Using Popperty in Classroom

I have been teaching in a Chinese immersion program for six years and I am always interesting in incorporating multiple strategies into literacy teaching. I think that using puppets in the bilingual education is an appropriate and significant teaching strategy when they are incorporated into classroom lessons to improve literacy skills across the curriculum and Freeman provided many great examples of using drama / puppetry to build literacy for second language learners.

As Freeman stated, "A whole language program must include oral language development, decoding/encoding strategies, and strategies for reading comprehension". There are three important points that I learned how to enhance children's literacy by incorporating puppetry from this reading. First, Oral language skills are the foundation of second language learning, especially they are considered a reliable prediction of success in reading comprehension. By manipulating puppetry and dramatizing a story, students could learn about verbs and how to change their voices and words to match the character and situation while. Second, bilingual students need more time to develop decoding and encoding skills. The using of "The Phonics Pals" engages children's attention in participating activities. By using puppets as representation for animal or people, children could internalize that alphabet letters are symbols representing sounds. Besides, Students could get more opportunities to reread the text when they choose a piece of literature to perform, decide on characters and dialogue, and while they practice. With frequent reviewing and repetition, they could improve their literacy skills. Third, Students are enhanced their higher-level thinking skills by overall comprehension of text. While they are learning to reread story, they learn the skills of skimming for important information and appropriate dialogue.

As to my teaching experience, my co-teacher and I usually organize students' learning by using monthly themes to meet curriculum requirements. We often tried hard to incorporating multiple teaching strategies into students' learning. After reading this article, I think it is easy to incorporating puppetry into our daily teaching, such as the introduction of new topic, role-playing in problem-solving classroom theater or literacy group activities. Besides, I also think it is important for teachers to recognize and support the cultural background of the second language learners. As Freeman suggested, "Through the thematic units and interaction with other students, the second language learners learn more about the American Way". In my class, I would introduce different puppets from characters of Chinese folktales' and Aesop's fable. My students love monkey king, the most popular character in "The Journal to the West". I think that using multicultural materials not only help second language learners