Colourful Semantics Making sentences make sense

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Colourful SemanticsMaking sentences make sense
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(No Transcript)
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• What are common difficulties the students you
  work with have when it comes to making up
  sentences (both oral and written?)
• Dont know what to write
• Sentences dont make sense
• Produce brief sentences without details
• Have trouble expanding on ideas
• Sentences consist of grammar mistakes

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Colourful Semantics

• Colourful Semantics was developed in the UK by
  Speech and Language Therapist Alison Bryan
• It was brought to Victoria by Speech Pathologist
  Andrea Hewett (Bairnsdale)
• Presentation adapted from that developed by
  Marcella Van Mourik (CEOM Speech Pathologist)

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Colourful
Semantics
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What is Colourful Semantics?

• A method of teaching children how to understand
  and construct sentences
• (syntax vs. morphology grammar is modeled not
  explicitly taught e.g. the, -ing, auxiliary verb
  is)
• A therapy technique that uses colour-coded cue
  cards that show the structure of a sentence
  each card represents a word or part of a sentence
• Tunes the child into key words in sentences
  (oral/written)

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Activities aim to help children to

• Understand instructions and sentences
• Follow discussions and to communicate their own
  ideas effectively
• Reduce problem behaviours such as anger and
  aggression in the classroom (if this is the
  result of frustration associated with language
  difficulty)

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• Use different modalities to learn about making
  sentences (Children with SLD are usually stronger
  visually and kinesthetically - hands-on)
• Develop competent use of simple and complex
  sentence structure
• Develop a concept of narrative (e.g. what makes
  up a story)

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• Produce grammatically correct sentences in
  speaking and writing
• Develop literacy skills by building a strong
  foundation in oral language
• ?John Monros multiple levels of text
  processing' (MLOTP) model outlines the importance
  of using existing oral language skills to
  comprehend text.
• http//webraft.its.unimelb.edu.au/472697/pub/liter
  acy/ contents/underrd/framework.html

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• ACTIVITY 1
• Select a word from the bucket
• Decide which group your word belongs to
• nouns
• verbs
• adjectives
• adverbs
• conjunctions
• prepositions
• pronouns
• Form a group with others who have the same word
  type

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• ACTIVITY 2
• In groups, brainstorm ideas about
• What a sentence is?
• What things should be included to make a
  sentence?

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What is a sentence?

• Can be a one or more clauses joined together
• So what is a clause?.....It is a unit of meaning
  that contains a verb and a subject (noun)
• For example.
• The dog jumped

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What is a sentence?

• More information about the noun is added through
  the use of adjectives
• More information about the verb is added through
  the use of adverbs
• For example.
• The lazy brown dog jumped over the log quickly

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How is a sentence made?

• Think of an idea - eg. visualise a dog burying a
  bone
• Think of a verb to represent the concept - eg.
  bury
• Determine the other parts needed in the sentence
  and choose a main word for each part eg. WHO
  (the dog), WHAT DOING (bury), WHAT (a bone) and
  WHERE (in the garden)
• Add the grammar eg. The dog buried a bone in
  the garden
• Add the motor plan eg. sounds, sequencing, body
  language, intonation, etc.
• Say the sentence

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Colour Cue Cards

• WHO orange nouns
• Can include
• people e.g. man, baby, Grandma
• animals e.g. horse, dog, butterfly
• occupations e.g. clown, hairdresser, doctor
• pronouns e.g. he, she, it, they
• describing words e.g. big man, brown horse, sad
  girl

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• WHAT DOING yellow verbs
• Can include
• stand alone verbs e.g. run, sit
• verbs associated with an object e.g. wash (car),
  brush (hair)
• different tenses (past, present, future)
• is (copula) ?verb to be e.g. Boy is tall
• (other times, is auxiliary verb e.g. Boy is
  running in this context is is modeled, not
  explicitly taught)

is
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• WHAT green objects/nouns
• - e.g. brush dog, wash car
• WHERE red
• - e.g. on the car, in the cupboard,
• outside, at the park
• WHEN purple
• - e.g. yesterday, last week,
• on the weekend, tomorrow

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• HOW DOING white adverbs
• - e.g. quickly, gently, like a monkey,
• in a silly way, well
• WHAT LIKE blue adjectives
• Can include
• - Feelings e.g. angry, scared, hungry
• - Physical attributes e.g. old, tall, pretty

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• WHO TO pink indirect objects
• - e.g. The girl gave flowers to her mother.
• Joining words brown conjunctions
• - e.g. and, because, after, although

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• Not red circle cut out
• - e.g. not verb, not adjective
• (N.B. never how doing (adverb)
  does/did etc.
  auxiliary verbs
• e.g. Boy did
  not run)

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Suggested strategies for Colourful Semantics.

• Use colour cue cards
• Use signs where appropriate (i.e. children with
  more severe comprehension difficulties)
• Use Choice and Contrast questioning
• Use Recasting Remodelling to promote grammar
• Use lots of praise, encouragement and
  reinforcement

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Using Colourful Semantics

• Teach WHO
• Establish the colour link by explaining who
  words are orange and present the orange card
• Use real objects
• Identify real people in the class, home, school
• Identify people and animals in storybooks, photos
  and magazines
• Make a poster with pictures or photos

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• Expand vocabulary and oral language by using
  occupations activities (e.g. Who am I?)
• Students may experience difficulty with gender
  (e.g. he, she)

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• 2. Teach WHAT DOING
• Establish the colour link by explaining what
  doing words are yellow and present the yellow
  card
• Use stand alone verbs at this stage (e.g.
  running, walking, jumping, sleeping, sitting,
  standing, falling, crying, laughing, swimming,
  sleeping etc.
• Use pictures from magazines, books, photos etc.
  and encourage the student to identify the what
  doing word
• Make a poster with pictures or photos

