By Torun Sørbøen
Dr. Seuss’s ABC
Dr. Seuss’s ABC (1991) is an alphabet picture book with a rhyme for each letter from A to Z, or rather, from “Aunt Annie’s alligator” to “Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz”. Most of the rhymes follow the same pattern, with a few exceptions, such as this: “Big X, little x,?”, followed by a some words or a some words beginning with that letter or an alliteration, and ending with “X…x…X”. There is a related illustration accompanying each stanza. Dr. Seuss’s works are often full of nonsense words and fantasy creatures. This book uses quite a few, such as a “tuttle-tuttle-tree” or a “duck-dog”.
Dr. Seuss’s ABC in the classroom
When working with Dr. Seuss’s ABC in the classroom, one can find many possible aims on which to focus. Some of the most relevant aims are these from the list of aims after Year 2 from the English subject curriculum (Udir.no, 2013):
“Participate in simple rehearsed dialogues and spontaneous conversations related to local surroundings and own experiences”(p. 6):
There is a Wh-question in each poem ("what begins with X?”), a type of question is usually more difficult to answer than a Yes/No-question or an Or-question. Here however, the question is repeated, only switching out the letter in question, giving the pupils more repetition with this type of question, as well as providing an answer. This might make for a good way of introducing a Wh-question to the pupils. Furthermore, the structure of the sentence is the same as in Norwegian, which can help Norwegian learners. To increase the challenge, the teacher can also ask the pupils to come up with other words that begin with the letter.
“Find words and phrases that are common to English and one’s native language” (p. 5) or as it sais in the aims after Year 4: “Find similarities between words and expressions in English and his/her own native language” (p.6):
As well as having similar sentence structures, there are also many transparent words for language learners with Norwegian as their native language, which is positive for understanding and noticing similarities between the languages.
“Listen for and use English phonemes though practical-aesthetic forms of expression” (p. 6):
The book structured with a repeated pattern throughout the book, and with humorous rhymes, silly words with matching illustrations. This makes the book very accessible for young language learners. One can use only one or two of the poems, or work with the whole alphabet systematically. Some words that might not be particularly frequent or useful for young pupils to learn, such as barber and neckties. However, the focus in these poems is to play with sounds. Chorus reading with a focus on pronunciation could be a good exercise to use when working with these poems in the classroom.
References
Munden, J. & Myhre, A. (2015). Twinkle Twinkle. 3rd edition. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
Udir.no. (2013). Udir.no - English subject curriculum - Hovedområder. Retrieved 16 August 2015, from http://www.udir.no/kl06/ENG1-03/Hele/Hovedomraader/?lplang=eng
Seuss, D. (1991). Dr. Seuss's ABC. An Amazing alphabet book! A Bright and Early Board Book. New York: Random House.
Hi Torun!
SvarSlettWith basis in the competence aims, you've given good examples of how one can use Dr. Seuss's ABC in the classroom. You also made a good observation of how the repetitional pattern in the poems may be helpful in learning English.
Eirin