MFEA-78 TG - Book - Page 8
2010). Furthermore, children develop literacy skills which enable the acquisition of
reading and writing in future years. “Stories encourage natural communication through
listening and responding to questions within an authentic contextual framework,
encouraging the exchange of ideas and natural expression of likes, dislikes, preferences
and views”.
3. Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
The activation and development of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) is central to the
My First English Adventure books. We know that pupils who develop higher-order
thinking skills become life-long learners – capable of analyzing new situations, relating
new information to what they already know, and thinking critically and creatively to
solve problems and understand their world.
This light-bulb icon denotes a HOTS activity. Instructions are given to teachers on how
to include activities that require pupils to use HOTS without explicitly teaching them:
Classify and Categorize
To organize elements of a text according to criteria.
Compare and Contrast
To draw conclusions based on similarities and differences in a text.
Infer
To understand implied (as opposed to explicit) meaning in a text.
Integrate
To access different parts of a text in order to answer a given question.
Make Connections
To create associations between information that has been presented and
learners’ prior knowledge.
Predict
To anticipate a certain outcome based on information that has been presented.
Generate Possibilities
To produce new ideas or outcomes based on information that has been
presented.
4. Teaching Reading
The shift in the teaching of reading has led to a more balanced approach, keeping
in mind “five areas of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,
vocabulary and comprehension instruction” (Kim, 2008). Carbo (2005) states that
“using a single approach to the teaching of reading does not work and it must be a
combination of approaches that cater to the different stages of reading acquisition”.
Krashen (2013) said that “the best way to get children to refine and extend their
knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is through repeated opportunities to
read”. Hence, My First English Adventure is designed around a combination of
phonetic and global reading methods, with the use of literature to enhance the
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