DictaSpell

DictaSpell is the name I have given to process of working with language with students. It involves not only dictation and spelling but is open-ended enough to help teach grammar, pronunciation, culture, general knowledge, etc.

It contains nothing really new, but is maybe a new slant on existing techniques.

 The name “DictaSpell” was mainly chosen for the students’ benefit; "Everybody ready for DictaSpell" is a time of excitement at the beginning of the lesson.

The steps of DictaSpell

1	The teacher prepares several sentences which contain vocabulary, grammar, punctuation or other elements related to the requirements of the class. The teacher writes these sentences into a Microsoft Word document. Sometimes the sentences can be numbered, in which case they are likely to be fairly unrelated. However they can also be part of a text of one or two paragraphs, which provides an opportunity for close study of aspects of connected writing.
2	They are then marked as “hidden” and projected onto the whiteboard. The best way of hiding the text (and subsequently revealing it) is to use TextWand.
3	The teacher dictates a single sentence to the class. The dictation technique used is that which the teacher finds provides the maximum amount of exposure to the language and is an interesting area for trying out different ideas.
4	The teacher reveals the hidden sentence and asks the students to compare their version with the one on the board, word by word and letter by letter. While this is happening the teacher can wander around the class to gather evidence about individual students, what they are getting right and what they are getting wrong. This can be very informative; what you thought you said they may not have heard! The information gained can be fed back into subsequent DictaSpell sessions.
5	The teacher then goes to the whiteboard and makes any further teaching points about the sentence. The use of whiteboard markers is very helpful at this stage. By now the students "own" the sentence and enjoy learning more about the meanings of the words, the grammatical construction etc.
6	The above process is repeated until all sentences have been completed.

The advantages of DictaSpell

It combines the aural and written aspects of language.

• It enables all students sufficient opportunity to achieve, by the end of the correction process, nearly 100% accuracy and very high understanding of the learning points.
• Engagement levels are invariably 100%. It is something students really like doing. Maybe one of the reasons for this is that is a little closer to the visual media that many of them interact with at home every evening (PS2, Xbox etc).
• It provides instant feedback for students and an opportunity to immediately apply what they have just learned.
• It is self-marking!
• It enables ad hoc inclusion of “boring” concepts such as verb forms into “interesting” contexts such as The SpongeBob Movie!
• Flexibility is built into every step. Whether the focus is vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, revision, pronouns, common nouns etc will depend on the precise point the class is up to. The precise mix will vary day by day.
• It is a very quick way of building up an appropriate lesson. The creation of the sentences can take as little as 5 minutes, whereas the presentation of this phase of the lesson and ensuing discussion can take 15-20 minutes.
• It is possible to build quite a wide range of skills into the sentence set providing some challenges to the more advanced student along with simpler tasks for the less capable student.
• The fact that the material is in Microsoft Word format means that it can be reused later, modified if required, for follow-up, revision, tests etc.

Requirements for Dictaspell

To make DictaSpell work you need a projection device. The means by which the text is hidden can vary depending on your resources. These means could include:

• “rolling up” the text into the viewable area using the scroll bars.
• Formatting the text to be hidden with the colour “White” and then removing that colour. A good way of doing this is to select the text and press Ctrl+Spacebar, which has the effect of removing all manual formatting.
• The use of a text or paragraph style.
• The use of a tool such as TextWand.

Examples

Here are some actual sentence sets I used with a class in 2006, with the focus of each set. Notice the amount of repetition in many of the sets. This enables a student who “got it wrong” the first time to “get it right” later.

Focus:    revision of natural/artificial, passive forms (follows the use of “Vanilla Ice Cream” in Wild and Wacky)

1. In the supermarket you can buy two types of vanilla, natural and artificial.
2. Natural vanilla comes from the pods of a vine.
3. Vanilla grows in warm countries which have fertile soils such as Tonga.
4. The pods are treated in a long process called curing.
5. Artificial vanilla is made from chemicals.
6. Artificial vanilla is cheaper but doesn’t taste as good.
7. Many people are prepared to pay more for natural vanilla.

Focus:    contractions and present tense of “to be”

 (After each sentence is revealed students are asked what they think the contraction represents.)

1. He’s very happy at his new school.
2. She’s hoping to get a job in the local supermarket.
3. I’m very excited about my trip to Australia next holidays.
4. They’re going to be visiting Tonga and Samoa.
5. You’re a really good friend.
6. We’re going to have a party on Sunday.

Focus:    “I’ve” and “I’d”, revision spelling of European places previously discussed, interest in Europe and languages

1. I’ve never been to Europe but I’d like to go one day.
2. Among the many countries I’d like to visit are Spain, Switzerland and England.
3. Switzerland would be my preference because it’s very mountainous and I love mountains.
4. Before going to Europe I’d like to learn one of the European languages.
5. I’ve always wanted to learn French or Italian.

Focus:    “I wish … had”, revision of they/their/they’re, revision of present tense forms.

1. I wish this classroom had air-conditioning.
2. I wish I had a ticket to travel around the world.
3. I wish I had enough money to buy my parents a new house.
4. They’re waiting to buy their lunch.
5. Do you know what they’re doing there?
6. They’re sitting over there eating their lunch.
7. I’m tired, you’re tired, he’s tired, she’s tired, we’re all tired, but we must finish the job before we rest.

Focus: information texts

The characters in the SpongeBob movie are based on real creatures.

When most people think of sponges they think of the artificial sponges which are used to clean up spills in kitchens and bathrooms.  SpongeBob SquarePants looks like one of these.

However sponges are real creatures. They are called “the lungs of the sea” because they are full of tiny holes, like our lungs. They do a good job of cleaning up the ocean by removing tiny pieces of food and rubbish.

Focus:    technical vocabulary e.g. “porous, revision of “artificial, natural, species”, information text language

1. When most people think of sponges they think of artificial sponges.
2. However there are 5000 species of natural sponges.
3. Both natural and artificial sponges are porous which means having lots of holes.
4. Because sponges are porous, water can flow through them easily.
5. One species of sponge has 80,000 holes.
6. Natural sponges are one of the most primitive creatures.
7. Natural sponges are always attached to rocks so they cannot move around.
8. The skeletons of natural sponges are often sold in shops.

 

Jim Brook, ESOL Department, Massey High School

 

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