In Winter semester of 2005 the English Language Center (ELC) began plans to implement a content-based program for students at its highest proficiency level in order to provide them with more effective preparation for academic studies in English. Since that time, the program has undergone various changes to provide a more stable, cohesive, and responsive curriculum. There is a need, however, for greater teacher support and training. This paper outlines the process I underwent to create a handbook that would provide needed guidance and training for teachers in this program. This project involved an in-depth needs analysis of teachers and students in the program. Results from this analysis led to the selection of three basic principles that were used in the design and development of this project: (1) practicality, (2) instructiveness, and (3) sustainability. The resulting project is a binder organized into four tabs: (1) Program Overview, (2) The Basics of Content-based Instruction at the ELC, (3) Challenges and Strategies in CBI, and (4) Additional Resources. This resource was developed using Microsoft Word 2007 and includes a variety of graphics, text boxes and layouts to provide a professional and user-friendly product. An evaluation of the project based on the responses of three teachers who used the handbook during Winter semester 2009 revealed that it was a useful and needed resource for teaching content-based classes at the ELC. Further piloting is needed to verify these findings. It is recommended that in the future this resource be maintained by the ELC Coordinator assigned to oversee the content courses. As the ELC continues to refine the content curriculum, evaluation and revisions of this handbook should be carried out at regular intervals to ensure its continued relevance and accuracy over time.

Hearing parents of deaf children who are reliant on Sign Language need to learn to sign to ensure communication mode-match with their children. Signing is vital for parent-child interaction, and has implications for the socio-emotional well-being and educational outcomes of the child. However, poor signing skills of parents is repeatedly reported in the literature, with the majority of children in signing educational programmes reported not to be exposed to signing in the home. Teaching parents to sign therefore appears a priority, with sign teaching strategies being debated in the literature. The learning of Sign Language as a second language by hearing parents of deaf children within the bilingual educational approach, which regards Sign Language as the first language of deaf children, raises the challenges of cross-modality language learning for hearing parents. Reports on teaching methods are mainly anecdotal with only a few studies addressing sign learning by hearing individuals. While the use of graphic representations of signs is a common practice in teaching signs, there is no empirical data on their influence on the learning of signs. This study explored the contribution of graphic representations of signs in sign teaching. The main aim of the study was to describe the impact of sign illustrations on the teaching of signs to hearing mothers. Two sub-aims were formulated to compare the conditions of sign learning with and without the use of sign illustrations in graphic displays in terms of (a) sign reception and sign production, and (b) the amount and nature of assistance required in learning signs. An Adapted Alternating Treatments Design (AATD), with four theme-based sign sets, and probes balanced for equivalence, was developed and used. Four biological mothers of three boys and a girl in a Grade Three class at a day school for the deaf in an urban area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa took part in the study. The results revealed no significant differences between the two training strategies for sign acquisition, in terms of sign reception and sign production post-training. There were however, significant differences between the two training strategies with regard to assistance required while learning signs. The graphics strategy required significantly less trainer assistance (p<0.05). In addition, there were significant differences in the nature of assistance provided with the use of graphic representations. Significantly fewer repeated demonstrations of signs were required by the participants during self practice (p<0.01). There was a significantly higher number of corrections with the graphics strategy (p<0.01) initially, and this decreased over time, unlike with the signing-only strategy. It would appear that the sign illustrations were redundant during the initial stages of sign learning using a multimodal approach, but that they were relied on to trigger recall of signs during the self practice phase. Thus, the study confirmed the supportive role of sign illustrations in sign learning. The use of theme-based graphic displays of sign illustrations emerged as a viable method in teaching signs. The implications of these results and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

Med utgångspunkt i en ökning av så kallad klimatångest bland barn, är denna studies syfte är att undersöka och analysera ekologiska frågeställningar inom barnlitteratur och läromedel för mellanstadieelever för att se hur försöken att skapa ekologiskt medvetna medborgare görs, hur ansvaret mellan barn och vuxna behandlas, hur det hållbara samspelet mellan natur och mänsklighet problematiseras och hur hotet om undergång skildras och hanteras. Analysen genomförs med hjälp av en kvalitativ textanalys av de skönlitterära verken Kometen kommer av Tove Jansson och Slutet av Mats Strandberg, samt av fyra läromedel i SO- och NO-ämnen ur serien Utkik.Resultatet visar att texterna tar upp hållbarhetsfrågor mestadels ur ett människocentrerat perspektiv, men där människan samtidigt skuldbeläggs för klimatkrisen och där barnen åläggs ansvaret för att lösa den. Balansgången mellan att aktivera barnen och utbilda dem i hållbarhet utan att orsaka klimatångest visar sig vara svår att hantera. Skönlitteraturen gör det via skildringar om undergång, och läromedlen genom att uttryckligen beskriva hotet. En medvetenhet om vilket material som väljs ut och varför är ett nödvändigt didaktiskt förhållningssätt. / With basis in the increase of so-called climate anxiety among children, the purpose of the study is to investigate and analyse ecological issues in children’s literature and text books meant for pupils in grades 4–6. We examine how pupils are required to become ecologically aware citizens, how the responsibility among children and adults is handled, how the interplay between nature and humanity is problematised and how the threat of destruction is depicted. The qualitative text analysis focuses on the two novels Kometen kommer (Comet in Moominland, by Tove Jansson) and Slutet (The End, by Mats Strandberg), as well as four text books of different subjects in the Utkik (Outlook) series.The result shows that the texts describe issues of sustainability from a human-centered perspective, where man is considered responsible for the climate crisis and the children are enjoined the responsibility of putting an end to it. The balance between activating the children and teaching them about sustainability, without causing even more anxiety, seems difficult to handle. The novels use apocalyptic themes, while the text books expressively focuses on describing the different factors of threat. A conscious selection of teaching material and children’s literature – what? and why? – is a necessary didactical approach.