The Total
Language Plus study guides are immediately recognizable with their bright
yellow covers, but it’s the inside of the guide where you will find gold! These
comprehensive study guides from a Christian perspective focus on teaching
thinking and communication skills using literature as a base.
It is typical to complete 3-5 novels
with guides in a traditional school year. Each guide contains 5 to 8 units and
will take about 8 to 10 weeks to complete.
In addition to reading comprehension
and literary analysis, TLP guides offer practice in
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Writing
- Listening
Novels have
been carefully selected to either display a high moral tone or to provide a
basis from which to teach biblical discernment. Most are Newbery Medal or Honor
books; all are generally thought of as quality literature, have depth, and are high
interest.
One small Teacher's Manual presents the how and why of the
program. It provides an overview and philosophy of the program, sample lesson
plans for a typical week, and instructions for teaching each component of the
program. The appendix contains a writing helps section and a summary of basic
spelling rules. Also included are answers to common questions about
the Total Language Plus program. Click here for a free download of the Teacher’s Manual.
The program
requires minimal teacher involvement, as students work through most of the
material on their own. While some work is done on separate paper, most
exercises are worked on directly in the Student Worktexts (the yellow
workbooks), which are not reproducible. The only condition when copying is
allowed is when teaching multiple students simultaneously out of the same study
guide.
The
beginning of each guide contains a variety of critical thinking activities
correlated to chapters in the novels, which include projects, drawing, writing
assignments, and a puzzle.
Some of the
writing assignments require research or lengthier essays, while “Personally
Thinking” questions require shorter written answers to questions that apply
concepts in the story to the student’s life or require the student to think and
make judgments about story’s events and characters.
These
activities can be used at any time during the unit at your discretion, but you
will probably want to use several short writing assignments each week if you
want to include composition skills in the program.
The rest of
the guide is broken down into weekly units. Each week, the student:
- Reads a section of the novel and answers comprehension
questions pertaining to those chapters.
- Practices listening and memorization skills and reinforces
spelling and grammar through daily oral language exercises. These are short paragraphs
dictated to the student, either passages chosen to emphasize Bible truths that
relate to the story or actual excerpts from the literature.
- Completes exercises practicing an assortment of English
skills, with Friday’s exercise being a summary of “problem words” for the week.
- Completes a section of their vocabulary worksheets, including
the compilation of a glossary of vocabulary words, for which students supply
definition and part of speech.
- Completes vocabulary review sheets, which are included at the
back of the book and are assigned to review and reinforce learning. As a
culmination of vocabulary work, a final review test and answer key are
provided.
- Does their daily spelling exercises that also revolve around
words from the novel. At the end of each week, a spelling test is administered
on the words studied that week.
Guides are available at five grade levels: grades 3-4, grades 4-6, grades 6-8, grades 7-9, and grades 9-11. High school guides contain more extensive writing activities that teach composition techniques, showing the student how to organize and plan their writing, as well as suggesting what points to include. These guides also contain oral readings for the selections to incorporate speech and drama into the program.
Focus
Guides are lower-priced
guides (see Animal Farm and Crispin: Cross of Lead) which “focus” on specific writing skills and omit many
of the varied language arts activities found in the other guides. While
containing comprehension and analysis questions like other guides, they also
feature comprehensive writing assignments relevant to the novel. Focus guides
have less content overall than other guides and take about 3 weeks to complete.