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Basic Training
Speech Exercises 101
Decrypting Exercises
Writing Exercises 101
Verbal Preparedness
Declamatory Exercises 421
Writing Readiness
Expository Writing 442
Published by To Order: www.2BTotallyLiterate.com Celestial Bound
Greenville, South Carolina
Anti-Illiteracy War Cards. Copyright © 2008 and 2010. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, except the “score sheet” without permission
I
NTRODUCTION
Students should begin playing the easiest two games—
Basic Training
and
Decrypting Exercises
. After a few months,
when they have gained a little skill and confidence, they will be ready for
Verbal Preparedness
and
Writing Readiness
.
Within a half year, give or take a few months, they should be ready for
Speech Exercises 001
and
Writing Exercises 011
.
And in another half year, they should be ready for the most demanding games—
Declamatory Exercises 421
and
Expository Writing 442
.
Basic Training
develops phonics skill.
Decrypting Exercises
further develops phonics skill further while developing
incipient spelling skill.
Verbal Preparedness
develops the habit of speaking in thoughtful complete sentences.
Writing
Readiness
makes what is normally considered hard easy, thereby painlessly developing the discipline to write.
Speech
Exercises 001
develops creativity in playing with the spoken word, while
Writing Exercises 011
does the same playing
with the written word. Both
Declamatory Exercises 421
and
Expository Writing 442
turn rudimentary communicative
skills into a more polished degree of literary proficiency. The last four of these games may be played may be played
regularly for years on end until one becomes an eloquent orator or an accomplished writer or both—in other words, until
one becomes truly TOTALLY LITERATE.
Let’s assay the benefits: vocabulary burgeons; self expression becomes easy and more fluid; self confidence radiates;
intellectual success is ensured; college attendance is no longer a requisite deemed essential for success, giving away to
independent or specialized study; and—of great importance—the tools of critical thinking have been forged, your children
will become the movers and shakers of tomorrow, capable and ready to make great societal change for the betterment of
mankind–in the US and the world over.
Anti-Illiteracy War Games
©
Basic Training Skill Developed: Phonics Objective: To identify word roots.
Grade Level: 1 Grade and Abovest
Prerequisite: Phonics Charts
Practice: Focusing only on the front of the “cards” students pronounce just the colored word roots, not the gray letters. Using Text-To-Speech as a check, this basic exercise should be performed repeatedly over the course of several weeks, covering all 360 “cards.” After some measure of confidence in using phonics has been gained, play can begin.
How to Play: Students look at front side of “card” and take turns attempting to pronounce the root—only the root. Each correct answer earns a point while each wrong answer loses a point. Alternate Play: Four “cards’ are played per turn.
Technique: With the miniboard of Natural Readers installed and placed atop your screen, select or highlight the chosen root/word—say cab —and then the student attempts to say the
root/word. And then his pronunciation is checked by clicking the arrow on the miniboard. The arrow can be repeated clicked to hear the word as many times as you would like.
Note: This game, as well as the others, may be played alone, pitting a student against himself.
Decrypting Exercises Skill Developed: Phonics & Spelling Objective: To identify and say whole words.
Grade Level: First Grade & Above Prerequisites: Familiarity with Phonics Charts
Preparation: Without focusing on vocabulary, students randomly select words on the backside of the cards and try to pronounce them. Attempts should be checked against Natural Reader’s Text-To-Speech. After students gain understanding as to how words are formed and feel greater confidence in their newfound phonics ability, they should be ready to play this game competitively.
How to Play: First player picks any word on at random from the backside of a “card” and attempts to pronounce it. After doing so, the next player takes her turn, and then the play advances to the next card. Each correct attempt gets a point.
Alternative Play: Instead of picking just one word at a time, students pick either a partial or full row or a column of words. Students win a point for each correct attempt.
Technique: A row is selected or highlighted by depressing the mouse on the first word and moving horizontally to the last word. A column is picked by first depressing the alt button and then as a faint box appears run it vertically from the top to the bottom of the column. After the attempt has been made, check it for correctness by clicking on the arrow of the Natural Readers miniboard.
