Resultados del proceso

The focus of the lesson was on letter writing. The teacher began the lesson by asking learners to name the uses of a written letter, and she drew a mind map on the chalk board. As the learners responded orally, Thandi wrote their answers on the board. The answers included the following: letters as form of reminders about account payments, notifying people about bereavement, sending money from one place to the other, etc. Learners also mentioned that letters were used by the government to inform people about their official documents that had been approved, e.g. a passport. The lesson proceeded as shown in excerpt 2 below:

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Excerpt 2 for Lesson B

1 Thandi Uyibhalela ntoni ileta Zet? Why do you write a letter Zet? 2 Zet Xa kukho umphanga.

When there is bereavement. 3 Thandi Yintoni umphanga?Mavis?

What is bereavement? Mavis? 4 Mavis Xa uwe nemoto.

When you are involved in a car accident. 5 Thandi Waze wathini xa uwe nemoto?

And then what happens when you get involved in a car accident?

6 Thandi Umphanga xa kukho umntu oswelekileyo, kuthiwa ngumphanga loo nto, siyavana nhe?

Bereavement is when there is someone who has passedon , it is called bereavement, are we together, neh?

7 Thandi Xa oosisi besihla besenyuka bephethe iimvulophu, sukuba besenza ntoni? Oosister noobhuti besihla benyuka befaka izinto zabo kwezi ndawo benzela ntoni?

When we see our brothers and sisters walking up and down with envelopes, what are they doing? When our brothers and sisters walk up and down submitting their particulars in different places, why do they do that?

8 Zet Uxolo Miss, bafaka isivi.

Sorry Miss, they are submitting their cv 9 Thandi For ukuthini?

For what?

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10 Zet Ukuphangela To get work.

11 Thandi Bafuna imisebenzi.Ubhala ileta xa ufuna umsebenzi, nhe.

They are looking for work.You write a letter when you are looking for work, neh.

12 Pumla Uxolo Miss, xa kukho umntu wakowenu ogulayo umbhalele ileta. Sorry Miss, when a family member is sick, you write him/her a letter.

13 Thandi Xa kukho umntu wakowenu ogulayo umbhalele ileta, ileta ethi phila msinyane, nhe. Umhlawumbi uyagula usesibhedlela akakasweleki, uyagula usesibhedlela. Siphinde sibhale ileta xa sithuthuzela ifemeli ethile eswelekelweyo, nhe. Masibhale, masiyibhale nalo pisi, xa sithuthuzela sisebenzisa ileta.

When a family member does not feel well you write him/her a letter, a letter that says get well soon. Maybe he/she is still sick at hospital, has not yet passed on. We also write a letter to a certain family when we offer our condolences. Let’s write, let’s that piece as well, when we offer our condolences we write a letter. 14 Learner Miss, uxolo Miss umzekelo umam’am, wakho afumane ileta emkhumbuzayo.

Sorry Miss,for example, my mother, your mother receives a letter that reminds her.

15 Thandi Ewe iileta zamatyala, ityala netyala angakhange alibhatale. Yes, debt letters, that remind her of debt she did not pay. 16 Mavis Xa uzokuthatha into eHome Affairs.

When you are going to fetch something from Home Affairs.

17 Thandi Uthi xa ipassport yakho ingaphumi okanye xa sele ifikile eHome Affairs, ubhalelwa ileta yena ke uqabela ngapha kweeboders zase South Africa aye eMaputo. Xa iipassport zabo zifikile eHome Affairs, utsho, babhalelwa ileta ethi, hambani niye kuthatha iipassport eHome Affairs, nhe. Ipassport ke yinto engathi yi-ID, yinto efana ne-ID, le ID ithi uwela ngapha koMzantsi Afrika ngayo,

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nhe...yi passport leyo ikunika igunya lokuba uwele uye ngaphaya komda woMzantsi Afrika nhe.

She said when your passport has not been released or when it has been released by the Department of Home Affairs, they write her a letter because she crosses South African borders to Maputo. When their passports are ready, they are informed by letters that inform them that their passports are ready for collection from the Department of Home Affairs, right. A passport is something that looks like an identity document that gives you a right to cross South African borders, right … it is a passport that gives you a right to cross South African borders.

In most cases, Thandi would repeat the responses provided by the learners. This was done to correct the mistakes the learners made when constructing sentences or sometimes when the learner provided an incomplete answer. For example, in line 17 above, she extended the learners’ knowledge about what a passport was and its role.

This lesson was also used to develop learners’ vocabulary in that one of the learners mentioned the role a letter played in keeping the family ties together. Zet mentioned that letter writing was also used in informing family members about bereavements “xa kukho umphanga” (“when there was bereavement”). The teacher used questions to draw the learners to the expected answer in defining “umphanga” (“bereavement”). Thandi gave a summary of when people use the word “umphanga”. Although she started off by interacting with Mavis, she cut off the interaction and gave a summary of what “umphanga” was.

Thandi also probed for further elaboration on answers. For example, in line 5 she asked, “waze wathini lo mntu uwe nemoto?” (“And what happened to the passenger involved in a car accident?”).

She also tried to incorporate learners’ daily experiences in her teaching in order to illustrate certain events and to expand their vocabulary. The excerpt below shows how Thandi related her lesson to learners’ common knowledge of family life to facilitate learning.

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Excerpt 2 for Lesson B

18 Thandi UMamNgwevu athi,“Yhu!ivela kutata kaXhanti, Yhu! Avuye, ngokuba utata kaXhanti uthumele ntoni?

MamNgwevu would be excited because it is from Xhanti’s father, because he sent them what?

19 All Imali. Money.

20 Thandi Bazothi bakwazi ukuthi batye imileqwa

So that they will be able to buy “umleqwa” (a live chicken) 21 Zizipho Uxolo Miss, yintoni umleqwa?

Sorry Miss, what is “umleqwa?” 22 Thandi Yinyama, yinkukhu, yinyama umleqwa

It’s meat, it’s chicken, it’s meat

23 Learner Zezi nkukhu zithengiswayo.Aniyazi ukuba kuthiwa yimileqwa? Nawe uthi utya umleqwa nje.

It is the chickens that are sold. Don’t you know that they are called “imileqwa?” And you say you eat “umleqwa”.

Harmon, Buckelew- Martin and Wood (2010) assert that an ability to identify an unfamiliar word is an important skill in literacy learning. In this case, the learner is able establish a relationship between reading and text comprehension which enhances literacy skills. The ability to identify unfamiliar words in a text determines one’s comprehension of the text, and it also expands learners’ vocabulary.

After the above exercise which involved vocabulary learning, the teacher proceeded with letter writing. She guided learners on what information was required when a letter is written. Learners were asked to name the components of a letter. The features that the learners mentioned were the address which indicates the date when the letter was written, the receiver’s name and the writer’s

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name, as well as the purpose for writing a letter. The use of questions by the teacher to stimulate learner’s prior knowledge seemed to create an interactive classroom environment, even though some of the learners were dominating the lesson while others seemed lost.

Thandi began to summarise the uses of a letter on the chalkboard. She asked the learners to read the summary she compiled on the chalkboard. Thandi ended the lesson by asking learners about the importance of writing an address. She then modelled writing the address on the chalkboard. Learners were asked to copy the letter that Thandi wrote on the board.