10 Important Sentences

During the spring of 2002, teachers from the bilingual/ESL department met to learn about a powerful teaching strategy called "Ten Important Sentences." The strategy develops students' oral language and literacy skills of recall of facts and details, distinguishing between fact and opinion, sequencing of events, recognizing cause and effect, and identifying the main idea. The method, developed by Dr. George Gonzalez, is based on the fact that comprehension is based upon understanding the sounds that make words, which are parts of sentences, and which make up text. The method is also based on the principles of second language acquisition including providing comprehensible input, lowering of anxiety by providing support, and using meaningful contexts for language. The method is based upon the teacher choosing a text, reading it aloud, and using the book for a week-long series of activities.

Prior to the lesson, the teacher would read the text, chose the ten important sentences that as a whole capture the events and main idea of the text, and also choose vocabulary words to introduce to the students. In choosing a text, the teacher would want to select a text that provides rich language that the students have not been exposed to.

The following is one possible sequence of activities:

1. The Ten Important Sentences- Read aloud the text to the students. Introduce the ten sentences. Students can repeat, chant, sing, dramatize, and illustrate the ten important sentences. Reread the text and have students find the ten sentences in the text.
2. Sequencing Events-Using the ten important sentences, students place the sentences in order.
3. Distinguish Fact from Opinion-Use the ten important sentences or another set of sentences to have students distinguish between fact and opinion.
4. Cause and Effect-Using some of the ten important sentences or others in the text, discuss with students the relationship between cause and effect.
5. Determining Main Idea-Using the ten important sentences, the teacher asks students to locate which sentences tell the who, what, here, when, and why of the text.

Each day as part of the approach, the teacher would introduce five new words per day using a variety of strategies including demonstrating, dramatizing, providing different examples, illustrating, and defining.

Please see below some of the units that our teachers developed using this approach:

Lessons in Spanish:

Abran Pasos a Los Patitos
La Princesa Vestida con una Bolsa de Papel

Lessons in English:

Are we there yet?
Chibi - A True Story from Japan
Dinosaur Dress Up
Earth's Movement
Horse and Toad
In the Rain with Baby Duck
More Than Anything Else
Slithery Slim
The Rooster Who Went to His Uncle's Wedding
The Storm
The Ugly Duckling
Try, Try Again
Volcanoes