Susan Leong, a specialist teacher in Visual Impairment in Sydney, Australia, offers some tried and tested reading and writing activities to help engage a student's interest and promote a sense of fun when learning braille. She writes:
It is often maintained that we should introduce braille symbols to our students as they meet them in their reading. With this in mind it is helpful if we think about the vocabulary needed before class lessons so that we can identify and then teach the contractions that will be coming up. Teaching these contractions is best done on a one-to-one basis between student and braille teacher.
The following are ideas for reading and writing activities that could form the core of such one-to-one lessons. They are intended to be used in addition to the regular literacy classes students will be following in mainstream schools.
• Structuring a programme of one-to-one lessons – what works for
me.
• Daily, individual lessons of at least 30 minutes in length.
• Astute timetabling. Schedule lessons at times outside of regular class
activities (or other vital/favourite lessons) so that students don't feel they
are missing out.
• Keep a record of contractions as the student learns them. Encourage
the student to keep their own record.
• Inform the class teacher and caregivers etc of the student’s progress.
Ideally encourage caregivers to learn the contractions at the same time.
• Record mistakes and re-teach contractions if necessary
Some useful materials
• A quiet workspace with adequate space, furniture and ventilation/heating
• Perkins Brailler
• Braille paper, binding machine and binders
• Braille cubes (blocks with moveable parts containing raised dots - RNIB
has a keyring version)
• Braillette board (the RNIB version has a plastic case with four rows
of ten cells in the base, and 150 steel rivets which can be inserted into the
cells to form braille letters.)
• Magnets and paperclips
• Sorting trays
Initial lesson: Introducing a braille contraction
Show the new contraction to the student on a braille cube or braillette board.
Discuss the configuration of the contraction by its dot numbers, its phonemic
analysis and its spelling,
Ask the student to read words containing the new contraction from a "Contraction
Wheel" ( description to follow).
The student can braille a simple one-sentence rule about the contraction eg "The DO contraction can only be used in the middle of a word" followed by a list of words from the Contraction Wheel.
The student can also braille dictated sentence/paragraphs/ short stories using these same words and read the page aloud. Try to make the sentences relate to some classroom unit of work, or to something personal to the student i.e. a hobby, friend etc.
The Contraction Wheel
Cut a circular piece of braille paper with a diameter of 15 cm. Attach this
to the centre of a regular sheet of braille paper with a paper fastener so that
it can be rotated. Glue a final contraction onto the regular piece at the edge
of the circle. Glue the beginning of words around the edge of the circle. The
student “turns the wheel" to make different words with the final
contraction. For example NESS can have these letters brailled around the wheel:
good, like, fair, weak, kind, blind, happy, tender, gentle, forgive, careless.
Follow up lesson - choose from the following activities
• Sorting trays and small flashcards
Place one example of each of the newly taught contractions to be sorted in each
compartment as an example to follow. Then ask the student to sort the remaining
contractions against the clock. The student's time can be shown on a tactile
graph with rewards and privileges given for improvement.
• Fishing game
Braille words containing contractions onto fish shaped pieces of paper and attach
a paper clip. The student uses a magnetic "fishing rod" (make your
own!) to catch the fish. She can keep the fish if she can read the word and
put it into a sentence. If not the fish swims free!
• Posting box and flashcards
Take a shoebox and cut slits into the top. The slits need to be large enough
to allow flashcards to be passed through. Add a strip of braille paper along
the top of the posting box with the braille contractions that are to be sorted
spaced out along it. The student matches each flashcard to its contraction on
the braille strip and “posts” it into the adjacent slit.
• Mini flip books
Create mini books with sheets folded in half featuring contractions. The student
will flip the pages to make new words. For example braille ENCE onto the last
page of your book. On the preceding pages add: f, p, sci, def, off, evid, sent,
comm, differ, depend, independ.
• Pocket Storybooks (palm size)
Divide a braille sheet into eight equal rectangles. Dictate a short story, or
set of dictionary meanings, to the student, one sentence at a time. The student
brailles one sentence per rectangle or "page". After all the sentences
have been written, including a title page, separate the pages and staple to
form a small book. Here are some examples:
ITY Mini Dictionary
abiliTY ability - being able to do something
cITY city - place where people live, bigger than a town
majorITY majority - the greater number; more than half
personalITY personality - character or identity of a person
pITY pity - to feel sorry for someone else
quantITY quantity - an amount or number of
SimilarITY similarity - likeness, having a resemblance
These strategies have proven to be highly successful in fostering my student’s
literacy skills. Yet even more satisfying was the student' resulting love of
reading and one memorable comment made while on our way to our workspace: “this
is my most favourite part of the whole day!” I hope the ideas might help
you spice up your braille literacy classes and make learning braille the highlight
of your student’s days. I’d love to hear your own suggestions too!
Susan Leong, Specialist Teacher Sueleong2004@hotmail.com
From: It’s Vision Time Issue 12 Term 3 2009