Note: This game, as well as all the others, may be played for a point per word rather than for a point per attempt; however, adding and organizational skill is necessary to easily keep score.
Verbal Preparedness Skill Developed: Speaking In Complete Sentences
Objective: To frame sentences with randomly picked vocabulary words. (Slight, if any, emphasis is placed on intelligibility or literary merit.)
Grade Level: 2 Grade and Abovend
Prerequisites: Phonics Charts, Families.
Preparation: Students should be sufficiently prepared for this game after they have first been drilled on the Phonics Charts and the Families, and have become proficient playing the above two games . To enhance word recognition, prior to playing any card all of the words of any given card should be heard several times.
How to Play: Students choose any word—the more familiar, the better—from the backside of a card and put that word in a sentence. Each complete sentence, even if it is comprised of just one word—such as No!—is worth one point. (In this game there is no emphasis placed on the intelligibility or literary merit of the attempt. The sole purpose is to get children speaking freely and easily.)
Alternative Play: Play is conducted the same way except that students are not allowed to repeat the exact same syntax twice in succession. (To illustrate: The dog is mine should not be followed by The boy is eight, but rather by Johnnie is eight.)
Writing Readiness Skill Developed: Printing Simple Sentences Objective: To print whole sentences. Grade Level: 2 Grade and Abovend
Prerequisites: Phonics Charts, Families, & Printing Ability. Preparation: In addition to practicing the above three games, students should have gained some skill in printing upper and lower case letters. As with “Verbal Preparedness,” students should hear the words of the chosen family repeatedly before starting to play.
How to Play: From backside of any card players choose any word and use it in a sentence they will print on a piece of double lined writing paper. One point is awarded for every correct attempt.
Alternative Play 1: As with “Verbal Preparedness,” this game can be played in same alternative way with the same caveat—i.e. that the exact same syntactical construct can not be used twice in succession. Alternative Play 2: In addition to regular play and alternative Play 1, this game can be played with an additional point awarded for neatness.
Speech Exercises 001 Skill Developed: Speaking Intelligently
Objective: To compose an intelligent spoken sentence containing one or two chosen words. Grade level: 3 Grade and Aboverd
Prerequisites: “Verbal Preparedness” & Play Onwards and Work On Words three Workbooks. Preparation: Students should complete the corresponding exercise in each workbook. Also, before playing any card students should be drilled on the meanings of the several words on the chosen card’s backside.
How to Play: Players pick any word from the backside of a card to use to compose an
intelligent spoken sentence that shows understanding of the particular word. Each intelligent sentence earns a point. Play rotates to the next player. (In this more advanced game only intelligent sentences earn a point. Such an attempt as My cat likes to play would be unworthy of a point, whereas a more revealing sentence such as My cat meowed would be worthy of a point.
Alternative Play 1: Students pick two rhyming words from a card with which they declaim in a humorous utterance. (Example: He called her “Sweet Dove” and said he was in love.)
Writing Exercises 011 Skill Developed: Writing intelligently Objective: To frame an intelligent written sentence
containing one or chosen words.
Grade level: 3 Grade and Aboverd Prerequisites: “Writing Readiness,” Play Onwards and
Work On Words Workbooks, and Fluency of Printing or Cursive Ability
Preparation: Students should be able to print well enough so as to focus on the sentences they are asked to compose, and they must have gained confidence in their rapidly increasing vocabulary ability.
How to Play: From the backside of a card players pick a word to compose an intelligent written sentence. As with “Speech Exercises 001," only intelligent sentences earn a point. Players take their turn concurrently. Each intelligent written sentence earns a point.
Alternative play: Students pick two words from a card and put them into a humorous sentences. (I saw a cat and a rat would be unworthy of a point, whereas The cat chased the rat into the sewer would
certainly be worthy of a point.
