Writing down things people say

Writing down things people say

Introduction
	Writing down things people say is a good way to show them that whatever they say can be written. You can then read their words back to them.
	You could write stories they tell or even demonstrate with bits of everyday conversation.

Prerequisites
	You need to know enough about the language to write it in some form. During the early stages of language learning and linguistic analysis you can write what you hear phonetically.

Things to do
	Here are things to do when you model reading and writing by writing down things people say:
	Have a local language speaker say something or tell you a story. Write what the speaker says so that you can read it back understandably. Read the text back to the speaker. Read the text to other people, if the speaker approves. Explain that anything a person says can be written down and read back just as they said it. Make a little booklet to show and to read to people.

Context for this page:

Task module: Writing down things people say
In task module: Modeling reading and writing
In task module: Exposing people to reading and writing, by Delle P. Matthews, Anne Klaassens (contributor), Leah B. Walter (contributor), Ken Boothe (contributor), and Trudy K. Stewart (general editor)
In task module: Preparing for a literacy program
In modular book: Prepare for a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter, Mary Morgan, and Leah B. Walter
In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 8 December 1998

© 1999 SIL International