I’ve always approached “another way to say the same thing/get your meaning across” as an essential skill for the vocabulary-limited second language learner. But how to start – how to have kids begin to think of other ways to express an idea without the immediate lunge for the dictionary?

One way for me is the “Group Reading Recap”. In my classes we  use this as we do specific readings and some sort of summary/discussion based upon it. Students work their way through a reading – first as a group and then again as pairs. During the pair time I ask them to do “Two and Talk” – meaning that they are to each read a sentence then stop and talk about what they have read – and work out the meaning together. After that it is my custom – with the Yr1 and Yr2 groups – to do what I call a whole class ‘reading re-cap’. What it is  – I realize – is my first collective exercise in circumlocution skills. Here’s how it works for me:

The setup:

7-10 comprehension questions about what they have read – dialogue, short story piece, chapter of a book, song etc

In order to facilitate talking about an answer, and not just reading it, they are asked to provide answers to the questions in ‘key word’ or ‘point’ form (I will run a quick eye over the page to see if there are sentences).

A goal of  6 oral responses over the course of the exercise

They know that they have to have more than the direct answer available to get a contribution point and I ‘ll take anything that ‘works’ to indicate an answer. So if the answer to “Where is Ben from?” is “Australia” – they work on other ways to communicate that – “a hot country” “a country near New Zealand” “a country with lots of kangaroos” “a country that loves to eat vegemite” etc.  Another might be “How does he get to school?” and for “on foot” it may extend to “he walks” “he walks quickly” or even “He doesn’t go by car”.

The recap day:

– Time to prepare

– students get initial time to go over what they have with their partner – it’s a chance to check for errors or alter what they have in a non-public and supportive way

– Remind them of the “rules” & ideas to rework an answer someone just gave

-prior to beginning I remind students that I want them to get their full 6 points – so I am looking for answers from everyone possible

– this isn’t a competition – it’s a time to encourage participation so I remind them that I will not always take the hand that goes up first but I promise to take all possible answers before I move on to the next question

-we also review how to rework an answer adding in other adjectives/adverbs to make it “original”

– Ask the first questions & correct as needed

-ask the first question and up go the hands. In order to encourage them I often call on students who I know are less reluctant to participate when I see their hand up before those that love to give answers. As they give an answer I note it down on a class list

-if an answer comes in a not totally correct way – I provide it and ask the student to repeat it

– stay with one question until all hands are down…before moving on to the next

-Watch for those who are slower to participate

-as we near the end I also start looking for kids who have less than their 6 answers and encourage them – a silent look/or ‘1 more!’ – to ensure that they get full marks.

Results that I see/hear:

 – students become more aware that not having the ‘right’ word is not a block to communicating

– they are more willing to try to explain than just whip out the dictionary

– they tend to use these skills naturally when a conversation partner does not understand them

– their writing shows evidence of the work – with more descriptive and detailed expression

The Reading Recap exercise is just one way that students practice circumlocution. It directly prompts them to think of other ways to communicate meaning and gives them skills to use when a roadblock occurs.  As students leave Yr2 and enter Yr3 I move them away from always doing the ‘group’ reading recap and into doing something similar in their conversation circles.  If you have any questions about the exercise – just let me know. It’s a great start in building their skills in ‘another way to say…’

Colleen