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• A variety of tenses can be used (e.g. past,
  present, future) (e.g. using Tense Sequencing
  cards)
• Students may experience difficulty using verb
  tenses and may need more assistance with this
  step
• It is important to remember that prompts need to
  change as different tenses are worked on. E.g.
• PAST TENSE What did the girl do? (jumped)
• PRESENT TENSE What does the girl do (jumps)

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• 4. Teach WHO WHAT DOING
• Use stand alone verb pictures
• Place action picture in front of the student
• Place who and what doing cue cards in front
  of the student
• Point to the orange who card and ask Who is in
  this picture? (boy)
• Point to the yellow what doing card and ask
  What is the boy doing? (sleeping)
• Ask What is the complete sentence? (The boy is
  sleeping)

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• 4. Teach WHAT (in conjunction with WHAT DOING
  words)
• Establish the colour link by explaining to the
  student
• what doing words are yellow (present the
  yellow card)
• what words are green (present the green card)
• Identify actions in the classroom, at home or at
  school
• Identify actions in story books, photos or
  magazines
• Use what doing words that can be associated
  with an object (e.g. reading (a book), throwing
  (a ball) etc.)

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• It is important to ensure that the student
  understands the distinction between what doing
  and what words in this context
• For example
• When asked What is the boy doing?, a child
  will often respond with reading a book. This
  is incorrect.
• reading is the what doing word
• book is the what word

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• 5. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHAT
• Place action picture in front of the student
• Place who, what doing and what cue cards in
  front of the student
• Prompt student as outlined previously
• Who is in the picture? (a boy)
• What is the boy doing? (reading)
• What is the boy reading? (a book)
• What is the complete sentence? (The boy is
  reading a book)

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• ACTIVITY 3
• In pairs, ask each other comprehension questions
  for these pictures.

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• It is important to remember that colourful
  semantics builds on the concept of meaning
  words rather than specific grammatical
  structures. Therefore, if a student responds
  with The boy reading a book reward the student
  for including all parts of the sentence, but
  recast the sentence back to the student using the
  correct grammar.

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• 6. Teach WHERE
• Establish the colour link by explaining to the
  student that where words are red (present red
  where card)
• Present the student with pictures and ask the
  student to identify the where words (e.g. under
  the chair, in the box etc.)

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• Use the following activity ideas to teach
  where
• Play hiding games ask where things or people
  are hidden. Consider the following hierarchy
• life size objects ? toys ? photos ? drawings
• Play barrier games and/or use picture scenes
  give each other instructions (e.g. put the bike
  on the road etc.)
• Students may experience difficulty understanding
  concepts

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• 7. Teach WHO WHAT DOING (IS) WHERE
• 8. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHERE
• 9. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHAT WHERE
• 10. Teach WHEN
• 11. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHEN
• 12. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHAT WHEN

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• 13. Teach WHAT LIKE
• 14. Teach WHO WHAT DOING (IS) WHAT LIKE
• 15. Teach WHO WHAT LIKE WHAT DOING
  WHAT
• 16. Teach WHO TO
• 17. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHAT WHO TO
• 18. Teach HOW DOING
• 19. Teach WHO WHAT DOING WHAT HOW
  DOING

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• ACTIVITY 4
• On the weekend I played soccer at the sports
  oval.
• On the weekend I played soccer at the sports
  oval.
• My brother and I were kicking the football to our
  next door neighbours
• My brother and I were kicking the football to our
  next door neighbours
• My sister spoke well during the school
  performance.
• My sister spoke well during the school
  performance.
• The whale was as big as a house.
• The whale was as big as a house.

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• 20. Teach JOINING WORDS
• Present the brown card to the student and explain
  that joining words are brown
• Explain to the student that we can join sentences
  together to make longer sentences. We join
  sentences with a joining word (point to the brown
  card)
• Give the student some examples, then ask them to
  formulate sentences using the cue cards (2 sets)

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• Teach joining words one at a time, making sure
  you explain the joining word to the student and
  provide them with examples and modelling
• Present the student with pictures and photos, as
  well as the colour cue cards
• Encourage the student to formulate each sentence
  individually before joining them
• Check that the student understands the concepts
  by asking questions, such as What did the boy do
  first? etc.
• Ensure that tense is consistent

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because
The boy went to the doctor
The boy had a pain in the stomach
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Using Colourful Semantics in the classroom

• Have large copies of cue cards stuck on
  blackboard or wall, ready to use.
• Put up posters or butchers paper containing
  brainstormed words/pictures for each cue.
• Use colour cards as cues during Show and Tell
• Use colour cards during writing demonstrations or
  story writing activities

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• Gesture to cue cards as a story is read and/or
  discussed to assist with comprehension
• INCY WINCY SPIDER
• Incy wincy spider climbed
• up the water spout. Down
• came the rain and washed
• poor Incy out. Out came the
• sunshine and dried up all the
• rain so Incy wincy spider
• climbed up the spout again

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• Have students find the key words in a sentence,
  text or picture ? underline them in colour etc.
• Write a sentence on the board and have students
  match up the words with the cue cards. Encourage
  the students to make the sentence more
  colourful by adding a word or sentence part.
• Add appropriate labels to the cue cards e.g.
  who noun/subject what doing verb
  what noun/object
• ? Students can then use the colour cards to
  refer to if unsure about a label e.g. adverb,
  adjective
• Use colour cards as cues during narrative, essay,
  report, debate, sentence formulation etc.

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Questions???