Both Grade 2’s and 3’s are seated on the carpet.
Tr 1: I want you to say the sounds as I flash them.
Lnrs: voice the sounds as they are flashed. The individual consonants were: j, i, g,u, e, l, s, b, n, t, k, d and the double sounds and blends were: cr, ng, br, cl, nd, gr, fl, gl, sh – Teacher 1 explains: when we put these two sounds together we do not say them as separate sounds, we say, ‘sh’.
Learners are not sure of the aw sound and the teacher gives examples of words for clarification such as ‘draw’ and sounds out the word, ‘s-a-w saw’
The learners debate about the sound ‘ow’ until the teacher says: ow as in cow or ow as in bowl. Teacher 1 rectifies the pronunciation when they give the incorrect sound.
This continues=d for at least 8 minutes.
One little boy in the last row was not participating in the class lesson and remained a passive observer. The teacher did not include him when she asked questions.
The next part of the lesson was as follows: Tr. 1 put a prepared newsprint sheet on the chalkboard:
Tr 1: Now, only my Grade 3’s are going to read this part. So Grade 2’s you need to listen. (Very firm voice)
Grade 3 learners read: ‘Very quietly the Bear helped the rabbits to remove all the furniture from the house and load it onto a cart. Then he pulled the cart up the mountain to the rabbits cave.
Tr 1: ok, that’s one part of the story, now let’s see if you can answer some questions.
Why do you think the rabbits were putting things on a cart and taking it somewhere?
Lnr 1: because they can’t carry it.
Tr 1: Ok, but why would they be taking things away?
Lnr. 2: because they are moving.
Tr 1: Ok, let us read the next part.
Lnrs: ‘Mr Bear lived all alone near a rabbit village. He was very lonely and wished he
could have some friends.
Tr 1: Now village, who can tell me something about village?
Lnr 3: Teacher, its where old people live
Tr 1: No,
Teacher 1 called another child by name to attempt to answer the question.
Lnr: teacher and a village is very small.
Teacher 1 did not comment on this statement.
Tr 1: Let’s move on, now everybody is going to read this part.
Lnrs: Mr Bear felt sorry for them and offered his help. At first the rabbits were reluctant (learners struggled to identify this word. The teacher gets the learners to break up the word into syllables and then asks them what the word means). The learners do not respond. I don’t know
Tr 1: Let’s finish the sentence and then we’ll see if you can figure it out.
Lnrs: but eventually he agreed on one condition (most of the Lnrs struggled with this word and one little boy said it correctly) that he would be as quiet as a mouse because they don’t want to wake the family.
Tr 1: It’s a very long sentence, let me read it again. (Teacher 1repeats the sentence and then poses the question again. Lnrs debate amongst themselves and came up with answers like quiet. Teacher1 says: ‘no!, reluctant means at first they didn’t really want them to help but eventually they thought Bear is big and strong so it would be easier’.
Tr 1: Now, why do you think the rabbits were reluctant at first?
Lnr 5: Because they were scared of Bear.
Lnr 6: Teacher, maybe they thought they were strong enough.
Tr1: Maybe they thought that they could do it themself. Who has another idea?
Lnr 7: Maybe they thought, they don’t need Bear’s help because they can do it on their
own.
Tr 1: We had that one, you’re not listening.
Tr 1: Ok, let’s continue reading.
Lnrs: ‘When they got to the cave Bear was quite astonished (learners stumbled over this word and the teacher reads the sentence again.)
Tr 1: Who knows what astonished means?
Lnr 7: Afraid?
Lnr 8: Quiet!
Tr 1: No its not afraid or quiet, he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw something,
let’s see what he saw.
Lnrs: Never had he seen so many furniture together in one place so he asked the rabbits what they did with all the things. They told him that they do repair work.
Lnr 9: Teacher, repair is when you fix something.
Tr 1: Yes, so why was he astonished, think! (Teacher reprimands a girl who is talking
to her friend).
Tr 1: (repeats the answer without commending the child and asked the following question) Do you think the rabbits do repair work?
Lnr 11: No
Tr 1: Let’s see, they never said the furniture was broken we thought they were moving.
Let’s read on maybe we can figure it out.
Lnrs: ‘Late one night as he was strolling through rabbits village, he saw something rather odd. Three queer looking rabbits were very hard at work. It seemed that they were busy moving.
Tr 1: What does odd mean?
Lnrs all debate and come up with words like strange and weird. (Teacher uses an incident that occurred in the news recently where a tiger escaped from its owner and was seen running across a field and in the streets, to explain the word odd.
Lnr: Teacher, it was very late and they were moving.
Tr 1: Yes, usually people move during the day but they were moving very late at night.
Tr 1: What does the word strolling mean?
Lnr: Teacher, he was walking
Tr 1: Grade 2’s what does the word queer mean, think back to the Toy Story book.
Lnrs: scary
Tr 1: No, remember the cat was funny looking and the clown – people don’t normally
look like that.
Tr 1: Now this story is not in order, we are going to put it in order. (Naming a learner
asks where they should start.
Lnr. Points out where she thinks they should start and why. (Together they debate about which parts of the story should follow each other and rearrange the sheets on the chalkboard until the story is in the correct sequence. They then read the story from start to finish in chorus.
Tr 1: Now, this story needs a name, what do you think we can call it?
Lnr: The sneaky rabbit.
Tr 1: The sneaky rabbit, I like that
Lnr: Mr Bear and the sneaky rabbit
Tr 1: Who else?
Lnr: The three rabbits and Mr Bear.
Tr 1: Now let’s write all three on the board and then we can decide which one. (The teacher proceeded to write all the titles on the board and the learners were asked to vote.)
then reads the library book, showing them the pictures as she goes along and asking questions.
Tr 1: what does the word dawn mean? Common Grade 3’s you should know that.
Tr 1: Grade 3’s I’m going to put your work on the board. These sentences are mixed
up and you have to write a story and after you have put them in order you must give the story a name. So you cannot write the sentences as they are here. You have to read through them and think which one will come first and so on. When we write a story do we start each sentence in a new line, no we write all the way to the end and then carry on. Grade 3’s you may go to your tables.
(Grade 2’s do a revision lesson about the making of butter. Their sentences are read to them by the teacher and instructions are given. The learners are reminded that they did the lesson so they should know the order of how to make butter.