Teaching English as a

Second Language to
Illiterates

hoda Thabet
Asst. Prof
http://contrapuntal.weebly.com
 Education for Everyone
The Mother -Tongue literacy is the corner stone
in any educational process that aims at building
personal capacities.

Academic research show that literacy in the

Heritage Language has a strong positive
impact on learning another language.
Before we start
Who we serve?
How do we serve
them?
Our Core Purpose
 Illiterate Refugees
- The proposed program is designed to teach
illiterate refugees, who speak Arabic or Persian,
English as their Second-Language.

- In order for an illiterate individual to learn a

Second-Language, this person needs to master at
least the basics of reading and writing in his/her
native language.
 Handbook for Teaching a
Second-Language to Illiterates
-The universe of this Handbook is centered on the
Alphabets and sounds used in the four languages:
Arabic, Persian, English and Icelandic.

-The list of vocabularies provided in this Handbook

includes vocabularies from Arabic, Persian, English and
Icelandic. Each educator can design his/her personal
set of vocabularies in accordance to the Mother
tongue and the Second-Language he/she is teaching.
Students in this program will learn how to read and
write in their mother-tongue language (Arabic or
Persian) as well as English/Icelandic.

- This objective is accomplished through a

structured program that includes a combination of
various stages and it is important in each stage to
use only the set of letters that have been taught
and learnt in that stage and the previous stages.
 ENGLISH/ICELANDIC/PERSIAN/ARABIC
ALPHABETS
A
B
P
T

J
Ch
H
Kh
D

R
Z
J
S
Sh
S
D
T

A
Gh
F
 ENGLISH/ICELANDIC/PERSIAN/ARABIC
ALPHABETS
Q

K
G
L
M
N
H
V

U
O

E
I
Y
Challenges: SOUNDS! Aa


Uu -
Bb
Dd
-
Ee
Vv

Xx -
Ff
Gg
Yy - Hh
Ii

Zz -
- Kk
Jj

Ll
Mm
Nn


Oo

Oo Pp
Rr
- Ss
- Tt
A N E T P B

I

Y

n e t p b

i

y

a o e

i
u
y

Week-1 (9 hours) (3 lessons per week, each lesson is 3 hrs)
Group 1: Alphabets ( - - - - - )
In the first two weeks, the learning shall only concentrate
on the mother-tongue language until the student becomes
familiar with this group of letters in her/his language.

In this week, the student will need to go through a lot of

practice to hold the pen, draw dots and lines. Then the
student starts learning how to connect the horizontal and
vertical lines | _ to shape the first group of letters.
By the end of week 1, the student shall become
familiar with the first group of letters without
expecting him/her to be able to write them from
memory. A lot of practice should be done during
the lesson time and no homework should be given
to the student at this stage.
In addition, it is important to have the
alphabets hand-written and not printed so the
student feels comfortable with his/her
handwriting and confident of his ability to
learn. Perfection is not what we are aiming at,
and the student should receive this message
clearly. One way to do this is through having
the letters and the words in the first few
months hand-written.
LESSON 1
(3 hours)

In this lesson, the student is introduced to dots and lines; straight

lines, horizontal lines and vertical lines. The student is asked to
connect the dots on the white/black board. Then the teacher
provides the student with a blank paper and asks the student to
draw straight, horizontal and vertical lines.

Once the student becomes comfortable with holding the

pen/pencil, it is possible to introduce the first set of letters through
connecting the lines.
.......... . . . . . . . . . . . . .
One letter is introduced at a time:
- One horizontal line to shape the bottom of then two vertical
lines connected to both edges of the horizontal line. Then the dot is
placed under the horizontal line.
- One horizontal line to shape the bottom of then two vertical
lines connected to both edges of the horizontal line. Then the three
dots are placed under the horizontal line.
- One horizontal line to shape the bottom of then two vertical
lines connected to both edges of the horizontal line. Then the two
dots are placed above the horizontal line.
- One horizontal line to shape the bottom of then two vertical
lines connected to both edges of the horizontal line. Then the three
dots are placed above the horizontal line.
 The Rule of Thumb
- Vocabularies that include new alphabets and sounds
should be avoided until those alphabets and sounds are
being introduced to the student.
For Example: First Group of Alphabets

Bayt ( House)
Bint (Girl)
This rule of thumb can be very challenging and time
consuming for the educator to follow; nevertheless,
it has positive impacts on the students learning
process.

Firstly, by following this method, the

educator can assist the student to learn the
alphabets that he/she has been teaching in
their final shapes as a word.
Secondly, the educator can also use this method to
help the student to memorize the set of alphabets
that has been introduced to him/her.

Thirdly, the student will feel confident to witness

how well he/she learnt the group of letters in that
lesson and the previous lessons.
Fourthly, using this method helps the student to
establish a sense of practical feeling for the sounds
and letters that he/she has been learning until this
moment in isolation from their final usage.

Finally, using this method will boost the students

self-esteem for realizing that he/she is actually
able to write and read.
 Alternate Method
- In the first three weeks, the educator needs to
concentrate on teaching the first group of letters
in the mother-tongue language.

- Only in the 2 final lessons in the third week the

student is introduced to first group of letters in the
second-learnt language. This first group represents
the sounds of the alphabets in the first group of
mother-tongue alphabets that the student has
been learning in the previous couple of weeks.
Why is it important to know
this information?
- The Mother -Tongue literacy must
stand at the heart of any
educational programs that are
designed to address the teaching
process of a Second-Language to
illiterate individuals.
- Teaching a Second-Language to
illiterates requires following special
methodologies that differ from
those methodologies that are used
in teaching a Second-Language
generally.
-It is important for Educators and
Teachers, especially in the West, to note
the fundamental requirements that
necessitate establishing new forms of
Teaching-Learning process of a Second-
Language to those who are illiterates.
Iceland Project
 In order for an illiterate individual to learn a
Second-Language, this person needs to master
at least the basics of reading and writing in
his/her native language.