Declamatory Exercises Skill Developed: Effective Speaking
421 Objective: To put two or more vocabulary words in an intelligent, well-delivered spoken sentence. Grade level: 4 Grade and Aboveth
Prerequisites: “Speech Exercises 001" and Sound Knowledge of Grammar (also helpful is Knowing How to Diagram Sentences).
Preparation: Students must be prepared to make plenty of mistakes and be willing to put forth much effort to acquiring basic rhetorical skills.
How to Play: Students pick any two rhyming words on backside of a card and put them into a properly delivered spoken sentence. One point is given for each of the following: audibleness, clarity, apt tone, and apt inflection. And two points are awarded for literary merit, i.e. thoughtfulness of expression. Alternative play: Students pick as many words as they would like to use to frame one or more
Expository Writing 442 Skill Developed: Writing Proficiency Objective: To put vocabulary words into intelligent, error-free written sentences.
Grade level: 4 Grade and Aboveth Prerequisites: “Writing Exercises 011,” Grammar Skill
and Typing Ability, and Basic Understanding of Word Processing on the Computer.
Preparation: Students show be aware that what is said is no more important than how something is said. In other words one’s sentences, paragraphs, etc. having just one mistake reflect poorly on the author and discredit the entire work. Thus, no matter how good the content, it is better to say a little right, than a lot wrong.
How to Play: Students pick any two words on backside of a card , copy them onto a blank document of your word processing program. Next, compose a well-written intelligent sentence containing these two words. Students are awarded a point for each of the following: grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and two points are awarded for content. (The grammar/spelling check may be used as an aid to check for accuracy, and then the Read Out loud feature of Natural Readers will tell you how well it sounds when spoken.)
Alternative play: Students use two or more rhyming words to compose two or more sentences or a paragraphs—a la The Red Well-Read Reader. Points are awarded in same manner
Color Codes: On front of cards word-roots Back of cards: Dark Red: 1 spellingst
Dark Gray: 6 spelling th
Red: An Anomalous pronunciation
sharing a similar sound are grouped into one Blue: 2 spelling nd
Violet: 7 spelling th
Red : 2 Anomalous Pronunciationnd of twenty classifications: i.e., the “short a” Green: 3 spelling rd Peach: 8 spelling th
appears in dark red, the “long a” in midnight Tan: 4 spelling th Dark Blue: 9 spelling th
blue, and so on. Orange: 5 spellingth
Usage Notes: Although these games are in PDF format, the Read Out Loud feature does not work appropriately with these
games. If you have Text-To-Speech program, like Natural Reader, you should activate it and put the miniboard on top of your
screen. If you don’t yet have such a program, you can download a free one. Natural Reader offers a free one with mechanical
audio fidelity. Their website is http://www.naturalreaders.com. After downloading the software put the miniboard on the
top of your computer screen. To select a word double click on it; to select words horizontally, depress your mouse and move
your cursor; to select words vertically, hold down the alt key and move your mouse down a column.
The Score Sheet can printed out and duplicated and kept on file. Also, they can be used to keep track of students’
performance working on the three workbooks that will soon be out. And if you have Adobe Acrobat you can create a form
and keep your records on your computer.
Score Sheet
Date:
Game Played: Game Played: Game Played:
Game Played: Game Played: Game Played:
Total Points
---Card Played
---Player 1:
Player 2:
Player 3:
Player 4:
Remarks:
Student: Month:
Performance Sheet
1 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 2 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 3 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 4 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 5 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 6 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 7 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 8 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 9 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 10 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 11 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 12 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 13 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 14 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 15 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 16 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 17 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 18 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 19 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 20 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 21 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 22 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 23 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 24 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 25 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 26 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 27 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 28 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 29 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 30 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. / 31 Game: Points: Workbook: Points: Tot. Pts. /1
cab
2
jack, pak
3
act
4
mad
2a
back
jack
rack
snack whack
black
knack
sack
stack wrack
clack
lack
shack
tack
flak
crack
pack
slack thwack
pak
flack
quack
smack
track
yak
plaque