum as in Stage Two by discussing the use of capital and lower-case letters in the environment (Davies & Ritchie 1998b:21,46; Davies & Ritchie 2006:38-43).

The emphasis in Stage Four (T4) Grapheme Location lies in the learner being able to identify, locate and name consonant and vowel graphs, digraphs and trigraphs, collectively known as graphemes. A graph is a one-letter spelling choice where one letter represents one phoneme. For example, the word ‘hat’ consists of three phonemes and three graphs (h-a-t). A digraph is a two- letter spelling choice where two letters denote one phoneme. For example, the word ‘chick’ comprises a digraph ‘ch’, a graph ‘i’ and another digraph ‘ck’ (ch-i-ck). A trigraph comprises a three-letter spelling choice where three letters correspond to one sound or phoneme such as in the word ‘edge’ which contains the graph ‘e’ and the trigraph ‘dge’. A quadgraph would consist of a four-letter spelling choice such as in the word ‘weigh’ which has two sounds, ‘w’ and ‘eigh’; the first sound representing a graph and the second sound indicating a quadgraph. Since a quadgraph is not represented on the Graphemechart, this grapheme would be placed in the Grapheme Catch-All (GCA) indicated by an asterisk in the phoneme-box containing the ‘a’, ‘a-e’, ‘ai’ and ‘ay’ as in ‘baby’, ‘tape’, ‘snail’ and ‘tray’ in vowel row 1. The various class, overwrite and desk charts, magnetic grapheme tiles, phoneme-grapheme and THRASS cards, grapheme sorting sheets, Sing-A-Long material and interactive software programme resources are used to scaffold this stage. The cross-curricular environmental application involves locating and naming the graphemes in a variety of print media (Davies & Ritchie 1998b:14-17; Davies & Ritchie 2006:44-49).

Stage Five (T5) is the final stage in Phase One and is concerned with Keyword Location. The primary resources for this phase are the class Picturechart and desk Picturechart. Phoneme- grapheme cards, the THRASS Wordchart, the Raps & Sequence material, the Sing-A-Long material and the software programmes are used for re-enforcement. In this stage learners are required to locate and name the 120 keywords on the chart by using their index fingers to point directly underneath the written words. Once again, themes and language elements are explored. Cross-curricular and environmental application will engage learners in finding the keywords in a variety of reading resources using a variety of fonts (Davies & Ritchie 2006:50-55).

After reviewing the ten distinctive features of the THRASS programme together with the five stages of phase one, it is necessary to consider how this part of the programme may possibly scaffold the literacy development of the research participant as a deaf Intermediate Phase

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learner. Firstly, it would probably be unnecessary to teach Sally the names of the lower-case and capital letters in the letter boxes. However, it would be pertinent to support her knowledge base of

when to use capital letters. Secondly, Sally would have to convert her ready knowledge of the 26

lower-case letters of the English alphabet being linked to single sounds and replace this prior knowledge with the ‘new’ knowledge of the 44 phonemes and the 120 corresponding graphemes. Thirdly, Sally would not practice the correct formation of both lower-case and capital letters as her handwriting style is well-developed. Fourthly, both criterion-referenced tests and norm-referenced tests will be administered prior to the introduction of the THRASS programme. These base-line assessments, in the form of pre-tests, will establish the levels of literacy development of the research participant, with particular reference to reading and spelling skills. These tests will also be diagnostic in function. The rest of the distinctive features of the THRASS programme together with the stages of phase one will form an integral part in attempting to enhance the literacy levels of this Intermediate Phase learner who is deaf and uses the spoken language approach.